A10
East Oregonian
PEANUTS
COFFEE BREAK
Thursday, December 16, 2021
DEAR ABBY
BY CHARLES M. SCHULZ
Weight loss doesn’t take
sting out of observations
FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE
B.C.
PICKLES
BEETLE BAILEY
GARFIELD
BLONDIE
BY LYNN JOHNSTON
BY MASTROIANNI AND HART
BY BRIAN CRANE
problems. My new friend has
Dear Abby: During the last
many other friends in one big
year, I made some significant
friend group, and she’s inviting
changes to my life. I left an emo-
me to join them. I barely know
tionally abusive marriage af-
these people, and some of them
ter 23 years, which gave me the
make me uncomfortable, but I
confidence to take better care of
still eat lunch with them some-
myself. I have lost 70 pounds and
times. I don’t want to be rude to
am almost down to the weight I
J EANNE
my friend, but I am unsure if I
was in high school. I am very
P HILLIPS
want to join this group.
proud of this.
ADVICE
I have a separate friend
My issue is my family has
whom I met in middle school,
now started using my former
and I have reason to believe that
weight as a measuring stick. I
am often told things like, “You should I am his only friend. He eats lunch with
see your cousin. She’s almost as big as me and my upperclassmen friends. They
you were!” which is quickly followed by ignore him while he talks to me about
an offhand, “No offense,” which tells me the things we like. I am afraid I’m hurt-
they know it offends me. I said as much ing him by making more friends. Any ad-
to them at first, but the insulting com- vice? — Stressed Teen In New Jersey
Dear Teen: New relationships take
parisons continue.
It’s become the family standard. I time to develop. With time, as you and
know I was very large, but this is extreme- your new classmates get to know each
ly hurtful. I find myself avoiding family other better, you may feel more comfort-
visits because the subject seems to invari- able with them. If that doesn’t happen,
ably come up in some way. Is there any- you may want to make other plans for
thing beyond what I have already tried lunch.
That you have been including your
that can convey the distress this causes?
middle school friend during those lunch-
— Former Fat Relative In Missouri
Dear Relative: Your relatives have es I think is loyal, caring and compas-
been told that alluding to your former sionate. Doing so is not “hurting” him.
weight problem causes you distress. That If he’s unable to integrate and become
it continues tells me they are thoughtless part of the group, no law says the two of
at best, not to mention rude and incon- you must have lunch with those people
siderate of your feelings. The logical so- every single day. Consider alternating
lution is to do what is best for you and lunches with other students so you can
widen your circle of friends. Friends are
see less of them.
Dear Abby: I have begun high school treasures. The more of them you have,
and I love it, but I’m bumping into friend the richer your life will be.
BY MORT WALKER
BY JIM DAVIS
BY DEAN YOUNG AND JOHN MARSHALL
DAYS GONE BY
100 years ago — 1921
Fred H. Patterson, about 45 years old, is in
St. Anthony Hospital, and Mrs. Ella Alexan-
der, his common law wife, is in the city jail
as a result of a shooting scrape this morn-
ing which resulted in the man acquiring
two bullets from a .38 caliber Colt’s Special
revolver at the hands of the woman. Jeal-
ousy and fear are the two reasons given by
the woman for her action in shooting Patter-
son when she presented herself at the police
station and surrendered this morning at 7:30
o’clock. Four shots were fired. The two shots
which took effect both struck Patterson from
behind, one catching him in the left elbow
and the other in the left side of his body. That
she had to shoot him or he would have killed
her was the statement Mrs. Alexander made.
Patterson’s side of the story conflicts with the
reason given by Mrs. Alexander for the shoot-
ing. He said he was preparing to leave to go
to work, and the next thing he was aware of
was the report of the revolver shots and the
sting of the lead.
50 years ago — 1971
The students at Blue Mountain Commu-
nity College no longer believe in Santa Claus
but they do like the feeling of Christmas. So
they plan to share it with lonely people on
Christmas Eve. The occasion will be a dinner
in the student union at 6 p.m. A program will
follow. The guests will be men and women
who live in furnished rooms and tiny apart-
ments and have no families with whom to
share the holiday. Tim Mabry, president of
the BMCC students, said the idea caught fire
and grew. “We’re up to 200 people now,” he
said. Faculty members as well as students
have become involved. Students will provide
transportation for their guests. “We have a
selfish motive,” Mabry said. “Maybe we will
feel Christmasy again.”
25 years ago — 1996
The results are in — Pendleton’s children
have selected their favorite toys of the year.
The Children’s Museum of Eastern Oregon
sponsored the contest for favorite toys of
1996. Local merchants donated toys to be
tested by kids whose interest ranged from
the imaginary to the more concrete. Favorite
among ages 0-4 were the Piglet and Tigger
puppets. Second runner-up was the Brio
Train set. The ages 5-7 group and the 8-10
group were unified in their choice of an elec-
tronic listening game called the Brain Bash.
A listening game for 5-10 years olds? “That
surprised me too,” said Childrens’ Museum
volunteer Jan Peterson-Terjeson.
TODAY IN HISTORY
DILBERT
THE WIZARD OF ID
LUANN
ZITS
BY SCOTT ADAMS
BY PARKER AND HART
BY GREG EVANS
BY JERRY SCOTT AND JIM BORGMAN
On Dec. 16, 1773, the
Boston Tea Party took
place as American colo-
nists boarded a British
ship and dumped more
than 300 chests of tea into
Boston Harbor to protest
tea taxes.
In 1811, the first of the
powerful New Madrid
earthquakes struck the
central Mississippi Valley
with an estimated magni-
tude of 7.7.
In 1944, the World War
II Battle of the Bulge be-
gan as German forces
launched an attack against
Allied forces through the
Ardennes Forest in Bel-
gium and Luxembourg
(the Allies turned the Ger-
mans back).
In 1950, President Har-
ry S. Truman proclaimed a
national state of emergen-
cy in order to fight “world
conquest by Communist
imperialism.”
In 1960, 134 people
were killed when a Unit-
ed Air Lines DC-8 and a
TWA Super Constellation
collided over New York
City.
In 1982, Environ-
mental
Protection
Agency head Anne M.
Gorsuch became the first
Cabinet-level officer to
be cited for contempt of
Congress for refusing to
submit documents re-
quested by a congressio-
nal committee.
In 1991, the U.N. Gen-
eral Assembly rescinded
its 1975 resolution equat-
ing Zionism with racism
by a vote of 111-25.
In 2000, President-elect
George W. Bush selected
Colin Powell to become
the first African-Ameri-
can secretary of state.
In 2001, after nine
weeks of fighting, Afghan
militia leaders claimed
control of the last moun-
tain bastion of Osama bin
Laden’s al-Qaida fighters,
but bin Laden himself was
nowhere to be seen.
In 2012, President Ba-
rack Obama visited New-
town, Connecticut, the
scene of the Sandy Hook
Elementary School mas-
sacre; after meeting pri-
vately with victims’ fami-
lies, the president told an
evening vigil he would use
“whatever power” he had
to prevent future shoot-
ings.
PHOEBE AND HER UNICORN
BY DANA SIMPSON
BIG NATE
BY LINCOLN PEIRCE