COFFEE BREAK
B8 — THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD
THuRSDAY, JunE 2, 2022
Self-centered brother has siblings at their wits’ end
superior and better decorated
— never considering that my
home is just right for me and
that I do not lust for more. All
of us listen to him and do our
best to show an interest without
ever receiving that courtesy in
return.
How can we nudge him toward
showing an interest in others?
In his times of need, I have been
there for him and listened to his
troubles, and I have gotten the
impression that he’s kinder than
any of us have assumed, given his
self-centered ramblings. Is there
any way to influence him toward
being a more thoughtful conver-
sationalist? — SORE-EARED
SIBLING
DEAR ABBY: I come from
a nice family. My siblings are
thoughtful and kind, but one of
my brothers is a conversational
narcissist. He drones on for hours
(if we let him) without asking a
single question to engage another
person.
He sees nothing wrong with
talking endlessly about his work
and his acquisitions, which
interest no one. He will com-
pare, indirectly, my home with
his, assuming that his is far
band and I divorced three years
ago after he had an affair and
destroyed our lives (including his
daughter’s, who considered me
her only real mom). The divorce
took about a year. Since then, he
has stopped communicating with
me and pretends I never existed.
My stepdaughter, “Dana,” how-
ever, never let go.
I held on as well for a couple
of years, but as time goes on, I
am feeling I’m in an increasingly
impossible situation. What my
ex did and his actions that fol-
lowed were incredibly cruel. They
devastated me. Staying in touch
with Dana has slowly become a
painful reminder of that and has
made it difficult for me to close
DEAR SIBLING: Yes, there
is. “Someone” is going to have
to tell this brother — in as gentle
language as possible — that hog-
ging the conversation is as unwel-
come as hogging all the food at
the buffet. He should also be told
that comparing what he has to that
of his siblings, who may have less,
comes across as bragging, which
makes them uncomfortable.
If no one has the courage to
address this, a group interven-
tion may be needed to stanch the
motormouth. However, if this is
more than any of you want to risk,
see this sibling separately one-
on-one. If he’s not playing to a
crowd, he may behave differently.
DEAR ABBY: My ex-hus-
this unhappy chapter of my life.
I don’t want to hurt Dana. I hope
that one day she’ll understand, but
I feel the need to cease contact
in order to heal fully. Is this too
cruel? — TRAUMATIZED IN
FLORIDA
DEAR TRAUMATIZED:
What a sad situation. I’m sorry
you feel there is no other way
to heal from your ex-husband’s
betrayal than to distance yourself
from Dana, who loves you. How-
ever, feeling as you do, you must
take care of yourself. Please do
not “ghost” her. It is important
that you explain to her, as kindly
as possible, your reasons for
ending your relationship, so she
understands this is not her fault.
Uvalde locals grapple with school chief’s role
which goes against estab-
lished active-shooter proto-
cols — prompted questions
about whether more lives
were lost because officers
didn’t act faster.
Two law enforcement
officials have said that as the
gunman fired at students,
law enforcement officers
from other agencies urged
Arredondo to let them move
in because children were in
danger. The officials spoke
on condition of anonymity
because they had not been
authorized to talk publicly
about the investigation.
McLaughlin, the Uvalde
mayor, pushed back on offi-
cials’ claims, including
remarks made over the
weekend by Texas’ lieu-
tenant governor, that they
weren’t told the truth about
the massacre.
“Local law enforcement
has not made any public
comments about the spe-
cifics of the investigation or
(misled) anyone,” he said in
the May 30 statement.
Arredondo started out his
career in law enforcement
working for the Uvalde
Police Department. After
spending 16 years there, he
went to Laredo, a border
city located 130 miles miles
to the south, where he
worked at the Webb County
Sheriff’s Office and then
for a local school district,
according to a 2020 article
in the Uvalde Leader-News
on his return to his home-
town to take the school dis-
trict police chief job.
Ray Garner, the police
chief of the district in
Laredo where Arredondo
worked, told the San
Antonio Express-News in
a story published after the
Uvalde shooting that when
Arredondo worked in the
Laredo district he was “easy
By ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON
and JAMIE STENGLE
The Associated Press
UVALDE, Texas —
The blame for an excruci-
ating delay in killing the
gunman at a Texas elemen-
tary school — even as par-
ents outside begged police
to rush in and panicked chil-
dren called 911 from inside
— has been placed with the
school district’s homegrown
police chief.
It’s left residents in the
small city of Uvalde strug-
gling to reconcile what they
know of the well-liked local
lawman after the director
of state police said that the
commander at the scene —
Pete Arredondo — made
the “wrong decision” last
week not to breach a class-
room at Robb Elementary
School sooner, believing
the gunman was barricaded
inside and children weren’t
at risk.
Steven McCraw, the
head of the Texas Depart-
ment of Public Safety, said
at the Friday, May 27, news
conference that after fol-
lowing the gunman into the
building, officers waited
over an hour to breach the
classroom. Nineteen chil-
dren and two teachers were
killed in the shooting.
Arredondo, who grew
up in Uvalde and gradu-
ated from high school here,
was set to be sworn in May
31 to his new spot on the
city council after being
elected earlier this month,
but Mayor Don McLaughlin
said in a statement May 30
that the meeting wouldn’t
happen. It wasn’t imme-
diately clear whether the
swearing-in would happen
privately or at a later date.
“Pete Arredondo was
duly elected to the city
Jae C. Hong/The Associated Press
A school building stands behind a tree with an American flag and crime scene tape at Robb Elementary
School in Uvalde, Texas Monday, May 30, 2022. On May 24, 2022, an 18-year-old entered the school and
fatally shot several children and teachers.
council,” McLaughlin said
in the statement. “There is
nothing in the city charter,
election code, or Texas con-
stitution that prohibits him
from taking the oath of
office.”
The 50-year-old Arre-
dondo has spent much of
a nearly 30-year career in
law enforcement in Uvalde,
returning in 2020 to take the
head police job at the school
district.
When Arredondo was a
boy, Maria Gonzalez used to
drive him and her children
to the same school where
the shooting happened.
“He was a good boy,” she
said. “He dropped the ball
maybe because he did not
have enough experience.
Who knows? People are
very angry.”
Another woman in the
neighborhood where Arre-
dondo grew up began sob-
bing when asked about him.
tification projects happen.
At a candidates’ forum
before his election, Arre-
dondo said: “I guess to me
nothing is complicated.
Everything has a solution.
That solution starts with
communication. Communi-
cation is key.”
McCraw said that min-
utes after the gunman
entered the school, city
police officers entered
through the same door. Over
the course of more than an
hour, law enforcement from
multiple agencies arrived on
the scene. Finally, officials
said, a U.S. Border Patrol
tactical team used a janitor’s
key to unlock the classroom
door and kill the gunman.
McCraw said that stu-
dents and teachers had
repeatedly begged 911 oper-
ators for help while Arre-
dondo told more than a
dozen officers to wait in a
hallway. That directive —
The woman, who didn’t
want to give her name, said
one of her granddaughters
was at the school during the
shooting but wasn’t hurt.
Juan Torres, a U.S. Army
veteran who was visibly
upset with reports coming
out about the response, said
he knew Arredondo from
high school.
“You sign up to respond
to those kinds of situations”
he said. “If you are scared,
then don’t be a police
officer. Go flip burgers.”
After his election to the
city council, Arredondo told
the Uvalde Leader-News
earlier this month that he
was “ready to hit the ground
running.”
“I have plenty of ideas,
and I definitely have plenty
of drive,” he said, adding
he wanted to focus not only
on the city being fiscally
responsible but also making
sure street repairs and beau-
weather
| Go to AccuWeather.com
AROUND OREGON AND THE REGION
Astoria
Longview
53/63
Kennewick
55/65
St. Helens
58/68
59/72
55/68
Condon
61/74
59/68
FRI
SAT
SUN
MON
An evening
shower or two
Cloudy with
times of rain
Showers
around; cooler
Showers, some
heavy
Times of clouds
and sun
47 70 50
62 47
63 43
62 38
Eugene
2
0
5
55/69
61 52
63 49
60 42
3
1
5
53 70 49
Comfort Index™ 10
Enterprise
5
49 66 50
Comfort Index™ 10
61 44
57 43
4
5
8
3
TEMPERATURES Baker City La Grande Elgin
NATION (for the 48 contiguous states)
High Tuesday
Low Tuesday
High: 105°
Low: 20°
Wettest: 4.50”
66°
38°
68°
46°
75°
47°
0.00
2.05
1.46
3.98
4.34
0.00
2.58
2.24
6.36
8.69
0.08
4.30
2.39
14.17
12.68
PRECIPITATION (inches)
Tuesday
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Normal year to date
AGRICULTURAL INFO.
HAY INFORMATION FRIDAY
Lowest relative humidity
Afternoon wind
Hours of sunshine
Evapotranspiration
60%
NNW at 6 to 12 mph
0.3
0.11
RESERVOIR STORAGE (through midnight Wednesday)
Phillips Reservoir
Unity Reservoir
Owyhee Reservoir
McKay Reservoir
Wallowa Lake
Thief Valley Reservoir
56/65
15% of capacity
98% of capacity
44% of capacity
102% of capacity
43% of capacity
102% of capacity
STREAM FLOWS (through midnight Tuesday)
Grande Ronde at Troy
8430 cfs
Thief Valley Reservoir near North Powder 249 cfs
Burnt River near Unity
89 cfs
Umatilla River near Gibbon
682 cfs
Minam River at Minam
1840 cfs
Powder River near Richland
313 cfs
Presidio, Texas
Dillon, Colo.
Winfi eld, Kan.
OREGON
High: 81°
Low: 30°
Wettest: 0.18”
The Dalles
Lakeview
Meacham
The heavy rain from the May 31, 1889,
Johnstown Flood raised the levels of other
rivers. On June 2, 1889, the Potomac River
reached fl ood stage at Washington, D.C.
SUN & MOON
THU.
5:07 a.m.
8:34 p.m.
7:18 a.m.
11:50 p.m.
FRI.
5:07 a.m.
8:35 p.m.
8:17 a.m.
none
MOON PHASES
First
Jun 7
Full
Jun 14
Last
Jun 20
Beaver Marsh
57/70
New
Jun 28
Jordan Valley
Paisley
Frenchglen
48/75
City
Astoria
Bend
Boise
Brookings
Burns
Coos Bay
Corvallis
Council
Elgin
Eugene
Hermiston
Hood River
Imnaha
John Day
Joseph
Kennewick
Klamath Falls
Lakeview
Hi/Lo/W
63/53/sh
70/48/c
79/56/pc
59/51/sh
72/49/c
62/52/sh
68/52/sh
78/56/pc
71/51/sh
69/52/r
79/54/c
72/55/r
73/57/sh
70/50/sh
66/49/sh
80/57/c
70/46/c
72/48/c
Hi/Lo/W
62/54/sh
65/53/r
72/54/c
58/53/sh
60/47/c
62/56/sh
63/57/sh
68/54/sh
62/52/sh
66/58/sh
72/58/c
72/59/r
69/54/sh
63/51/sh
61/47/sh
74/61/c
61/46/c
58/48/c
Grand View
Arock
56/82
49/79
48/78
Klamath Falls
43/70
Lakeview
43/72
McDermitt
Shown is Friday’s weather. Temperatures are Thursday night’s lows and Friday’s highs.
SAT.
Diamond
47/74
Fields
56/73
FRI.
Boise
48/76
48/72
43/67
Medford
Brookings
50/77
56/79
55/72
51/59
Juntura
45/72
Silver Lake
Chiloquin
Grants Pass
Ontario
57/81
Burns
48/71
48/76
RECREATION FORECAST FRIDAY
REGIONAL CITIES
WEATHER HISTORY
Sunrise
Sunset
Moonrise
Moonset
48/70
41/66
Roseburg
Powers
Brothers
54/67
Coos Bay
Huntington
46/68
51/70
Oakridge
54/78
57/81
Seneca
Bend
Elkton
Council
47/70
50/70
50/71
Florence
TUESDAY EXTREMES
ALMANAC
46/64
John Day
50/71
Sisters
53/62
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.
51/74
Baker City
Redmond
52/57
52/59
Halfway
Granite
53/68
Newport
54/65
62 47
55/74
55/65
57/68
Corvallis
Enterprise
49/66
53/70
Monument
58/71
Idanha
Salem
TONIGHT
La Grande
Elgin
52/71
La Grande
56/68
Maupin
5
59/74
Pendleton
The Dalles
Portland
Newberg
Lewiston
60/74
Hood River
60/74
TIllamook
Comfort Index™ 10
Forecasts and graphics provided
by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2022
Walla Walla
63/80
Vancouver
57/67
53/62
Baker City
to talk to” and was con-
cerned about the students.
“He was an excellent
officer down here,” Garner
told the newspaper. “Down
here, we do a lot of training
on active-shooter scenarios,
and he was involved in
those.”
Arredondo, who spoke
only briefly at two short
news conferences on
the day of the shooting,
appeared behind state offi-
cials speaking at news con-
ferences over the next two
days, but was not present
at McCraw’s May 27 news
conference.
After that news confer-
ence, members of the media
converged at Arredondo’s
home and police cruisers
took up posts there. At one
point, a man answering the
door at Arredondo’s house
told a reporter for The Asso-
ciated Press that Arredondo
was “indisposed.”
“The truth will come
out,” said the man before
closing the door.
State Sen. Roland Guti-
errez, a Democrat whose
district includes Uvalde,
said on CNN’s “State of the
Union” that he’s asking a lot
of questions after “so many
things went wrong.”
He said one family told
him that a first responder
told them that their child,
who was shot in the back,
likely bled out. “So, abso-
lutely, these mistakes may
have led to the passing away
of these children as well,”
Gutierrez said.
Gutierrez said while the
issue of which law enforce-
ment agency had or should
have had operational control
is a “significant” concern of
his, he’s also “suggested” to
McCraw “that it’s not fair
to put it on the local (school
district) cop.”
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
74/60/sh
65/54/r
69/51/sh
73/56/c
57/50/sh
63/52/r
81/58/sh
81/58/c
74/50/c
68/56/r
65/54/sh
71/49/c
70/54/sh
68/55/r
68/51/sh
74/59/c
67/46/sh
74/54/sh
Hi/Lo/W
66/57/sh
63/58/c
60/53/sh
68/57/c
59/52/sh
63/54/c
74/57/c
74/58/c
67/56/c
66/59/c
64/58/sh
66/51/sh
67/57/sh
65/59/sh
62/50/c
72/59/c
59/50/c
65/54/c
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
A shower or two
A shower or two
45
36
64
47
MT. EMILY REC.
BROWNLEE RES.
Downpours
A shower or two
57
45
76
57
EAGLE CAP WILD.
EMIGRANT ST. PARK
A shower or two
Afternoon showers
56
40
62
44
WALLOWA LAKE
MCKAY RESERVOIR
Cloudy, showers
Showers around
66
49
71
49
THIEF VALLEY RES.
RED BRIDGE ST. PARK
Spotty showers
Cloudy, showers
70
50
70
49