Page 6B East Oregonian PEANUTS COFFEE BREAK Thursday, January 18, 2018 DEAR ABBY BY CHARLES M . SCHULZ Foot-dragging boyfriend puts engagement on endless hold FOR BETTER OR WORSE BY LYNN JOHNSTON B.C. BY JOHNNY HART PICKLES BY BRIAN CRANE Dear Abby: I’m 28 and have been Dear Ready: Not knowing your dating my boyfriend, “Spencer,” for 2 boyfriend, I can’t guess why you 1/2 years. We have talked a lot about haven’t received the official proposal. getting married. We know where It’s time to talk turkey with Spencer we want it to be, who will be in our and ask him exactly why he seems wedding party and what the theme to be stuck at the starting gate. It was will be. considerate of him to postpone your A year ago we discussed getting engagement so it wouldn’t distract engaged. Spencer said he’d propose from his sister’s wedding plans. But Jeanne “sometime within the next year” Phillips for him to do it again because of his and last spring it seemed like he was friend’s impending fatherhood doesn’t Advice working up the courage to do it. (He seem like a legitimate reason to me. was talking about how happy he was Dear Abby: I am a tween and I’m and what he was seeing for our future). Then scared about getting a disease or sickness. It his best friend got his girlfriend pregnant and started when I watched the news one night told Spencer he was thinking about proposing last month waiting for a show to come on. to her. After that, the idea of us getting married The news had all these terrible crimes and went on the back burner. Spencer stopped diseases, and that’s when I started freaking talking about us, and I think the reason was he out. My friend says I’m crazy, and I’m afraid didn’t want to step on anyone’s toes. (It’s why she’s right. All this worrying has me really he said he didn’t want to get engaged when feeling out of it. What should I do to quit his sister was getting married.) worrying about diseases? — Southern Girl How do I bring up the subject without Dear Southern Girl: There’s a saying in coming off as pushy or selfish? A lot of our the news business, “If it bleeds, it leads.” It friends are in committed relationships. If we means the more shocking a story is, the more put our lives on hold every time one of them attention it will grab and the more people will gets engaged, we’ll be waiting years before watch. Quieting your fears may be as simple it’s our turn and we can start a family. I’d as talking with your parents about what’s appreciate any advice you might have. — scaring you, or having them schedule a visit Ready To Move Forward with your pediatrician. DAYS GONE BY BEETLE BAILEY GARFIELD BY MORT WALKER BY JIM DAVIS 100 Years Ago From the East Oregonian Jan. 18, 1918 That owners of the timber in the southern part of Umatilla County are preparing to develop their property this spring and that the plans in connection with the enterprise call for extending the Pilot Rock Branch to Ukiah and the establishment of a large saw mill adjacent to Pendleton is the substance of a report received here today. There is said to be “only one chance in a thousand” that the plan will not be carried out. Nothing is said as to the probable location of the mill but several suitable sites are said to be available for the purpose. A crew of from 250 to 300 men is contemplated. 50 Years Ago From the East Oregonian Jan. 18, 1968 The city of Pendleton will find itself on a list of delinquent property taxpayers Umatilla County will publish next month in a foreclosure list. The city council learned Tuesday that the city is now almost $40,000 behind in taxes the county has assessed on the city’s rental property at the airport. The terminal building and the cropland are not included. City Attorney John Walker said Tuesday his research indicates the city failed to pay the 1963-64 bill because of a lack of funds. 25 Years Ago From the East Oregonian Jan. 18, 1993 The only thing missing is violence. All the other signs — the colors, hand signals, tattoos, oversized clothing and graffiti — point to at least three formal, functioning youth gangs in Hermiston. Parents are worried, school offi- cials are concerned, and police are cautious enough to commit three-fifths of an officer’s time strictly to the investigation of gangs in Hermiston. So far, activities by gang members — mostly Hispanic boys between the ages of 11 and 18 — have been fairly unremarkable. Guns and drugs have played a very limited role, although a 12-year-old boy was accidentally killed in November by a blast from a shotgun, which was to be used in a rumble between gang “wannabes” from Umatilla and one or more Hermiston youth. THIS DAY IN HISTORY BLONDIE DILBERT THE WIZARD OF ID LUANN ZITS BY DEAN YOUNG AND STAN DRAKE BY SCOTT ADAMS BY BRANT PARKER AND JOHNNY HART BY GREG EVANS BY JERRY SCOTT AND JIM BORGMAN Today is the 18th day of 2018. There are 347 days left in the year. Today’s Highlights in History: On Jan. 18, 1943, during World War II, Jewish insurgents in the Warsaw Ghetto launched their initial armed resistance against Nazi troops, who eventually succeeded in crushing the rebellion. The Soviets announced they’d broken through the long Nazi siege of Leningrad (it was another year before the siege was fully lifted). A U.S. ban on the sale of pre-sliced bread — aimed at reducing bakeries’ demand for metal replacement parts — went into effect. On this date: In 1778, English navi- gator Captain James Cook reached the present-day Hawaiian Islands, which he named the “Sandwich Islands.” In 1862, the tenth pres- ident of the United States, John Tyler, died in Rich- mond, Virginia, at age 71, shortly before he could take his seat as an elected member of the Confederate Congress. In 1911, the first landing of an aircraft on a ship took place as pilot Eugene B. Ely brought his Curtiss biplane in for a safe landing on the deck of the armored cruiser USS Pennsylvania in San Francisco Harbor. In 1919, the Paris Peace Conference, held to negotiate peace treaties ending the First World War, opened in Versailles, France. In 1936, Nobel Prize-win- ning author Rudyard Kipling, 70, died in London. In 1949, Charles Ponzi, engineer of one of the most spectacular mass swindles in history, died destitute at a hospital in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, at age 66. In 1957, a trio of B-52’s completed the first non-stop, round-the-world flight by jet planes, landing at March Air Force Base in California after more than 45 hours aloft. In 1967, Albert DeSalvo, who claimed to be the “Boston Strangler,” was convicted of armed robbery, assault and sex offenses. (Sentenced to life, DeSalvo was killed in prison in 1973.) In 1970, David Oman McKay, the ninth president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, died at the age of 96. In 1988, a China South- west Airlines Ilyushin 18 crashed while on approach to Chongqing Airport, killing all 108 people on board. In 1993, the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday was observed in all 50 states for the first time. Today’s Birthdays: Movie director John Boorman is 85. Former Sen. Paul Kirk, D-Mass., is 80. Singer-songwriter Bobby Goldsboro is 77. Comedi- an-singer-musician Brett Hudson is 65. Actor-di- rector Kevin Costner is 63. Country singer-actor Mark Collie is 62. Actor Mark Rylance is 58. Actress Alison Arngrim (TV: “Little House on the Prairie”) is 56. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley is 55. Actress Jane Horrocks is 54. Comedian Dave Attell is 53. Actor Jesse L. Martin is 49. Rapper DJ Quik is 48. Rock singer Jonathan Davis (Korn) is 47. Former NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous is 45. Singer Christian Burns (BBMak) is 44. Actor Derek Richardson is 42. Actor Jason Segel is 38. Actress Samantha Mumba is 35. Country singer Kristy Lee Cook (TV: “American Idol”) is 34. Actress Devin Kelley is 32. Actress Ashleigh Murray (TV: “Riverdale”) is 30. Tennis player Angelique Kerber is 30. Actor Mateus Ward is 19. Thought for Today: “If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.” — Rudyard Kipling (1865- 1936). PHOEBE AND HER UNICORN BY DANA SIMPSON BIG NATE BY LINCOLN PEIRCE