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I don't usually spend a lot of time thinking about Steve Grant's hair. But I know someone who does.

That would be Greg Parker, 60, who routinely watches Grant on TV.

Grant is a familiar face in the Ozarks. He is a KY3 news anchor and reporter.

On Friday, Parker noticed that Grant had what he described to me as a "fresh haircut."

Parker noticed this in large part because he's been a barber since age 18 and has owned Style Barber Shop on South Campbell Avenue for 24 years.

(The sign now says Reed's because Parker was in the process of selling the shop when the pandemic hit, the shop had to close and the deal was put on hold.)

I would not have noticed that Grant had a haircut. I'm not a barber. I get my hair cut at Great Clips and, yes, I take the senior discount.

But Parker did notice and he started thinking about it.

"I have had about 50 customers call me and ask if I could go to their home or if they could come to my home so I could cut their hair," Parker tells me. "But if I get caught it could cost me $1,000 and up to 180 days in jail."

Barbershops and salons have been declared non-essential businesses and forced to shut down during local stay-at-home orders.

Parker was focused so much on Grant's hair that he immediately called KY3 on Friday and asked the woman who answered the phone: "Who cut Steve Grant's hair?"

I have to ask: Wouldn't that be a great title for a mystery novel?

"The woman said she would put me on hold and wait for a break to ask him," Parker says. "She came back and told me, 'He said he cut his own hair at home.'"

Well, in short, Parker does not believe this.

"He has very thick hair," Parker says. "There is no one who can cut their own hair and have it look that good. I would stake my reputation on that.

"If he gave himself that haircut then he should be cutting hair. I can't cut my own hair that well and I've been doing this for 40 years."

At the end of that phone conversation, Parker tells me, the woman on the phone asked Parker if he wanted to leave a message for the news director.

Parker says he did. His message was that he doesn't believe Grant cut his own hair. As of Monday, he had not heard back.

Here's what really irked Parker.

"If he said that maybe his wife had some training and she cut it then I would have let it go," Parker tells me.

Instead, he says, he received an answer that — according to Parker's professional opinion — is not true.

Parker admits that his own wife has told him to let it go and that, perhaps, he has too much time on his hands now that he's not allowed to snip hair.

But just like Woodward and Bernstein and that first Watergate tip, Parker did not let it go.

Over the weekend, in fact, he stewed over it. He fixated on Grant's well-coiffed, thick, luxurious hair.

"I just thought that was not right," Parker says. "I do not feel that it's fair that celebrities can get a haircut when us barbers are not allowed to work.

"I have two other barbers I work with and I could easily get one of them to cut my hair. But I won't. I told a customer on the phone that I won't cut his hair so he texted me and said, 'Name the time and whatever you want to charge.' I said no.

"It's the principle of the thing. I don't care if the President of the United States needs a haircut. Just grow it out; that's what I'm doing."

And then two words came to him

It was over the weekend that two prophetic words came to Parker.

They were "Steve" and "Pokin."

It's comforting to know that in this time of worldwide pandemic that when the question of "Who Cut Steve Grant's Hair?" comes up that Greg Parker thought of one person — me.

To be honest, although there are far more important issues these days I do believe that the question of whether a celebrity received a professional haircut in this time of pandemic falls within the purview of news. Or an opinion column such as this.

At a minimum, celebrities and news anchors need to be aware that the public is paying very close attention to the contour, shape and length of their locks.

So I called Grant at KY3.

I told him that a reader who happened to be barber wanted to know who cut his hair.

"I don't know who this guy is but I remember that he called," Grant tells me.

And ... Who cut your hair?

Grant told me the same thing he told Parker — he cut it himself at home.

"Well, I just take my time. I try to do my best."

Then he told me, "What I do at home is not for public consumption. Are we on the record?"

Yes.

"I don't think this is worthy of a story. I have no further comment."

That was it. I certainly can understand his response — other than "Are we on the record?"

Any reporter I know assumes you're on the record until some other agreement is reached.

Also, if I were a TV celebrity I would cut my own hair and no doubt butcher it and then joke about it on the air.

But I'm not a TV celebrity. Even my once-a-week two-minute appearance on KOLR10 TV Friday mornings (for which I am not paid) has been canceled during the pandemic.

In closing, I'll also try to remember what Grant told me about what's news and what isn't.

I'll specifically remember the next time someone at KY3 asks me to cast my vote on the topic of: Cupcakes? Or Twinkies?

These are the views of News-Leader columnist Steve Pokin, who has been at the paper eight years, and over his career has covered everything from courts and cops to features and fitness. He can be reached at 836-1253, spokin@gannett.com, on Twitter @stevepokinNL or by mail at 651 Boonville Ave., Springfield, MO 65806.