• Police: Man uses dreadlocks to choke girlfriend in Portland, Ore.

    portlandoregon.gov

    Caleb Grotberg, 32.

    By Isolde Raftery, NBC News

    Portland, Ore. police arrested a man early Monday morning after his girlfriend reported that he had choked her with his dreadlocks.


    Officers responded to the domestic violence call around 2:30 a.m. at the woman’s Southeast Portland home.

    The woman told police that her boyfriend, Caleb Grotberg, 32, had brown dreadlocked hair down the middle of his back. Officers caught up with him after canvassing the neighborhood, according to a police report.

    Grotberg was booked into Multnomah County Jail on suspicion of kidnapping in the second degree and strangulation, among other domestic violence felony crimes. He was no longer listed on the jail roster on Tuesday afternoon.

    The woman was taken to a Portland hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

    “I have never heard of anybody using dreadlocks as a weapon,” said Portland Police Sgt. Pete Simpson. “Not to make light of a domestic violence situation, because it was terrifying, but this is a very Portland-centric type of situation.”

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  • Quite a tangle: Teen suspended for growing hair for charity

    Courtesy Robin Aufderheide

    Ohio high school junior Zach Aufderheide is just one inch away from the 10 inches he needs to donate his hair to Locks of Love.

    By Jasmin Aline Persch, TODAY contributor

    A teen from Canton, Ohio had to serve suspension after getting tangled up in a dispute with his high school about his hair.

    Junior Zach Aufderheide served three days of in-school suspension this week due to his long tresses, which violate Canton South High School’s dress code. In a statement sent to TODAY.com, the school said it will now treat Zach’s efforts as part of a special community service project. However, Zach's family said it has not reached such an agreement with the school.

    Zach, 17, has been growing out his hair to donate it to Locks of Love, a charity that provides wigs to children with hair loss who can’t afford them. He’s an inch short of the 10 inches he needs.

    “Now that the school let me grow it this long, it would be a complete waste to get it cut now,” Zach told TODAY.com earlier this week.

    After school officials told him three weeks into the school year that his hair could not be in a ponytail or past his shoulders, he appealed to the school board for an exception, at the principal’s suggestion.

    Zach researched the school’s policy, which prohibits students from donning attire or hair that poses a hazard, disrupts class or obstructs others’ views. He maintains that his hair, which he wears in a neat ponytail, is not a disruption.

    School board upholds dress code
    “What does disrupt the class is when I am pulled out of class to talk about my hair,” Zach contended at the board meeting, according to The Press-News.

    He found the board members sympathetic, adding that they commended his effort — but in the end, decided at a successive meeting 5-0 to uphold the dress code.

    “They wouldn’t even look at him,” his mom, Robin Aufderheide, told TODAY.com. “It was kind of heartbreaking.”

    Zach's mom said speaking at the board meeting was no easy task. He’s a shy guy who took special classes at his old school to help him overcome his fears, she explained. Zach faced bullying in elementary school, which motivated him to help children who are different due to hair loss to fit in. He has donated to Locks of Love once before.

    “It’s not just wigs for kids but others who are financially not able to buy one,” Zach said. “So I want people like them to feel good about themselves.”

    Zach's mom: OK to bend the rules
    Until its change of heart Thursday, the school had insisted that rules are rules. Canton Local School Board President John Martin told NBC local affiliate WKYC: “Policy says you can’t have that long of hair or ponytail, regardless of the cause.”

    Zach's mother has fully supported her son all along, and maintains that sometimes it’s OK to bend the rules.

    “I understand that they need to teach the kids rules and responsibility but you also need compassion and caring and to be flexible,” she said.

    Zach is a good student and is not known as a troublemaker. After achieving a GPA of 3.5 last year, Zach is earning college credits for some of his courses this year, and is on track to graduate with honors. His favorite subjects are psychology and programming. At home, Zach, loves video games and wants to go into computer science one day.

    “I am sort of a bubble person,” he said. “I’m not completely anti-social. I do like talking to people in person but I do prefer my personal space. All this attention at first was really overwhelming.”

    Zach said he’s been the recipient of high fives at school and strangers are supporting him on his Facebook page, which is called "One More Inch for Zachary Aufderheide" and has more than 450 likes. He says he’s not used to the accolade, calling it “humbling.”

    Zach said he’d also like to part with his long tresses, which are high maintenance, but he wants to reach his goal first.

    “Long hair is a bother when it needs cleaning and combing. In the end, I do think it’s worth it, if I can help someone in need,” he said. “Having tangles in your hair doesn’t compare to being bullied for five years of your life.”

    TODAY.com contributor Jasmin Aline Persch battles with her tangly hair everyday. Her hair usually wins.

    Officials at an Ohio high school ordered a teenage to cut his hair that he's been growing to donate to the Locks of Love charity. WKYC's Pamela Osborne reports.

     

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  • School suspends cancer-survivor boy for growing hair for Locks of Love

    Lathan Goumas / Flint Journal via AP

    J.T. Gaskins was suspended from school for violating the school's dress code policy because his hair is too long.

    By msnbc.com staff

    A few inches of hair stand between J.T. Gaskins and an education.

    The 17-year-old, who had been treated for cancer and said he now wants to grow his hair to give to Locks of Love -- a charity that provides wigs for kids who lose their hair due to chemotherapy and other treatments -- was recently suspended from Madison Academy, a  charter school in Burton, Mich., for refusing to trim his tresses.

    Gaskins told The Flint Journal that he was diagnosed with leukemia as an infant and has been cancer-free since age 7. “This is something I want to do, and I feel very strongly about it.”

    The school’s dress code policy, spelled out in the student-parent handbook, says hair must bair must  be kept “clean, neat, free of unnatural or distracting colors, off the collar, off the ears and out of the eyes” for boys.

    Gaskins’ hair, which resembles the windswept bangs of Justin Bieber, dangles at his eyes and covers his ears.

    His mother, Christa Plante, told the Journal she supports her son and remembers his cancer fight as a small child. “The fact that he’s ready to talk about everything he went through, his strength ... I can’t deny him that. He’s ready to speak out about what he’s been through,” Plante said, according to the newspaper.

    Plante started an online petition asking the school board to amend the hair policy for boys. As of Friday, more than 160 people had signed on.  

    "Female students can grow and donate their hair, yet boys cannot," the petition says. "... we are simply asking for compromise and to allow not only my son, but anyone wanting to donate to be allowed to do so, to allow the boys the same rights and freedoms as the girl students."

    Board meeting
    Superintendent Will Kneer says school officials have been trying to work out a solution. He says the five-member school board may soon take up a possible revision to the dress-code policy to take into account special situations like Locks of Love.

    “The board is charged with the responsibility of assembling a group of policies and procedures that most uphold the vision and mission of the school and serve the school best as a whole and the community as a whole,” Kneer told msnbc.com on Friday.

    Friday was the fourth straight day of classes Gaskins has missed. Kneer says school officials are trying to find ways to provide for his continuing education while he remains out of class.

    “My immediate concern is, what are we going to do for this kid to make sure he doesn’t lapse,” Kneer said.

    "Personally, my heartfelt desire at this moment is to have that child back in school."

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