Military Buffaloed by Call Center Claims

By David Sims, TMCnet Contributing Editor

A strange story is brewing in Sunbury, Pennsylvania, a place not generally known for being the source of weird happenings.

The local newspaper, The Daily Item, has written a good, long article about it, for all the details that's where you want to go. We'll summarize the facts of the story here:

Architect Stan Seiple claims there is a Department of Defense contract for a veterans call center in Sunbury. He won't give out any details, saying it's "private business."

The military disagrees. Gary Tallman, the Army's deputy director of media relations based at the Pentagon, says "when the government awards a contract, the total amount and for how long are public information. If they don't give you the contract number, don't believe it."

Kerry Meeker, public affairs specialist at the Department of Veteran's Affairs Washington, D.C. office, said after much checking she was "not aware of a call center being developed in that area."In January, Seiple told Sunbury City Council the Department of Defense wants the call-in center to give veterans information about medical care, education and jobs, and asked the city to sell a 5-foot by 98-foot strip of land it owns next to the 218 Chestnut St. building, to be used for a wheelchair ramp.

The city council settled on a 25-year lease for a one-time payment of $1,000. Seiple says the call center was "about to get wound up." Asked for details by the newspaper, he said "The Defense Department's handling that.""Minutes later," the newspaper reported, "Seiple's son, Penn Seiple, showed up at The Daily Item office demanding his father not be called about the matter. He said the newspaper should contact him. Asked his phone number, he replied: 'None of your business'."

Strange.

(source: http://www.tmcnet.com/channels/call-center-on-demand/articles/94166-military-buffaloed-call-center-claims.htm)