Monday, Feb. 1, 1971 --

• Sunday’s overnight temperatures dipped to zero degrees across much of the Lower Shore and the cold temperatures were expected to continue for the rest of this week. Tonight’s temps are likely to dip to as low as minus-3 degrees. Between 1 and 2 inches of snow fell in Salisbury on Saturday night into early Sunday, sending the usual number of sledders to the Elks Club hillside. Today’s high is expected be reach 22 degrees; temperatures aren’t expected to go higher than the mid-20s through Thursday. Ice 2 inches thick has been reported in both the Crisfield and Nanticoke harbors.
• A 66-year-old West Salisbury woman was killed when her oil furnace exploded Sunday afternoon, Salisbury Fire Capt. Robert Rhodes said. The body of Carrie Spriggs of 308 Delaware Avenue was found just inside the home’s entranceway at about 1:30 p.m. Firefighters were able to contain the blaze that followed the explosion to the first floor. Firefighters said Spriggs’ body was badly burned when they found her.
• Salisbury Realtor Raymond Weisner was honored by St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church and its Knights of Columbus for his land donation on Emerson Avenue that has allowed both the construction of a Knights’ social room and a county school to serve mentally handicapped children. Samuel L. Sherwell presented Mr. Weisner with a large plaque to commemorate the donation.  
• Salisbury Police Chief Leslie J. Payne reported that someone had stripped a room at the Statesman Hotel on North Salisbury Boulevard of its contents, valued at about $584. Payne said three women and two men had checked into the room and stayed only about 90 minutes. After the group left, the motel manager said two televisions, two radios, a coffee maker, bedspreads, towels and sheets were gone.
• The Wicomico County Council was set to hold a hearing on a controversial new measure that would enact grading rules on any lands disturbed for development. The measure is in response to state legislation affecting the issuance of building permits. Property owners altering a tract would need to take runoff and soil containment into account when submitting their development plans.
• New directors were inducted to lead the Salisbury Chamber of Commerce for 1971 at an event held in the Greenway Inn. They are: John W. Hess, Richard Hazel, M.W. Tilghman, Charles Shockley, Mrs. Lillian Truitt, Booker T. West and Thomas S. George Jr. Chamber President Mrs. Eleanor J. Stagg conducted the meeting. The board named Henry S. Parker to chair and coordinate the Chamber’s April 13 banquet, schedule in the James M. Bennett High School Cafeteria.
• The two sea lions that have been popular residents of the Salisbury Zoo were found dead in their enclosures this morning. City Public Works Director Pete Cooper said the subzero temperatures could have caused their deaths, but an autopsy was planned. Cooper said that because the seals came from the Pacific West Coast, zoo officials didn’t take special precautions and believed the seals were hardy enough to endure the cold. Cooper said that if the cold is determined to have been the cause of death, the animals would not be replaced.
• Davis Fox, son of Mr. And Mrs. Hamilton P. Fox of Quantico Road, has been named to serve as a page in the current session of the Maryland General Assembly. A senior at the private and prestigious McDonogh School, Fox said he has an interest in Political Science and will eventually study law.
• The first segment of  550-foot-tall television transmission tower was completed on Deer’s Head Boulevard. The tallest structure in Wicomico County, the tower will soon transmit programing provided by Maryland Public Television on Channel 28.