COFFEE BREAK
Saturday, December 21, 2019
East Oregonian
C5
DEAR ABBY
Husband keeps close tabs on wife following overdose
Dear Abby: My 47-year-old
I’m afraid if she finds out she will go
daughter is an alcoholic. A year ago,
ballistic. I don’t know whether or not
she took several benzodi-
to tell her, because I don’t
azepine pills along with the
want to do anything to make
booze and overdosed. My
things even worse between
son-in-law found her in time
them. Advice? — Fearful in
and called 911. She spent five
Florida
days in a psych hospital to
Dear Fearful: I see noth-
ing to be gained by telling
detox, but never went to any
your daughter her husband
follow-up rehab. I had been
is watching her closely. She
led to believe she was sober,
is a woman with very serious
but recently found out it was
J eanne
problems, and it’s a shame she
not true, and my son-in-law
P hilliPs
didn’t follow through with
for some reason decided not
ADVICE
more rehab after what may
to tell me.
The other issue is, since
have been a suicide attempt.
she OD’d, he keeps track of all her
Your son-in-law cares about his
online spending and personal emails
wife. When he realized she had over-
dosed, he called to get help for her.
(he has all her passwords) because he
That he’s monitoring her closely is not
claims it’s the only way he can keep
a bad thing; it means he loves her and
tabs on her to find out how much she’s
wants to avoid a repeat of what hap-
drinking and where she goes to do it.
pened. Ask him what you can do to
She doesn’t know he’s doing this, and
support your daughter, if anything,
and take your cue from there.
Dear Abby: Ever since I got mar-
ried a year ago, my family has been
trying to “fix” me. My sister texts me
asking if I’m OK and how she can
love on me better because she thinks
I have no life and don’t socialize. My
mom makes comments whenever I’m
over about how I’m introverted, etc.
Abby, I just had a baby, and I work
full time. I don’t have time to go over
to see them often, so they think I stay
home all day long and do nothing.
But it’s so far from true. I have tried
talking to them about it and saying I
have friends, etc. But nothing works.
What do I do? — Fine As I Am
Dear Fine: Because talking to
your mother and your sister hasn’t
helped, remember that they mean
well and are trying to be helpful.
Then tune them out.
DAYS GONE BY
100 Years Ago
From the East Oregonian
Dec. 21, 1919
Several fake magazine agents who are traveling around
the country were reported to have “worked” Pendleton
recently. Local people are requested by local agencies and
high school salesmen to buy all magazine subscriptions in
Pendleton, thereby avoiding fakers and keeping the money
in the city.
50 Years Ago
From the East Oregonian
Dec. 21, 1969
Loading of 4,000 tons of fortified alfalfa cubes on a large
ocean-going barge is scheduled to get under way Wednes-
day, after which the Florence, a 7,500-ton barge, will leave
Boardman for Hawaii. Construction of the underground
conveyor from the cube plant to the waterfront was near-
ing completion Monday. The alfalfa cubing plant of the I.
M. Docken Corporation is the first industry to locate in the
new Port of Morrow industrial park. Docken, the corpora-
tion president, said the plant is operating three shifts and is
producing approximately 160 tons of cubes daily.
25 Years Ago
From the East Oregonian
Dec. 21, 1994
Gov.-elect John Kitzhaber spent about an hour of his
Pendleton visit Wednesday listening to Hermiston residents
tell him, in the words of irrigator Ron Baker, “We could
slowly bleed to death” if the area is cut off from its water
supply. Kitzhaber reaffirmed a campaign promise to even-
tually give Eastern Oregon a spot on the Northwest Power
Planning Council. As far as the power council goes, “The
people most impacted are east of the mountains,” he said.
He wants to borrow Pendleton native Mike Thorpe, Port of
Portland’s executive director, for three or four months to
help launch his new administration. In his way, Kitzhaber
was telling Hermiston-area residents they’ll have meaning-
ful access to state government at the highest level.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
On Dec. 21, 1988, 270
people were killed when
a terrorist bomb exploded
aboard a Pam Am Boeing
747 over Lockerbie, Scot-
land, sending wreckage
crashing to the ground.
In 1861, President Abra-
ham Lincoln signed a con-
gressional act authorizing
the Navy Medal of Honor.
In 1864, during the Civil
War, Union forces led by
Maj. Gen. William T. Sher-
man concluded their “March
to the Sea” as they captured
Savannah, Georgia.
In 1891, the first bas-
ketball game, devised by
James Naismith, is believed
to have been played at the
International YMCA Train-
ing School in Springfield,
Massachusetts. (The final
score of this experimental
game: 1-0.)
In 1991, eleven of the
12 former Soviet republics
proclaimed the birth of the
Commonwealth of Indepen-
dent States and the death of
the Union of Soviet Social-
ist Republics.
In 1995, the city of Beth-
lehem passed from Israeli to
Palestinian control.
Today’s Birthdays: Talk
show host Phil Donahue is
84. Actress Jane Fonda is
82. Actor Larry Bryggman
is 81. Singer Carla Thomas
is 77. Musician Albert Lee
is 76. Conductor Michael
Tilson Thomas is 75.
Thought for Today: “It
is not necessary to under-
stand things in order to
argue about them.” —
Pierre Augustin Caron
de Beaumarchais, French
author
and
dramatist
(1732-1799).
Universal Crossword
Edited by David Steinberg December 21, 2019
ACROSS
1 “Iliad” city
5 About
9 Costa ___
13 Alleviate
14 Gesture of indifference
16 Smell of spoiled milk, e.g.
17 Economist Smith
18 One way to cook onions
19 Primordial gunk
20 Causes a conifer to soar?
23 Went off, as a phone
24 Decorated at a bakery
25 “I’m certain I know what
that bow was made of!”
32 “Nova” network
35 Ad headline
36 Luxury Honda line
37 Whiskey cocktail
39 Short-legged African
beast, informally
42 TV personality Jenner
43 Piece of bacon
45 Istanbul inhabitant
47 Vanilla extract meas.
48 Lads who live in shade
trees?
52 Mobile phone
53 Amount of work
56 Dave Matthews Band
remix about this puzzle’s
puns?
62 Thick carpet
63 ___ Lauder
64 Falafel bread
65 “Catch!”
66 Went after
67 The only perfect place
68 Loaf parts that you may
eat last
69 Famous Amos
70 Education station
DOWN
1 Mets, Jets or Nets
2 What picks up speed?
3 Tennis star Naomi
4 Neighbor of an Omani
5 ___ prof.
6 Former Iranian leader
7 Word before “self” or
“love”
8 Jeans and a T-shirt, for
one
9 Sunbathing site
10 Taylor Swift, for Swifties
11 Snug as a bug in a rug
12 Exist
15 Progressive competitor
21 Certain NCOs
22 Country great McEntire
26 “A likely story!”
27 Fictional woodcutter Baba
28 Pool measure
29 Mongolian shelter
30 Discordia’s Greek
counterpart
31 Insect often mistaken for a
bee
32 (Check this out)
33 Not just one
34 “No problem!”
“Tree of a Kind!” by Paul Coulter
sudoku answers
38
40
41
44
46
49
50
51
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
Chest protectors
Stop on a crawl
Gold, in Guatemala
Actress Amanda
Ren in “Star Wars: The
Force Awakens”
Cary of “The Princess
Bride”
Skeleton’s site?
Like a hot rod, with “up”
Comment to the audience
Goes out with
“Say ___” (waiter’s
request)
Like most clues that end
with question marks
Name that anagrams to
“toot”
Beloved
Ape-like Himalayan
Tug sharply
Doe or sow