B6
East Oregonian
PEANUTS
COFFEE BREAK
Wednesday, September 25, 2019
DEAR ABBY
BY CHARLES M . SCHULZ
Transgender woman strives
to preserve marriage to wife
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: I am a transgender
ers, however, want to know about
female who is working on my mar-
my family. I have tried giving them
riage to my wife of 41 years. I started
generic information, such as “they
live out of state,” but a few keep ask-
my transition in 2011.
ing for more details, such as when
We have had our ups and downs
are they coming to visit, what do
during the course of our marriage.
they do, etc. Some are being friendly,
We have two sons and eight beauti-
ful grandchildren. All of them know
but a couple of them are busybod-
J eanne
ies. What can I say to deter them and
about my transition to womanhood,
P hilliPs
their questions without being rude?
and my family also knows. What I
ADVICE
— Complicated in Virginia
need now is some advice to help our
Dear Complicated: This situa-
marriage. We are strongly commit-
ted to working on it. — Real Me in
tion is more common than many peo-
ple realize, and the best way to stop nosy peo-
Ohio
ple from repeatedly asking questions would
Dear Real You: Many couples choose to
simply be to say, “We are estranged.” Period.
stay together and keep their marriage intact
If someone is so insensitive as to question you
when one partner transitions. You and your
about why, you are free to say you prefer not to
wife can find help — and support — at the
discuss it — now or ever.
nearest LGBT center that offers couples coun-
seling. If there isn’t one in your community,
Dear Abby: What would you say about
a married man who cultivates online friend-
check the nearest large city to where you live.
ships with young women? He is in contact
You and your wife should also reach out to
with one of them every hour, calling or tex-
the Straight Spouse Network, which has been
ting. Mostly it is innocent, but there are very
mentioned in my column before. This group
warm texts that include “kisses” icons (“just
was started in 1986 by Amity Pierce Bux-
ton, Ph.D., and its mission is to build bridges
pictures, nothing more!”).
He does not hide this from his wife. He tells
of understanding for couples of mixed sexual
her he is enjoying very much the communica-
orientation or gender variance. The contact
tion with a young, beautiful woman. He says
information is straightspouse.org.
it is just a game for him, he has no feelings
Dear Abby: I have two adult children who
for them, he loves his wife and only her (and
are divorced and both live out of state. My son
she feels it strongly). Do you think this kind
has no children, and my daughter has two who
of communication is acceptable? — Trivial
are now adults. I’m close to my son but have
Flirt in Russia
been estranged from my daughter and grand-
children for almost 20 years. (There is no pos-
Dear Trivial Flirt: I don’t think so. The
sibility of a reconciliation.)
husband may not be cheating on his wife in
I have not explained the details about this
the classic sense, but calling and texting is not
situation to anyone. My close friends know I
only disrespectful to the wife he says he loves,
have no contact with them and, thankfully, to
but also to the young women who may not
understand that it’s “just a game.”
their credit, they haven’t asked. My co-work-
DAYS GONE BY
100 Years Ago
From the East Oregonian
Sept. 25, 1919
The largest building permit issued this year
in Pendleton was written for Pendleton lodge
No. 288, B.P.O.E this morning for $130,000.
The permit is for the erection of the new
lodge home for the Elks and was taken out by
Judge G.W. Phelps, trustee and chairman of
the building committee. Excavation work for
the new building, which will be located at 200
West Court, at the corner of Garden street, has
been under way since Sept. 2. The contrac-
tors, Parker and Banfield, of Portland, will be
ready to commence building as soon as the
ground is completely excavated. The permit
is one of the largest ever issued in Pendleton
and the only one this year in excess of five fig-
ures. The permit places the date of completion
of the structure at April 1, 1920.
50 Years Ago
From the East Oregonian
Sept. 25, 1969
Heppner High School athletic department
will go along with redistricting as made up
by the Oregon School Activities Association.
The decision was reached at a school board
meeting in Lexington Monday and followed
recommendation of the coaching staff of Hep-
pner High. This means the local teams will be
meeting teams of smaller schools next year.
Redistricting was done by OSAA on a geo-
graphic area basis. Heppner will remain in the
11-man football area. They will meet Wasco
County, Sherman County, Condon and Pilot
Rock in all sports. In football Stanfield, Uma-
tilla and Athena will be added. In other sports
Culver, Dufur, Cascade Locks, Arlington and
Wheeler County will be added.
25 Years Ago
From the East Oregonian
Sept. 25, 1994
The owner of a saddle formerly owned
by convicted murderer Claude Dallas said he
has no intentions of selling it after all of the
commotion it has caused. Dr. Millard Ickes
of Caldwell, Idaho, said he is the sole owner
of the saddle that was on sale for $10,000 at
the Working Girls Gift and Antique Shop in
Pendleton, where it remains. Ickes said Dal-
las is a friend and worked for him when he
owned a ranch in Oregon. The saddle caused
much concern when newspapers in Oregon
and Idaho reported that the saddle was for sale
during the Pendleton Round-Up. Gift shop
owner Jerry Severe was selling the saddle as
a favor for a friend, she said, and the proceeds
would go toward Dallas’ legal fees.
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 Sept. 25, 1789, the
first United States Congress
adopted 12 amendments to
the Constitution and sent
them to the states for ratifica-
tion. (Ten of the amendments
became the Bill of Rights.)
In 1911, ground was bro-
ken for Boston’s Fenway
Park.
In 1919, President Wood-
row Wilson collapsed after a
speech in Pueblo, Colorado,
during a national speaking
tour in support of the Treaty
of Versailles.
In 1956, the first trans-At-
lantic telephone cable offi-
cially went into service with
a three-way ceremonial call
between New York, Ottawa
and London.
In 1957, nine black stu-
dents who’d been forced
to withdraw from Central
High School in Little Rock,
Arkansas, because of unruly
white crowds were escorted
to class by members of the
U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne
Division.
In 1965, the first install-
ment of “In Cold Blood,”
Truman Capote’s account of
the 1959 murders of the Clut-
ter family in Holcomb, Kan-
sas, appeared in The New
Yorker. (The work was pub-
lished in book form the fol-
lowing year.)
In 1978, 144 people were
killed when a Pacific South-
west Airlines Boeing 727 and
a private plane collided over
San Diego.
In 1981, Sandra Day
O’Connor was sworn in as
the first female justice on the
Supreme Court.
In 1992, NASA’s Mars
Observer blasted off on a
$980 million mission to the
red planet (the probe dis-
appeared just before enter-
ing Martian orbit in August
1993).
Today’s
Birthdays:
Broadcast journalist Barbara
Walters is 90. Model Cheryl
Tiegs is 72. Movie direc-
tor Pedro Almodovar is 70.
Actor Michael Madsen is
61. Actor Will Smith is 51.
Actress Clea DuVall is 42.
Actor/rapper Donald Glover
(AKA Childish Gambino) is
36. Actor Zach Woods is 35.
Olympic silver medal figure
skater Mao Asada is 29.
Thought for Today: “It
is as fatal as it is cowardly to
blink @ facts because they
are not to our taste.” — John
Tyndall, English physicist
(1820-1893).
PHOEBE AND HER UNICORN
BY DANA SIMPSON
BIG NATE
BY LINCOLN PEIRCE