B6
East Oregonian
PEANUTS
COFFEE BREAK
Thursday, November 21, 2019
DEAR ABBY
BY CHARLES M . SCHULZ
Friend fears for family
living in piles of clutter
FOR BETTER OR WORSE
BY LYNN JOHNSTON
B.C.
BY JOHNNY HART
PICKLES
BY BRIAN CRANE
Dear Abby: I have a close friend
their children’s sake.
who is an extreme hoarder. She and
Dear Abby: My 25-year-old
daughter is getting married in about
her husband have a beautiful, large,
two months. Invitations have been
custom-built home that is stacked
sent out, and everything was going
floor to ceiling with clutter. There are
along pretty smoothly. However, my
only narrow paths to walk around.
two older brothers, who live out of
Clothes, papers, toys, etc. are piled
state, have informed me that neither
everywhere. Normally, I would mind
J eanne
of them will be attending her wed-
my own business, but they have four
P hilliPs
ding. They didn’t offer any reason
children at home. The children are
ADVICE
for not attending, and money is not
getting to the age where they are
an issue.
embarrassed about their home. It is
My father, who has been very ill
so bad they can’t invite friends over.
this past year with cancer, is doing everything
When we discuss the condition of the place
he can to be there. My daughter had hoped that
with her and her husband, they get defensive
everyone could come, as it would be an oppor-
and say they just don’t have time. They do
tunity for our entire family to be together,
both work full time, and their time off is usu-
ally spent shuttling the children to activities.
especially given my father’s poor health.
Am I wrong to be upset? My brothers seem
Overall, they are excellent parents, and the
to not prioritize our family very highly. I am
children are loved and cared for, but the condi-
tion of their house is worse each time I see it,
trying to focus on who will be there and not on
and they continue to buy more and more stuff.
who isn’t. But I am afraid this isn’t something
I will forget. — Trying to Smile in Florida
Last time I helped clear out a room, it was full
Dear Trying: Unless you have omitted
of clutter a few weeks later. What can I do to
some important information from your letter,
help? Should I stay out of it? Should I contact
has it not occurred to you that your brothers’
CPS? — Clutter Everywhere
refusal may have something to do with their
Dear Clutter Everywhere: Because you
relationship with your father? I’m as mystified
say the children are loved and cared for, instead
as you are about why they refused the invita-
of contacting Child Protective Services, I sug-
gest you quietly place a call to the Health
tion, but please don’t allow their absence to
cast a shadow over this happy occasion.
Department for guidance. From your descrip-
tion, the “beautiful, large, custom-built” home
When you say you won’t forget it, I hope
may be a fire hazard and possibly a danger to
you won’t waste your precious time looking
backward and carrying a grudge. Your daugh-
the family’s health if there are “critters” also
ter’s wedding is not a command performance,
living in that mess. Whether their problem is
and if your brothers cannot be there to appre-
the result of depression or simply gross disor-
ganization, they do need an intervention for
ciate the joyous occasion, so be it.
DAYS GONE BY
BEETLE BAILEY
GARFIELD
BLONDIE
BY MORT WALKER
BY JIM DAVIS
100 Years Ago
From the East Oregonian
Nov. 21, 1919
Organization of an American Legion post
at Weston will be effected Monday night for
all former service men from Weston and Ath-
ena. Pendleton post today received an invita-
tion to be present with a large delegation to
assist in the organization. Harold J. Warner,
chairman of the local post, accepted the invi-
tation and has placed in the hands of Allen
Bynon the arrangements for an auto trip. Cars
will be obtained for all who desire to go pro-
viding notice is given Mr. Bynon in advance.
His phone number is 154.
50 Years Ago
From the East Oregonian
Nov. 21, 1969
Many among the Confederated Tribes of
the Umatilla Indian Reservation are in favor
of full per capita distribution of more than
$2 million awarded to the Indians for lands
taken by the United States government more
than 100 years ago. Tribal members will vote
Nov. 29 on whether they want all the judg-
ment money to be distributed, $1,800 per reg-
istered member, or to have some of it placed
in a program for economic development. Gil-
bert Minthorn said he thinks it’s about time
Congress got around to giving the Indians
their money and letting them decide what to
do with it. He noted that the government is
paying the equivalent of five cents an acre for
tribal lands that once stretched from Hermis-
ton Butte to Payette, Idaho.
25 Years Ago
From the East Oregonian
Nov. 21, 1994
The Weston-McEwen TigerScots stunned
top-ranked Dayton in the state Class 2A high
school football quarterfinals Saturday, 8-6. A
couple of drive-breaking penalties and four
turnovers, including two fumbles inside the
Weston-McEwen 10-yard line, cost Dayton as
rain and mud limited offensive opportunities.
“Somebody had to lose on a tough day to play
football,” Weston-McEwen coach Scott Dean
said. “We lived to play another day.”
BY DEAN YOUNG AND STAN DRAKE
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 Nov. 21, 1985, U.S.
Navy intelligence analyst
Jonathan Jay Pollard was
arrested and accused of spy-
ing for Israel. (Pollard later
pleaded guilty to espionage
and was sentenced to life in
prison; he was released on
parole on Nov. 20, 2015.)
In 1789, North Carolina
became the 12th state to rat-
ify the U.S. Constitution.
In 1920, the Irish Repub-
lican Army killed 12 British
intelligence officers and two
auxiliary policemen in the
Dublin area; British forces
responded by raiding a soccer
match, killing 14 civilians.
In 1927, picketing strik-
ers at the Columbine Mine in
northern Colorado were fired
on by state police; six miners
were killed.
In 1934, the Cole Porter
musical “Anything Goes,”
starring Ethel Merman as
Reno Sweeney, opened on
Broadway.
In 1967, President Lyn-
don B. Johnson signed the
Air Quality Act.
In 1969, the Senate voted
down the Supreme Court
nomination of Clement F.
Haynsworth, 55-45, the first
such rejection since 1930.
In 1979, a mob attacked
the U.S. Embassy in Islam-
abad, Pakistan, killing two
Americans.
In 1980, 87 people died
in a fire at the MGM Grand
Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.
In 1990, junk-bond finan-
cier Michael R. Milken, who
had pleaded guilty to six fel-
ony counts, was sentenced by
a federal judge in New York
to 10 years in prison. (Milken
served two.)
In 1992, a three-day tor-
nado outbreak that struck
13 states began in the Hous-
ton area before spreading
to the Midwest and Eastern
U.S.; 26 people were killed.
Sen. Bob Packwood, R-Ore.,
issued an apology but refused
to discuss allegations that
he’d made unwelcome sexual
advances toward 10 women
over the years. (Faced with
a threat of expulsion, Pack-
wood ended up resigning
from the Senate in 1995.)
In 2001, Ottilie Lund-
gren, a 94-year-old resident
of Oxford, Connecticut, died
of inhalation anthrax; she
was the apparent last victim
of a series of anthrax attacks
carried out through the mail
system.
Today’s
Birthdays:
Actress Marlo Thomas is 82.
Television producer Marcy
Carsey is 75. Actress Goldie
Hawn is 74. Rock musician
Lonnie Jordan (War) is 71.
Actress Cherry Jones is 63.
Rock musician Brian Ritchie
(The Violent Femmes) is 59.
Singer Bjork is 54. Actress
Rain Phoenix is 47. Actress
Jena Malone is 35. Pop singer
Carly Rae Jepsen is 34. Actor-
singer Sam Palladio is 32.
Thought for Today:
“Anyone can do any amount
of work, provided it isn’t the
work he is supposed to be
doing at that moment.” —
Robert Benchley, American
humorist (born 1889, died on
this date in 1945).
PHOEBE AND HER UNICORN
BY DANA SIMPSON
BIG NATE
BY LINCOLN PEIRCE