• In 1978, City Councilman Raymond D. Royall was presumed drowned after he apparently faked a boating accident. He turned up in St. Louis with a new identity. He returned to Richmond and pleaded guilty to making a false statement to a bank in applying for a loan and failing to file a corporate income tax return.

• Also in 1978, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled that Councilman William I. Golding Sr. had to give up his council seat because he had been convicted of eight felony counts in 1955, including breaking and entering and auto theft. His voting rights were later restored, and he was re-elected.

Richmond will consider building roundabouts at four intersections as controversy continues over one planned at the A.P. Hill Monument on North Side. The City Council is being asked to allow roundabouts at Belt Boulevard and Hull Street Road; Forest Hill Avenue and Roanoke Street in South Richmond; 25th Street at Fairmount Avenue and Nine Mile Road, and 23rd Street and Fairfield Avenue in the East End.

A new, wooden fence concealed an ugly truth at 506 Chimborazo Blvd. in Richmond’s East End. Mosquito-infested brush, broken glass and construction debris were strewn in large piles across the yard behind the vacant, two-story house. Michael Evins, a grounds division manager in the Department of Public Works, paused in his vehicle off a narrow alley and said the yard appeared to be a dumpsite for much of the neighborhood. Then, he sized up the magnitude of yet another cleanup job—more than three large truckloads of debris, requiring a skilled crew and a Bobcat loader.

Sometimes, it pays to break the rules. The Richmond City Council will consider nearly doubling the rates that towing companies can charge to remove vehicles from private property, even though some operators have been charging more than a city ordinance allows. The city’s maximum towing fee would be raised to $125 from $65 to match the price allowed under state code, under a proposal that’s expected to be introduced to the council tomorrow. The state rate applies only if localities don’t cap their own rates.

Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones said yesterday that he’s committed to tightening a policy that allows police officers to drive their vehicles home even if they live well outside the city limits. City Council members blasted the policy as excessive after learning this week that take-home vehicles have been authorized for officers who live as far out as Fredericksburg, Jetersville and Bumpass.

The singing that broke out at Richmond City Hall yesterday might as well have come from the City Council and Mayor Dwight C. Jones.