Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2000 --

• Dresser-Wayne executives are asking union officials to approve a $10 million concession that would slash wages and benefits but keep the Salisbury plant open. United Auto Workers Local 354 President Jack Hughes pointed out the company’s demands, even if met by the union, did not include a promise on the plant’s future. Dresser has said it wants to consolidate pump manufacturing operations in Texas.
• The Salisbury Area Chamber of Commerce, the League of Women Voters and The Daily Times will sponsor a debate forum on the upcoming referendum concerning a property tax revenue cap. To be held at Caruthers Hall on the Salisbury State University campus, cap proponents Don Coffin, Jack Plummer and Patrick Doyle will debate cap opponents County Councilman Phil Tilghman; schools Superintendent William Middleton and Sheriff R. Hunter Nelms. Daily Times Executive Editor Greg Bassett will serve as moderator; the event will be broadcast live on Access 26.
• Students from the three Salisbury high schools joined with members of the Wicomico Education Association to create placards to be used in a rally this week opposing the county Revenue Cap that will go before voters Nov. 7.  Christy Higgins, Student Government Association President at Parkside High School, said she feared the measure -- as well as a proposal to to repeal a real estate excise tax -- would affect infrastructure. “Our schools are already falling apart,” she said. “I can’t even imagine what it would be like if these are passed.”
• Wicomico County Councilwoman called on her colleagues to stop the Wicomico County Liquor Board from selling beer at its dispensaries. A measure approved late in the last session of the General Assembly permitted dispensaries to add beer to their sales shelves. Prettyman said the move is a threat to local businesses that sell beer, and creates a situation where the county is directly competing with local business.
• K&L Microwave has expanded its manufacturing facilities to include a 64,000-square-foot building located on the corner of Naylor Mill Road and Northwood Drive. The site is next-door to the K&L facility that opened in 1986. Eaton Heinemann Electric Corp had owned the building, but it moved operations to Mexico.
• Baltimore County Executive Dutch Ruppersberger, answering an invitation made by the Wicomico County Charter Review Committee, discussed the details of his job and explained the unique power structures that develop in a County Executive form of government. Meeting in Salisbury with the 14 committee members, Ruppersberger said a County Executive could easily assert himself or herself as a dynamic leader, or adopt more of a caretaker role.
• Wicomico County Councilman Richard Adkins, a staunch watchdog on county spending, was admitted to University Hospital in Baltimore to undergo emergency surgery to remove a brain tumor. The 62-year-old Parsonsburg resident has a malignant tumor removed from his lung last spring and has been undergoing chemotherapy.
• Tickets went on sale for the Nov. 14 concert at the Wicomico Youth & Civic Center featuring Styx, REO Speedwagon and Survivor. The tour has sold out at previous stops across the country; there will only be one performance. Bob Dylan will appear that the Civic Center on the following night, Wednesday, Nov. 15.