Washington teacher ends shaving strike with bin Laden's death

EPHRATA, WA - In the wake of Osama bin Laden’s death, an eastern Washington teacher, who has been on a shaving strike since the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center is once again, smooth-faced!

Nearly one decade ago, Gary Weddle, a life science teacher at Ephrata Middle School, says he couldn’t keep his eyes off the television coverage of the terror attacks in 2001.

"When the twin towers came down, I was horrified and I was glued to that television set for several days," Weddle said during an interview with KOMO News in June of 2003. "And (I) realized that not only was I not taking showers, I wasn't shaving."

Weddle says that’s when he decided not to shave until Osama bin Laden was captured or killed because he wanted those around him to remember the terrorist attack.

That’s until Monday, just one day after President Barack Obama addressed the nation about the death of Al Qaeda’s leader.

It was the first time in 3,454 days that Weddle shaved. He says after crying for about five minutes, the beard couldn’t come off fast enough.