COFFEE BREAK
Saturday, February 29, 2020
East Oregonian
C5
DEAR ABBY
Daughter finds happiness by ghosting mother, siblings
Dear Abby: I’m in my mid-30s
Dear Detached: I’m glad you
and about a year ago I went from lim-
asked me to weigh in on this. You
ited contact to no contact with
do owe your mother and sib-
lings an explanation. Because
two siblings and my mother.
what has caused you to with-
No single incident caused
draw is their “negativity,
this, nor was there any history
peevish behavior and criti-
of childhood abuse, etc. I just
cal comments,” say so. Turn-
find I am much happier with-
ing your back on your family
out their presence in my life.
I am married, content, take
with no explanation at all is
J eanne
joy in my job and am other-
cruel, punishing behavior and
P hilliPs
wise fulfilled. I do not miss
cowardly.
ADVICE
their general negativity, pee-
Dear Abby: I have a
vish behavior or critical com-
co-worker with a troubling
ments. My question is this: Do I owe
psychosis that has left me afraid to
them an explanation or a place in my
wear certain colors or say certain
life?
words around him. He has allowed a
I am generally an unsentimental
college football rivalry to impact his
person. I try to be fair. After years
relationship with co-workers.
of not enjoying our contact, is it OK
I would really like to wear my
to finally end it once and for all? —
maize and blue sweater, but I’m fear-
ful of his reaction. He’s from Ohio and
Detached in Texas
is negatively obsessed with Michigan.
I understand rivalries, but when you
won’t acknowledge another co-worker
from that state and require all your
co-workers to refer to Michigan as the
“M-State” or you storm off in anger,
there is an issue. What should I do?
Should I recommend counseling? —
Afraid in New Mexico
Dear Afraid: I agree that your
co-worker may be off the deep end.
You should not recommend counsel-
ing for this obsessive and immature
individual, but someone in authority
should. Depending upon how large a
company your employer is, discuss
what has been happening with human
resources or your boss. This is a text-
book example of bullying and creat-
ing a hostile work environment. Your
clothing choices should not be dic-
tated by a fellow employee.
DAYS GONE BY
100 Years Ago
From the East Oregonian
Feb. 29, 1920
Fishing for steelheads in the Umatilla is excellent and
good catches are many, but such fishing is facilitated by the
use of fishin’ pole and tackle. So discovered a prominent
Pendleton real estate man and former deputy sheriff when
he reached the river yesterday minus rod and pole, which
were left in Pendleton in spite of elaborate preparations for
a day’s sport.
50 Years Ago
From the East Oregonian
Feb. 29, 1970
Hermiston businessman F. K. “Woody” Starrett says he
is horrified at the increasing number of traffic fatalities on
Highway 32 between Hermiston and Stanfield, and hopes
to arouse interest in doing something about putting an end
to what he calls “useless killings” on a stretch of highway
that is a “booby trap from start to finish.” About 12 years
ago, Starrett appeared with local chamber of commerce
officials in Salem before the State Highway Commission to
ask that hazards on the highway be corrected. Starrett says
they came away from that meeting hopeful that some action
would be taken and a few minor improvements have been
made but the major hazards are still taking a heavy toll.
25 Years Ago
From the East Oregonian
Feb. 29, 1995
Three Hermiston High students with apparent gang affil-
iations were charged with rioting in connection with a fight
at the school Monday. School Resource Officer Jay Lynch
was struck by some errant blows during the altercation in
the main hall of the school about 12:25 p.m. Lynch saw a
large gathering of students in the hall and, as he approached,
he heard students arguing, according to the police report.
When he tried to break up the argument, the students started
hitting each other. During the fist fight, Lynch was hit in the
head and back. He removed one of the students to an empty
classroom, but the fighting escalated in the hallway. No seri-
ous injuries were reported.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
On Feb. 29, 1936, Presi-
dent Franklin D. Roosevelt
signed a second Neutrality
Act as he appealed to Ameri-
can businesses not to increase
exports to belligerents.
In
1796,
President
George Washington pro-
claimed Jay’s Treaty, which
settled some outstanding
differences with Britain, in
effect.
In 1940, “Gone with the
Wind” won eight Academy
Awards, including best pic-
ture of 1939; Hattie McDan-
iel won for best supporting
actress, the first black per-
former so honored.
In 1980, former Israeli
foreign minister Yigal
Allon, who had played an
important role in the Jew-
ish state’s fight for indepen-
dence, died at age 61.
In 1996, Daniel Green
was convicted in Lumberton,
North Carolina, of murdering
James R. Jordan, the father
of basketball star Michael
Jordan, during a 1993 road-
side holdup. (Green and an
accomplice, Larry Mar-
tin Demery, were sentenced
to life in prison.) A Peru-
vian Boeing 737 crashed on
approach to Arequipa, kill-
ing all 123 people on board.
Thought for Today:
“Well, it has happened
again. The Earth has circled
four times around the sun,
astronomers have designated
this a leap year and anxious
bachelors won’t answer their
telephones until midnight.”
— David O’Reilly, Ameri-
can journalist.
Universal Crossword
Edited by David Steinberg February 29, 2020
ACROSS
1 Argentine grassland
6 Event with a finish line
10 Therapeutic bath spot
13 T.S. who wrote about
cats
14 Airline founded in
the same year as the
nation of Israel
15 Clarinetist Artie
16 Slow-cooked
sandwich meat
18 Without a stitch on
19 Hook’s sidekick
20 Have regrets about
21 In bundles, as cotton
22 Painter’s application
24 Boorish sort
26 Meat served at a “joint”
30 Ill will
32 Lawyers’ org.
33 Eye wolfishly
34 With 39-Across, eat
lots of 16-, 26-, 45-
and 59-Across?
35 Potluck get-togethers
39 See 34-Across
40 List shortener, for
short
42 Vintage 8-Down inits.
43 Signs of rotting
45 Meat in an Egg
McMuffin
49 Smelter waste
50 Tries the patience of
51 Often-pierced spots
53 Letters before an
alias
54 “Now it’s clear”
58 Only its Touch model
is currently sold
59 Meat sold in cans
62 Move, in Realtor lingo
63 Lena of “Chocolat”
64 Honor with insults
65 Toss in
66 Longish skirt
67 Volcanic residue
DOWN
1 Vitalizes, with “up”
2 Visitor to an old prof
3 Highway marker number
4 Weasel’s stinky
cousin
5 Satisfied the munchies
6 Public stature
7 Natural balm
8 Valeted vehicle
9 Bugling animal
10 “Need to hear more?”
11 Cut, as expenses
12 Left wide-eyed
15 Pizzeria chain
17 Totally blah
21 Bloom’s beginning
23 Vein yields
24 Die, geometrically
25 Catch wind of
26 Attention-getting
27 Plumped-up fowl
28 Out-of-focus photo, e.g.
29 Drops beneath the
horizon
Gluttony by Fred Piscop
sudoku answers
30
31
36
37
38
41
44
46
47
48
51
52
53
55
56
57
59
60
61
Job detail, briefly
Gyro bread
“Topaz” author Leon
Shepherd’s pie
legumes
Common laundromat
loss
Rio Grande city
Square-dance moves
Bob and bun
Pageant wear, at times
___ Sea (shrunken
body of water)
Monetary unit of Turkey
Page with essays
Like die-hard fans
Ruler ousted in 1979
Trouble-free state
CPR pros
Suffix with “star” or
“czar”
Pharmaceuticals
giant ___ Lilly
Word after “disco” or
“steroid”