More Ado about Haircut
Perhaps you read about our high school in newspapers. Our school 
was the one of first to have a showdown on the topic of long
hair for boys. Two honor students, Bon and Len, were sent to 
the principal's office by their French teacher, a implacable foe
of nonconformist who went to paroxysm of anger when she spied the
boys in the hall. At first it seemed like a simple case. The school
would reprimand the boys for their reprehensible appearance and order them to
cut their hair or being suspended. But the parents of boys decided 
that the school
overstepped their jurisdiction. They took the case to newspapers. What
started as a local skirmish, now began to take on the appearance of 
a full-scale war.

cause celebre--It was a minor dispute, but the ambitious lawyer sought to 
turn it to a cause celebre. 
(a famous law case or controversy)