A14 East Oregonian PEANUTS COFFEE BREAK Thursday, April 22, 2021 DEAR ABBY BY CHARLES M . SCHULZ Stress of pandemic changes beloved sister’s personality FOR BETTER OR WORSE BY LYNN JOHNSTON B.C. BY JOHNNY HART PICKLES BY BRIAN CRANE BEETLE BAILEY BY MORT WALKER Dear Abby: My sister and I are It goes without saying that when you best friends. She has always been can make other living arrangements caring, empathetic and passionate — perhaps in the fall — you find about helping others. Now, however, a roommate more compatible than COVID has turned her into a real your sister. If you do, your relation- piece of work. ship with her may improve because Since the pandemic began, you will be exposed to her less often. Dear Abby: My husband and I she has become increasingly self- Jeanne have two children. We have been ish. She interrupts other people’s Phillips conversations to talk about herself married for 14 years, the last six of ADVICE and complains nonstop about how which have been sexless and love- COVID has ruined her life, as if the less. We tried counseling, and I have rest of us weren’t experiencing this threatened divorce, but nothing has too. changed. She shouts hysterically at me when the After I finally realized that I couldn’t Wi-Fi stops working and refuses to volun- change him, I changed myself. I started step- teer for the most basic household tasks. At ping out and having sexual relations with first I tried to be patient because I understand other men. He recently found out about my it’s a reaction to an incredibly stressful time affairs, but hasn’t said a word about it to me. in her life. However, after 10 monster months I’m to the point that I wish he would confront of this, I’m at my wits’ end. me and divorce me, but he acts like nothing is We live together, go to college together wrong in our marriage! I’m confused. What and share the same friends. How can I toler- do you recommend I do next? — Looking Ahead in Kansas ate her self-centeredness until the pandemic Dear Looking Ahead: It’s time to decide is finally over? And what if this new version what you want to happen. Do you want a of her never goes away? — Irked in Idaho Dear Irked: I wonder if the friends you divorce? Is the status quo acceptable to you? share with your sister are having the same If it’s the latter, do nothing different than what reaction as you are to being interrupted and you have been doing. However, if it isn’t, talk having their conversations hijacked. If the to your husband about what you are thinking. answer is yes, a group intervention may jolt You need to figure out why the change in her back to reality and help her recognize how your marriage happened and if it can be fixed. obnoxious it is. He may have become impotent or have some- As to the rest of your complaints about her one he is seeing on the side. If it’s possible to behavior, the next time she comes scream- repair your marriage, counseling would be ing to you about the Wi-Fi failing, tell her an option. However, if it’s not, it might be you’ll be glad to help if she agrees to pull her healthier for both of you to talk to a lawyer and arrange an amicable divorce. share of the workload around the apartment. DAYS GONE BY GARFIELD BLONDIE BY JIM DAVIS BY DEAN YOUNG AND STAN DRAKE From the East Oregonian 100 Years Ago April 22, 1921 Articles for the formation the Oregon Co-operative Hay Growers Corporation were drawn up last night at a meeting in Hermis- ton ad signed by Arthur L. Larsen, Charles Powell, George Beddow, Adolf Skoubo, John- Campbell, Eli Winesett and Hawley Bean, directors of the Columbia Basin Hay Grow- ers’ Association which will be absorbed by the new organization. About 100 hay grow- ers from Umatilla and Morrow counties are members of the Columbia Basin associa- tion and it is probably that the majority will join the new body. The pooling will be on the 100 percent basis. The farmers of the hay growing sections realize that the successful marketing of hay depends much on the local consumption and it will be the policy of the hay growers to encourage the feeding of hay in the county. 50 Years Ago April 22, 1971 Ukiah wants to incorporate as a city. The community, a pioneer settlement in southern Umatilla County, has taken on new vitality during the last few years with the comple- tion of a modern water system and increased demand for recreational land. The Umatilla County Court said Wednesday that petitions asking for incorporation are being processed. Next will come a hearing, and then an elec- tion. Dates have not been set but are expected to fall within the next three months. Four other communities in the county remain unincorporated. They are Meacham, Rieth, Umapine and Mission. 25 Years Ago April 22, 1996 To Donald Freepons, Umatilla is the right place at the right time for a canola process- ing plant. Umatilla is centrally located to the Northwest’s canola crop production and to markets that buy canola oil and related prod- ucts, he said. Freepons, of Kennewick, has asked the Port of Umatilla for permission to seek grant funding for a business plan to build such a plant in the port district. He esti- mated the plant could be built for less than $25 million. Port commissioners suggested he seek funds through Regional Strategies or related rural investment programs. 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 April 22, 2005, Zacarias Moussaoui pleaded guilty in a federal courtroom outside Washington, D.C., to conspiring with the Sept. 11 hijackers to kill Americans. (Moussaoui is serving a life prison sentence.) In 1864, Congress autho- rized the use of the phrase “In God We Trust” on U.S. coins. In 1889, the Oklahoma Land Rush began at noon as thousands of homesteaders staked claims. In 1898, with the United States and Spain on the verge of war, the U.S. Navy began blockading Cuban ports. Congress authorized creation of the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry, also known as the “Rough Riders.” In 1915, the first full- scale use of deadly chem- icals in warfare took place as German forces unleashed chlorine gas against Allied troops at the start of the Second Battle of Ypres in Belgium during World War I; thousands of soldiers are believed to have died. In 1937, thousands of college students in New York City staged a “peace strike” opposing American entry into another possible world conflict. In 1952, an atomic test in Nevada became the first nuclear explosion shown on live network television as a 31-kiloton bomb was dropped from a B-50 Super- fortress. In 1954, the publicly tele- vised sessions of the Senate Army-McCarthy hearings began. In 1970, millions of Americans concerned about the environment observed the first “Earth Day.” In 1994, Richard M. Nixon, the 37th president of the United States, died at a New York hospital four days after suffering a stroke; he was 81. In 2000, in a dramatic pre-dawn raid, armed immi- gration agents seized Elian Gonzalez, the Cuban boy at the center of a custody dispute, from his relatives’ home in Miami; Elian was reunited with his father at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington. In 2004, Army Ranger Pat Tillman, who’d traded in a multimillion-dollar NFL contract to serve in Afghan- istan, was killed by friendly fire; he was 27. Today’s Bir thdays: Actor Estelle Harris is 93. Actor Jack Nicholson is 84. Author Janet Evanovich is 78. Movie director John Waters is 75. Singer Peter Frampton is 71. Actor Sheryl Lee is 54. Rock musician Shavo Odad- jian (System of a Down) is 47. Actor Michelle Ryan is 37. Actor Amber Heard is 35. PHOEBE AND HER UNICORN BY DANA SIMPSON BIG NATE BY LINCOLN PEIRCE