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Petitioners' case is made difficult by the fact that the
petition, the accompanying statement designating the place of
trial, the attorney's cover letter of transmittal, and the
attorney's check for the Court's filing fee all bear dates of
September 13, 1996--which is a date 91 days from the date the
notice of deficiency was mailed. Petitioners called one witness
at the hearing, a paralegal who was employed by petitioners'
attorney, who testified that he prepared the final draft of the
petition in the late afternoon on September 12, 1996, and that
both he and petitioners' counsel were cognizant that
September 12, 1996, was the 90th day from the date the notice of
deficiency was mailed, and that the petition had to be mailed on
that date. He testified further that he inadvertently typed the
date of September 13 because, in preparing legal documents in the
late afternoon, he customarily dated such documents the
succeeding day. Petitioners' counsel, who was present at the
hearing, represented to the Court that he was likewise aware that
the petition had to be mailed on September 12, and that he
personally hand delivered the petition, addressed to this Court,
to the Tulsa, Oklahoma, post office on September 12, 1996,
shortly before 7 p.m. He rang the bell at the post office and
handed the envelope containing the petition to a postal clerk,
specifically requesting that the parcel be postmarked that date.
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