From The Files of The Seminole Producer

Seminole Junior College President Elmer Tanner wants the University of Oklahoma’s head man, Dr. Paul Sharp, to know that a junior college education is a valuable commodity Tanner took sharp issue Saturday with a statement attributed to the OU president that tuition increases are necessary at OU to insure that students there “get more than a junior college education.”

Sharp was quoted as having made that statement Thursday during a protest by about 250 disgruntled OU students over $6-per-hour tuition hakes recommended by the OU regents to the State Regents for Higher Education.

Sharp told the demonstrators Thursday that OU needs $6.5 million in new funds to reach the regional average for college budgets.

“We’ve got to compete at that level and there is no prospect of getting that kind of money from the state legislature, “ Sharp was quoted as saying.

“This is to insure that you get more than a junior college education.”

Tanner charged in a letter to Dr. Sharp which he released Saturday that Sharp’s statement is a “slap at the quality of education that a student is getting in the state system of junior colleges.”

Tanner said that in most junior colleges faculty members hold master’s degrees or better, and in most cases have had prior years’ teaching experience.

“It so happens,” Tanner wrote Sharp, “that I have a son who is attending your fine university and he is presently at the junior level. During his first two years of course work he had approximately eight graduate assistants who taught his classes. One was a Chinese graduate assistant which he had for chemistry and which he could not understand, and another was a Korean graduate assistant for physics, which he also could not understand.” “I realize,” Tanner said, “that the institutions in the state system need more funds for the E and G budgets, but I do not think in order for us to gain this increase that we, as heads of institutions, should run down or criticize sister institutions within the system.”

The Seminole Juco president called on Sharp to state his position on the statement attributed to him “So that it might be published in our school newspaper.”

Tanner also enclosed a June, 1973, letter for Travis Mullins, OU’s director of college relations, to Tanner which stated that Seminole Junior College graduates at OU who entered with strong academic marks were maintaining the same grade levels in their studies at OU.

Students who entered with lesser grade averages were generally performing at about the same level as they did in junior college, according to the OU official.

Tanner said that close to one third of the SJC graduates are presently continuing their education at OU. -oOo Zero-Plus calling, a long distance service that allows telephone users to dial operator-assisted calls direct, will come to Seminole, Holdenville and Wewoka this spring. Homer Swafford, Seminole, manager for Southerwestern Bell, said “Zero-Plus” will enable customers to dial their own person to person, credit card and collect calls in much less time than it now takes to place such a call through an operator. “Calls billed to a third number and station- to-station coin phone calls also may be dialed by telephone users when the new service becomes available,” Swafford said.

Speed, convenience and accuracy are the major benefits of “Zero-Plus,” the manager said. However, “Zero-Plus” calls and “One-Plus” calls from coin phones will carry the current rates for operator handled calls since the operator’s time and assistance still is required.

Swafford said that with “Zero-Plus” calling, the customer’s phone number and the number he is dialing are automatically recorded by Traffic Service Position System (TSPS) equipment. Holdenville, Seminole and Wewoka will be served by TSPS equipment located in Oklahoma City and currently serving a number of larger communities in Central Oklahoma. “A portion of the equipment is actually a computer,” Swatford said. “It will enable the operator to handle calls in a fraction of the time it now takes.”

Currently, the information pertaining to long distance calls placed through an operator - the type of call, credit card number, phone number of the calling and called party, or other information - is written down by the operator.

Explaining how a customer will make a “Zero-Plus” call, Swafford said the caller will dial zero, plus the area code (if different from 405), plus the phone number. On calls to numbers in the 405 area, the customer simply dials zero plus the phone number. If a customer here wanted to place a person-to-person call to John Jones at 585-6149 in Tulsa, for example, he would dial 0-918-5856149. An operator will answer with, “May I help you?” and the customer simply says, “John Jones, please.”

On long distance calls from coin phones, the cost of the call will be computed automatically and flashed on the console’s display screen. The operator can tell at a glance how much the call will cost. On a conventional switchboard, an operator has to find the charge for the call in a reference book. “Zero-Plus” calling is an extension of “One-Plus” calling which allows customers to dial their own station-to-station calls without an operator. -oOo WEWOKA-The Seminole County Grand Jury has apparently expanded its investigation to include an inquiry into alleged law violations on the part of the county commissioners, it appeared Saturday.

Three commissioner employees and a former county worker testified before the secret panel late Friday afternoon after being subpoenaed Ray Payne of Seminole, road construction foreman for commissioner Jim Whitt; Orville Branscum of Konawa, road foreman for commissioner B. Max Dye; Marvin Gantt of Wewoka, road foreman for commissioner Clifford Ligon, and Kenneth Matthews, former road foreman for Dye, were the first witnesses to be subpoenaed by the jury.

The Producer learned three other secret subpoenas were issued by the grand jury Friday, and an Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agent worked Friday afternoon to serve the subpoenas on the trio, who live outside Seminole County.

A Producer reporter was able to learn the identity of the three subpoenaed witnesses, however, publication of the trio’s names was withheld at the request of state agents who wanted to serve the subpoenas before the witnesses’ names were published.

Payne, Branscum and Gantt each told The Producer prior to entering the grand jury chambers that they were subpoenaed.

Gantt said he has worked for the county 22 years, but Payne and Branscum refused to answer any more questions from newsmen. “We have nothing to say,” Branscum said. Each said they did not know why they were subpoenaed.

Matthews, who is not related to County Assessor Paul Mathews, said he resigned as a county employe earlier this year to go into the service station business.

Matthews said he also was subpoenaed to testify, and he did not know why. Branscum testified before the jury Friday from 4:51 to 5:06 p.m., Matthews from 5:06 to 5:26 p.m., Gantt from 5:26 to 5:37 p.m. and Payne from 5:37 toS: 46 p.m.

It was speculated that the four may have been questioned about the commissioners alleged work of county employees, crews and materials on private property. The grand jury, which launched its probe Wednesday, recessed late Friday after hearing 17 witnesses during its three day session. Jurors will reconvene Monday at 9 a.m. in the district courtroom here to continue their probe.

In addition to the four subpoenaed witnesses, four other county citizens voluntarily testified before the jury Friday afternoon for the second time. Seminole County Excise Board Chairman Ben Ragland of Konawa, former longtime board member Rudolph Black of Little, Konawa businessman Coy Atkinson, and Konawa insurance salesman Clarence Raper re-testified before the panel. The four testified Thursday morning about complaints they have against District Attorney Roy Powell, then testified Friday afternoon about complaints they have against the county commissioners.