Page 6B
East Oregonian
PEANUTS
COFFEE BREAK
Friday, January 6, 2017
DEAR ABBY
BY CHARLES M . SCHULZ
Toddler’s taste in clothes
stirs up family tensions
FOR BETTER OR WORSE
BY LYNN JOHNSTON
B.C.
BY JOHNNY HART
PICKLES
BY BRIAN CRANE
BEETLE BAILEY
BY MORT WALKER
Dear Abby: My brother and
and Friends of Lesbians and Gays)
sister-in-law have been dressing my
have told me that many parents say
2-year-old nephew, “Charlie,” in
that, looking back, they realize that
dresses and pink clothes. They say
by disapproving, they had sent their
these are what the boy has chosen. To
child the message that they couldn’t
me, a toddler will pick out whatever
accept him/her. One child had suicidal
gets his attention at the moment, and
thoughts at the age of 5 because of
children that age have only a rudimen-
it. (And yes, sometimes children that
tary understanding of gender.
young do act on the impulse.)
Jeanne
It would be one thing if Charlie Phillips
Dear Abby: I often read and enjoy
were old enough to understand and still
the Pennies From Heaven stories that
Advice
insisted he felt more comfortable in
your readers send and decided to share
girls’ clothing. But at his age I feel what
mine. Although it doesn’t involve a
they’re doing will only confuse him. Keep in penny, it’s very special to me.
mind, I do not believe this is a transgender
My grandmother and I had a special bond,
issue. I think people who are transgender and part of it was sand dollars. She taught me
should dress and act the way they feel. I just their meaning and would mail me postcards
with pictures of dollars on them. When she
feel that age 2 is too young to determine this.
My parents (the boy’s grandparents) are passed away, I inherited the gold sand dollar
worried and angry. My sister-in-law knows necklace she had often worn.
this upsets my mother and yet it’s like she’s
I moved into a new home several years
taunting her with texts and pictures of Charlie ago, and during the home inspection, I found a
in pink and/or dresses.
sand dollar in the pantry! Everything had been
Should we be worried about this or should it emptied out of the house except for that lone
be none of our business? Are we overreacting? sand dollar propped upright on a shelf. When
Would it be best to approach my brother to tell I saw it, I knew immediately who it was from,
him our concerns? — Too Young To Under- and I felt so blessed. It’s comforting to know
stand
we are being watched over by our loved ones.
Dear Too Young: It is likely that Charlie — Sand Dollar Blessing
is going through a phase and doing some-
Dear Blessing: Your letter made me
thing he has seen other people do. But more smile. I wish you had mentioned what your
important than what his mother buys for him late grandmother explained to you about the
is how others respond to it. A family’s negative meaning of sand dollars, because from what
reaction sends a strong message. If Charlie is I have read, some people associate them with
innocently testing out his/her authentic self, Christian beliefs, while others insist they are
his grandparents’ negative response will signal “coins” scattered by mermaids. Whichever
that they disapprove of who he IS, which could meaning your grandmother ascribed to them,
have lasting ramifications for him.
it’s clear from what you have written that she
Counselors at PFLAG (Parents, Families was dearly loved. Thank you for sharing.
DAYS GONE BY
GARFIELD
BLONDIE
BY JIM DAVIS
BY DEAN YOUNG AND STAN DRAKE
100 Years Ago
From the East Oregonian
Jan. 6, 1917
A Pendleton woman, Mrs. Maurice Leeder,
figured in an episode in San Francisco on New
Year’s morning which resulted in the violent
death of J.R. Buckley, a traveling salesman.
Mrs. Leeder is the wife of the traveling
representative of Folger & Co. in this territory
and they have been living in the G.W. Coutts
home on the north side. Last month she and
her husband left for San Francisco to attend
a meeting of Folger’s salesmen. They were
members of a party occupying a table at
Lamb’s cafe in San Francisco on New Year’s
evening. While dancing with Mrs. Leeder,
Buckley accidentally bumped into Harry
McGuire, who has a reputation of being a
professional slugger. After the dance McGuire
walked across the room to Buckley’s table
and struck him in the face. The management
ejected him. He waited outside and when the
party came out assaulted Buckley again. The
latter was knocked down and suffered a basal
fracture of the skull from which he later died.
McGuire is being held for murder.
50 Years Ago
From the East Oregonian
Jan. 6, 1967
What would it be like to live in a commu-
nity fallout shelter for two weeks? Over
300 Pendleton eighth grade students found
out by visiting an actual shelter Thursday.
It is part of a science program designed to
prepare the students for all kinds of natural
disasters, said Bob Peshall, junior high
science instructor. Peshall and Lyle Phelps
are the teachers in charge of the program.
The class was conducted in the basement
of the National Guard Armory, where a
shelter capable of handling 230 people is
located. Tom Campbell, Umatilla County
Civil Defense director, stood 24 students in
a 240 square foot area and told them, “This
would be your living space for two weeks.”
He also let the students sample the typical
fallout shelter food. For each meal a person
would receive eight small crackers, high in
protein, and four carbohydrate supplement
candy drops for a meal of 333 calories, along
with a quart of water a day.
25 Years Ago
From the East Oregonian
Jan. 6, 1992
A 48-year-old Kennewick woman was
injured Sunday in the season’s fourth snow-
mobile accident near Spout Springs. Andrea
Bishop was taken by Athena Ambulance
to St. Mary Medical Center in Walla Walla,
where she was treated for a chest bruise before
being discharged. Ross Snodgrass, director
of the ambulance service, said Bishop was a
passenger on the back of a snow machine that
flew over a small embankment and hit a snow-
bank. She was thrown off and landed with her
fist between the ground and her chest. She
complained of pain in her sternum. Snodgrass
said the Athena Ambulance has responded to
three other snowmobile accidents since Dec.
23, an unusually high number.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
DILBERT
THE WIZARD OF ID
LUANN
ZITS
BY SCOTT ADAMS
BY BRANT PARKER AND JOHNNY HART
BY GREG EVANS
BY JERRY SCOTT AND JIM BORGMAN
Today is the sixth day of
2017. There are 359 days
left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in
History:
On Jan. 6, 1967, U.S.
Marines and South Viet-
namese troops launched
Operation
Deckhouse
Five, an offensive in the
Mekong River delta. The
10-day operation reportedly
claimed the lives of 21 Viet
Cong fighters along with
seven Americans.
On this date:
In 1017, Cnut the Great
was crowned King of
England at Old St. Paul’s
Cathedral in London, just
over a month following the
death of his predecessor,
Edmund II.
In 1540, England’s King
Henry VIII married his
fourth wife, Anne of Cleves.
(The marriage lasted about
six months.)
In
1759,
George
Washington and Martha
Dandridge Custis were
married in New Kent
County, Virginia.
In 1838, Samuel Morse
and Alfred Vail gave the first
successful public demon-
stration of their telegraph in
Morristown, New Jersey.
In 1912, New Mexico
became the 47th state.
In 1974, year-round
daylight saving time began
in the United States on a
trial basis as a fuel-saving
measure in response to the
OPEC oil embargo.
In 1994, figure skater
Nancy Kerrigan was clubbed
on the leg by an assailant at
Detroit’s Cobo Arena.
Today’s
Birthdays:
Country musician Joey, the
CowPolka King (Riders
in the Sky) is 68. Former
FBI director Louis Freeh is
67. Rock singer-musician
Kim Wilson (The Fabulous
Thunderbirds) is 66. Singer
Jett Williams is 64. Rock
musician Malcolm Young
(AC-DC) is 64. Actor-co-
median Rowan Atkinson
is 62. World Golf Hall of
Famer Nancy Lopez is 60.
Actress-comedian
Kate
McKinnon (TV: “Saturday
Night Live”) is 33. Rock
singer Alex Turner (Arctic
Monkeys) is 31.
Thought for Today:
“What this generation was
bred to at television’s knees
was not wisdom, but cyni-
cism.” — Pauline Kael, Amer-
ican movie critic (1919-2001).
PHOEBE AND HER UNICORN
BY DANA SIMPSON
BIG NATE
BY LINCOLN PEIRCE