Wednesday, Jan. 28, 1970 --

• The Wicomico County and Salisbury city governments have agreed to engage in “purely exploratory talks” on an eventual Salisbury-Wicomico County Police Force. A $7,500 survey conducted by the International Association of Chiefs of Police found that police service was inadequate in areas outside the county’s municipalities. The report also said that officers were underpaid and underequipped. A city-county metropolitan police force -- using the city department as a nucleus -- would be the best solution, the report determined.

• Hard-hitting, controversial Washington, D.C., newspaper columnist Jack Anderson told an audience of about 600 Salisbury State College students that crime, racial discrimination, pollution, poverty and the war in Vietnam are the top issues facing the nation. Author of the Washington Merry-Go-Round column that is syndicated to more than 625 newspapers nationwide, Anderson spoke for more than an hour in an address that held students spellbound.

• A group of Wicomico County residents journeyed to Andrews Air Force Base near Washington, D.C., to be among the crowd members who welcomed Vice President Spiro Agnew back from his history-making trip to Southeast Asia. Salisbury automobile dealer Bob Lawrence led a group that included Sheriff Eugene Carey, John Porter, C. Gregory Truitt, Salisbury Councilman Harry O. Fullbrook, Civil Defense Director Michael Voight and local Republican leader Blan Harcum. Lawrence said that after the Vice President’s plane landed, he greeted the crowd and shook hands with the entire group from Wicomico.

• Salisbury travel agent Lil Truitt was one of the selected passengers to fly from Dulles International Airport to Kennedy Airport in New York on the maiden passenger flight of the Boeing 747 jetliner. The largest passenger plane in the world, the jet carried 58 passengers in 1st Class and 304 in Economy. First Lady Pat Nixon was on hand at Dulles to christen the aircraft, which will fly for Pan American Airlines on a route between New York City and London.

• The annual muskrat dinner will be held this Sunday afternoon at St. Phillip’s Episcopal Parish House in Quantico. Mrs. Broughton Woolford, President of the Churchwomen, said 800 people are expected to attend. She said the menu will also include wild turkey, dressing, turnip greens and cornbread. The church will cook 340 muskrats, all of which were caught in Wicomico County.

• The Wicomico County Council has agreed to spend $14,500 for a new street sweeper. Public Works Director Delbert Davis said the county now has about 10 miles of streets with curbs and gutters, and cleansing those streets by hand is too time consuming. The council overcame its initial reluctance on the purchase after Davis explained the sweeper can be adapted to plow snow when winter weather hits.

• Salisbury crime stats for 1969 show that the motor vehicle accident rate is up, murders are down, violent crimes are way up, but burglary and larceny cases are down. Police Chief Leslie J. Payne said 525 major crimes occurred, with those defined as murder, manslaughter, rape, robbery and burglary. Arrests were made in 283 of those 525 cases, Payne said. In 1968, there were three murders in Salisbury; in 1969 there were two murders. All five murder cases over the past two years were solved.

• The cost of removing snow from Salisbury’s streets following three successive snowfalls has been more than $1,300 per inch, Public Works Director Philip C. Cooper said. In previous years, the city has spent about $600 to $700 per inch on snow removal. The city has seen 12 inches of snow in January alone. Cooper said the costs have been higher because temperatures have remained exceptionally low through the month, forcing repeated plowing trips and an additional use of salt to improve safety conditions.

• Noted poet and novelist Ogden Nash is scheduled to appear tonight in the auditorium of Holloway Hall at Salisbury State College to narrate “Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite and Saint Saens’ Carnival of Animals.”