A12
East Oregonian
PEANUTS
COFFEE BREAK
Tuesday, October 15, 2019
DEAR ABBY
BY CHARLES M . SCHULZ
Happy smartphone user stops
short of becoming an addict
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 have a smart-
picked her up from work in it,
phone, and I love its convenience.
which embarrassed her in front of
her co-workers.
I check my email, texts and voice-
mail three or four times a day and
It’s not like we don’t have other
always try to respond promptly. But
vehicles. Both my parents have
I do not carry my phone with me
nice, functional cars. Abby, please
every moment of the day.
help me figure out a way to tell my
Some family members insist that
dad without hurting his feelings. —
Freaked Out in Frankfort, Ky.
the polite thing to do is to return a
J eanne
Dear Freaked Out: People
text message or voicemail imme-
P hilliPs
diately. They carry their phones
should not be judged because of
ADVICE
the clothes they wear or the vehi-
with them and constantly interrupt
cles they drive, but sometimes they
whatever they are involved with to
are by shallow people who should
answer the phone, send a text, etc.
know better. I think you could get your mes-
For my birthday, one relative gave me a
sage across by telling your father how your
little pouch on a string so I could wear my
brother’s classmates reacted when they saw
phone around my neck wherever I went
him pick up your brother. What they did was
because she texted me one day early in the
cruel. Leave it up to your mother to tell him
afternoon saying she wanted to drop by,
she felt embarrassed in front of her co-work-
but I didn’t see or respond to it until din-
ers. I’m sure she can get the message across.
ner time. Is making oneself available every
Dear Abby: My wife was sexually active
moment of the day and night now required
with a classmate in high school. Their rela-
for good manners? — Not A Phone Addict
tionship lasted until shortly before we were
Dear Not An Addict: Of course not!
married, 54 years ago. I have often won-
A cellphone is not supposed to be a leash.
dered what he did to make her so willing to
Your relative has become hooked on the
come to his bed. Perhaps if I knew, I could
concept of instant gratification, which isn’t
enhance her pleasure in our lovemaking.
healthy for either of you. If you humor her,
However, such information might be inju-
your cellphone will become an annoying
rious to our relationship. What is your take
and unending inconvenience for you. Do
on this? I think about this several times each
not take the bait.
day. — Obsessed in the West
Dear Abby: My father recently pur-
chased a truck for our farm. It’s old and in
Dear Obsessed: You have, I hope, been
happily married for more than half a cen-
poor shape, but it was worth the $2,000 he
tury. Has it never occurred to you that her
paid for it.
high school romance failed because the sex
The truck was fine until my father used it
wasn’t that great? If you want to ask your
to pick me and my siblings up from school.
wife at this late date if there is anything you
When the other kids saw the bumperless
can do to enhance her enjoyment of your
truck, they began calling my little brother
lovemaking, by all means do. But do not
“Farmer Boy” and made cow noises at
frame it the way you did to me.
us. My mother isn’t OK with it either. He
DAYS GONE BY
100 Years Ago
From the East Oregonian
Oct. 15, 1919
The clock strikes three. The sound of
typewriters stops abruptly. The girls put
aside their pencils and notebooks. The tea-
hour has arrived at the Hartman Abstract
company office. The innovation is a recent
one and it carries out an idea which origi-
nated with James Johns Sr. He says that
the girls work all day at top speed and that
as the afternoon wears on they need a li’l
drink — of tea — to stimulate them for the
remainder of the day’s work. A mysterious
red box is fastened to the wall in the office.
The box contains not only tea, but chocolate,
tea cakes and “instant” coffee, as well as
electrical devices for heating water. When
opened the box forms a tea-table.
50 Years Ago
From the East Oregonian
Oct. 15, 1969
The city of Hermiston will appeal to its
teen-age drivers in an effort to control a
traffic problem on Main Street. The prob-
lem is caused by what City Attorney Rus-
tin Brewer says is one of the most popu-
lar pastimes in America — driving up and
down Main Street. The council has battled
with the problem before and the result has
been a profusion of signs forbidding turns.
It’s gotten so bad, said Police Chief Rob-
ert Shannon, that visitors are confused and
angry. Dan Boone, a senior at Hermiston
High School, said the students are inter-
ested in helping to find a solution. He said
posting driveways and forbidding left turns
is not the answer. “The solution is to find a
place” where the drivers can turn around
“and legalize it.”
25 Years Ago
From the East Oregonian
Oct. 15, 1994
The death of a young runaway has been
laid to rest 13 years after she was raped and
murdered. Her killer, a former California
truck driver, was convicted Thursday after
the jury deliberated for about an hour. Judge
Jack Olsen scheduled sentencing for 8 a.m.
Tuesday. David C. Cox, 52, could receive a
life sentence for aggravated murder and five
years for the rape charge. The decision fol-
lows a four-day trial regarding the February
1981 murder of Naomi Marie McMahill.
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 Oct. 15, 1991, despite
sexual harassment alle-
gations by Anita Hill, the
Senate narrowly confirmed
the nomination of Clarence
Thomas to the U.S. Supreme
Court, 52-48.
In 1783, the first manned
balloon flight took place in
Paris as Jean-Francois Pila-
tre de Rozier ascended in a
basket attached to a tethered
Montgolfier hot-air balloon,
rising to about 75 feet.
In 1940, Charles Chap-
lin’s first all-talking com-
edy, “The Great Dictator,”
a lampoon of Adolf Hitler,
opened in New York.
In 1954, Hurricane
Hazel made landfall on the
Carolina coast as a Category
4 storm; Hazel was blamed
for some 1,000 deaths in the
Caribbean, 95 in the U.S.
and 81 in Canada.
In 1976, in the first
debate of its kind between
vice-presidential nominees,
Democrat Walter F. Mon-
dale and Republican Bob
Dole faced off in Houston.
In 1989, South Afri-
can officials released eight
prominent political prison-
ers, including Walter Sisulu.
In 2001, Bethlehem Steel
Corp. filed for Chapter 11
bankruptcy.
In 2006, three mem-
bers of Duke University’s
lacrosse team appeared on
CBS’ “60 Minutes” to deny
raping a woman who’d been
hired to perform as a strip-
per (Collin Finnerty, Reade
Seligmann and David Evans
were later exonerated).
In 2017, actress and
activist Alyssa Milano
tweeted that women who
had been sexually harassed
or assaulted should write
“Me too” as a status; within
hours, tens of thousands
had taken up the #MeToo
hashtag (using a phrase
that had been introduced 10
years earlier by social activ-
ist Tarana Burke.)
Today’s Birthdays: Jazz
musician Freddy Cole is 88.
Actress Linda Lavin is 82.
Movie director Mira Nair
is 62. Chef Emeril Lagasse
is 60. Actress Tanya Rob-
erts is 60. Singer Eric Benet
is 53. Actress Vanessa Mar-
cil is 51. Singer-actress-TV
host Paige Davis is 50.
Actor Dominic West is 50.
Rhythm-and-blues singer
Keyshia Cole is 38. Actor
Vincent Martella is 27.
Actress Bailee Madison is
20.
Thought for Today: “A
friend to all is a friend to
none.” — Aristotle, Greek
philosopher (384 B.C.-322
B.C.).
PHOEBE AND HER UNICORN
BY DANA SIMPSON
BIG NATE
BY LINCOLN PEIRCE