Parents who can spell aardvark or xylophone may have been able to keep pace with students competing in the Roosevelt- Central Spelling Bee Friday.

But, it’s probably a good bet that champion Dean Rigdon and most fourth through seventh graders in the contest can spell circles around grownups.

Dean, a sixth grader and the son of Mrs. Sharon Speer, emerged as Roosevelt-Central Spelling Bee champion Friday and is now eligible to compete in the Tulsa Tribune Spelling Bee May 1 in the Tulsa Civic Center.

If he wins at Tulsa he will then go to Washington D. C. to compete in the National Spelling Bee.

Dean was selected Roosevelt-Central sixth grade champion Wednesday in preliminary rounds, and on Friday he won out over stiff competition from champions of the other grades Also competing in the finals as champions of their respective grades were: Debbie Foxx, fourth grade, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Foxx; Amy DeArmond, fifth grade, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Stanley DeArmond; and Patricia Richardson, seventh grade, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. K. D. Richardson.

-oOo An essay contest for high school and junior college students in the Seminole area dealing with the oil business and its meaning for Seminole County is being sponsored by the Seminole Chamber off Commerce, it was announced Saturday.

The Oil and Gas Committee of the chamber is sponsoring the contest which will award $200 savings bonds to winners in three age divisions.

Competition will be in grades 7-9, 10-12 and junior college, In addition, teachers who have the largest percentage-of entries and the teacher of the student who wins in each category will be awarded $50

savings bonds.

Deadline for entries is May 14, with all essay entries to be postmarked by then.

Essays must be between 500 words and 1,000 words in length, and must be typed, double spaced and written on 8½-by-11 white paper. There must be a separate title page including the author’s name, home mailing address and name of sponsoring teacher and school.

Officials said theme topics must cover, generally, the effects of the oil industry on Seminole and the Seminole area.

Bob Beach is chairman of the essay contest.

All students who enter the contest will be guests of the Oil and Gas Committee, chaired by Dan Wallace, at the International Petroleum Exposition at Tulsa in May. Buses will be chartered for the trip to Tulsa.

Entries may be mailed or delivered to the Chamber or Commerce, Post Office Box 1190 in Seminole. -oOo A special flag presentation ceremony to emphasize the City of Seminole’s participation in the national Bicentennial observance will precede the Seminole City Council session Tuesday night, it was announced Saturday.

Under direction of Boy Scout Troop 472, the ceremony will begin at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Community Center in Seminole Municipal Park, where the council will conduct their meeting later.

The ceremony and the council session are both open to the public. Mayor Melvin Moran, Municipal Judge William Wantland and Police Chief Tom Lemings all will be given United States flags during the ceremony.

State of Oklahoma and City of Seminole flags will be presented to City Councilman Phillip Parks (vice mayor), to Municipal Court Clerk Bertha O’Dell and to Police LT. O.D. Harris during the ceremony. Moran and Wantland will make brief acceptance speeches, and City Manager Don Best, under whose direction the flag ceremony has been planned, will discuss the Bicentennial and the flag presentation.

Eagle Scouts Fred Schroeder, Rob Robertson, and Steve Phillips will participate in the ceremony, along with Life scouts Randy Wilcox, Jeff Boling and Richard Hogan.

Dennis Redwine will play the National Anthem on the trumpet to precede the flag presentation ceremony. -oOo Cluttered Corner Judges, Jurors Have Big Responsibility By Milt Phillips RECENTLY IN THIS COLUMN we urged the presiding judge of the district court which will seat the upcoming, grand jury, to inquire deeply into the relationship of each prospective juror with any county official who might be the subject of inquiry but the jurors. From our experience in the news filed we know there is almost no limitations upon a judge who is selecting a grand jury, except that he must be judicious in protecting the rights of everyone - and that includes the citizens he serves - the taxpayers of the county and of the state. The grand jury is probably the (some authorities say THE) most powerful body within government. It can, and often does, dismiss from the jury room the officials assisting in such as district attorneys, attorney general staffers, etc., and hear or discuss information SOLELY AMONG THEMSELVES. The grand jury holds indictment powers and has unlimited authority in questioning witnesses, probing public business, and probing how it is conducted. A majority of grand jurors are usually unfamiliar with laws and governmental procedures. Grand juries are seldom effective without aggressive leadership by prosecuting officials such as either a district attorney or the attorney general of the state.

WE INQUIRED SPECIFICALLY of Attorney General Larry Derryberry about limitations of the presiding judge in selecting a grand jury. The Attorney General confirmed that the state’s constitution and all of the state’s statutes expect grand jurors to be citizens who can and will do their duty without any favor or prejudice of any kind toward any one or any subject matter that a juror must sit in judgement upon. And as we noted above, that includes first and foremost the citizens any public official is elected or employed to serve and who spends taxpayers’ dollars.

THE QUALIFICATIONS for the judiciary are such that citizens may reasonably expect dedicated intent in selecting grand jurors who would have no reason to be looked upon as favoring any public official. Those who do business with, or who would be beholden in any way (financially or through employment of relatives or past favors such as graveling personal property roads) would be justifiably ineligible to serve on a grand jury. No grand juror should be selected to sit in judgement upon an official who favored such grand juror with business, employment or special favors. And only upon such prospective grand juror stating without equivocation that he or she could be unbiased, fair and equitable, could a presiding judge even consider selecting such individual for grand jury service. And then IF it later proved, through other grand jurors’ testimony or other proof that the grand juror had perjured himself or herself, such grand juror would be subject to prosecution for perjury.

WE SINCERELY HOPE our able district judge who will preside at selection of the upcoming grand jury doe not put either himself or any grand jurors under suspicion or protecting any public official. Like Caesar’s Wife, who was called upon to be not only completely virtuous, BUT ALSO to always HAVE THE APPEARANCE of complete virtue, so must the judiciary and the individual grand jurors be not only unbiased, fair and willing to do their official duty they must also APPEAR to the citizenry of the county as being completely fair and impartial in their investigation of any and all public officials whose conduct may be the subject of grand jury investigation.

IN ADDITION TO Attorney General Larry Derryberry, we made inquiry of some able legal authorities whose experience with grand jurors extends over a long period of years. Both of the sources of our inquiry said the judge selecting a grand jury has one, and only one restriction. That restriction is to be as definitely certain as he can be that no juror is selected by hım who might be biased for or against any individual public official, or will not be first and only interested in finding the facts and protecting the public wherever official misconduct might be found. We hope, and predict he will select such a grand jury for Seminole county when the jury selection comes before our able Judge Frank Seay next week. And we sincerely hope no Juror will be selected next week who will ever have suspicion cast upon himself or herself that any one of them committed perjury when they answered the judge’s questions about any possible bias or favoritism tor or against any public official.

THERE’S BEEN ENOUGH admitted law violations by some of our public officials that citizens of the county and state already KNOW that some action should be taken in regard to some of our public county officials. What action should be taken for admitted violations of the law are for a grand jury to say, after investigating and determining how extensive such law violations have been - whether rumored other and more serious law violations have occurred - and what intent, purpose and personal benefits any public official received for such law violations. The upcoming grand jury must follow up on some of the laxity exhibited by the grand jury last year. This grand jury is entitled to have citizens of the county convinced they did their full duty and were not beholden in any way to any one or group of public officials coming under investigation. That means the upcoming grand jury must be composed of citizens who are not beholden to any public official for personal business, for individual favors or for employment of himself, herself or any close relatives. Any juror falling under any of the categories we list are automatically under suspicion by concerned citizens. Let’s not have any grand jurors who, however sincere and dedicated they might be, would come under suspicion because of these factors. We trust Judge Seay to determine that no grand juror will be subject to such suspicion.