B6 East Oregonian PEANUTS COFFEE BREAK Wednesday, February 13, 2019 DEAR ABBY BY CHARLES M . SCHULZ May-December romance trips on question of having children FOR BETTER OR WORSE BY LYNN JOHNSTON B.C. BY JOHNNY HART PICKLES BY BRIAN CRANE BEETLE BAILEY BY MORT WALKER Dear Abby: I’m a 67-year-old He’s a lot older than she is, emo- tionally manipulative and abusive. single white man. My girlfriend Before they got together — a cou- is 21 and African-American. We ple of months after his previous have been together a year and a fiancee broke their engagement — half and are deeply in love. We she talked constantly about how have lots of fun together and go out desperate she was for a boyfriend. and do things. Long story short, she was looking When we are out together, peo- for love, and he appeared. ple often stare at us. She’s very J eanne We’re not the only ones worried attractive and turns heads. I tell her P hilliPs for her. We have spoken with sev- everyone is looking at her because ADVICE eral mutual friends. We all have she is so beautiful, but that’s prob- ably not totally true. the same concerns but are afraid We want to be together, but I’m to approach her about them. He reluctant. The love feels good and true, but has damaged her professional and personal the rest is scary. relationships and essentially clipped her wings. We would like to have children, but she She was a bright, kind and ambitious wonders if there is any risk in having a person with wonderful dreams before she child with me. We have tried to break up, settled for him. She has lost herself in this but we missed each other so much we got relationship, and we don’t know what to back together. We have a very active sex say to her, if we should say anything at all. life. Do you have any advice? — Uncer- tain in Ohio Help! — Nervous in the Northwest Dear Uncertain: People may stare Dear Nervous: While it may be tempt- ing, resist the urge to drift away from her because of the large discrepancy in your because of him. Rather than remain silent, ages or because they aren’t used to seeing you and the others should point out the interracial couples. Because you are con- impact her fiance has had on her profes- cerned about how things will play out if the sional relationships. If he is as you describe, two of you decide to start a family, it would she may eventually learn for herself why be wise to get genetic counseling because his previous fiancee didn’t marry him. And of your age. While 67 isn’t over the hill, when that happens, she may need all the the decision to embark on starting a fam- ily at that age may depend upon your over- support you all can give her. all health and the life expectancy in your Dear Abby: Five years ago, my 26-year marriage ended in divorce. I am now in a family. wonderful new relationship. Do I have an Dear Abby: Our friend recently got obligation to inform my ex of my new sta- engaged to someone who is, well, terri- ble! This is her first real relationship. They tus? — Debbie in the East moved in together and got a dog within six Dear Debbie: Heck no! Let your chil- dren do it for you. months. DAYS GONE BY GARFIELD BLONDIE BY JIM DAVIS BY DEAN YOUNG AND STAN DRAKE 100 Years Ago From the East Oregonian Feb. 13, 1919 Mrs. Charles F. Daniels, wife of the well known Pendleton farmer, probably holds the record for correspondence with soldier and sailor boys. During the war she has kept up cor- respondence with 98 different Umatilla county boys in the service and has writ- ten more than 1700 letters to them. During the past 12 months she has written an even thousand letters and sent 898 packages. Mrs. Daniels was prompted to take up this form of service through the fact that her own son, Francis Daniels, is in the service and had written of how letters were appre- ciated and of how some the boys had no one to write to them. 50 Years Ago From the East Oregonian Feb. 13, 1969 Plans for much needed additional park- ing space in the north business district of Milton-Freewater came to a halt with receipt of a letter from the State Traffic Con- trol Board refusing to approve the proposal, city manager Henry Schneider told the city council Monday night. In refusing permis- sion to make Robbins Street two-way and N. Main one-way, the board said the streets were too narrow and the condition of pav- ing was poor on both these and intersecting streets. The letter also pointed to 15 daily train movements in summer along Robbins Street. 25 Years Ago From the East Oregonian Feb. 13, 1994 The five-year-old daughter of a missing Pendleton woman saw her father kill her mother, according to police testimony last month in a child custody hearing. Phil Arnold, an Oregon State Police detective, testified the the girl told investi- gators: “Daddy shooted Vickie in the ditch, Vickie’s dead. He put her in the ground.” Authorities have confirmed that the girl’s father — LuRay Batterton — is the chief suspect in the disappearance and possible murder of his wife, Vickie Batterton, who has been missing since October of 1992. The girl told officials her father threatened to spank her if she talked about it. TODAY 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 On Feb. 13, 2016, Justice Antonin Scalia, the influen- tial conservative and most provocative member of the U.S. Supreme Court, was found dead at a private res- idence in the Big Bend area of West Texas; he was 79. In 1633, Italian astrono- mer Galileo Galilei arrived in Rome for trial before the Inquisition, accused of defending Copernican the- ory that the Earth revolved around the sun instead of the other way around. (Gal- ileo was found vehemently suspect of heresy, and ended up being sentenced to a form of house arrest.) In 1861, Abraham Lin- coln was officially declared winner of the 1860 presiden- tial election as electors cast their ballots. In 1935, a jury in Flem- ington, New Jersey, found Bruno Richard Hauptmann guilty of first-degree mur- der in the kidnap-slaying of Charles A. Lindbergh Jr., the 20-month-old son of Charles and Anne Lind- bergh. (Hauptmann was later executed.) In 1974, Nobel Prize-winning Russian author Alexander Solz- henitsyn was expelled from the Soviet Union. In 1984, Konstantin Chernenko was chosen to be general secretary of the Soviet Communist Par- ty’s Central Committee, succeeding the late Yuri Andropov. In 1996, the rock musical “Rent,” by Jonathan Larson, opened off-Broadway. In 2013, beginning a long farewell to his flock, a weary Pope Benedict XVI celebrated his final pub- lic Mass as pontiff, presid- ing over Ash Wednesday services inside St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. In 2017, President Donald Trump’s embattled national security adviser, Michael Flynn, resigned following reports he had misled Vice President Mike Pence and other officials about his con- tacts with Russia. Today’s Birthdays: U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Charles E. “Chuck” Yeager (ret.) is 96. Actress Kim Novak is 86. Actor George Segal is 85. Singer-musician Peter Tork (The Monkees) is 77. Talk show host Jerry Springer is 75. Rock singer Matt Ber- ninger (The National) is 48. Thought for Today: “The world has no sympathy with any but positive griefs; it will pity you for what you lose, but never for what you lack.” — Anne Sophie Swetchine, Russian-French author (1782-1857). PHOEBE AND HER UNICORN BY DANA SIMPSON BIG NATE BY LINCOLN PEIRCE