Reagan to Salute General, Others

--President Reagan announced that he will present the nation’s highest civilian award to Dr. Albert Sabin, discoverer of the oral polio vaccine; retired Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway and actress Helen Hayes. In all, seven people will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom at a White House ceremony on May 12. Others who will be cited are journalist Vermont Royster, for contributions in communications; Sen. Barry Goldwater, (R-Ariz.) for contributions in public service and national interests; Earl H. (Red) Blaik, former head football coach at Dartmouth University and the U.S. Military Academy, for his contributions to education and public service; and Walter H. Annenberg, former ambassador to Britain and a friend of the President, for his patronage in public service and philanthropy. Sabin will be recognized for his contributions in education and science, while Hayes will be recognized for her work in the arts and entertainment. Ridgway will be recognized as a distinguished war hero and for contributions to U.S. security and national interests. The one-time supreme allied commander in Europe and commander of U.S. forces in Korea retired as Army chief of staff in 1955.

--Authorities tightened security for the wedding of TV newswoman Maria Shriver and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger to keep celebrity watchers from approaching the church or flying over the Kennedy compound at Hyannis, Mass. Shriver, 29, niece of the late President John F. Kennedy and co-anchor of the CBS Morning News, was whisked into the compound early Thursday after a going-away party in New York and a night flight to Cape Cod. She plans to marry the 38-year-old Austrian body-builder and actor at 11 a.m. Saturday at St. Francis Xavier Church and the reception will be held at the summer home of family matriarch Rose Kennedy, 95.

--The mobile billboard has come to town, exciting advertisers with a new medium for their messages, but worrying New York City traffic officials that the rolling ads will only increase the threat of gridlock. The billboard-on-a-truck concept may be the rage in Europe, says Traffic Commissioner Ross Sandler but he is planning to issue traffic violation summonses against New York operators. Violators can be fined $250 and jailed for 15 days. “It’s outrageous to have these vehicles moving through the most congested areas of the city, at the most congested times,” Sandler said. One of the companies, Wheeler Inc., has 10 standard pickup trucks with an illuminated cube of 8-by-5-foot advertising panels mounted on the cargo bed. Even the top sports an ad to catch the eyes of people high up in buildings.