Thursday, March 2, 2017
PEANUTS
COFFEE BREAK
East Oregonian
Page 7A
DEAR ABBY
BY CHARLES M . SCHULZ
Teen’s parents learn too late
about alcohol at friends’ homes
FOR BETTER OR WORSE
BY LYNN JOHNSTON
B.C.
BY JOHNNY HART
PICKLES
BY BRIAN CRANE
BEETLE BAILEY
BY MORT WALKER
GARFIELD
BLONDIE
BY JIM DAVIS
BY DEAN YOUNG AND STAN DRAKE
Dear Abby: I have seen letters
having that “very first drink.” One of
in your column from parents who
the members stood up and said, “It
want to ensure their children’s and
was like someone switched a light on
teenagers’ safety when visiting their
in my head, and I said to myself, ‘So
friends’ homes. A question parents
that’s what it’s like to feel normal!’”
need to ask the hosting parents is what
This is why it is imperative that
their drug and alcohol policy is.
families with a history of addiction
We wrongly assumed (and trusted)
make their children aware of it and
that our daughter’s friends’ parents
clearly understand why it’s important
Jeanne
did not facilitate access to alcohol or Phillips they avoid addictive substances even
drugs to minors. We realized — too
if their friends are indulging.
Advice
late — that from the time she was 15,
Dear Abby: My husband is
our daughter had access to unmoni-
obsessed with his personal electronic
tored alcohol and was sometimes encouraged devices and insists on using one most of the
to consume it in these homes.
time. He gets angry if I ask him to stop even
Many parents think it’s OK if teens drink for a short time. But the worst part is, he
alcohol under supervision, as long as the routinely takes his tablet into the bathroom
parents are there and they have possession of with him for extended periods. And no, he
the car keys. They wrongly rationalize that does not sanitize the tablet afterward — or
the teens are going to do it anyway, so why ever, for that matter.
not under supervision?
Abby, he reads your column and I’m
What these good-time parents don’t hoping you might comment on this unsafe
consider is that a teen who may have a and repulsive habit. Please help, because he
genetic predisposition to addiction may have won’t listen to me. — Grossed Out In New
just gotten a switch turned on in his or her Mexico
developing brain. You can’t look at people
Dear Grossed Out: Because your
and know if they are prone to addiction. In our husband gets angry when you ask him to put
case, our daughter’s addiction became a long, his electronics down, it appears he may have
difficult struggle, which led to the untimely an obsession. Not only is what he’s doing
death of our smart and talented daughter at rude, but it isn’t healthy for your marriage
age 24. — Grieving Mom In Reno
because communication is important
Dear Grieving Mom: I am sorry for the between spouses. When he takes his tablet
tragic loss of your daughter. In most states, into the bathroom “for a long time,” could he
providing alcohol to minors is against the be viewing or texting things he wants to keep
law, not only for public safety, but also for from you?
the reason you stated.
As to his hygiene habits, smartphones and
Years ago, I spoke with a gentleman who tablets can be more unhygienic than toilet
was active with the National Council on Alco- seats if they’re used for “toilet texting.” The
holism and Drug Dependence (NCADD), user’s hands should be washed afterward,
when he repeated something he’d heard at and the device should be disinfected, too —
an AA meeting. He said the subject being particularly if it will be in contact with the
discussed at the meeting was what it felt like user’s face.
DAYS GONE BY
100 Years Ago
From the East Oregonian
March 2, 1917
So successful was the experiment of
serving “off the tray” lunches to passengers
on O.-W. R. & N. trains No. 7 and 8 between
Pendleton and Spokane that the railroad
company has arranged to extend the service
to all passenger trains on the main line, effec-
tive yesterday. The first service was started
last October, the dining car waiters passing
through the train with trays of coffee, sand-
wiches, doughnuts and pie which passengers
in the day coaches found a pleasant help to
the high cost of living.
50 Years Ago
From the East Oregonian
March 2, 1967
Three Condon-area ranchers have been
given the first permit in Oregon to kill golden
eagles. Lloyd Keller, Tom Cimmiyotti and
Brice Logan each received a permit this
week from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
headquarters in Portland. Each permit is for
four eagles. The ranchers in their applications
said the eagles are killing lambs. The three
ranchers run sheep on grasslands in the deep
canyons of Hay Creek west of Gwendolin
in Gilliam County. Fred Kreller, Pendleton,
USFWS agent, said Tuesday it is unlikely
all 12 of the eagles allowed will be killed.
“That’s the maximum,” he said.
25 Years Ago
From the East Oregonian
March 2, 1992
Nikki Lapsley of Pendleton should be
excited to watch “America’s Funniest Home
Videos” on ABC television at 8 p.m. Sunday.
A videotape of her son, Kevin, sleeping in an
unusual and funny position will be featured.
The video was taped a year ago when Kevin
was 4. While sleeping on the couch, the
boy slid off and landed with his head on the
floor. But his feet remained on the couch. In
October 1991, she submitted the video with
four different clips and a lengthy written
explanation. But the show’s staff returned the
tape without viewing it. Nikki resubmitted it
with a note saying, “start tape here.” After
a screening process, KVEW Television in
Tri-Cities notified Nikki Wednesday that her
video would premiere this weekend.
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 61st day of
2017. There are 304 days left
in the year.
Today’s Highlights in
History:
On March 2, 1867,
Howard
University,
a
historically black school of
higher learning in Wash-
ington, D.C., was founded
as it received a congressional
charter. Congress passed,
over President Andrew
Johnson’s veto, the first of
four Reconstruction Acts,
providing for “the more
efficient Government of the
Rebel States” by dividing the
South into five military-run
districts.
On this date:
In 1793, the first president
of the Republic of Texas,
Sam Houston, was born near
Lexington, Virginia.
In 1836, the Republic of
Texas formally declared its
independence from Mexico.
In 1877, Republican
Rutherford B. Hayes was
declared the winner of the
1876 presidential election
over Democrat Samuel J.
Tilden, even though Tilden
had won the popular vote.
In 1917, Puerto Ricans
were granted U.S. citizen-
ship as President Woodrow
Wilson signed the Jones-Sha-
froth Act. Actor, producer,
director and bandleader Desi
Arnaz was born in Santiago
de Cuba.
In 1955, nine months
before Rosa Parks’ famous
act of defiance, Claudette
Colvin, a black high school
student in Montgomery,
Alabama, was arrested after
refusing to give up her seat
on a public bus to a white
passenger.
In 1977, the U.S. House
of Representatives adopted a
strict code of ethics.
In 1989, representatives
from the 12 European
Community nations agreed
to ban all production of CFCs
(chlorofluorocarbons), the
synthetic compounds blamed
for destroying the Earth’s
ozone layer, by the end of the
20th century.
Today’s Birthdays: Actor
John Cullum is 87. Author
Tom Wolfe is 87. Former
Soviet President Mikhail S.
Gorbachev is 86. Actress
Barbara Luna is 78. Author
John Irving is 75. Actress
Cassie Yates is 66. Actress
Laraine Newman is 65.
Former Sen. Russ Feingold,
D-Wis., is 64. Former Interior
Secretary Ken Salazar is 62.
Pop musician John Cowsill
(The Cowsills) is 61. Tennis
player Kevin Curren is 59.
Country singer Larry Stewart
(Restless Heart) is 58. Rock
singer Jon Bon Jovi is 55.
Actor Daniel Craig is 49.
Rock singer Chris Martin
(Coldplay) is 40. NFL quarter-
back Ben Roethlisberger is 35.
Thought for Today:
“Just as we are often moved
to merriment for no other
reason than that the occasion
calls for seriousness, so we
are correspondingly serious
when invited too freely to be
amused.” — Agnes Repplier,
American essayist (1858-
1950).
PHOEBE AND HER UNICORN
BY DANA SIMPSON
BIG NATE
BY LINCOLN PEIRCE