This week my colleagues and I presented a bill that would reduce the sales tax on food and food ingredients across the state.  The sales tax on food in Tennessee ranks near the top in the nation.  All Tennesseans are affected by this regressive tax and during these tough economic times, we should help everyone by reducing this tax.

The Governor is proposing a reduction in the sales tax rate from 5.5 percent to 5.3 percent, but that is not enough.  I want the reduction to be more and I will continue to fight to make that happen.

The following response was posted on the Sumner County school’s website, www.sumnerschools.or, in the Rumor Watch section.

Updated January 23, 2012

Rumor: Is Sumner County Schools considering removing all fourth period athletics from the school day? I have also heard the School Board will be considering cutting coaches pay and supplements.

Fact: We are not discussing eliminating athletics from the school day. However, we are discussing limiting the number of times a student can take athletics during the school day in their high school career. Currently, a student can take athletics or physical education based courses potentially 8 times with a combination of credit and non-credit courses from their possible 32 high school credits. This means a fourth of a student's high school career could be spent taking physical education or athletics. Because Tennessee's new high school standards take affect for next year's graduates (2013), the SCS administration is attempting to strike a balance between academics and athletics. This topic will be discussed during the Board's February 7 Study Session. Any changes made by the district would not take effect until the 2013-2014 school year.

There have been no discussions about cutting the pay or supplements for coaches.

Debating is very informative. It would be nice to have some real debates between the remaining four candidates for the Republican candidate. It would really be informative to watch a real debate between that person and President Obama. Unfortunately, it won’t happen.

A real debate is one according to Robert’s Rules of Order. In these debates the only persons asking questions are the debaters. There is a monitor who makes sure they are debating according to the rules. Each debater is given thirty minutes to make their case and then twenty minutes to make a rebuttal.

by Jim Bachman

Freedom is not free is not just a cliché, freedom is very expensive in terms of our most precious resource. That is the patriots who step forward and sign that blank check for the ultimate cost if necessary. We’re into the New Year and ready to press on with our veterans support.