The National Institute of Health reports that only 10% of girls and 25% of boys get the calcium they need to develop strong bones and teeth and stave off osteoporosis in their later years. Ninety percent of a person’s peak bone mass for adulthood is established by the late teen years. The strength and health of an adult’s bones depend on calcium intake during the formative years. The calcium and Vitamin D in milk and dairy products are essential to the long-term bone health of people. If we allow our schools and our children to be influenced by the vegan beliefs of PETA, HSUS and other radicals, we are setting our children up for a lifetime of broken bones, false teeth, osteoporosis and other health problems.

Listen to the science. Kids need milk in their diets and they need teachers that are good role models to provide them with the actual facts so they can make wise choices for themselves. It is time people start being held accountable for the choices they make and this would be a good place to start! If you want to jeopardize your own health, that is your choice but don’t ask the taxpayers to foot the bill for your health problems and don’t insist that our children follow your misguided, ill-informed example of leadership.

Mr. Warwak has NOT taken the children’s best interest into account in his actions and therefore he should move on from the Fox River Middle School. The school board should have the backbone to do what is right for the students of this school. Our future does depend upon the decisions we make today - I urge you to make them wisely.

Kelli R. Loos, rancher and mother of 3 milk drinkers
Loup City, NE 68853

In Fox River Grove Middle School last week, Dave Warwak, 44, was kicked out of class because he was teaching students about his vegan lifestyle. The dispute between Warwak and school officials stemmed from concerns Warwak had with lunchroom posters promoting the health benefits of drinking milk.

Warwak, an art teacher in the northwestern Illinois suburan school, said he distributed copies of the book "The Food Revolution," which promotes the health benefits of veganism, to several eighth-graders and provided excerpts to school officials.

In reaction to the dismissal of Warwak, animal rights groups have come to the defense of Warwak. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has sent school principal Tim Mahaffy a letter Friday criticizing the decision to dismiss Warwak.

"In this case, the school was pushing commercial milk advertising on kids," said Bruce Friedrich, a vice president of outreach efforts for PETA. "The school was stamping its vote of support on a product that promotes cruelty to animals and harms children."

In the letter, Friedrich offers the school district care packages that include a vegetarian starter kit, a book on veganism and a DVD expose on factory farming.

Here are news articles involving this situation:

Vegan teacher dismissed by Fox River Grove school

Vegan teacher finding lots of support

Here’s what I have to say:
Game on. The media sluts have once again found a way to make front page headlines. The real question here is whether we - as milk, meat and egg producers - are going to reach out to the school or sit back and say, there PETA goes again. A wave of opportunity has just come a shore.