Lake Park East teens lose locks for Special Olympics

Look, it's Brian Bosworth circa 1980s. Wait, no, that's Roselle police officer Terry Haliw sporting a new Mohawk during a shearing by Lake Park East campus dean Pete Kolzow on Friday.

Hecklers were a dime a dozen Friday as a collection of teenage boys was publicly shorn.

Roselle police officer Terry Haliw ran grooming clippers through Hadi Ahmed's thick coif, quipping, "I do this to my dog all the time."

Suffice it to say the "groomer" in this instance was sporting a wicked grin as he said it.

"Hey, that's not funny," 15-year-old Hadi shot back, looking pained, but trying to be cool.

Seemed like everyone else surrounding the event thought it was worthy of at least a chuckle.

"I don't think you're getting a tip," someone yelled at Haliw, as the clippers tweaked a patch of hair, causing Hadi to grimace.

Lunchtime at Lake Park High School East campus in Roselle is usually a social event, with some nutrition thrown in on the side.

Friday, however, it was all about public spectacle.

Five students volunteered to have their heads shaved as a fundraiser for Special Olympics. School officials wanted to get everyone in the spirit of supporting their new, and first ever, Special Olympics track team.

Maybe they'll add another sport next year, said Katie Hamann, a Lake Park dean who also serves as one of the team's coaches.

The kids, good sports all, opted for baldness when it came to removing their locks.

Haliw, however, went middle-of-the-road -- at least for a time.

He chose a sort of longish, flowing Mohawk a la former NFL player Brian Bosworth circa late 1980s. And while he let Pete Kolzow, a school dean, partially remove his hair, he left the rest for an after-school event.

Between Lake Park's two campuses, officials said they hoped to raise $2,000 for Special Olympics. They continued collecting donations right up until the time the boys went under the knife, um, clippers.

Richard Burke had a smile on his face. Periodically, though, he'd reach up and run his hand through his hair. Or what should have been his hair.

Beforehand, he'd had that sort of Shaggy, of "Scooby-Doo" fame, look.

"This was his Mother's Day present to his mom," Hamann said.

Though Richard's shirt proudly declared "Hair today, gone tomorrow for Special Olympics," the reality was a little harder to accept.

"Oh, God," he said, wrapping his arms around his head after the shave down.

Had he ever worn the cranial au natural look before?

"Once," the 16-year-old Hanover Park sophomore said. "In fifth grade."

His facial expression seemed to indicate it was a look whose day has come and gone.