A12 East Oregonian PEANUTS COFFEE BREAK Tuesday, July 30, 2019 DEAR ABBY BY CHARLES M . SCHULZ Friend takes offense at never being asked about her past 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: Six months ago, was staring, winking and flash- ing peace signs at me. This is not I got back in touch with a child- hood friend who married at 17 and friendly banter; it is very creepy. moved away. She has lots of fam- My sister isn’t aware of it, and I’m ily drama, much of it caused by sure she wouldn’t approve. I have been married four times, her alcoholism (which she says is a and I’m currently single. If his result of PTSD). behavior continues, which I’m sure Recently, she told me I have it will since I am a very desirable hurt her and I’m a terrible friend J eanne woman, I will have to skip family because since we’ve reconnected, P hilliPs events entirely. Any thoughts? — I have never once asked her about ADVICE Hard To Resist Out West her past and the ordeals she’s been Dear Hard To Resist: Your let- through. Abby, she talks about her- self constantly. I never thought ter is unique. I rarely hear from it was necessary to ask her about the past people with as “healthy” an ego as yours. because she never shuts up about it. I have Because you feel your brother-in-law is out tried to be a good listener, but I don’t think of line, try this: Tell him to cut it out the she has made the best life choices, and I next time he does it because it is making don’t want to confront her with my opin- you uncomfortable. And if that doesn’t do ions on how she has messed up her life. the trick, tell his wife. I don’t question people about their past, Dear Abby: I’m a male who recently started dating a great guy, “Jake.” I deal truthfully. I feel if they want to discuss it, with the public in my job every day, and they’ll bring it up themselves. Was I wrong I’m often asked things like, “Do you have for not asking her to dredge it up? Now she a girlfriend?” and, “When will you find a won’t even talk to me. — Friendless in wife?” Even my co-workers are inquiring Florida when I’ll find a “lucky girl.” I’m happy in Dear Friendless: Be grateful the woman my relationship and would like to express no longer speaks to you. You have done that. Is there a tactful, succinct, non-awk- nothing wrong. The person you describe ward way to let people know I’m in a happy needs to feel wronged and be the focus of relationship with another male? — In a your conversations, which to me seems Happy Place in Georgia self-centered. Consider yourself fortunate Dear Happy: Absolutely! When asked that this troubled individual has moved on, if you have a girlfriend, say, “No, I have and concentrate on relationships that are a boyfriend.” And when your co-workers healthy — and mutual. ask when you are going to find a wife or a Dear Abby: My family is very close, “lucky girl,” be upfront and tell them you and we see each other often. Lately I have are dating a great guy named Jake. That been avoiding most of our family gather- ings because of my brother-in-law “Jared.” should answer the questions and put the subject to rest. At the most recent family occasion, he DAYS GONE BY 100 Years Ago From the East Oregonian July 30, 1919 Work is now under way for a $10,000 res- idence for Herman Suhl, well known Uma- tilla county farmer, on his property at 116 Monroe street. The house will be of hollow tile and concrete and will be a Swiss chalet type, adapted to the location which is above the river. T.L. Rees of Los Angeles is the architect and builder. The house will be built with a full basement, and two stories. There will be eight rooms, including a sun par- lor, sleeping porch and breakfast room. The house is to have hardwood floors through- out, and all woodwork is to be Phillipino rib- bon-grain mahogany. The residence will be equipped with a hot water heating system. 50 Years Ago From the East Oregonian July 30, 1969 More than $16 million in gold was taken from the hills around John Day during the gold rush days. Plans for a new boom — this time in fossils — brought state officials and the board of directors of the Oregon Historical Society to a weekend meeting in John Day with Wheeler and Grant County officials. They met for a tour of the famed John Day fossil beds to study a proposal that the beds be made a national mon- ument, administered by the National Park Ser- vice. The Oregon Historical Society, which organized the tour, has already voted support of the measure just as in earlier years it led drives for national status of Crater Lake, Fort Vancouver and Fort Clatsop. 25 Years Ago From the East Oregonian July 30, 1994 The city wanted its streets back. Prop- erty owner Dan Clark wanted fair compensa- tion. Neither got what they wanted Thursday night at a special Athena City Council meet- ing packed with interested onlookers. Instead the city will press ahead with a lawsuit, claim- ing adverse possession, to regain ownership of several streets. “I think we have a very good chance of winning an adverse suit,” said Mayor Kim Clark, no relation, adding that townspeo- ple regularly travel over Garfield, Fourth and Fifth streets. Clark’s attorney, Jackie Hag- gerty-Foster, did not agree, saying “you’ve made a significant assumption that may not be correct.” She insisted that it will cost the city more money in legal costs than it would to pay Clark what he has asked for: water and sewer hook-up to his property in exchange for deed- ing portions of the three streets. 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 July 30, 1956, Presi- dent Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a measure mak- ing “In God We Trust” the national motto, replacing “E Pluribus Unum” (Out of many, one). In 1619, the first repre- sentative assembly in Amer- ica convened in Jamestown in the Virginia Colony. In 1792, the French national anthem “La Mar- seillaise,” by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, was first sung in Paris by troops arriving from Marseille. In 1942, President Frank- lin D. Roosevelt signed a bill creating a women’s auxiliary agency in the Navy known as “Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Ser- vice” — WAVES for short. In 1965, President Lyn- don B. Johnson signed a measure creating Medicare, which began operating the following year. In 1980, Israel’s Knesset passed a law reaffirming all of Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish state. In 2001, Robert Muel- ler, President George W. Bush’s choice to head the FBI, promised the Sen- ate Judiciary Committee that if confirmed, he would move forcefully to fix prob- lems at the agency. (Muel- ler became FBI director on Sept. 4, 2001, a week before the 9/11 attacks.) In 2002, WNBA player Lisa Leslie of the Los Ange- les Sparks became the first woman to dunk in a profes- sional game, jamming on a breakaway in the first half of the Sparks’ 82-73 loss to the Miami Sol. President In 2003, George W. Bush took per- sonal responsibility for the first time for using discred- ited intelligence in his State of the Union address, but predicted he would be vin- dicated for going to war against Iraq. Today’s Birthdays: Fem- inist activist Eleanor Smeal is 80. Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzeneg- ger is 72. Singer-songwriter Kate Bush is 61. Actor Don- nie Keshawarz is 50. Movie director Christopher Nolan is 49. Actor-comedian Dean Edwards is 46. Actress Hil- ary Swank is 45. Soccer player Hope Solo is 38. Thought for Today: “An efficient bureaucracy is the greatest threat to liberty.” — Sen. Eugene McCarthy (1916-2005). PHOEBE AND HER UNICORN BY DANA SIMPSON BIG NATE BY LINCOLN PEIRCE