The way the left and right columns are stretching with the middle column is unacceptable, I know this is how it is supposed to perform but what is my best bet to get around this? Got any ideas on what I can do?

I was going to make this layout with div's but I wasnt quite sure how to position them correctly for this. If I can fix the tables stretch problem, then lets do that but if the only thing I can do is to go to divs, someone please tell me how to lay them out in a identical sequence.