To the students of U.T. Martin:

I am an alumnus of UTM, and a Martin native. I am presently on the U.T. Board of Trustees. I have also had two daughters graduate from UTM, and I have a son who is a student here now.

I am very proud of all of the students, faculty, and administration at UT Martin. When I am with other UT Administratiors, I look for times to brag on you. UT Martin is a wonderful university to get an excellent education and is in a nice setting and I encourage students I see across the state come here to college.

Being very concerned about good leaders for our country, I have also been involved throughout the years with voter drives at UTM.

So students here at UTM from Nashville, Knoxville, etc can vote here for president, governor, senator, and other elections.

However, I am still very disillusioned when I see students at UTM being encouraged to register to vote so they can have a voice about “restaurant reform” or the Martin’s mayor race.

Some of the students who registered for that reason will be graduating in December 2002 and will not even be here to see the results of the election.

Most of the people in Martin do not want to have restaurants in Martin that sell liquor by the drink, yet some of the community people have gone to UTM to get students to help pass it. Is this ethically right?

The Martin community and UTM have had a good relationship in past years, and I would hate to see it suffer as a result of this vote.

If students want jobs and more activities to do on weekends, let us work together to get that done. I am convinced the Martin community will work hard to do it.

But please, do not hurt the Martin community where I live by trying to vote in liquor by the drink in Martin.

You can vote for everything else on the ballot, including the lottery, and not vote on the liquor issue. Your ballot will still count.

You are some of the best students in the country and I am depending on you to do the right thing about the liquor vote. I know I can count on you.

If I can ever be of help to you, feel free to call me.

Barbara Castleman is a UTM alumnus and a member of the board of trustees