A14 East Oregonian PEANUTS COFFEE BREAK Thursday, March 11, 2021 DEAR ABBY BY CHARLES M . SCHULZ Former nanny tires of keeping lesbian marriage under wraps FOR BETTER OR WORSE B.C. BY LYNN JOHNSTON BY JOHNNY HART Dear Abby: I am an out-and- else in my life. But I have lost rela- tionships before because, no matter proud lesbian who recently cele- how respectful I tried to be, honesty brated 10 years as a couple and three years of marriage to my wife. can sometimes be hard to hear. How I worked as a professional nanny for can I be honest without angering this many years, and I’m still extremely couple, and what’s the best way to close to the first family I worked start this conversation? — Outspo- for. Although we have known each ken Nanny Dear Nanny: If your former other for years, they still ask me not J eanne P hilliPs to mention my marriage when I’m employers think they can censor ADVICE around their kids. They refer to my their children’s world to omit the fact wife as my “roommate.” It’s all I can that perfectly nice people, includ- do to bite my tongue. I have ignored ing one they love, are gay, they’re this for too long. dreaming. Kids today are very worldly. I recently invited them over to see my new When the parents started calling your wife home. Because of their conservative views, I your roommate, you should have corrected warned them in advance about the wedding them then and told them it was offensive and photos I have displayed. I’m not ashamed hurtful. of my life. I am extremely proud of myself Invite them to your home and leave your and my wife. I am hurt and offended by their wedding photos displayed. Why you are requests. I feel they only accept certain parts terrified that your relationship with them of me. I realize it’s unhealthy to continue this will end because you’re living your authen- way, but I’m terrified of losing them. I’m tic life mystifies me. If they can’t handle the usually a straightforward person. I feel open truth, you and your wife are better off with- communication is important with everyone out them. DAYS GONE BY PICKLES BY BRIAN CRANE BEETLE BAILEY BY MORT WALKER GARFIELD BLONDIE DILBERT THE WIZARD OF ID LUANN ZITS BY JIM DAVIS 100 Years Ago From the East Oregonian March 11, 1921 The ground-hog, that well known Ameri- can institution accredited with being as good a weather prophet as Noah, failed miserably this year in his prognostications. The ground- hog, be it known, saw his shadow February 2 and with the disgruntled grunt common to all hogs, retired to seclusion, vowing to remain hidden during six weeks of threatened storm. Now comes Major Moorhouse with a bona fide weather report showing weeks of sunshine and balmy breezes and putting the would-be prophet completely to rout. Umatilla county farmers, while welcoming the spring days have lost faith in the ground- hog and their disillusionment is as great as when they discovered there really is no Santa Claus. 50 Years Ago From the East Oregonian March 11, 1971 Edith Elaine Hoptowit, 18, of Cayuse has been named Miss Indian Oregon and she will represent all Indian tribes in this state at the Miss Indian American pageant this summer at Sheridan, Wyo. Miss Hoptowit, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Antone Hoptowit, won the Miss Indian Oregon title over twelve contes- tants at the United Indian Action Center in Portland. She traveled to Portland from Stew- art, Nev., where she and her sister Valerie are attending an Indian boarding school. Elaine received an honor last year that resulted in a TODAY IN HISTORY BY DEAN YOUNG AND STAN DRAKE BY SCOTT ADAMS BY BRANT PARKER AND JOHNNY HART BY GREG EVANS BY JERRY SCOTT AND JIM BORGMAN trip to Europe for the young tribal member. She was named a member of the People to People Citizen Ambassadors for 4-H. The tour included Great Britain and the western European countries, also some areas behind the Iron Curtain. The Miss Indian Oregon title is new this year. Sponsored by the Port- land Indian Action Center, the contestants were observed for a year by the judges before the contest. 25 Years Ago From the East Oregonian March 11, 1996 Speeders beware! Tod Keppinger is going to be on the lookout for traffic violators as the Hermiston Police Department’s new motor- cycle officer. Keppinger will receive intense training in May to learn proper police motor- cycle procedures, then he’ll be on the road — probably by June — doing mostly traf- fic patrol. Motorcycles are not unfamiliar to Keppinger, who has owned and rode a bike off duty for years. That love of motorcycles prompted him to apply for the new position. Chief Andy Anderson feels the motorcycle will be more effective for doing traffic patrols along the busy Highway 395 corridor. The bike will be more maneuverable in heavy traf- fic, allowing the officer to catch violators that a patrol car could not get to. The used motor- cycle, which came from the Salem Police Department, is white with black markings and will match well with Hermiston’s new white patrol cars. The department currently has patrol cars in four different colors. On March 11, 1918, what were believed to be the first confirmed U.S. cases of a deadly global flu pandemic were reported among U.S. Army soldiers stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas; 46 would die. (The world- wide outbreak of influenza claimed an estimated 20 to 40 million lives.) In 1862, during the Civil War, President Abra- ham Lincol n removed Gen. George B. McClellan as general-in-chief of the Union armies, leaving him in command of the Army of the Potomac, a post McClel- lan also ended up losing. In 1942, as Japanese forces continued to advance in the Pacific during World War II, U.S. Army Gen. Douglas MacArthur left the Philippines for Australia, where he vowed on March 20, “I shall return” — a promise he kept more than 2½ years later. In 1954, the U.S. Army charged that Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, R-Wis., and his subcommittee’s chief coun- sel, Roy Cohn, had exerted pressure to obtain favored treatment for Pvt. G. David Schine, a former consul- tant to the subcommittee. (The confrontation culmi- nated in the famous Senate Army-McCarthy hearings.) In 1985, Mikhail S. Gorbachev was chosen to succeed the late Konstantin U. Chernenko as general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party. In 2006, former Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic was found dead of a heart attack in his prison cell in the Netherlands, abruptly ending his four-year U.N. war crimes trial; he was 64. Today’s Bi r thdays: Me d ia mog u l Rup e r t Murdoch is 90. Former ABC News correspondent Sam Donaldson is 87. Musician Flaco Jimenez is 82. Actor Tricia O’Neil is 76. Actor Mark Metcalf is 75. Rock singer-musician Mark Stein (Vanilla Fudge) is 74. Singer Bobby McFerrin is 71. Movie director Jerry Zucker is 71. Singer Cheryl Lynn is 70. Actor Susan Richardson is 69. Recording executive Jimmy Iovine is 68. Singer Nina Hagen is 66. Coun- try singer Jimmy Fortune (The Statler Brothers) is 66. Actor Elias Koteas is 60. Actor-director Peter Berg is 59. Singer Mary Gauthier is 59. Actor Jeffrey Nordling is 59. Actor Alex Kings- ton is 58. Actor Wallace Langham is 56. Former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., is 56. Actor John Barrowman is 54. Singer Lisa Loeb is 53. Neo-soul musician Al Gamble (St. Paul & the Broken Bones) is 52. Singer Pete Droge is 52. Actor Terrence Howard is 52. Rock musician Rami Jaffee is 52. Actor Johnny Knoxville is 50. Rock sing- er-musicians Benji and Joel Madden (Good Charlotte; The Madden Brothers) are 42. Actor David Anders is 40. Singer LeToya Luckett is 40. Actor Thora Birch is 39. TV personality Melissa Rycroft is 38. Actor Rob Brown is 37. Actor Jodie Comer is 28. PHOEBE AND HER UNICORN BY DANA SIMPSON BIG NATE BY LINCOLN PEIRCE