Update on Nathan Warmak

[Ruanaidh]

The NBC-TV station in the Dallas-FT.Worth area posted the story on their website with option to vote on if he should be allowed to wear the kilt. Please vote and REALLY skew the numbers!

http://www.nbc5i.com/education/5490611/detail.html

Richard-

I just voted, too.

[Freedomlover]

Right now the numbers stand at 18,329 yes votes, and 965 no votes. 95% to 5%. But what do you want to bet that the principal will not back off unless ordered to by a court?

[Cawdorian]

I posted another "YES" vote.

[royce52]

So, as I was saying..I was shocked to hear from Terry Warmack. They
had gotten my phone number off the database before I had taken it
down. (Once it was getting linked all over the net, I didn't want my
ph number to be listed there.)

Mr. Warmack and I talked for quite awhile. He said the law firm
representing them is out of North Carolina and is the same firm that
has represented people when the Confederate Flag came under fire. They
are doing it pro bono, but there will be expenses like travel and
stuff like that. Mr. Warmack is saying he will probably take out a
loan against his cars and stuff if he needs to...but I am hoping we
can rally some support financially among the troops. The lawyer is
planning on attending the school board meeting with Mr. Warmack when
they address this topic...probably in January.

He was telling me about Nathan. Nathan is a big kid..who is
evidentally very good on the football field and they have been worried
they would be blackballed to the colleges who were looking at Nathan
for scholarships..but it seems that the coaches are still giving him
good recommendations..so they aren't as worried about that at this
point.

He said that Nathan is a very quiet kid..he has had his two best
friends throughout high school..but he's not someone who has ever
looked for attention. He has always pretty much stayed out of the
spotlight except for on the football field. He's never been one to
have piercings or tattoos or anything else to draw attention to
himself. He said he was pretty much a loner in that regard..he had his
few close friends..but he wasn't a kid that went out to parties alot
or anything like that.

So, he got interested in his heritage and started studying it. After
he had spent a good deal of time looking into it all, he asked his
parents if he could buy a kilt. Mr. Warmack said it was fine with
him..but that he wanted Nathan to do his homework and learn about it
before he bought it...he felt it was a good learning experience and he
wanted Nathan to understand his heritage...so Nathan had set about
learning all about the kilt. He was the one that found his tartan,
looked up the prices on kilts and did all the legwork of getting his
kilt. His dad said that it really came to mean alot to him..and that
he was very proud of the things he had learned.

So, when this dance came up, he wanted to wear his kilt. His dad
said, "Well, you need to learn the proper way of wearing it." So,
Nathan went online to various sites..he realized that he couldn't
afford the full set, so he looked for various ways people wore their
kilts. Mr. Warmack said that one night he ran across a picture of a
man in a kilt with a tie, white shirt, white socks and black
shoes...and he said, "HEY DAD!...come look at this! I could wear it
like this." So, his dad said..."okay."

So, by the time he went to the dance, Mr. Warmack said that it had
really meant alot to Nathan. He said that alot of people don't
realize how much time Nathan had put into it all..and they don't
believe Nathan was as hurt by the rejection as he was. He was
honestly proud of his Scottish heritage and his kilt. He said that
when McClard made his remarks, Nathan was devastated. He was
embarrassed and he felt hurt.

Mr. Warmack went on to say that given Nathan's quiet nature, he
worried that Nathan wouldn't want all this attention drawn to him.
So, one night here recently, he asked Nathan...."Do you just want all
of this to go away?" Nathan said, "No, Dad...what McClard did was
wrong..what the school district is doing is wrong. I don't want it to
go away. I want to win this one." At that point, Mr. McClard said he
decided to take it to the mat and that they would fight it as far as
they could or as far as it would have to go..for Nathan.

He also said that he felt sure that the school thought that he was
going to lay down and take it. He said he thinks they thought they
would sweep it under the carpet..and move on.

BUT...he wasn't going to stop til Nathan got a PUBLIC apology. He said
that as badly as it hurt Nathan, he wasn't going to accept anything
less. He said, this is not a kid who has EVER been in trouble..or
EVER caused a big problem for anyone...this is a GOOD kid doing a GOOD
thing. All he wants is for any kid who wishes to wear a formal attire
representative of his heritage to have that chance.

So...then I talked to Nathan right as he got home from school. He is
a very polite young man. Very earnest in his remarks. He said that
nobody is talking about it at school..the other kids don't seem to be
aware of the fallout or anything, and the faculty is not discussing
it. So, no pressure at school.

I told him that we were very proud of the fact that a young person of
Scottish heritage wanted to show pride in his family. I also told him
that he has alot of people pulling for him, and that I for one will
not let them sweep this under the carpet ..I would do whatever I could
to see to it that it stays in the spotlight. I also told him that of
all the things he could have been involved in..like drugs and gangs
and such, this was an honorable pursuit and I didn't want him to ever
feel diminshed by someone for it. The Scottish community is proud of
him. I told him that we would love to have him come to some of our
gatherings, and that I know the St. Andrews organizers out of St.
Louis are also hoping he will come to their gatherings. (I have been
in email with one of the organizers, Jim McLaren.)

I told him to hang tough, keep his head high and have a Merry
Christmas..and we would see if we couldn't get some justice for him.

His father is supposed to let me know the dates of the school board
meetings so that if we can get the word out, we can perhaps get some
Scots to show up in support. The lawyer thought that would be a great
thing if we could get some supporters there. I told him that if I
could take off work, I would be there, but that depended on my
schedule.

His father is also going to let me know dates of any parades or
festivals they have in their town..he thinks there are a couple
sometime this spring so that if we can rally some bagpipe bands to
enter the parades, we can do abit of community education in Jackson,MO.

...that about sums it up. I was very impressed by the sincerity of
the Warmack family..and by Nathan, himself. I believe this kid is
completely earnest in his feelings. His dad told me that Nathan had
been overwhelmed by the show of support.

Aut Bellum.

~ beth

[Robin]

Can someone ask them to open a PayPal account?

Willing to support.

[royce52]

Can someone ask them to open a PayPal account?

Willing to support.

That's a good idea,,,I will check into it.

Royce

[Iolaus]

Can someone ask them to open a PayPal account?

Willing to support.

That might not be such a good idea; check it out first - something about fraud protection.

I heard of someone who set up an account for the Katrina victims, but had to return all the money he collected because the volume of money sent up a red flag at Paypal - they wanted some kind of proof that there was an exchange for goods or services, and of course he didn't have anything to show.

It could just be a rumour, but as I recall, I was reading this on the guy's official website - he was apologizing to his readers for having to return the money, I think to the tune of tens of thousands!

[richardljohnson]

Hay Royce, I know Rocky at USAKilts uses PayPal and I'm sure other venders are also. Maybe they can do a 'lay-a-way' on items and take the "donations" that way. There has to be a way to do this legally.

Richard-

[GlassMan]

I have a PayPal account for my stained glass business. Under PayPal regulations the only way to send money without having to require a good or service is to send it under the heading of "Virtual Cash". But that kicks in higher fees.

[royce52]

Can someone ask them to open a PayPal account?

Willing to support.

Paypal seems to be a non-starter,,but Mike (who is handling the donations and purchases) has a website that is set up to take the major credit cards. He is creating inventory items for donations in some reasonable amounts,,1.00, 2.00, 5.00 etc. And of course if you want to donate more, you can just "purchase" multiples,, I will post the url to his site as soon as he is ready.

Royce