WHEN ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY WAS CALLED "LITTLE NEVADA"

by Isabel Shipley Cunningham .

Some residents of Anne Arundel County can remember a time when slot machines, pinball machines, and one-arm bandits were everywhere -- at lunchrooms, drugstores, taverns, gas stations, restaurants, beach resorts, and grocery stores -- at every street corner and every rural crossroads. Money played in the machines went into the pockets of the holders of eleven licenses granted by the county government without producing any services or capital improvements. Gradually, many people realized that legalized gambling yielded tremendous profits, that those profits otherwise would have gone into the local economy, and that the owners of the machines were exerting increasing influence on elected officials. When opponents of slot machines tried to break the hold of gambling interests, a long and bitterly-fought battle followed.

In Anne Arundel County following World War II, a rapidly growing population was governed by an out-dated Board of County Commissioners, each commissioner elected in his own district and serving mainly the people who lived there. During the mid-forties, when gambling was legal only in Nevada, four counties in Southern Maryland legalized slot machines. Anne Arundel County authorized eleven licenses for slot machine distributors and seven for owners of commercial bingo establishments. The holders of the slot machine licenses were known collectively as the "the syndicate," with Nick Andrews of Andrews Vending Company apparently their leader. Of the large amount of money the syndicate collected, some was said to be used to pay elected officials for protection. Rumors persisted that cars filled with coins left Anne Arundel County every Monday morning to deliver a cut of the profits to Jersey City.

Responding to the need for open and efficient government and an end to legalized gambling, concerned voters formed The Citizens Committee for Anne Arundel County. In addition to Evelyn Tretbar of Arnold, some of the leaders were from Linthicum: Jackson and Helen Erdman, Chipman and Isabel Cunningham, and Walter Jacobs; others were from Annapolis: Mary Lacey, William and Mary Prendergast, John Whitmore, and David and Libby Wallace. After several open meetings and executive sessions, members decided to back candidates who would run against the powerful Democratic Organization.

Usually nomination in the primary by the Organization was a guarantee of election, but young Orlando (Lanny) Ridout IV and Holmes Hawkins agreed to file for the House of Delegates as independent Democrats. At that time, Anne Arundel had six delegates, elected countywide. During the months that followed, Citizens Committee members distributed campaign fliers, arranged small gatherings where their candidates spoke to voters, and rang doorbells tirelessly. With the candidates and their wives, we knocked on many of the doors in the new community of Harundale.

By primary day, the Citizens Committee and Lanny Ridout’s friends covered every polling house in the county with workers handing out Ridout and Hawkins fliers. Helen Erdman and I

were assigned to Green Haven, a stronghold of the Democratic Organization. From seven a.m. until seven p.m., we watched cars manned by people paid by the Organization make trip after trip to the polls to transport their voters. But when the votes at Green Haven were counted, Ridout was sixth of the eighteen candidates for the House of Delegates. By running sixth countywide, he accomplished the impossible and broke the Organization ticket.

While a group was attempting government reform in Annapolis and northern Anne Arundel County, a young man from southern Anne Arundel observed the county commissioners in action and decided that he could do a better job of representing his district. Frank W. Wilde of Shady Side, known as Buddy or Bud Wilde, ran in the primary and won with a promise of integrity, economy, and efficiency. He would become a strong leader in the battle to eliminate legalized gambling. From 1950 until 1954, he and Clarence Tyler of Annapolis served as an occasional check on a Board of County Commissioners led by Ralph Lowman of Brooklyn Park.

By the general election in November 1950, Lanny Ridout was a candidate for the House of Delegates on the ticket led by Senator Louis N. Phipps. Members of the Citizens Committee nevertheless kept an eye on polling places, and I was assigned to Harundale. There I saw Nick Andrews and some of his associates (based in Phipps Buicks) working for the Organization. Andrews stood, not outside the 25-foot limit, but at the door to the polling place. As voters entered, he gave each one a ticket and said, "Vote the Democratic ticket and vote it straight."

When Andrews occasionally left his post to speak to someone, two young men fell into step behind him and followed him until he resumed his station. Those young men were wearing jackets that bulged where one would carry a holster. I commented that they looked like the gangsters I had seen in George Raft movies. My companion replied, "You have it backwards. The gangsters in the movies look like them." I also observed friendly greetings exchanged by Nick Andrews and his associates with States Attorney James Morton and cruising policemen.

Amazingly, Lanny Ridout led the slate for the House of Delegates in the general election, polling more votes than well-known incumbents like Stephen Duckett and Richard Lankford. The election experience made Citizens Committee members even more concerned about the power of men who had access to untold amounts of gambling revenue.

The Citizens Committee was fortunate to be working in a decade when "racket busting" was in the national spotlight. The U.S. Senate Crime Investigating Committee, headed by Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee, was studying racketeering in 1950 and 1951. In 1952 Kefauver was the only Democratic candidate for president to register for Maryland’s May 5 primary. This gave the Citizens Committee an opportunity to sponsor delegates to the state convention who were pledged to Kefauver. Those who filed were Helen Erdman, Walter Jacobs, Bill Dixon, and David Wallace. When Kefauver visited his Baltimore headquarters on April 28, 1952, the Citizens Committee arranged a luncheon in honor of Mrs. Kefauver at the Barn restaurant in Glen Burnie. Lanny Ridout met her at the airport and Helen Erdman welcomed her at the luncheon.

The daughter of Sir Stephen Pigott of Scotland, Nancy Kefauver was a charming woman and a splendid advocate for her husband. Fifty people heard her speak about life as the wife of a candidate. Complimenting our choice of Vichyssoise, sautéed Maryland crab on Smithfield ham, and asparagus Hollandaise, she said that she amused her four children by trying to quantify the thousands of peas and oceans of creamed chicken she had eaten on the campaign trail. Since her husband’s campaign committee failed to arrange her trip home, I drove her to Chevy Chase, along with Helen Erdman. Then we realized how fatigued she was as she returned from a campaign trip and prepared to see her children briefly before packing and leaving for Florida that evening.

The Citizens Committee’s plans to back several candidates in the 1954 primary election ended when the Democratic Organization split into two factions, one the Lowman-Dulin ticket (headed by Ralph Lowman, chairman of the county commissioners, and Wilbur Dulin, candidate for the state senate) and the other led by Senator Louis N. Phipps, running for reelection. Because both factions needed appealing candidates to fill their tickets, the Citizens Committee seized an opportunity. Members agreed that they would take openings offered to them on either ticket and then join in the struggle for better government if they were elected.

This situation resulted in Lanny Ridout and Frank Wilde running for House of Delegates on the Phipps ticket, while Ridgely Melvin, John Whitmore, Chipman Cunningham, and David Wallace ran on the Lowman ticket. Though Lowman retained his control of the county commissioners, Senator Phipps was reelected. Melvin, Ridout, and Whitmore won in the primary, and Melvin and Ridout led the House of Delegates slate in the general election.

Despite achieving the election of three reform delegates, many activists realized that the county’s problems needed resolution at the local level. While the population of Anne Arundel County increased by 75 percent during the fifties, the county commissioners failed to face problems caused by uncontrolled growth. Citizens demanded zoning controls, adequate water supply, proper sewage disposal, better roads, relief for overcrowded schools, long-range planning, and an end to decisions made behind closed doors. Businessmen recall that getting permits to build or expand was difficult, if not impossible, without "passing money" to the right person. Many residents wanted to replace the commissioner form of government.

Legalized gambling was a related problem because slot machine distributors sought to strengthen their alliance with county officials and their hold over owners of small businesses. John Hevener, county building inspector, was responsible for deciding which distributor could place machines in specific buildings. J. Herget Stieff headed the new county department for bingo and slot machine licensing and inspection. He testified before the commissioners that all license holders were men of good character.

Yet business owners who refused a distributor’s effort to place slot machines in their buildings told of threats of reprisals by people associated with the syndicate. Sometimes threats allegedly were followed by fires of uncertain origin. One owner of a tavern near Glen Burnie said that he was told that his pregnant wife "could have her baby normally or she could have it kicked out." Needless to say, he chose to install slot machines.

In the 1958 primary election, the Lowman and Phipps forces again struggled for control. The Sun reported that the Lowman ticket "was practically ripped to shreds" by the voters. The Phipps ticket won control of nearly every county board and agency, and Lowman lost his seat as county commissioner to a young lawyer, Edward J. Klima.

In the 1958 general election, when Millard Tawes was elected governor, Senator Phipps was challenged by Republican William B. Prendergast, a former Naval Academy professor and an active member of the Citizens Committee. The Suncommented on November 2, 1958, "County voters, who repudiated one political boss, may be in the mood to eliminate the second half of a warring faction that has rocked Anne Arundel County for the past eight years." Running as a Republican, Prendergast did amazingly well but lost to Phipps by a little over 2,000 votes.

As a result of the 1958 election, Frank W. Wilde earned election as county commissioner on the Phipps ticket, along with Edward Klima, Paul Pitcher, Louis Boehm, Joe Collinson, Samuel Carr, and Dr. Carl Russell, an Annapolis dentist who was appalled by conditions in the county. Veteran Henry Wigley was the lone survivor on the Lowman ticket. In the House of Delegates, Garrett Larrimore joined Ridout, Melvin, and Whitmore, making a majority of slot machine opponents in the Anne Arundel delegation. Joseph Tydings of Harford County also was elected to the House of Delegates. Son of a U.S. Senator and a friend of the Kennedys, he would help Anne Arundel County end the domination of gambling interests.

Senator Phipps had promised Paul Pitcher chairmanship of the county commissioners before the election, but Phipps was annoyed with Klima and Pitcher because he thought they had worked just for themselves and the Republican sheriff, Joseph Alton, and had failed to support the whole ticket. At a meeting of the other five men who had won election on his ticket, Phipps picked Frank Wilde to be chairman, a choice that would have important consequences.

The October 1958 Grand Jury wrote that "the extent to which gambling has been permitted to flourish in Anne Arundel County is a matter of grave concern to many citizens of this county." The report stated that slot machine owners were taking millions of dollars each year from the county’s economy without providing public services or capital improvements. (The Washington Post on April 26, 1960, said that "profits are a closely guarded secret." According to the June 25, 1959, Arundel Observer, estimates ran as high as fifty million dollars annually.) Furthermore, the grand jury added that the syndicate was spending large sums to support candidates for public office. In the primary election in 1958, they contributed at least $50,000 to candidates who could vote to keep them in business.

For the first few months after Frank Wilde was elected chairman of the county commissioners the five men elected on the Phipps ticket usually worked together. Because the county manager, Edward R. Lonergan, was an appointee and friend of Ralph Lowman, Senator Phipps forced him to resign in March 1952. Though the office of county manager had been created in 1949 and William Coburn had served until Edward R. Lonergan replaced him in 1952, the Evening Capital commented editorially on March 25, 1959, that both men had been "entirely subservient to the county commissioners and did not operate within the intent of the law." Wilde was determined to replace Lonergan with a professional county manager without local ties.

In the meantime, the Board appointed Wilde to act as county manager without pay. He engaged an outside management consultant firm to search for a qualified manager and proposed an efficiency survey to halt waste of county funds. His actions displeased some commissioners. Pitcher was absent when Klima raised questions of Wilde’s eligibility to serve as temporary manager, charging that dual service was unconstitutional. Collinson added that he saw no need for a county manager. Counsel to the Board ruled that there was no legal obstacle to dual service, and the Evening Capital commented that Wilde, "a quiet, unassuming realtor from Shady Side," had been "thrust into the job." Wilde engaged three consultant firms in his search for a manager, and the Board interviewed several candidates for the position.

But five of the commissioners decided that Wilde must be dismissed as chairman. Aware of their plan, Wilde studied parliamentary procedure and found that the chairman could not be removed by a simple majority. When his colleagues voted five to three to remove him, he surprised them by ruling that their motion failed because it required a two-thirds vote.

In June1959, the Board hired J.J. Salovaara, an experienced manager with degrees in law and engineering and a master’s degree in government management. TheEvening Capital on June 10, 1959, praised this appointment and commented editorially, "Our county has been in a heck of a mess for a long time. We doff our hats to Frank W. Wilde, who had more pressure on him to select a politician than the average person could withstand."

Wilde soon challenged that the county treasurer, Elmer Dunn, had erred in saying that abolition of legalized gambling would necessitate a twenty percent increase in the property tax rate and that fifty percent of the small businesses in the county would be forced to close without slot machine revenue. He said that he "strongly doubted’ the validity of Dunn’s claims because the county’s revenue records did not support his figures and because small businesses could thrive elsewhere.

When J. Herget Stieff proposed increasing county income from gambling by licensing additional slot machines a few weeks later, the shift in allegiance that had been developing became permanent. Boehm and Collinson originally had voted with Wilde, Carr, and Russell. Now they voted with Pitcher, Klima, and Wigley, giving that faction a majority on the Board. The Evening Capital noted "New Political Alignment Looms," commenting that Phipps "appears to be playing footsie with former political enemies" and warning that he might be "outfoxed."

The situation at meetings of the county commissioners progressed from bad to worse. When Frank Wilde’s proposals often were blocked, in order to put the commissioners on record, he asked for a vote on ending legalized gambling in Anne Arundel County. When forced to vote, the usual five to three split was the result. Later, Wilde proposed a study of the effects of legalized gambling on the county. Klima, Pitcher, Wigley, Boehm, and Collinson opposed a study. When Wilde, Carr, and Russell noted the accomplishments of J.J. Salovaara during his first six months in office, the commissioners agreed to raise his salary. A few weeks later, the majority faction voted to withdraw the raise.

With only staunch Samuel Carr and Dr. Carl Russell to support him, Wilde realized that he needed backup from citizens to accomplish any changes. At the same time, Charles F. Kirkley, pastor at Trinity Methodist Church in Annapolis, was eager to end legalized gambling. When Wilde asked me to assemble a group to meet him and consider supporting his efforts, I invited leaders of the Citizens Committee and Rev. Charles Kirkley to a planning session. This alliance resulted in what became known as the Kirkley Committee Report.

In the fall of 1959, the Citizens Committee authorized a Committee to Study the Effects of Gambling in Anne Arundel County and appointed a group chaired by Charles Kirkley, with Jack McCann of Annapolis as vice-chairman, Helen Erdman of Round Bay as secretary, and William Passano, Jr., of Gibson Island as treasurer. William J. Martin and Isabel Cunningham of Annapolis, William Woodfield of Galesville, Thomas Manning of Ferndale, James Salyers of Odenton, and Evelyn Tretbar of Arnold also served on the committee. The group met frequently and gathered evidence throughout the winter. Charles Kirkley consulted Virgil Peterson, Director of the Chicago Crime Commission; John J. Harbaugh, Director of the Maryland Criminal Justice Commission; and others. By spring, the committee produced a seventeen-page report detailing the political, economic, and social effects of legalized gambling in the county.

Evelyn Tretbar, an outspoken foe of gambling interests, received anonymous telephone threats. (Readers of History Notes will remember her as the person who saved most of the photos and information about the homes destroyed to clear the site of the airport, as well as the Red Cross volunteer who served over 2,000 hours during World War II.) As she was returning home after a meeting of the Kirkley Committee one night, a car followed closely on her bumper and then accelerated rapidly, forcing her to accelerate. As she approached the Arnold traffic light, the car turned off on a side road and a police car with flashing lights appeared. The officer stopped her and, despite her protests, gave her a ticket for speeding. She fought the charge in traffic court, but she had to pay her fine because the policeman testified that he had not seen another car.

Frank Wilde received threats and his telephone line was tapped for several yeas. During the first year, the tap did not appear to be professional because bursts of static made carrying on a conversation difficult. Callers soon realized that anything they said on that telephone line soon would be known by Wilde’s opponents.

Ron Paape, who lived near the Rose Haven marina, motel, and restaurant with many slot machines, became an outspoken opponent of legalized gambling. Then he received a phone call from an unidentified speaker who reminded him that his children waited for the bus on a rural road where they might be in danger if a car accidently swerved and struck them. He was effectively silenced. I remember going with my husband and a detective and his "date," another detective, to the restaurant at Rose Haven to observe what was going on there. I never knew who employed the detective, though I saw him observing the county commissioners in session.

As the primary election approached in 1960, Paul Pitcher filed for judge of the Circuit Court. After reporting on March 23 that Pitcher, Klima, and Louis Phipps, Junior, had failed in an attempt to see Governor Tawes in his office, the EveningCapital commented editorially on March 31, 1960, that Pitcher, "an alert politician," was better suited to his present post than to the Bench, since he lacked judicial experience, except in magistrate’s court. The same newspaper contained another article headlined, "Political Axes Ready, Aimed at Wilde, Salovaara."

In this atmosphere, The Kirkley Committee submitted its report to the county commissioners at an evening session on May 5, 1960. I recall the meeting room and the corridor outside the room packed with people, many standing. Among those in the corridor outside the front door of the room were Nick Andrews with his brother, Tony Andrews. Charles Kirkley read the seventeen pages of the report clearly, stating that, "though aware of subtle influences that lurk beneath the surface, we have concerned ourselves with the obvious features of gambling." He pointed out that only Nevada and four counties of southern Maryland legalize gambling and that Maryland had issued more gambling machine stamps than Nevada in 1958. Then he asked, "Would Anne Arundel County be better off without slot machines and commercial bingo?"

Replying to that question, the report stated that legalized gambling here has attracted professionals with connections to Chicago and Las Vegas. The Washington Post(April 26, 1960) called the Ace Manufacturing Company of Glen Burnie "one of the giants of the slot machine manufacturing industry." On December 21, 1959, Virgil Peterson of the Chicago Crime Commission wrote A.J.T. Zumbrun, Director of the Maryland Crime Investigating Committee, that "some of our Chicago hoodlums are attempting to gain a foothold in Maryland." Peterson wrote that four officials of the Ace Novelty Company had been arrested in March 1958 in Cook County, Illinois, and had pled guilty to unlawful manufacture of slot machines. After another load of their slot machines was seized and destroyed in June, they moved their Cook County plant to Las Vegas. Three of the men arrested were the president of the Glen Burnie company, now a county resident, and two vice-presidents of the local company with addresses in Illinois.

Charles Kirkley continued by pointing out that Anne Arundel County grants just eleven licenses to distribute slot machines in the county and these licenses are held by thirteen men and two women. Many names that appear on slot machine licenses are also on the seven commercial bingo licenses. A few people therefore control a huge amount of money and wield considerable influence on local economic, social, and political life. The report named the license holders.

Charles Kirkley then addressed economic effects of legalized gambling operations that do not enrich the county, but, as studies show, undermine the basic economy by diverting money that otherwise would go to legitimate businesses. From the multi-million dollar legalized gambling profits, some of which is said to go out of state, no merchandise is sold, no public services are rendered, and no capital improvements are made. To support this statement, Kirkley read the results of the investigation that he and Jack McCann made at Colonial Beach, Virginia.

Across the Potomac River from Charles County at Colonial Beach in 1949, gambling casinos were built on piers extending from the shore into Maryland waters. After they existed for nine years, the Maryland General Assembly banned them in 1958. Interviews revealed that, after the slot machines were removed, more money was spent with local merchants, people who were delinquent in paying bills began to pay in full, restaurants and beach resorts did more business, more new home mortgages were issued, checks returned for insufficient funds decreased sharply, assets of the local bank increased considerably, and the monthly average of fifteen to twenty car repossessions was reduced to one or two a month. When the casinos were open, fines for traffic violations and drunk and disorderly charges ran as high as $1,000 a month. After slot machines were banned, the average dropped to $100 monthly and the police force was reduced.

Oral evidence of the economic effects of gambling included stories of a housewife who lost her entire savings of $1,500, women who asked the Justice of the Peace to keep their husbands away from casinos so the family could survive, and workmen who lost a week’s pay in one night. Residents felt that their town was hurt by publicity like the September 1957 issue of The Saturday Evening Post that called the area "Las Vegas on the Potomac." The report cited other evidence, including a letter from the States Attorney for Anne Arundel County, who wrote that, "in matters of non-support, we frequently are advised by the wife that the wages and salary of the wage earner have been dissipated in slot machines and/or in the consumption of alcoholic beverages."

Moving on to social effects, the report stated that many easily accessible slot machines upset healthy patterns of family life. As Virgil Peterson said, "Gambling holds the greatest attraction for poor people." Many examples revealed disrupted households, cases of non-support, hardship caused by income lost in gambling, and embezzlement and breaking and entering, often by juveniles, in order to get money to play slot machines. One insurance salesman lost several jobs when applicants for insurance learned that payments made to this man were not received by the company. He had clients make checks payable to himself and cashed the checks at a restaurant in Brooklyn Park so he could use the money to play the slot machines there.

The Kirkley Report pointed out that the October 1958 Grand Jury stated that proprietors allowed young people under the age of sixteen to play slot machines. "Many of these youngsters were involved in breaking and entering cases. Money they spent generally was furnished by parents for lunches and allowances. Instead, it ended in a gambling device, and the need to replenish the supply became acute." Teachers said that children often lost their lunch money in slot machines at lunch counters near schools. After a seventeen-year-old juvenile was convicted of petty theft and sentenced to the House of Correction, evidence revealed that the motivation for his crime was wanting money to play slot machines.

Finally, the report stated that political corruption and legalized gambling go hand in hand and described the political effects of legalized gambling locally: "There are persistent rumors linking the syndicate with people holding political office in this county. Large sums of money are in the hands of men who need the protection of office holders in order to continue their lucrative business. Is it too much to assume that there might be among our own elected officials some who could be induced to accept gifts from this source in return for a hands-off attitude toward legalized gambling? We have heard that these temptations come at amazingly high figures." As an example of corruption of county employees, he quoted the February 13, 1960, issue of Nation telling that slot machine interests in Charles County sponsored a petition to forestall the effects of a bill to limit the number of slot machines in any one establishment. Three uniformed Charles County deputy sheriffs who were on the payroll of the casino circulated petitions.

Charles Kirkley concluded with a request that the county commissioners either vote to eliminate slot machines and commercial bingo by executive action, or, if they were reluctant to assume that responsibility, vote to request passage of such legislation at the 1961 session of the legislature. Edgar Kolb, owner of Beverly and Triton beaches, spoke for gambling interests. After a two-hour hearing with about 300 opponents of legalized gambling in the audience, the commissioners accepted the report and agreed to consider a county referendum.

Because of Wilde’s opposition to legalized gambling and support of responsible government, the majority faction of the commissioners saw him as their nemesis. The situation reached a crisis three weeks after the Kirkley Report was heard. A conflict over the Board’s application for additional federal funds for a storm water drainage project, which Wilde opposed, led Edward J. Klima to tell reporters that the majority would remove Wilde as chairman at the next opportunity. That chance came on May 26, 1960, when the Board sat for a zoning hearing. Rumors flew all day that something unusual was to occur that evening, but only few of us knew that Wilde, Carr, and Russell had obtained a circuit court injunction and show-cause order restraining the majority’s action. The meeting room was packed to capacity when Wilde called the session to order. After some preliminaries, he declared a recess and the eight commissioners retired to the adjoining room. There the injunction was served, and the minority members enjoyed a temporary triumph.

When the court order restraining the majority commissioners from removing Wilde was renewed June 30, counsel for the majority of commissioners filed a demurrer and a motion for dissolution of the order. But the Court extended the time of relief until after Judge James E. Boylan of the Carroll County Circuit Court heard the case. Ridgely Melvin served as counsel for the minority on July 15, and Judge Boylan again extended the restraining order.

At a meeting of the commissioners earlier that day, the Evening Capital reported that "an all-out fight broke out among members." The commissioners had applied for federal funds to pay $154,000 for engineering costs related to a storm drainage project. Later they asked for an additional $100,000, despite Wilde’s opposition and Salovaara’s warning that the federal agency would grant only the original amount. The newspaper reported that "Commissioner Edward J. Klima vehemently attacked Wilde for not promoting the program." He was joined by Paul T. Pitcher, "another leader in the anti-Wilde movement."

Throughout the county during June and early July, voters circulated petitions declaring "complete faith and confidence that Frank W. Wilde is doing an excellent job of guarding our interests. His high degree of integrity merits our gratitude, loyalty, and enduring support.... We look upon the attempt to remove him as politically inspired and against the public interests." On July 15, representatives of seven of the eight election districts appeared before the commissioners and individually presented Declarations of Loyalty signed by a total of over two thousand citizens. Especially supportive was Wilde’s small seventh district that supplied hundreds of signatures.

The Evening Capital commented on July 16, "After hearing slashing remarks about him and his leadership that morning and after being cross-examined in the Carroll County Circuit Court that afternoon, Wilde was no doubt glad to receive pledges of loyalty."

Wilde and Salovaara took the initiative in October 1960. Urging a complete reorganization of the Department of Public Works, Wilde called the department a political tool and charged waste because each commissioner ruled public works in his districts and hired separate crews. "Money appropriated for new road construction and other improvements has been used for political reasons rather than on the basis of priority and needs," he said. He refused to identify the commissioners he accused but said that abuses occurred chiefly in the larger northern districts. Salovaara then surprised the commissioners giving each one a copy of a model home rule charter that he recommended for the county.

As county residents realized that the commissioners never would end legalized gambling, action shifted to the legislature in preparation for the 1961 session. Members of the Citizens Committee circulated petitions asking the Anne Arundel delegation in the state legislature to call for a referendum to let the people decide on legalized gambling. They collected more than 5,000 signatures of voters, despite having some signed petitions stolen, even one posted in a church.

On December 13, 1960, John McClay, general manager of WJZ-TV (Channel 13), broadcast an editorial supporting a referendum on legalized gambling in Southern Maryland. He stated that Anne Arundel County soon would become so dependent on gambling revenue that it would be almost impossible to end this dependence. He pointed out that many small businesses were losing their independence to powerful slot machine interests that held liens or notes on their property. He warned of "ominous signs that certain interests in the county want to block a referendum."

This warning proved valid when owners of stores, taverns, restaurants, and commercial bingo halls circulated petitions opposing a referendum. Attached was a statement quoting County Treasurer Elmer Dunn, who said that county taxes would be increased by forty cents on the dollar without revenue from gambling. (Citizens Committee research showed that the actual figure was ten or eleven cents.) Fliers carrying messages like "Save Your Home" and "Protest Higher Taxes" urged voters to oppose a referendum. At least one petition was circulated by a policeman in uniform and on duty. When a referendum seemed possible, Senator Phipps, accompanied by representatives of slot machine interests, asked the House delegation for two separate hearing on the proposal, one for proponents and one for opponents. Phipps said that this was necessary because "we do not know what the preachers are going to say." Two hearings were set.

At a meeting of the Citizens Committee on February 1, 1961, the speaker was Downey Rice, Washington attorney, former FBI agent, and former staff member of the Kefauver Committee. He said that the underworld controls gambling. He asserted that laws permitting legalized gambling in Southern Maryland constituted a monopoly and that the matter should be referred to the Kefauver Crime Investigating Committee for anti-trust action.

On February 28, 1961, about 300 proponents of a referendum on gambling crowded into the House of Delegates chamber for a public hearing. Before the hearing Charles Kirkley brought his advisor, a Washington attorney named Rufus King, to my home for a planning session during dinner. I never knew who paid for the services of this prominent lawyer (who later defended Jimmy Hoffa). Charles Kirkley made the initial presentation, summarizing previous findings and adding new information, and others made statements favoring a referendum

Before the March 2 hearing for opponents of a referendum, newspaper ads urged people to attend to save private clubs’ slot machine revenue and to keep taxes low. The full-page ad in the Evening Capital on March 1, 1961, sought to confuse the issue: ATTENTION: American Legion, VFW, Elks Clubs, Moose Lodges, Knights of Columbus, Fire Companies, Taverns, Restaurants, and All Business Establishments and Organizations with Coin-Operated Machines. PROTECT YOUR INCOME! PROTECT YOUR BUSINESS! PROTECT YOUR LOW TAX RATE! Be sure to attend the mass meeting tomorrow, 8:00 P.M., House of Delegates Chamber, Annapolis." The ad explained that The Citizens Committee of Anne Arundel County was trying to abolish the machines "that mean so much to you. Yes, your livelihood is at stake."

Taverns throughout the county closed from six until ten p.m. on March 2, 1961, "to protest higher taxes." Slot machine distributors provided 32 buses to take almost 1,000 opponents to the State House. About 1,500 people were present to hear speaker after speaker claim that his store, restaurant, or resort could not survive without slot machine revenue. The Anne Arundel County delegation, with Chairman Ridgely Melvin supported by Lanny Ridout, John Whitmore, and Garrett Larrimore, voted four to two to call for a referendum at the next general election.

When the House of Delegates Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the referendum on March 21, 1961, the House chamber was packed with opponents and proponents. One proponent commented on the number of well-dressed, silver-haired women present, "surely on our side," but I explained that those were our opponents, the bingo players. For almost three hours, speakers attacked or defended legalized gambling. Edgar Kolb was the spokesman for the slot machine distributors. David Hume, a Charles County resident and Washington attorney, criticized Tawes for calling slot machines a local issue, while Charles Kirkley offered evidence to support his demand for either a statewide referendum or legislation providing for gradual abolition of slot machines in Southern Maryland.

The bill calling for a referendum reached the House late in the session. Edgar Kolb, now a registered lobbyist for slot machine interests, placed pro-slot material on each desk as the session convened. Lanny Ridout recalls that the Speaker of the House allowed Kolb to sit in one of the chairs at the front of the chamber facing the delegates when slot machines were discussed. These seats usually were reserved for distinguished visitors, but Mr. Kolb used that vantage point to keep an eye on the delegates. Though this was a local bill, the entire House would vote, but legislative courtesy required other delegations to vote with members from the county sponsoring a local bill. On this occasion, many members flouted that custom. When the initial vote was recorded, the board was liberally sprinkled with red lights signifying negative votes.

Ridgely Melvin, a future Circuit Court judge and the mildest of men, rose "white with anger," according to the Washington Post. "This board shows more clearly than anything else could the extent of the power of slot machine interests in Maryland," he said. His denunciation was seconded by Blair Lee of Montgomery County, a future lieutenant governor, and Joseph Tydings of Harford County, a future U.S. senator. Some red lights on the board went out as these men pointed out the only reason someone from another county would oppose an Anne Arundel referendum on legalized gambling. Though many Baltimore City delegates remained opposed to the bill, the final vote barely achieved the majority necessary to send it to the Senate.

When the bill reached the Senate, Senator Phipps amended it to call for a special election, half the cost to be paid by those who sought the referendum. The amendment written by Edgar Kolb passed. The bill died because the Citizens Committee, familiar with slot distributors’ bus service to transport pro-slot voters to the polls, had declared a special election unacceptable. In the same session, two state-wide bills to eliminate slot machines died in committee. Even the Gallagher bill that simply required owners and distributors to register their names and addresses failed to pass.

After the session ended, The Sun denounced "the appalling control" that the syndicate of slot machine distributors held over legislators and reported attempted bribery of public officials and reprisals against legislators who had supported the referendum. Restaurants cancelled orders for milk from the Ridout dairy and for menus printed by the Whitmore Printing Company. Events showed "muscle" behind threats from the syndicate. During 1961 three of the eleven license holders or family members were in court charged with violent acts. Earl Missler was found guilty of assault on a restaurant owner with a lead pipe; Charles (Gump) Howard was charged with firing two shots inside The Barn Restaurant in Glen Burnis with both bullets striking the cash register; and Nick Andrews was charged with forcibly repossessing a restaurant and slot machine location that he had sold.

The Sun reported further evidence of outside influence within Anne Arundel County when a New York resident, Peter Mongelli, became an officer in a company headed by one of the eleven slot machine distributors and boasted that he would control more licenses soon. At a trial in Baltimore, a lawyer labeled Mongelli "a New York racketeer" and "a tin-horn sport that Mayor La Guardia ran out of New York City." Yet J. Hergert Stieff, who issued licenses and inspected machines in Anne Arundel County, had asserted that the eleven license holders were local people of good character and told the county commissioners that he had known Mongelli "for some time." A few months later, on October 31, The Sun reported that a British consultant to the Ace Manufacturing Company in Glen Burnie was to be deported for "crimes of moral turpitude" including larceny, assault, and receiving stolen goods.

In April 1961 the Citizens Committee, having received expert legal advice that the multi-million dollar slot machine business might not be legal, formed the Committee to Test the Legality of Slot Machines in Anne Arundel County. Charles Kirkley wrote, "Having exhausted all other possibilities to counteract this menace through democratic procedures and having found ourselves opposed by proponents of slots who have unlimited money and political power, the only recourse is to test the legality of slots in court. This is a fight against big money, political overlords, and a vested interest that is draining our county of funds and infecting its bloodstream." Supporters responded to his appeal for contributions to pay legal counsel and expert witnesses.

The hearing on the Citizens Committee’s challenge of the legality of slot machines and commercial bingo was held on November 28, 1962, before Judge James Macgill of the Howard County Circuit Court. The defendants were Anne Arundel’s County Commissioners and Edgar S. Kolb, spokesman for slot machine interests. Charles C. Hartman, attorney for the Citizens Committee, argued that Maryland’s enabling acts do not authorize the county commissioners to regulate amusement devices. The suit was not successful.

During the summer of 1961, Wilde, with the faithful support of Carr and Russell, continued to struggle with the majority faction on slot machine and storm drainage issues. He appointed Klima, Wigley, and Russell to find ways to prevent minors from playing slot machines. In July the Board adopted their report recommending penalties for allowing anyone under eighteen to play the machines. Wilde also advocated revamping the ten million dollar storm drain program that Pitcher and Klima advocated. "We have done what the federal authorities warned us against," he told the commissioners. According to the Evening Capital on August 16, 1981, he also "chided the claims of Klima and Pitcher" that the plan could be carried out without an ad valorum tax.

In a related effort in July 1961, Bennett Crain, an Annapolis attorney, organized and then chaired a group dedicated to replacing the commissioner form of government with government according to a home rule charter. This project had the support of the five distinguished citizens who had written the county manager plan. In order to place the issue on the ballot for referendum, the group needed to gather 10,000 signatures.

By this time, Federal investigators had become interested in suspected racketeering in Anne Arundel County. Joseph Tydings, who had been named U.S. Attorney for Maryland, took Frank Wilde to the Justice Department in Washington where he met F.B.I. agents who were working in the county. They took seriously a warning Wilde had received by mail: "Poor dumb boy. It is a shame to wait for the next election to get you. Have your fun now. It won’t last long." With this threat in mind, Wilde became aware that he was being followed one night as he returned from a meeting to his home in Shady Side. By making several detours on back roads, he lost the other car. Several days later, a man he knew as an F.B.I. agent said to him, "You sure know those south county roads. You lost us the other night when we were following you." The agent explained that they were trying to protect him because they thought he was in danger.

To escape constant pressure, Frank and Doris Wilde decided to go to Ocean City for a weekend, but making their reservation from their home phone was a mistake. When they reached their motel, they found that one of the master slot machine license holders was occupying the next room. They wondered if that might have been a coincidence until they observed that he was on the elevator with them whenever they left their room. During the night they awoke several times to loud cries of "Murder!" "Murder!’ Needless to say, they did not have a restful weekend.

In a letter appealing for financial support for the Committee to Test the Legality of Slot Machines, Charles Kirkley quoted the May 12, 1961 Washington Post: "In next year’s election, they (Lowman, Rose, Phipps, Klima, and Pitcher) expect a grand alliance, helped by slot machine money, to defeat the Melvin-Whitmore-Ridout and Wilde factions, which now are a troublesome reformist minority in the political merry-go-round." Proponents of good government failed to give this warning the attention it deserved.

By late summer, the majority faction of the Board was ready to get rid of J.J. Salovaara, the county manager who supported the minority on issues like the storm water drainage plan. An extremely able man of absolute integrity, he wanted everything done by the rules and had no interest in compromise. He had been investigating two of the commissioners and another county official because he believed they were misusing public works department funds. When these men became aware of his suspicions, his fate was sealed. At a meeting of the Board on August 22, Collinson said of Salovaara, "I never saw a man act so arrogantly. I believe you should be fired." Then he added, "I move we fire the county manager." Wilde ruled the motion out of order because of insufficient grounds.

On October 4 Salovaara angered some commissioners further by asking the Board to take control of the Sanitary Commission, an independent agency that did not account for its expenditure of a multi-million dollar budget. Phipps supported the majority commissioners by issuing a statement criticizing Salovaara and the charter plan. On October 29, four commissioners voted to cut Salovaara’a salary by $4,500. When Wigley voted with the minority faction, Wilde ruled that the motion failed. Representing the Citizens Committee, Evelyn Tretbar appeared at the next meeting of the Board to say that the Citizens Committee deplored the harassment of Salovaara and that the attempt to cut Salovaara’s salary was a deliberate effort on the part of some commissioners to undermine the county manager law.

Early in November, Paul Pitcher resigned as county commissioner because Governor Tawes appointed him to the Bench. This was disturbing to foes of legalized gambling. Previously judges had been free of the influence of slot machine interests, but Pitcher had defended those interests in the past. He was replaced as commissioner by Elmer Dunn.

At the next meeting of the county commissioners, Klima, Dunn, Boehm, and Collinson voted to pass a resolution calling for Salovaara’s suspension and ultimate dismissal. Wilde refused to sign the resolution, leaving reporters wondering whether Salovaara was still county manager or not. The next day they found him "still firmly entrenched." On November 13, Klima moved that Wilde be forced to sign the resolution. With Boehm absent and Wigley abstaining, the vote was three to three, and Wilde ruled that the motion had failed. Klima, Collinson, and Dunn then petitioned the court for a writ of mandamus requiring Wilde to sign Salovaara’s dismissal. Judge Macgill of the Howard County Circuit Court heard the case on December 19. Early in January, Judge Macgill ruled that the suspension of Salovaara was valid without Wilde’s signature.

A Yardley cartoon in The Sun on January 20, 1962, showed the rest of the state looking with amazement at the slot baron’s castle in Anne Arundel County; "hick" politicians challenged by Wilde, Carr, and Russell; and the majority county commissioners calling for the firing of the county manager. Also shown were Pitcher holding a "Tawes job plum," Bowie Rose pumping up Lowman, and Sheriff Alton saying, "The federal gambling probe is political." Bowie Rose, a foe of charter government, never ran for election but served as campaign manager for both Lowman and Phipps.

Early in February 1962 Joseph Tydings, a representative of the federal government, led 37 agents in raids in Anne Arundel County. Eight people engaged in numbers and bookmaking operations at five locations were arrested in what Tydings called a "substantial" operation. Thereafter Wilde asked why federal agents and not county authorities were making raids here. Police Chief Calvin Wade answered that Wilde’s criticism was "politically inspired," and Sheriff Alton said that Wilde’s remarks were "typical of his constant efforts to downgrade Anne Arundel County for political purposes." Neither answered his question. When the grand jury considered legalized gambling in Anne Arundel County in 1962, it reported a "sordid mess." The jurors were especially concerned about inadequate oversight of minors playing slot machines and distributors who were "skimming profits." Yet chief Wade declared the county "void of crime" late in March.

By mid-February, Salovaara’a attorney, C.C. Hartman, filed a request for a formal hearing on his dismissal. His supporters, including charter advocates, Citizens Committee members, and friends from St. Anne’s Episcopal Church, contributed to his legal defense fund. Five commissioners listed ten specific charges against him. The two and one-half day hearing opened on March 6, 1962, before eighty spectators, most of whom were Salovaara supporters. He denied all charges and refuted claims but refused to give names of those who informed him about activities of county officials. Klima was the lead witness against Salovaara, and Maurice Weidemeyer acted as counsel for the majority commissioners.

At the end of the March 13 meeting of the Board, the commissioners voted five to three to dismiss Salovaara, a man who was elected president of the Maryland Association of County Administrators in 1961and 1962 and director of the National Association of County Administrators from 1961 to 1963. C.C. Hartman stated that Salovaara’s only recourse was in the courts since his rights had been violated at an unfair hearing.

Churchill Murray, Marion Lazenby, and three other leading citizens of Anne Arundel County who had drafted the county manager law joined with Salovaara in a petition for a writ of mandamus "to show cause why Salovaara should not be reinstated." The majority commissioners replied on April 13. The case was heard by Judge Macgill of Howard County, who ruled late in May that Salovaara had not been denied due process. Macgill therefore upheld the dismissal. With no income and with a wife and five small children to support, Salovaara left Maryland in June to pursue a distinguished career elsewhere. Wilde promised to conduct a national search for another professional county manager.

With Salovaara gone, no one was available to succeed him. The Board therefore appointed Wilde to act temporarily as county manager as well as chairman of the county commissioners. This gave allies of the majority faction an opportunity to take him to court for holding two offices of trust simultaneously. The hearing was moved to the Howard County Circuit Court where Judge Macgill found Wilde not guilty since he had taken no salary as manager. His accusers appealed because he had used the manager’s car, the only car with a radio, when he needed to keep in touch with his office from distant parts of the county. The appeal was dismissed. By the end of the year, Vinton T. Bull was acting county manager.

In late 1962, one encouraging development contrasted with the discouraging struggle for better government. In the November election, citizens voted two-to-one for County Question C, a proposal for a special board to write a home rule charter for Anne Arundel County. But Samuel Foster, foreman of the October 1961 grand jury, protested the commissioners’ forty percent cut of funds for the jury’s investigative function. Foster said this seemed inconsistent with "persistent suspicion of corruption." Frank Wilde commented that he had urged colleagues not to cut this appropriation during "secret budget discussions." A Yardley cartoon in The Sun on November 6 showed a dinosaur called "Anne Arundel Establishment" with Phipps, Klima, and Alton aboard. Near the tail of the dinosaur was a man labeled "the slots interests." He has a big sack of dollars and is putting currency through a slot into the dinosaur

With the 1962 primary election looming, both home rule and slot machines were in the news. In April Bennett Crain challenged Phipps to a debate on charter government, but Phipps did not respond. Dr. Russell objected in vain to renewing the license of a slots distributor because he had associated with a known criminal and also to renaming Herget Stieff head of licensing and inspection of slot machines. Legalized gambling was an important issue in the election as David Hume, a constant foe of slot machines, challenged incumbent Governor Millard Tawes. Hume polled a surprising number of votes but lost the election. John Whitmore ran unsuccessfully against Phipps for the Senate, while Alton was unopposed on the Republican ticket.

The primary election gave proponents of slot machines an opportunity for revenge. Wilde considered running for the House of Delegates but decided that he could serve the county best as county commissioner. Fewer than 350 people voted in his seventh election district. Rumors abounded of votes there being bought for as little as ten dollars, while some of Wilde’s former supporters voted against him because "that s.o.b. took away our slot machines." When he came into his headquarters in mid-afternoon on election day, he said to me, "I am not going to make it. People I have known all my life won’t look me in the eye when they come to vote." He lost by 81 votes. Five incumbent commissioners were reelected: Carr, Boehm, Dunn, Collinson, and Klima. They were joined by Pauline Remey, former police chief Calvin Wade, and Robert Campbell, who took the seat Dr. Russell gave up to devote his time to his dental practice.

Twenty-two men filed for the six seats in the House of Delegates, including Lanny Ridout who was targeted by slots interests. Ridgely Melvin did not run for reelection. Contrary to the law against electioneering within 25 feet of the polling place, Edgar Kolb walked along the line of people waiting to vote, reminding each one that Ridout voted against slot machines and raised taxes. Ridout, who had led the ticket in 1950, ran seventh in 1962, losing his seat by just eighteen votes. He then joined Bennett Crain in working for charter government. Four men identified as proponents of slot machines were elected to the House.

By the end of August, Crain’s committee had over 11,000 valid signatures on the petition for a referendum on charter government in November 1962. Five candidates filing to serve on the board that would write the charter if the referendum succeeded were Benjamin Michaelson, T. Churchill Murray, Ridgely Melvin, John A. Cade, and William Padfield, Sr.

The four counties of Southern Maryland continued to attract the attention of federal investigators and of voters throughout the state. Residents were disturbed by the area’s reputation as "honky-tonk" and by the influence of gambling interests on the state legislature. On the national scene, President Kennedy and Attorney General Robert Kennedy were battling organized crime, and Joseph Tydings, U.S. Attorney General for Maryland, kept them informed about developments in Southern Maryland.

In September Wilde, identified by reporters as "an arch-foe of slot machines," revealed that he had discussed the local situation with officials of the U.S. Justice Department and had sent a report to Attorney General Kennedy. Wilde urged citizens to vote for home rule as a remedy to the problems that were giving the county an unenviable reputation. Governor Tawes, who had declared slot machines a local issue in the primary, reversed his position, announcing that he and David Hume had reached an accord and that he would support abolition of slot machines.

In the general election on November 6, 1962, voters choose charter government by a two to one margin and Joseph Alton defeated Louis N. Phipps, becoming the first Republican Senator from Anne Arundel County since 1900 and the only Republican holding office in the county. After the election, the Charter Board announced three public meetings for citizen input as they worked on a draft of a charter for the voters to adopt in 1964. With Collinson president of the county commissioners, the new Board failed to approve an appropriation for the Charter Board. Collinson, Boehm, Remey, and Campbell sought a legal opinion on their right to withhold funds for a charter that eventually would replace commissioners with a county council.

As the legislative session began in January 1963, concerned citizens of Anne Arundel County knew that the time had come to push a statewide effort to end legalized gambling. Backed by the Citizens Committee, Frank W. Wilde chaired the Maryland Committee for the Abolition of Slot Machines. With David Hume as legal counsel, the group set up headquarters in Carvel Hall (now Paca House) in Annapolis. In mid-January Wilde made a statement in The Sun attacking the influence of legalized gambling on Southern Maryland and calling on the governor, who had been silent on the issue, to honor his campaign pledge to support abolition of slot machines.

One of the first tasks of the Maryland Committee to Abolish Slot Machines was to find a director for each Congressional district and a chairman for every county and Baltimore City. I spent many hours on the telephone seeking people to serve. Marjorie Holt, later a Republican Congresswoman, served as Anne Arundel County chairman. Among those who worked with Wilde at his headquarters were Margaret Baker, Pat Howard, and Henrietta Fieldler, with Angeline Williams as a valuable resource person. By February 15, Wilde announced that his group had chairmen in all counties of Maryland and three state senators or former senators were acting as directors of their districts.

Following a statewide meeting of supporters of the Maryland Committee for the Abolition of Slot Machines in Baltimore on February 4, 1963, Frank Wilde sent out a fact sheet explaining the need for action. After pointing out the connection between highly profitable gambling operations and organized crime and the effects of legalized gambling on the area, he said that gambling money would be important when legislators voted on an anti-slot machine bill. Baltimore attorney Joseph S. Kaufman, recently Deputy Attorney General of Maryland, had registered on January 24 as lobbyist for a major Anne Arundel County slot machine distributor. (Kaufman was paid $10,0000 to represent slots interests in 1963, an astounding fee at that time.) Wilde concluded, "Legalized gambling has extended its grasping tentacles deeply into the political and economic structure of four counties of Maryland. Won’t you help free these captive counties from the shackles of gamblers and restore our pride in our state?"

The fact sheet urged readers to write to the governor and to their state senator and delegates and to gather signatures on the declarations of support. County chairmen distributed the fact sheet and declarations to activists who urged people to sign and circulate declarations and to call their representatives to express support of the anti-slots bill. Efforts to abolish commercial bingo ended with the decision to focus on eliminating slot machines.

Major support came from Methodist, Baptist, and other churches. On February 25, 1963, Bishop John Wesley Lord sent a letter to all Methodist pastors in Maryland, saying that "whether we move away from this vicious evil or become more deeply entrenched is the question confronting us." He urged support of the bill to outlaw slot machines in Maryland. Though the Baptist Church was not as centrally organized as the Methodists, William J. Martin led the Baptist Association in circulating declarations and attending hearings.

When House Bill 475 was introduced, Governor Tawes backed the bill, saying that gambling was dominating the southern Maryland economy. Nevertheless, some Democratic delegates did not support it. Only Garrett Larrimore and Hayes Duvall of the Anne Arundel County delegation backed HB 475. In the first vote a delegate from Frederick County, who had promised to support the bill, decided that Frederick was far enough away from Annapolis for him to vote with slot machine interests. Wilde’s office promptly called the Frederick County Chairman, Austin Renn. Renn must have reached every member of the Grange and every Methodist Church in the county. As a result, the unfortunate delegate’s phone rang continuously for hours. The next day the word went around the House of Delegates that the Committee to Abolish Slot Machines had teeth.

On February 28 the Judiciary Committee held a public hearing on House Bill 475. Once more the House of Delegates chamber was packed with proponents and opponents of the bill. By this time, Charles Kirkley was serving a large church in Montgomery County. Wilde and Hume led the proponents, while Kaufman spoke for the opponents of the bill. Hume testified that slot machines had a stranglehold on Southern Maryland’s economy. John McNulty, chairman of the Anne Arundel delegation, with the support of Helms, Weidemeyer, and Brockmeyer, announced that he would move to have Anne Arundel County exempted from the bill. On March 7 the Judiciary Committee sent the bill to the full House, having extended the three-year phase-out period to four years.

With the end of the session a few weeks away, the stage was set for a final battle. Calvert, Charles, and St. Mary’s county delegations offered amendments to exclude their counties from the bill, and McNulty promised "an all-out fight" from Anne Arundel. As several delegates spoke on the floor of the House about the influence of bribery on the debate, parliamentary maneuvers postponed action. Two proposed amendments from the Anne Arundel County delegation were shouted down on Monday evening, March 11, but the phase-out time for slot machines increased to five years. The Evening Capital reported on "the drama of the tension-filled session" on March 18 when the electronic scoreboard failed as the final vote was taken. A lengthy voice vote with explanations from delegates followed, but the bill finally passed.

When the bill reached the Senate on March 29, debate continued despite Administration support, and senators attempted to add amendments that would have sent the bill back to the House too late in the session for passage. These attempts were defeated with a sixteen to twelve vote, causing many people to wonder why many delegates and senators from counties without slot machines were eager to protect that source of money. Though Southern Maryland senators tried to extend the phase-out time, the bill passed and Governor Tawes signed it. Each of the five years thereafter, slots interests employed lobbyists in major efforts to reverse that action.

The county commissioners continued to disagree as Victor Sulin, a tobacco farmer and former president of the local Farm Bureau, was slated to become county manager. On April 1, 1963, the Evening Capital headlines reported "hassle flares" and "angry exchanges fly" when Klima demanded to see Sulin’s application. With Collinson presiding, "charges of lying and power politics almost turned the meeting into a disorganized ruckus." Sulin took office a few days later.

Public hearings on the proposed charter continued as the Charter Board concluded six months spent developing a document that would replace the county commissioners and county manager with a county council and county executive. They completed a draft of the proposed charter in May 1963 with the hope that the voters would approve it in 1964.

The Charter Board promised local laws made in public, better representation, long-range planning, a merit system, and responsible and efficient government. Before the November 1964 election, they printed a coloring book to urge voters to push lever D on election day. One illustration, for example, showed the budget and asked, "Where do the taxpayer’s dollars go? Color it obscure." Another picture labeled "These are the county commissioners" showed a closed door marked "Private. Keep Out." The text asked the reader to cut a hole in the door. Voters adopted charter government in November, and the charter became effective in 1965.

After a fourteen-year struggle, in 1964 concerned citizens and their dedicated leaders rejoiced over the end of the outmoded county commissioner form of government and the phase-out of slot machines. On the debit side, slot machine interests had succeeded in cutting off the promising political careers of fearless and dedicated men like Lanny Ridout and Frank W. Wilde.

CAPTION: YARDLEY, THE SUN ’S FAMOUS CARTOONIST, VIEWS ANNE

ARUNDEL COUNTY. The Sun, January 20, 1962.