DAREing to Keep a Promise

As a DARE officer, Seneca County Sheriff’s Investigator Kipp Goodman has taught thousands of fifth graders about the dangers of drugs and alcohol. Although most of the students in Border City/ LaFayette and Romulus schools graduated from the 10-week course, there always were a couple of kids in each class who didn’t write the required essay or do other required activities to complete the course. In a moment of frustration, Goodman once remarked to Sheriff Tom Fox that if he ever had a class in which 100 percent of the students graduated, he would shave his head in front of the students. Goodman’s sandy locks were safe ? until this year when all 144 students in the LaFayette and Border City fifth grades passed the DARE course. Although Goodman appeared to have forgotten his promise, his boss did not. At the DARE graduation ceremonies on June 13, Fox surprised Goodman by producing barber Mike O’Brien, complete with electric hair razor and cape. While the delighted students chanted “Shave head!” “Shave head!” and parents scrambled to the front of the LaFayette gymnasium to record the moment with cameras and camcorders, O’Brien set to work. In short order, Goodman’s hair was in clumps on the floor and his bald head was gleaming. “It was definitely worth it to have every student graduate,” Goodman admitted, flashing an ear-to-ear grin.