Page 6B
East Oregonian
PEANUTS
COFFEE BREAK
Thursday, December 21, 2017
DEAR ABBY
BY CHARLES M . SCHULZ
Family split by repercussions
of a long-repressed assault
FOR BETTER OR WORSE
BY LYNN JOHNSTON
B.C.
BY JOHNNY HART
PICKLES
BY BRIAN CRANE
BEETLE BAILEY
BY MORT WALKER
Dear Abby: I am estranged from
to help them see the light.
my sister, whom I love dearly. The
Dear Abby: I was a professional
reason goes back many years. When
musician most of my life and loved
I was 13, her husband got me drunk
every second of it. While I still do
and molested me. While I never
production work and an occasional
forgot, I did repress it — possibly due
performance, I no longer tour or need
to my age.
the money from the shows.
Time went on, I thought I had
I own several instruments that are
moved on and life would continue as
my most prized possessions, and have
Jeanne
usual. Well, five years ago the trauma Phillips many precious memories associated
erupted inside of me. My therapist
with them. They are worth several
Advice
thinks that possibly what triggered it
thousand dollars. I cannot think of
was becoming a grandmother.
anyone to leave them to who might
I cannot talk to my sister’s husband, let appreciate them.
alone look at him. The sight of him makes me
None of my heirs are musical, and I’m
physically ill, which is obvious to everyone. estranged from my only child, a son in his
Exposing him would devastate my sister, her early 40s. If he inherited them, he’d sell
family and our extended family.
them and squander the money before the last
I am praying for guidance and the strength chorus. The same is true of my only grand-
to forgive him, but it’s not working, and child.
neither is therapy. I am now regarded as
I’m in my early 60s, healthy, active and
the “bad guy” and left isolated with no one don’t plan on going anywhere anytime soon.
except my amazing husband. My own kids But eventually — when I do — I want these
are skeptical and think I am destroying our most important items to go where they will
family. Advice, Abby? — So Lost In The be played well and appreciated. — Quarter
Midwest
Note Quandary In California
Dear So Lost: Because keeping quiet and
Dear Q.N.Q.: How about donating your
talking to a therapist haven’t helped you, I instruments to a program that keeps music
will suggest another route for healing. Call alive in schools with underfunded music
your family together. Tell them exactly what programs nationwide? An organization to
happened when you were 13 and that you can consider is the Mr. Holland’s Opus Founda-
no longer keep quiet about it.
tion. It gives economically disadvantaged
At the same time, contact a rape crisis youth access to the benefits of music educa-
center because at 13, even if you were drunk tion, and helps them to be better students and
and consented to what your brother-in-law express their emotions and creativity through
did, you were underage and a victim of playing music. The foundation also has a
statutory rape. If your family accuses you of fund called Music Rising that helps school
making this up, invite them to some of your music programs after natural disasters. The
counseling sessions with the rape counselor. website is mhopus.org. If you check it out,
With the help of that person, you may be able I’m sure you will find it interesting.
DAYS GONE BY
GARFIELD
BLONDIE
BY JIM DAVIS
BY DEAN YOUNG AND STAN DRAKE
100 Years Ago
From the East Oregonian
Dec. 21, 1917
Pendleton last evening saw the first
wounded American soldier who has been
returned from the battlefields of France this
far west. He is Private Louden of the regular
army and he was en route through Pendleton
to his home in Walla Walla. Private Louden,
shot through the leg with a German ball, has
been furloughed home to help the Red Cross
until he is fit for field service again and he
has brought with him stories which indicate
that Germany is on “her last legs.” Talking at
the depot last evening while waiting for his
train to pull out, he declared that the belief is
prevalent among the allied soldiers in France
that Germany is licked and cannot resist the
power of her foes much longer. “I have seen
numbers of German prisoners who are 14
year old boys,” he said. “All of the Germans
taken prisoner looked thin and emaciated and
almost the first thing they ask for is food.”
50 Years Ago
From the East Oregonian
Dec. 21, 1967
You remember all those jokes you’ve heard
about small foreign cars? Well, here’s one
that’s true. Walter Holt of Pendleton hooked
onto a small foreign car with his trailer hitch
when he was pulling out of a parking place in
the 300 block on SW 1st St. Wednesday. He
towed the vehicle for two blocks to the 100
block on SW Emigrant before he was aware
he had a “hitch.” Holt left the towed vehicle at
that location and called city police who took
over from there.
25 Years Ago
From the East Oregonian
Dec. 21, 1992
The Pendleton Bucks stormed from third
place to win the Tri-State high school wres-
tling tournament Saturday. The Bucks trailed
Moses Lake, Wash., and defending champion
North Central after Friday’s rounds, but
came back with a flurry of pins in consola-
tion rounds Saturday and won going away.
Pendleton’s Chester Freeman claimed the
tournament championship at 141 pounds and
teammate Aaron Stark won at 189 pounds
with 5-0 records. It was the first team win at
the tournament, perhaps the strongest inter-
state tournament in the Northwest each year,
for Pendleton since 1981. It was the second
tournament championship in two weeks for
Pendleton, which successfully defended its
title at the El Dorado Gold tournament in Las
Vegas, Nev., a week ago.
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 355th day of
2017. There are 10 days left
in the year. Winter arrives at
11:28 a.m. Eastern time.
Today’s Highlights in
History:
On Dec. 21, 1937, Walt
Disney’s first animated
feature, “Snow White and
the Seven Dwarfs,” had
its world premiere at the
Carthay Circle Theater in Los
Angeles. The first Dr. Seuss
book, “And to Think That I
Saw It on Mulberry Street,”
was published by Vanguard
Press.
On this date:
In 1620, Pilgrims aboard
the Mayflower went ashore
for the first time at present-day
Plymouth, Massachusetts.
In 1864, during the
Civil War, Union forces led
by Maj. Gen. William T.
Sherman concluded their
“March to the Sea” as they
captured Savannah, Georgia.
In 1891, the first basket-
ball game, devised by James
Naismith, is believed to have
been played at the Inter-
national YMCA Training
School
in
Springfield,
Massachusetts. (The final
score of this experimental
game: 1-0.)
In 1940, author F. Scott
Fitzgerald died in Holly-
wood, California, at age 44.
In 1942, the U.S. Supreme
Court, in Williams v. North
Carolina, ruled 6-2 that
all states had to recognize
divorces granted in Nevada.
In 1945, U.S. Army Gen.
George S. Patton, 60, died
in Heidelberg, Germany, 12
days after being seriously
injured in a car accident.
In 1958, Charles de Gaulle
was elected to a seven-year
term as the first president of
the Fifth Republic of France.
In 1967, Louis Wash-
kansky, the first human heart
transplant recipient, died at
a hospital in Cape Town,
South Africa, 18 days after
receiving the donor organ.
Today’s
Birthdays:
Country singer Freddie Hart
is 91. Talk show host Phil
Donahue is 82. Actress Jane
Fonda is 80. Actor Larry
Bryggman is 79. Singer Carla
Thomas is 75. Musician
Albert Lee is 74. Conductor
Michael Tilson Thomas is
73. Actor Josh Mostel is 71.
Actor Samuel L. Jackson
is 69. Rock singer Nick
Gilder is 67. Movie producer
Jeffrey Katzenberg is 67.
Actor Dennis Boutsikaris
is 65. International Tennis
Hall of Famer Chris Evert
is 63. Actor-comedian Ray
Romano is 60. Treasury
Secretary Steven Mnuchin
is 55. Rock musician Murph
(The Lemonheads; Dinosaur
Jr.) is 53. Actor-comedian
Andy Dick is 52. Actor
Kiefer Sutherland is 51.
Thought for Today: “The
time will come when Winter
will ask us: ‘What were you
doing all the Summer?’” —
Bohemian proverb.
PHOEBE AND HER UNICORN
BY DANA SIMPSON
BIG NATE
BY LINCOLN PEIRCE