With the Tennessee Board of Regents increasing tuition costs, it is making the cost of education a difficult burden — one that many will not be able to bear. Some entering freshmen will withdraw along with some who have already attended for a semester or more. To get ahead in this dog-eat-dog world, a higher education is practically mandatory. To bear the burden of thousands of dollars more being added every year is an unconscionable one.The Tennessee Lottery was established to have those who are at the peak of the pyramid in grades be awarded scholarships. Great, however, the funds of the lottery have grown so well that at present it has more than $3 billion in the bank. These are dollars for education and nothing else. Surely state higher education officials should be able to get access to some of these dollars and use them for tuition/maintenance needs in each of the TBR universities. What I am recommending is each student will pay the tuition that presently is in force and the regents will use lottery dollars to make up the difference. In doing so, the TBR will be keeping higher education affordable. This is the decent thing to do.The tuition increase is a disgrace, and the TBR needs to be more resourceful in locating funds to help those who plan on getting a higher education. The dollars are in the bank. The governor needs to use them for the betterment of higher education in Tennessee. EARL B. BUCKElizabethton Obama’s recordI read Kenneth Ehmke’s recent letter in Forum bemoaning President Obama’s failed policies. This doesn’t tell us much. Give us some specifics. We all have a right to our own opinions, something I am passionate about, but we don’t have a right to our own set of facts. Ehmke, you should take another look at President Obama’s performance in office.Obama took office in the worst economic meltdown since the Great Depression of the late 1920s and 1930s: 700,000 to 800,000 people were losing their jobs each month. The housing market was dead in the water. Home foreclosures were the highest in American history. The stock market was broken and the auto industry was going bankrupt.When the going gets tough, the tough get going. President Obama had a conversation with the American people telling them what it would take to turn our economy around. He brought in leaders of the business industry, labor and other professionals to the White House to develop a plan to get the economy going again. A $2 billion stimulus package was proposed and Congress quickly approved it.Economists of all stripes are in agreement the stimulus package was the engine that got our economy going again.President Obama got the auto industry people together to develop a plan to get them back in business. With the help from the federal government, the auto industry is back. General Motors has reclaimed its position as the world’s biggest automaker and they repaid the government for all the loans they received, with interest.The health care act proposed by President Obama was enacted into law by Congress and confirmed by the Supreme Court. The law will be implemented in 2014 and I think the American people will have the same good feeling about it as they do Social Security and Medicare.Barack H. Obama, the president of the United States, is working for us.BILLY BARNESGraySeat belt lawThis guy who wrote recently that wearing seat belts should be optional is an idiot. He needs to have front row viewing in an operating room to see an organ harvested. I bet he’d like that, especially if it was a member of his family who also thought he should have a choice regarding the seat belt law.He’s right, though, in the fact that cops should practice what they preach to the public — especially when they are off duty.I’m sure many families of accident victims wish they had a do-over when considering whether to “click it or ticket.” That includes law enforcement.The other side of the issue is having insurance to cover your hospital bills and/or vehicle repair and replacements.A lot rides on Steve Burleson’s recent explanation of communism being the basis for having to wear a seat belt. If you like to gamble, flip a coin. Do you feel lucky?N. STITTLimestone
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