is sugar vegetarian?

So this winter I got into an argument with a co-worker over the status of sugar.  She is a vegetarian and I am an ex-vegan/vegetarian.  The conversation started with her saying that our restaurant's vegan bars were not in fact vegan because they had refined sugar.  I was confused.  She explained to me that they often used animal bones to refine the sugar, thus making it not vegetarian.  I refused to believe her for two reasons, first being she is the only true hypochondriac that I have ever known, every day she has a new illness or a crazy story of accidents and illnesses past.  Basically I have a "boy who cried wolf" reaction towards her, I never fully believe the story.  The second reason is that I was a pretty militant vegetarian.  I freaked when my roommates cooked bacon in the house or when I co-worker used the "meat tongs" to pick up a vegetable.  I found it hard to believe that I had never heard of this before.  How could OTHER vegetarians not heard of this and spread the word?  So I went on an online search to get some answers and what I found did not comfort me.  My co-worker was right (which was my initial discomfort), most often refined sugar is refined using animal bones.  

from wikipedia :

The sugar refining industry often uses bone char (calcinated animal bones) for decolorizing.^[15][16] This may concern some vegans and vegetarians; about a quarter of the sugar in the U.S. is processed using bone char as a filter and the rest is processed with activated carbon. As bone char does not get into the sugar, the relevant authorities consider sugar processed this way as parve/kosher.^[16]

Vegetarians and vegans may also object to the impact that the burning of the cane fields (a common part of the harvesting practice) has on insects, rats, snakes, and other life residing in the fields.^[17]

If this news doesn't bother you, it doesn't bother you and in the grand scheme of things there are worse topics to spend your time worrying about.  If you do care some alternatives are: Sugar in the raw, pure sugar cane, yacon syrup, stevia,  honey (although some vegans have issues with this...) or maple syrup.   My personal new favorite is agave nectar.   All of which work great in cooking and baking!  

cheers!

nyks