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Message: <br /><br /> If you are having trouble reading this email, you may view this article online at: http://www.jweekly.com/36903/full/36903/a-historic-haircut-santa-rosa-man-toasts-obama-with-first-trim-in-five-year/ <br /><br /> <b>A historic haircut: Santa Rosa man toasts Obama with first trim in five years</b> <br /> Thursday, January 29, 2009 | by amanda pazornik <br /><br /><p>Nov. 4, 2008 is a day Milton “Whitey” Sterman will remember forever. But it’s not exactly for the reason you’d think.</p> <p>On that day, the day Democratic candidate Barack Obama was elected president, Sterman — known to everyone as Whitey — got the OK to cut his disheveled hair, which had been growing wildly for nearly five years.</p> <p>Or, to put it more bluntly, growing wildly since former President George W. Bush was elected to a second term.  </p> <p><img alt="bahaircut2" class="left" height="216" src="/images/uploads/bahaircut2.jpg" title="bahaircut2" width="144" /> “If McCain had won, I wouldn’t have cut it,” said Sterman, 79, of Santa Rosa. “I feel very strongly about what I did. And everyone says when I take my hat off, I look 10 years younger!”</p> <p>On Jan. 25, more than 70 people gathered at Congregation Beth Ami in Santa Rosa to bid farewell to Sterman’s white mop at his upsherin, a strand-snipping ceremony usually reserved for 3-year-old Jewish (commonly Orthodox) boys.</p> <p>The Reform synagogue, where Sterman has been a member since 1969, turned the haircut into a temple-wide fundraiser called “Snip and Schnorr,” giving anyone the chance to trim a piece of his hair for a price. And with a room full of synagogue members and Sterman’s family, gym pals and fellow ombudsmen at Sonoma County Senior Advocacy Services, everyone was eager to cut a lock.</p> <p>Those wanting a small snip or a big snip purchased tickets valued at $1 or $10 respectively, while Sterman’s son, Jeffery Sterman, auctioned off opportunities to take whacks at his father’s hair with the clippers.</p> <div class="capDivLeft" style="width: 324px;"><img alt="bahaircut" class="left" height="250" src="/images/uploads/bahaircut.jpg" title="Milton "Whitey" Sterman lets Beth Ami member Barbara Tomin take a "snip" of his hair before getting his new ‘do. photos | courtesy of patty bernstein" width="324" /> <div class="caption">Milton "Whitey" Sterman lets Beth Ami member Barbara Tomin take a "snip" of his hair before getting his new ‘do. photos | courtesy of patty bernstein</div> </div> By the end of the event, Sterman’s hair had garnered more than $1,000 in donations for Beth Ami’s librarian’s salary fund and the Senior Advocacy ombudsman program. He even got a free haircut to “clean up” his look afterward. <p> </p> <p>“My head is cold now that my hair is gone,” Sterman said with a laugh. “But it was great to raise some funds. I’d do it again, but I hope I never have to.”</p> <p>Jeffery Sterman admitted his father was embarrassed at first by the large turnout, but being the kind-hearted man he is, he got over it pretty fast.</p> <p>“He’s got that Jewish spirit,” Jeffery Sterman said. “He really lives by making the world a better place for others. That’s his philosophy of life. You see it in his volunteerism. He’s always there to lend a hand.”</p> <p>On any given day, Whitey Sterman can be found exercising at his local gym, assisting nursing home residents or talking politics, somewhat expected from a guy who calls himself “left of the Democrats, right of the Communists.”</p> <p>“On Inauguration Day, I got up at 4 a.m., switched on my favorite station, MSNBC, and got a little bit choked up,” Sterman said. “I’m really proud that an African American and a Democrat won. It was amazing.”</p>

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