382 ADDRESSES AND STATE PAPERS

have reflected them to friends. But these are far outweighed by a
sense of accomplishment.

I am extremely gratified at the progress we have made to date —
in such areas as tax reform, where property taxes have already been
stabilized and the burden of government has been more equitably
distributed among all citizens; in air and water pollution control
where the preliminary steps we have taken indicate that Maryland
will become a leader in the nation; in reform of our State prison
system, which has just been started; in the streamlining of the execu-
tive branch of government to make it more efficient and more eco-
nomical; in the long-range efforts to secure equal rights for all of our
citizens and to eliminate, as far as government can, the shame of un-
just discrimination that leaves too many of them a burden on the
State and their community.

In all of these areas, and in others too numerous to mention here,
there remain the challenges that I undertook when I asked the people
of Maryland to elect me as their Governor last fall. I welcome these
challenges, and others that arise on an almost daily basis. I don't in-
tend to quit short of seeing them accomplished, and I will not concern
myself until a much later date about whether I will or will not seek
a second term as Governor.

NEWS RELEASE AND STATEMENT ON REGIONAL
DETENTION CENTERS

August 21, 1967

Governor Agnew announced today that the State is considering
establishing a series of regional detention centers in cooperation with
local governments as a replacement for outmoded, overcrowded county
jails.

The idea developed from a visit by the Governor to Charles County
this summer. During a discussion of local-State problems, Charles
County Commissioners proposed that a tri-county jail be established
to serve Charles, St. Mary's and Calvert Counties.

The Governor said that Joseph G. Cannon, Maryland's new Com-
missioner of Correction, has explored the proposal with officials of
these counties and also with representatives of the Federal Bureau of
Prisons.