Page 6B
East Oregonian
PEANUTS
COFFEE BREAK
Thursday, June 29, 2017
DEAR ABBY
BY CHARLES M . SCHULZ
Teen immersed in electronics
is losing touch with people
FOR BETTER OR WORSE
BY LYNN JOHNSTON
B.C.
BY JOHNNY HART
PICKLES
BY BRIAN CRANE
Dear Abby: I’ve been dating a
As to removing the television/gaming
wonderful woman for two years. She
from his bedroom, his mother should
has a son in high school I’ll call “Jon.”
warn him in advance that it will
Like many teens I see, he is constantly
happen if his grades don’t improve.
on his smartphone, his school-re-
Interacting with others doesn’t
quired tablet or playing video games
come naturally to everyone. Devel-
on the TV in his bedroom.
oping these skills takes practice.
On a recent vacation, I decided
Learning to make eye contact, carry
enough was enough. Jon had head-
on a conversation and pick up on
Jeanne
phones on and was watching videos Phillips social cues are skills people learn
online while we were at a restaurant.
in person, not by texting. This is a
Advice
His mother was on her cellphone as I
conversation I have had with more
sat there wondering how long I’d wait.
than one mental health expert, and it’s
Jon’s grades have dropped and he doesn’t something parents need to remember when
sleep well. I can see he is so connected to interacting with their children.
his electronics that he’s disconnected from
Dear Abby: My husband wants to help in
people.
the kitchen with the dishes. Call me stupid to
While I don’t want to seem controlling, I complain, but he is causing me more work,
now feel I have a vested interest in the boy. and I don’t know what to do.
I care about him and see that the constant
This is the second marriage for both of us,
stimulation is affecting much of his life. I’m and I am trying hard to be a kinder, gentler
not sure he even knows how to make friends. wife. When my husband washes the dishes,
Should I push for his TV to be taken out of pots and pans, he misses spots, sometimes
his room? His mother is excellent at setting lots of them. Also, he is impatient and doesn’t
her own boundaries, but because of her want to wait the three minutes it takes for the
divorce, I think she’s reluctant to set bound- hot water to get to the kitchen, so he washes
aries for him. — Needs Help In Chicago
in cold water.
Dear Needs Help: If you haven’t
I tell him I will take care of the dishes, but
discussed your concerns with Jon’s mother, then he gets upset with me. How do I handle
you should, because they are valid. If his this without hurting his feelings or his pride?
grades are suffering and he isn’t getting — Kinder, Gentler Wife
enough rest, it’s time for her to step up to the
Dear K.G.W.: Sometimes it’s not what
plate and start acting like a parent.
we say but how we say it that can hurt some-
When the three of you are having a meal one’s feelings or pride. Tell your husband
together, the electronics should be put away, that you love him and know he wants to do
and you and your girlfriend should make a this for you, but, respectfully, his “talents”
point of including her son in the conversa- lie elsewhere. Because he is willing to help,
tion. At his age, he should be informed about entrust him to the important task of doing the
and have an opinion regarding current events. rinsing and/or drying.
DAYS GONE BY
BEETLE BAILEY
GARFIELD
BLONDIE
BY MORT WALKER
BY JIM DAVIS
BY DEAN YOUNG AND STAN DRAKE
100 Years Ago
From the East Oregonian
June 29, 1917
A young man who wanted to serve his
country and who was rejected as a naval
recruit because he had flat feet yesterday
demonstrated that he is something of an
athlete, anyway, when he captured most of the
events at the annual Freewater Cherry Day
festival. He is H.R. Jones, who is working on
the construction gang of the O.-W. R. & N.
at the big trestles near Weston. He attended
Freewater’s festival and entered the races as
a darkhorse. He ran away from the Freewater
and Milton sprinters in the free for all 100
yard dash and took first in the standing broad
jump and in the running half hammin jump.
50 Years Ago
From the East Oregonian
June 29, 1967
A seven-year-old Meacham girl was
thrown from one car and run over by another
on Highway 30 Tuesday afternoon east of
Pendleton. Billie Jean Randol was hospital-
ized at St. Anthony Hospital with lacerations,
abrasions and bruises, but no broken bones.
The girl was a passenger in a car driven by
Alton Alvin Sharp, 44, of Meacham that was
towing another car using a length of logging
chain. Billie Jean’s mother, Mildred J.
Randol, 27, was steering the towed vehicle.
The towed vehicle started to whip, causing
Sharp to lose control and both autos went
off an embankment on the south side of
Highway 30 near the truck weighing station.
Billie Jean was thrown from the Sharp auto
and run over by the vehicle her mother was
steering. Sharp was cited for driving with
suspended operator’s license.
25 Years Ago
From the East Oregonian
June 29, 1992
A lightning-quick storm Sunday evening
produced winds of nearly 60 mph, creating
a dust cloud and heavy rains that caused
three major freeway accidents and sent
seven people to Good Shepherd Commu-
nity Hospital in Hermiston. The intense
20-minute storm was the punctuation mark
on a weekend of weird weather that produced
some 50 fires in the Umatilla National Forest,
dozens of grass fires throughout the region
and a flash flood near Lexington in Morrow
County.
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 180th day of
2017. There are 185 days left
in the year.
Today’s Highlight in
History:
On June 29, 1767, Britain
approved the Townshend
Revenue Act, which imposed
import duties on glass,
paint, oil, lead, paper and
tea shipped to the American
colonies. (Colonists bitterly
protested, prompting Parlia-
ment to repeal the duties —
except for tea.)
On this date:
In 1613, London’s original
Globe Theatre, where many
of Shakespeare’s plays were
performed, was destroyed by
a fire sparked by a cannon
shot during a performance of
“Henry VIII.”
In 1880, France annexed
Tahiti, which became a
French colony on December
30, 1880.
In 1927, the first
trans-Pacific airplane flight
was completed as Lt. Lester
J. Maitland and Lt. Albert
F. Hegenberger arrived at
Wheeler Field in Hawaii
aboard the Bird of Paradise,
an Atlantic-Fokker C-2,
after flying 2,400 miles from
Oakland, California, in 25
hours, 50 minutes.
In 1936, entertainer and
songwriter George M. Cohan
was presented with the
Congressional Gold Medal
by President Franklin D.
Roosevelt for his contribu-
tions to building American
morale during World War I.
In 1941, Polish statesman,
pianist and composer Ignacy
Jan Paderewski died in New
York at age 80.
In 1972, the U.S. Supreme
Court struck down a trio of
death sentences, saying the
way they had been imposed
constituted cruel and unusual
punishment. (The ruling
prompted states to effectively
impose a moratorium on
executions until their capital
punishment laws could be
revised.)
In 1995, the space shuttle
Atlantis and the Russian Mir
space station linked in orbit,
beginning a historic five-day
voyage as a single ship.
Today’s
Birthdays:
Movie producer Robert
Evans is 87. Songwriter
L. Russell Brown is 77.
Singer-songwriter Garland
Jeffreys is 74. Actor Gary
Busey is 73. Comedian
Richard Lewis is 70. Actor-
turned-politican-turned-radio
personality Fred Grandy is
69. Rock musician Ian Paice
(Deep Purple) is 69. Singer
Don Dokken (Dokken) is
64. Rock singer Colin Hay
(Men At Work) is 64. Actress
Maria Conchita Alonso is 62.
Actress Sharon Lawrence is
56. Actress Amanda Donohoe
is 55. Actress Judith Hoag is
54. Violinist Anne-Sophie
Mutter is 54. Actress Kath-
leen Wilhoite is 53. Produc-
er-writer Matthew Weiner is
52. Rap DJ Shadow is 45.
Thought for Today: “I
have many regrets, and I’m
sure everyone does. The
stupid things you do, you
regret if you have any sense,
and if you don’t regret them,
maybe you’re stupid.” —
Katharine Hepburn (1907-
2003).
PHOEBE AND HER UNICORN
BY DANA SIMPSON
BIG NATE
BY LINCOLN PEIRCE