A16
East Oregonian
PEANUTS
COFFEE BREAK
Tuesday, March 9, 2021
DEAR ABBY
BY CHARLES M . SCHULZ
Son is consumed by regret
over treatment of his father
FOR BETTER OR WORSE
BY LYNN JOHNSTON
B.C.
BY JOHNNY HART
PICKLES
BY BRIAN CRANE
BEETLE BAILEY
BY MORT WALKER
Dear Abby: I brought my 68-year-old
ing by volunteering for a charity that serves
the elderly.
immigrant father to live with me perma-
nently with the intention of caring for him.
Dear Abby: I have been married to a
He was completely dependent. Halfway
functioning alcoholic for more than 30 years.
He was once funny and nice and a good dad.
through the year, I got angry, told him to
But over the years he has become unbearable
move back and vowed to myself I would
never ever care for him again. It wasn’t that
to live with. He doesn’t shower or brush his
he did anything wrong; I don’t know
teeth. He was always mainly a beer
why I got so angry.
drinker, but now he is drinking hard
liquor and stays drunk most of the
He wound up living alone, being
time he is awake.
helped by his friends. I visited him,
I told him I thought he was
but I became disconnected. I knew
he was suffering, but I couldn’t
depressed and a severe alcoholic,
bring myself to bring him back to
and he should talk to his doctor, but
live with me. I was extraordinarily
he refuses. He walks around cursing
cruel, and it hurt him deeply. I let his
under his breath, and nobody wants
J eanne
green card lapse. He passed away
to be around him. I keep him off the
P hilliPs
two years later.
road when he has been drinking, but
ADVICE
Since then, I have been over-
I’m terrified he will hurt someone. I
am pretty sure he is drinking on the
whelmed with guilt. As a son,
job, and I’m scared he will hurt himself. I am
I should have cared for my father. I am
ready to leave him, but afraid that if I do, he
depressed over my actions. I am a horri-
ble son. I have been crying and asking for
will be completely lost. Please guide me. —
forgiveness. Please tell me how I can move
Lost in the South
forward. — Guilt-Ridden in the West
Dear Lost: You don’t need me to tell you
Dear Guilt-Ridden: Performing the role
that your husband is in bad shape. I don’t
of caregiver is an enormous undertaking.
know what his job involves, but if he’s inter-
While it can be rewarding, it can also be
acting with others, I am surprised he can get
exhausting, unrelenting and stressful. Care-
away with having such poor hygiene and
givers have been known to lose their tempers
being stoned on alcohol.
because of the pressure, but because you had
Because he refuses to talk to his doctor
bitten off more than you could chew, your
about this, you should. I hope you are begin-
reaction was extreme.
ning to realize that, on the path he is on, you
If you are religious, talk about this with
cannot “save” him. I have mentioned Al-Anon
your clergyperson. If you aren’t, please
many times in my column. The organization
consider scheduling some appointments with
is an offshoot of Alcoholics Anonymous and
a licensed mental health professional who
was started to help families and friends of
can help you more fully understand what
individuals who are unable to control their
happened between you and your father and
drinking. You will gain insight about what to
help you cope with your guilt. And in the
do next if you attend some of their meetings.
future — once you are able — consider aton-
Find one by going to al-anon.org/info.
DAYS GONE BY
GARFIELD
BLONDIE
DILBERT
BY JIM DAVIS
BY DEAN YOUNG AND STAN DRAKE
100 Years Ago
From the East Oregonian
March 9, 1921
The D.W. Griffith picture “Way Down
East” which is causing such a sensation wher-
ever it is shown will be brought to Pendle-
ton according to an announcement made this
morning by Guy Matlock of the Alta and
Arcade motion picture houses. This picture
has heretofore been shown only in opera
houses of the larger cities and Pendleton is the
first city where the picture has been permitted
to show in a motion picture house. It will be
given with the same elaborate presentation as
“The Birth of a Nation,” and carries its own
symphony orchestra. There will be only one
show an evening, which will start at 8:15 at
the Alta.
50 Years Ago
From the East Oregonian
March 9, 1971
Celia Currin of Pendleton, first year
student in Harvard School of Business, has
been appointed editor of the school’s weekly
newspaper. She is the first woman editor in
the history of the paper, The Harbus. Miss
Currin is a graduate of Pendleton schools and
University of Oregon, where she finished in
June 1970. She studied her junior university
year in England. She began work on the East
Oregonian as a reporter of school news as
a junior high school student and worked on
the paper through the summers of her high
school and university years. She was a four-
year recipient of the East Oregonian‘s tuition
scholarship given to a graduate of Pendle-
ton High School who majors in journalism at
University of Oregon. She is the daughter of
Robert Currin, Pendleton.
25 Years Ago
From the East Oregonian
March 9, 1996
Before Sidney Jones won the state hoop
shoot, he told his mom it was for his family
and friends, but most of all for Michael Jordan,
who was turning 32 that day. Jones, age 10,
of Mission, continued a string of winning
performances to take the state champion-
ship title in free throw shooting in his 10- to
11-year-old category. He beat 100 competi-
tors at the local level and won the sponsorship
of the Pendleton Elks Lodge. Jones made 22
of 25 shots in the state competition and 21
of 25 at the district level. He follows in the
footsteps of his father, Brooker Jones, who
won the state competition 20 years ago at
the same age as Sidney and went on to win
the regionals and placed sixth in the nation-
als. Jones listens to tips from his dad, but the
lessons are regularly reinforced through the
coaching of his mother, Julie Taylor. “He’s
more consistent than some of the Blazers,”
said Doug Harder, co-chairman of the Elks’
hoop shoot. (Actually, a lot more consistent,
since the Blazers make less than 70 percent
of their foul shots.)
BY SCOTT ADAMS
TODAY IN HISTORY
THE WIZARD OF ID
LUANN
ZITS
BY BRANT PARKER AND JOHNNY HART
BY GREG EVANS
BY JERRY SCOTT AND JIM BORGMAN
On March 9, 1841, the U.S. Supreme
Court, in United States v. The Amistad, ruled
7-1 in favor of a group of illegally enslaved
Africans who were captured off the U.S. coast
after seizing control of a Spanish schooner, La
Amistad; the justices ruled that the Africans
should be set free.
In 1916, more than 400 Mexican raiders
led by Pancho Villa attacked Columbus, New
Mexico, killing 18 Americans. During the
First World War, Germany declared war on
Portugal.
In 1933, Congress, called into special
session by President Franklin D. Roosevelt,
began its “hundred days” of enacting New
Deal legislation.
In 1945, during World War II, U.S. B-29
bombers began launching incendiary bomb
attacks against Tokyo, resulting in an esti-
mated 100,000 deaths.
In 1954, CBS newsman Edward R.
Murrow critically reviewed Wisconsin Sen.
Joseph R. McCarthy’s anti-communism
campaign on “See It Now.”
In 1959, Mattel’s Barbie doll, created by
Ruth Handler, made its public debut at the
American International Toy Fair in New York.
In 1964, the U.S. Supreme Court, in New
York Times Co. v. Sullivan, raised the stan-
dard for public officials to prove they’d been
libeled in their official capacity by news orga-
nizations.
Today’s Birthdays: Singer-musician John
Cale (The Velvet Underground) is 79. Singer
Mark Lindsay (Paul Revere and the Raid-
ers) is 79. Former ABC anchorman Charles
Gibson is 78. Rock musician Robin Trower
is 76. Singer Jeffrey Osborne is 73. Country
musician Jimmie Fadden (The Nitty Gritty
Dirt Band) is 73.
PHOEBE AND HER UNICORN
BY DANA SIMPSON
BIG NATE
BY LINCOLN PEIRCE