Thursday, March 15, 1979 --

• Maryland Gov. Harry Hughes has promised an additional $1.5 million in state funding to help complete the Wicomico Youth & Civic Center. So far, county officials have secured $8.6 million for the new center but need $11.5 million to have it properly completed. If the county spends less that the $11.5 million, the center will have no upstairs seating, no escalators, no air conditioning and no tiling in the restrooms.
• Because the Chesapeake Bay and its creeks and rivers were frozen over for several weeks this winter, state Natural Resources officials have agreed to extend the oyster season by two weeks. Gordon Hallock of the DNR said the bay is abundant with quality oysters and the extension should cause no harm to the population. The season would have ended Saturday, March 31, but will now extend to Saturday, April 14.
• Junior’s Family Restaurant on Old Ocean City Road and Main Street in Willards was offering its popular Muskrat Dinner Nite for $1.95.
• In a 3-1 vote, the Wicomico School board agreed to a redistricting plan that moved some students from Gel Avenue Elementary into Prince Street Elementary. Parents complained they weren’t properly informed about the move and had no opportunity to be heard on the matter. Superintendent Harold Fulton said, however, that notices couldn’t be sent until the school board voted.
• Wicomico Senior High student Susan Shockley, 17, is the Wicomico Vocational-Technical Center James L. Reid Scholarship winner for 1979. Shockley was chosen from among 2,200 VICA students in Maryland. After graduating from Wi-Hi, she plans to attend Wesley College in Dover, where she will study nursing.
• World famous fashion designer Oleg Cassini and actors Cliff Robertson and Lloyd Bridges have committed to play in the May 5 and 6 Mid-Delmarva YMCA Pro-Celebrity Tennis Classic. Three more celebrities will be named to compete; the event is supported by local businesses through their support of buying spectator boxes.
• Dr. Seth Hurdle, 81, and his wife, Eleanor, 82, were involved in a car crash on Route 13 near Princess Anne. Hurdle, the longtime county health officer and former head of the Pine Bluff Tuberculosis Sanitorium, escaped injury but his wife was taken to Peninsula General Hospital with minor injuries. The Hurdle’s car was totaled when another car spun out of control, entered the median and came back onto the road, forcing the Hurdles’ car into some trees. Trooper First Class E.J. Leatherbury, Somerset County’s resident trooper, investigated the crash.