Editor:

When the government of the United States offers to give the financially ailing public an "Economic Stimulus" check (funny thing), I thought that that was what is was to be used for. I was wrong! Apparently, it was a way for the Student Loan people to get additional funds from those who are already hurting economically. This is wrong!

SallieMae is already taking 15 percent of my Social Security check every month, leaving me and hundreds of thousands of Americans who are already hurting without even this small bit of relief.

This was not a tax rebate check. This was not a tax refund check. This check was given for a specific purpose, and that was to simulate the economy and encourage spending to help move some merchandise and get the country moving forward.

It was not suppose to be a grab bag opportunity for SallieMae or any other student loan organization. Where are our representatives? Where are our rights? By what right does SallieMae or anyone else get to confiscate this money?

SallieMae was supposedly under investigation for overcharging students on their student loans and then giving kickbacks to the universities that allowed them to do that. What happened to that investigation? Did our supposed representatives in Washington get an additional kickback to drop the investigation?

I hired a lawyer to settle the account with SallieMae. I have been disabled for years; I can no longer either drive or work. SallieMae disregarded letters sent to them by my attorney three times, effectively denying me my right to have legal counsel. I always thought that the right to legal counsel was a constitutional right, even in a case such as this. Apparently I was wrong there also!

I grow weary of this kind ripoff tactic by SallieMae and others like them. We are already being inundated by outrageous prices at the pump and at the grocery store.

We are being overrun by people who routinely violate our boarders, costing the taxpaying American public billions of dollars a year, and now this new and unconscionable usurpation of our measly little "Economic Stimulus."

This is bordering on the ridiculous. Is there a lawyer anywhere in these United States willing to take on the student loan organizations and stop them from running roughshod over the disabled and poor?

CHERYL K. WOOD, Laramie