telnetlib close not closing sockets

[Mike Monaghan]

I'm rather new to python but a long time programmer.  I think I've
covered my bases so I hope this isn't somthing obvious.

I'm running ActiveState PythonWin 2.3.2 (#49, Nov 13 2003, 10:34:54)
[MSC v.1200 32 bit (Intel)] on win32.

I have several processes that are polling a telnet server on a regular
basis.  I'm using telnetlib for this.  When I issue the .close method
the connection is not closed (no TCP FIN is sent to the server).

import getpass
import sys
import telnetlib
import smtplib
import time
import os

HOST = "fred"
tn = telnetlib.Telnet(HOST)
tn.write("DEMO\n")
print tn.read_until("\n>",5)
tn.write("OFF\n")
print tn.read_until("Logon Please:",5)
print tn.read_until("make sure socket queue is empty the hard way",5)
tn.close

I've tried several options to accomplish this, but for whatever reason
the socket remains open until I exit python.  Since I'm polling in a
loop I'd prefer not to exit python.  I must close the tcp connection
after each pass or I'll consume server licenses.

Any of you pythoneers have a clue where I should be looking?  Is this
a bug in telnetlib, the socket handlers, or the windows port?  Am I
missing something obvious?  Telnetlib looks like it is making the
right close calls.

Thanks,

Mike
A python newb