The "Meatless Monday" program in Baltimore City school cafeterias has the meat industry madder than a factory-farmed hen. A spokeswoman for the American Meat Institute warned on CNN this week that students aren't getting enough protein. The Animal Agriculture Alliance urged people "shocked" by the once-weekly absence of meat on school menus to write schools chief Andr?s Alonso "to ensure this effort does not spread."
Thought to be a first for a public school district, Baltimore's Meatless Monday program is meant to conserve scarce cafeteria funds and make lunches more healthful, not to convert students to vegetarianism, district officials say. Using ingredients like beans and cheese, the meals meet the same protein requirements as ordinary school lunches, the district's dietitian has said. Meat is on the menu the four other days.
After the program was described on CNN, host Lou Dobbs commented, "That's a real political storm in the making, isn't it?" This, despite CNN's failure to turn up a single Baltimore parent opposed to Meatless Mondays.
"I don't see what's radical here," Alonso said. "Our obligation is to serve healthy and good meals, and one day of vegetarian meals is in that spirit."
The meat industry needn't fear there's a health-food freak at the helm of city schools, Alonso said. "I have the world's worst eating habits," he said. "If the meat industry folks sat at my family dinners, we would be their poster family."
Quiet auction
So who bought John Erickson's Harborview penthouse, auctioned Saturday, just days before his retirement empire went bankrupt?
Don't ask Great American Home Auctions. It won't even say the price - or if the penthouse sold.
"It was a private sale, and we're not going to disclose any details on it," said Mike Kim, Great American's chief operating officer.
Note to Great American: Next time, skip the pre-auction press release if you're going to stiff us on the results.
All that info eventually will come out in state records when and if a sale goes through. Until then, with Erickson's spokesman also mum, I rely on the Harborview grapevine.
Susan C. Brennan, a Long & Foster Realtor who's done a lot of business in the building, has it on good authority that the 3BR, 3.5BA, 3,922-square-foot waterfront condo did sell - for $1.25 million, plus a 10 percent "buyer's premium."
The property was listed at $4.6 million when Erickson first put his swanky home-away-from-home up for sale a year ago.
