A16
East Oregonian
PEANUTS
COFFEE BREAK
Tuesday, August 17, 2021
DEAR ABBY
BY CHARLES M . SCHULZ
Guilt after friend’s death
calls for self-forgiveness
FOR BETTER OR WORSE
BY LYNN JOHNSTON
B.C.
BY JOHNNY HART
PICKLES
BY BRIAN CRANE
Dear Abby: My dearest friend
this with your religious adviser,
passed away five years ago. He was
or ask your doctor or your insur-
a severe alcoholic, and his death
ance provider to refer you for some
sessions with a licensed psycho-
resulted from it. I was aware of
therapist with whom you can work
how bad things had gotten and I
was trying to talk him into getting
through this.
help. I live across the country but
Dear Abby: I have had a girl-
visited and spoke with him often. I
friend for about three years, but I
Jeanne
have recently begun to feel indif-
was considering telling his parents
Phillips
how bad things were since they were
ferent about our relationship. We
ADVICE
mainly supporting him, but I was
have to travel at least 45 minutes to
torn because he was an adult, and
see each other and don’t always see
I didn’t know if it would be appro-
each other on weekends. I have been
priate.
trying to convince her to move into my town-
Well, while I was considering it, he
home, but something new arises each time I
passed away, and I haven’t been able to get
bring it up.
over the guilt. I feel like I should’ve done
Recently, a younger woman (she’s 21, I’m
more. I have a strong urge to tell his parents
32) showed an interest in me during one of
my sports games. I have talked to her and
I knew how he was doing and was contem-
won’t let any relationship develop outside
plating telling them and how sorry I am that
I didn’t. Would it be selfish, like rubbing salt
of being friends. She’s religious and I’m
in their wounds, just so I can find some kind
not, and that’s a deal-breaker for me. I’m
torn between continuing to try to build my
of peace? I have been going back and forth
current relationship, trying to pursue the new
with this since his death. I have such regret
that I didn’t do something more. I don’t know
one, or taking a step back from relationships
if their forgiveness would help me, or if I’d
to focus on my personal goals. Any thoughts,
Abby? — Pondering in Pennsylvania
just be hurting them more. Your opinion on
Dear Pondering: It doesn’t appear that
this would be helpful. — Full of Regrets
Dear Full: Please forgive yourself and
you OR your girlfriend of three years is
stop second-guessing. You are guilty of noth-
really ready to take things to the next level. If
ing more than being a caring friend. The
you were, you wouldn’t be debating whether
deceased was responsible for his own alco-
to trade her in for a newer model. As to the
hol-related death. If his parents were support-
younger one, you just stated clearly that her
ing him financially, they were already aware
religiosity is a deal-breaker for you. Your
their son had a serious problem. Because
third option makes the most sense. Concen-
trate on your personal goals for a while, and
after five years you cannot stop flogging
with time, your love life will work itself out.
yourself, you have two options: Discuss
DAYS GONE BY FROM THE EAST OREGONIAN
BEETLE BAILEY
GARFIELD
BLONDIE
BY MORT WALKER
BY JIM DAVIS
BY DEAN YOUNG AND STAN DRAKE
100 Years Ago
Aug. 17, 1921
A $15,000 concrete and brick building
which will provide five store rooms for Pend-
leton business firms will be built immediately
on the corner of Main and Railroad streets by
C.J. Koch who owns the property, according
to announcement made today by Mr. Koch.
The building, whose location will be one of
the best in the business district, will have a
frontage of 100 feet and will extend back for
92 feet. All the store spaces will face on Main
street. The building will be one story high
but Mr. Koch expects to add a second story
later. Mr. Koch, who retired from the furni-
ture business a year and a half ago, still owns
the brick building on Webb street where the
Cruickshank & Hampton furniture store is
located.
50 Years Ago
Aug. 17, 1971
Twelve Pendleton youths journeyed to the
Oregon Capitol in Salem today to receive
a check for $300 for winning first prize in
the statewide anti-litter campaign sponsored
by the Governor’s Commission on Youth.
Gov. Tom McCall and Secretary of State
Clay Myers, making the presentation, said
they were “tremendously pleased” at the
response from the youth volunteers. Pend-
leton won in competition with youth from
22 cities in Oregon. The group covered an
18-mile stretch of highway between Pendle-
ton and Milton-Freewater and picked up 1.7
tons of littler.
25 Years Ago
Aug. 17, 1996
An urban upstart delivered a crushing
defeat to a rural veteran Friday in a first-
time watermelon seed spitting contest amid
an amazed crowd in downtown Portland.
Crowds gathered as about a half-dozen digni-
taries and celebrities puckered up to see who
could send a watermelon seed flying farthest
through the air. It was the crowning moment
for Portland Mayor Vera Katz, who defeated
long-time spitter Hermiston Mayor Frank
Harkenrider. The seed-spitting contest was
a new element to the watermelon giveaway
that promotes cooperation between Hermis-
ton and Portland and the east and west sides
of the state. Though no one came close to the
world record of 66 feet 11 inches it seemed
everyone had a record amount of fun.
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 August 17, 1915, a mob in Cobb
County, Georgia, lynched Jewish business-
man Leo Frank, 31, whose death sentence
for the murder of 13-year-old Mary Phagan
had been commuted to life imprisonment.
(Frank, who’d maintained his innocence,
was pardoned by the state of Georgia in
1986.)
In 1807, Robert Fulton’s North River
Steamboat began heading up the Hudson
River on its successful round trip between
New York and Albany.
In 1863, federal batteries and ships
began bombarding Fort Sumter in Charles-
ton harbor during the Civil War, but the
Confederates managed to hold on despite
several days of pounding.
In 1942, during World War II, U.S. 8th
Air Force bombers attacked German forces
in Rouen, France. U.S. Marines raided a
Japanese seaplane base on Makin Island.
In 1964, Teamsters union president
Jimmy Hoffa was sentenced in Chicago
to five years in federal prison for defraud-
ing his union’s pension fund. (Hoffa was
released in 1971 after President Richard
Nixon commuted his sentence for this
conviction and jury tampering.)
In 1978, the first successful trans-Atlan-
tic balloon flight ended as Maxie Anderson,
Ben Abruzzo and Larry Newman landed
their Double Eagle II outside Paris.
In 1982, the first commercially produced
compact discs, a recording of ABBA’s “The
Visitors,” were pressed at a Philips factory
near Hanover, West Germany.
In 1983, lyricist Ira Gershwin died in
Beverly Hills, Calif., at age 86.
In 1987, Rudolf Hess, the last member of
Adolf Hitler’s inner circle, died at Spandau
Prison at age 93, an apparent suicide.
In 1988, Pakistani President Mohammad
Zia ul-Haq and U.S. Ambassador Arnold
Raphel were killed in a mysterious plane
crash.
In 1998, President Bill Clinton gave
grand jury testimony via closed-circuit tele-
vision from the White House concerning his
relationship with Monica Lewinsky; he then
delivered a TV address in which he denied
previously committing perjury, admitted his
relationship with Lewinsky was “wrong,”
and criticized Kenneth Starr’s investigation.
In 1999, more than 17,000 people were
killed when a magnitude 7.4 earthquake
struck Turkey.
In 2017, a van plowed th rough
pedestrians along a packed prome-
nade in the Spanish city of Barcelona,
killing 13 people and injuring 120.
PHOEBE AND HER UNICORN
BY DANA SIMPSON
BIG NATE
BY LINCOLN PEIRCE