8B — THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD
THuRSDAY, MARCH 18, 2021
COFFEE BREAK
Couple’s future is threatened by fiancee’s grief, depression
DEAR ABBY: My fiancee and I
have been together for four years.
I have lost A LOT of people in my
life, so I am used to
death. She, on the
other hand, didn’t
experience it until
two years ago,
when she lost her
grandfather. The
next year, her mother passed, and
last year we lost a child — her
oldest — my stepson.
Abby, she is so lost. She’s no
longer the same person she once
was, and I totally understand that.
I’m sad and depressed, too, but
she’s bad.
I love this woman like I have
never loved any other. I can’t pic-
ture life without her, but lately
I have begun to wonder how it
would affect me, her and the kids
if I left. I’m not equipped to deal
with someone else’s
depression on top
of my own. I have
DEAR
been trying, but I’m
finding myself get-
ABBY
ting more and more
angry. What should
I do?
— TORN IN THE EAST
DEAR TORN: You mentioned
that you, too, suffer from depres-
sion. Are you receiving treatment
for it? If you are seeing a psychol-
ogist (and being medicated), dis-
cuss this with the person who is
working with you. You may need
a change in your medication.
It isn’t surprising that with
so much loss all at once in her
life, your fiancee is grieving and
depressed. Frankly, while I might
suggest she join a support group
for help in coping with the loss
of her child, she may also need
help from a licensed mental health
professional.
Although you are tempted,
I don’t think now is the time to
abandon your fiancee and her
children. Once she is stabilized,
you may not want to leave at all.
DEAR ABBY: My 13-, almost
14-year-old daughter, “Gabbi,”
is a shining star of responsibility
and being self-driven. She also
likes nice things.
Gabbi has been babysitting for
my sister for several months and
has saved almost every penny,
DEAR MOM: Your daughter
is old enough for an honest con-
versation with her mom. Start by
telling her how proud of her you
are that she has shown how dis-
ciplined and responsible she is
because those traits will serve her
well in years to come.
Tell her you feel bad about
disappointing her when you
refuse her requests, but now that
she’s nearly 14, she’s mature
enough to understand you are
the sole wage earner, money is
tight and her frequent requests
put a strain on the budget. Then
point out that she has saved
quite a bit of income from her
babysitting, and she should
direct some of it toward the
items she’s asking you for.
which amounts to hundreds of
dollars. I’m proud of her disci-
pline. However, I think she should
start buying some of her “ frivo-
lous wants” herself.
I’m willing to buy her and my
other children gifts when I can
and on special occasions on my
single income, but Gabbi often
asks me for $10 here and $10
there. Because it’s more than I
can afford, I have to say no and
see her silent disappointment. I
know the simple answer is to not
give in, but I want my daughter
to learn that it’s OK to spend a
little on herself here and there.
I’m not sure what words to use
to convince her.
Can you help?
— MOM ON A BUDGET
News of the Weird
Baby bottle craze sweeps
Gulf Arab states, sparks
backlash
It’s not the first time that
the guardians of local cus-
toms in Gulf Arab countries
have focused their ire on social
media phenomena. Vague laws
across the region lend author-
ities broad power to stamp out
public immorality and inde-
cency. Emirati officers last
spring, for instance, arrested a
young expat for posting a video
on TikTok in which he sneezed
into a banknote, accusing him of
“harming” the UAE’s reputation
and its institutions.
DUBAI, United Arab Emir-
ates — Cafes across several Gulf
Arab states started selling coffee
and other cold drinks in baby bot-
tles this month, kicking off a new
trend that has elicited excitement,
confusion — and backlash.
The fad began at Einstein
Cafe, a slick dessert chain with
branches across the region, from
Dubai to Kuwait to Bahrain.
Instead of ordinary paper cups,
the cafe, inspired by pictures of
trendy-looking bottles shared on
social media, decided to serve its
thick milky drinks in plastic baby
bottles.
Although the franchise was no
newcomer to baby-themed prod-
ucts — a milkshake with cer-
elac, the rice cereal for infants, is
a long-standing bestseller — the
unprecedented fervor over the
feeding bottles came as a bit of a
shock.
“Everyone wanted to buy it,
people called all day, telling us
they’re coming with their friends,
they’re coming with their father
and mother,” Younes Molla, CEO
of the Einstein franchise in the
United Arab Emirates, told The
Associated Press this week. “After
so many months with the pan-
demic, with all the difficulties,
people took photos, they had fun,
they remembered their childhood.”
Lines clogged Einstein stores
across the Gulf. People of all ages
streamed onto sidewalks, waiting
for their chance to suck coffee
and juice from a plastic bottle.
Some patrons even brought their
own baby bottles to other cafes,
pleading with bewildered baristas
to fill them up.
Pictures of baby bottles
filled with colorful kaleido-
scopes of drinks drew thou-
sands of likes on Instagram
and ricocheted across the pop-
Kamran Jebreili/Associated Press
ular social media app TikTok.
Soon, however, online haters
took note — the baby bottle
drinkers and providers faced a
barrage of nasty comments.
“People were so angry, they
said horrible things, that we
were an ‘aeb,’ to Islam and the
Muslim culture,” said Molla, using
the Arabic term for shame or
dishonor.
Last week, the anger reached
the highest levels of government.
Dubai authorities cracked down.
Inspection teams burst into cafes
where the trend had taken off and
handed out fines.
“Such indiscriminate use of
baby bottles is not only against
local culture and traditions,”
read the government statement,
“but the mishandling of the
bottle during the filling could
also contribute to the spread of
COVID-19,” an apparent refer-
ence to those bringing their used
bottles to other cafes.
Authorities, the statement
added, had been “alerted to the
negative practice and its risks by
social media users.”
Backlash also came from
Kuwait, where the government
temporarily shut down Einstein
Cafe, and from Bahrain, where the
Ministry of Commerce sent police
armed with live cameras into
cafes and warned all dining estab-
lishments that serving drinks in
feeding bottles “violates Bahraini
customs and traditions.”
Oman urged citizens to
report baby bottle sightings
to the Consumer Protection
Authority hotline. Saudi Twitter
users and media personali-
ties condemned the trend in the
harshest terms, with popular
news website Mujaz al-Akhbar
lamenting that the kingdom’s
“daughters have suffered from a
loss of modesty and religion.”
AROUND OREGON AND THE REGION
Astoria
Longview
44/49
Kennewick
43/51
St. Helens
45/52
38/53
40/56
45/52
44/51
Condon
FRI
SAT
SUN
MON
A couple of
showers
Cooler with a
few showers
Rain and snow
showers
Mostly cloudy
Snow showers
possible
39 55 31
50 30
53 33
51 30
Eugene
2
6
3
42/52
47 31
50 31
46 32
0
4
1
Comfort Index™
Enterprise
9
4
36 45 31
Comfort Index™
9
47 30
44 31
0
6
3
0
ALMANAC
TUESDAY EXTREMES
TEMPERATURES Baker City La Grande Elgin
NATION (for the 48 contiguous states)
High Tuesday
Low Tuesday
High: 94°
Low: -8°
Wettest: 3.48”
53°
26°
50°
28°
54°
33°
PRECIPITATION (inches)
Tuesday
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Normal year to date
0.00
0.13
0.41
1.08
1.79
0.00
0.06
0.74
5.09
3.51
0.02
0.10
1.16
12.03
6.66
AGRICULTURAL INFO.
HAY INFORMATION FRIDAY
Lowest relative humidity
Afternoon wind
Hours of sunshine
Evapotranspiration
45%
SW at 4 to 8 mph
2.9
0.07
RESERVOIR STORAGE (through midnight Wednesday)
Phillips Reservoir
Unity Reservoir
Owyhee Reservoir
McKay Reservoir
Wallowa Lake
Thief Valley Reservoir
11% of capacity
55% of capacity
53% of capacity
67% of capacity
46% of capacity
101% of capacity
STREAM FLOWS (through midnight Tuesday)
Grande Ronde at Troy
4020 cfs
Thief Valley Reservoir near North Powder 110 cfs
Burnt River near Unity
36 cfs
Umatilla River near Gibbon
392 cfs
Minam River at Minam
262 cfs
Powder River near Richland
245 cfs
Zapata, Texas
Saranac Lake, N.Y.
Meridian, Miss.
OREGON
High: 60°
Low: 8°
Wettest: 0.01”
Ontario
Crater Lake
Burns
On March 18, 1925, the Tri-State Tornado
hit Missouri, Illinois and Indiana. The
deadly twister followed a mile-wide path
for 219 miles, killing 695 people.
SUN & MOON
THU.
Sunrise
Sunset
Moonrise
Moonset
FRI.
6:59 a.m. 6:57 a.m.
7:02 p.m. 7:04 p.m.
9:29 a.m. 9:58 a.m.
none 12:39 a.m.
MOON PHASES
First
Mar 21
Full
Mar 28
Last
Apr 4
Florence
44/49
29/45
Beaver Marsh
26/39
Roseburg
Powers
Brothers
38/48
Coos Bay
42/55
New
Apr 11
Burns
Jordan Valley
39/49
Paisley
34/46
Frenchglen
35/49
FRI.
SAT.
Hi/Lo/W
50/39/r
46/30/sh
55/32/c
50/37/sh
46/24/pc
50/38/sh
52/35/r
48/24/sf
46/33/r
52/37/sh
59/40/pc
50/36/sh
47/30/sh
44/30/pc
39/25/sn
62/38/pc
44/19/pc
42/18/sf
Diamond
Grand View
Arock
35/48
41/61
40/57
Fields
38/55
Hi/Lo/W
49/39/r
50/31/pc
58/36/r
48/40/r
50/30/pc
50/39/r
51/39/r
50/27/r
48/31/sh
52/39/r
62/37/pc
53/37/r
49/35/sh
49/30/c
43/28/sh
64/37/pc
45/27/c
44/27/c
Boise
46/58
38/49
Klamath Falls
30/45
Lakeview
33/44
McDermitt
Shown is Friday’s weather. Temperatures are Thursday night’s lows and Friday’s highs.
City
Astoria
Bend
Boise
Brookings
Burns
Coos Bay
Corvallis
Council
Elgin
Eugene
Hermiston
Hood River
Imnaha
John Day
Joseph
Kennewick
Klamath Falls
Lakeview
39/55
Silver Lake
31/46
Medford
43/48
Juntura
35/50
40/53
Brookings
Ontario
44/60
28/43
Chiloquin
Grants Pass
Huntington
31/43
36/50
Oakridge
37/50
43/59
Seneca
Bend
Elkton
Council
39/55
36/49
32/51
38/49
RECREATION FORECAST FRIDAY
REGIONAL CITIES
WEATHER HISTORY
34/44
John Day
33/52
Sisters
44/50
Comfort Index takes into account how the weather will feel based on a combination of factors. A rating of 10 feels
very comfortable while a rating of 0 feels very uncomfortable.
40/52
Baker City
Redmond
43/48
46/49
Halfway
Granite
42/51
Newport
44/51
41 28
37/54
37/47
43/50
Corvallis
Enterprise
36/45
38/51
Monument
35/55
Idanha
Salem
TONIGHT
38 51 31
Elgin
37/48
La Grande
36/50
Maupin
La Grande
43/58
Pendleton
The Dalles
Portland
Newberg
Lewiston
44/54
Hood River
43/57
TIllamook
5
Forecasts and graphics provided
by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2021
Walla Walla
41/64
Vancouver
43/53
44/48
9
SALEM — The police bulletin,
all in uppercase, carried this head-
line Wednesday, March 10: MAN
ARRESTED FOR SHOOTING
AT HALLUCINATIONS.
Officers in Salem on March
9 responded to reports of a man
shooting a gun in the backyard of
a residence. The man then drove
away. Officers found the vehicle
and detained the man, Martin
Abrego, 27, of Salem.
Police said they noticed the
smell of natural gas, cordoned off
the area and summoned the fire
department. Gas to the home was
turned off. It turned out that one
of the bullets hit the home’s nat-
ural gas meter. No one was hurt.
Detectives said Abrego was
possibly under the influence of
narcotics and was hallucinating.
He believed he was being attacked
and shot at the hallucinations,
police said.
Abrego was taken to a hospital
for treatment of his condition and
was charged with unlawful use
of a weapon and reckless endan-
gering. It was unclear if he had a
lawyer.
There were no drug charges.
Personal-use amounts of drugs
this year became legal in Oregon
as of Feb. 1, when Ballot Measure
110 took effect and decriminalized
possession of small amounts of
heroin, methamphetamine, LSD,
oxycodone and other drugs.
Those found in possession face
a $100 fine or a health assessment
that could lead to addiction coun-
seling. Addiction recovery centers
must be available by Oct. 1.
— Associated Press
DOYLESTOWN, Pa. — A
Pennsylvania woman is accused
of doctoring photos and video of
her daughter’s cheerleading rivals
to try to get them kicked off the
squad, officials said.
The Bucks County Dis-
trict Attorney’s Office last week
charged Raffaela Spone, 50, with
three misdemeanor counts of
cyber harassment of a child and
related offenses.
Spone manipulated photos
from social media of three girls
on the Victory Vipers cheer-
leading squad in Chalfont to make
it appear they were drinking,
smoking and even nude, investi-
gators said.
Spone also sent messages with
the so-called “deepfake” pictures
to the the girls and suggested they
kill themselves, officials said.
Spone’s attorney, Robert Birch,
told WPVI-TV he can’t comment
because he said the DA hasn’t pre-
sented any evidence.
“She has absolutely denied
what they’re charging her with
and because of the fact that this
has hit the press, she has received
death threats. She has had to go
to the police herself, they have a
report,” Birch said. “Her life has
been turned upside down.”
A waiter poses with a tray of baby bottles that he brought out from
storage, at Einstein Cafe in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Sunday,
March 14, 2021. Cafes across several Gulf Arab states have begun
selling coffee and other cold drinks in baby bottles, kicking off a new
trend that has prompted excitement, confusion and backlash. The fad
started at Einstein Cafe, a slick dessert chain with branches across the
region. Soon, authorities from Kuwait to Dubai cracked down claiming
the trend violates local traditions.
weather
Comfort Index™
Oregon man arrested
for shooting at
hallucinations
Cheerleader’s mom
accused of making
‘deepfakes’ of rivals
| Go to AccuWeather.com
Baker City
The cheerleading team
expressed sympathy for the fam-
ilies involved and said the team
has a “very strict anti-bullying
policy.”
City
Lewiston
Longview
Meacham
Medford
Newport
Olympia
Ontario
Pasco
Pendleton
Portland
Powers
Redmond
Roseburg
Salem
Spokane
The Dalles
Ukiah
Walla Walla
FRI.
SAT.
Hi/Lo/W
54/38/c
51/39/r
48/31/sh
55/36/sh
48/40/r
51/37/r
60/35/r
62/36/pc
57/37/c
52/42/r
49/37/r
52/28/pc
55/39/r
50/40/r
53/34/sh
56/37/r
49/28/c
58/39/c
Hi/Lo/W
55/38/r
52/36/r
46/33/r
54/36/pc
48/37/sh
53/34/r
57/30/sh
61/37/pc
54/37/sh
53/40/sh
49/37/sh
49/25/pc
52/39/sh
52/37/sh
49/33/sh
55/38/sh
43/25/sh
54/39/sh
Weather(W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain,
sf-snow fl urries, sn-snow, i-ice
ANTHONY LAKES
PHILLIPS LAKE
Snow showers
A morning shower
26
14
47
27
MT. EMILY REC.
BROWNLEE RES.
A shower; colder
Cooler
37
26
53
27
EAGLE CAP WILD.
EMIGRANT ST. PARK
Snow showers
Cooler
33
16
43
26
WALLOWA LAKE
MCKAY RESERVOIR
Spotty showers
A shower; cooler
43
28
56
35
THIEF VALLEY RES.
RED BRIDGE ST. PARK
A shower
Spotty showers
55
31
51
31