Thursday, December 23, 2021
PEANUTS
COFFEE BREAK
East Oregonian
B3
DEAR ABBY
BY CHARLES M. SCHULZ
Friend’s death cloaked in
a lot of secrecy, silence
FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE
B.C.
PICKLES
BEETLE BAILEY
BY LYNN JOHNSTON
BY MASTROIANNI AND HART
BY BRIAN CRANE
to your mother and respect the
Dear Abby: A dear friend of
wishes of the deceased’s family,
mine, “Dirk,” died by suicide a
even though you do not agree.
couple of years ago. We were
Dear Abby: Our 26-year-old
very close when we were young
married son currently lives with
but saw each other only occa-
us. His wife of three years was
sionally as adults. However, on
raised in a different culture and
the occasions we did get togeth-
has recently started living with
er, it always felt like we picked
J EANNE
her parents in a city four hours
up where we left off.
P HILLIPS
away. My son has a stable, well-
I found out about my friend’s
ADVICE
paying job and cannot relocate.
death from a family member
They talk on the phone many
after I discovered his phone
times a day and night, and both
number was no longer working
and his Facebook and Messenger ac- say their marriage is “fine.”
She doesn’t work and doesn’t finish
counts had been deleted. He had died a
few months earlier. Dirk’s family asked anything she starts. She contributes to
me not to tell anyone that the death was her family’s household by using the car
a suicide. They didn’t want his memory and money our son provides. She says
to be about that final decision. Because she became depressed when she lived in
there was no obituary in the newspaper our town but is happy with her parents
(they didn’t want one), it feels as though and really doesn’t see moving out. We
my friend has been erased with no trace. feel she is immature, controlling and tak-
I’m still having a hard time with his ing advantage of our son. We have told
death. I feel like I should put an in- him as much. He understands he has a
memoriam obituary in the paper. I also situation but seems too weak to change
feel a need to talk about it with others. it. What more can we do? — Flustered
My mother thinks I should abide by the Parents In Texas
Dear Parents: Your son knows your
wishes of the family. What do you think?
opinion. You can — and should — do
— Missing My Friend In Ohio
Dear Missing: When someone takes nothing more than you already have. Be-
their own life, there are usually a range of cause he and his wife say they are happy
emotions experienced by the survivors. with the situation, keep your mouths
Fortunately, there are mental health pro- shut and refrain from stirring the pot.
grams that can help with these if the fam- At some point, one of them will want
ily is aware they are available. A call to to make changes, which may mean your
the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline son will have to relocate. But this is his
(800-273-8255) could guide them if they problem, and one he must resolve on his
reach out. I sincerely hope you will listen own.
BY MORT WALKER
DAYS GONE BY
GARFIELD
BLONDIE
BY JIM DAVIS
BY DEAN YOUNG AND JOHN MARSHALL
100 years ago — 1921
Wax Wings, either Bohemians or the cedar
wax wings, were seen yesterday in Pendleton.
A report on the presence of birds in the north
part of the city which seemed to be spending
their time eating snow aroused the curios-
ity of citizens, Edgar F. Averill, Pendleton’s
leading naturalist, says that the cedar wax
wings are more common here than the Bohe-
mians. The birds are native to the Northland
but they migrate to warmer climates in the
winter. They are called wax wings on account
of a small growth which resembles wax which
appears on the tertiary wing feathers.
50 years ago — 1971
Pendleton has a community Christmas
tree. It was believed that the Round-Up City
was to be without a community tree this
year because the one volunteered was too
large to haul to Dorion and Main, where it
was to be erected. But Betty and Fred Gray,
who live 25 miles east of Pendleton near the
Umatilla River, donated a tree and it was
erected Sunday by the Jaycees. Jaycettes
decorated the tree later that day. At the same
time, Pendleton firemen were busy adjust-
ing the Christmas decorations provided by
Pendleton merchants. Trouble has been expe-
rienced with the lights because the wiring
has not been heavy enough to withstand the
strong wind encountered several times during
the last few weeks. The only thing missing
was snow, but few besides youngsters were
complaining about that.
25 years ago — 1996
Short of going under cover, it’s difficult to
substantiate a comment that underage youths
can get into a local exotic dance club. A quote
by a Hermiston High School student in the
Nov. 27 issue of the school newspaper, stat-
ing that he got into The Riverside because
he “knows the bouncer,” raised eyebrows in
the community. However, Umatilla Police
Chief Travis Eynon said he’d heard nothing
about underage people in The Riverside until
he received calls from community members
upset about the comment in “The Bulldog.”
Because the club has been denied a liquor
license, patrons need only be 18 years old.
Ed Dufloth, the strip club’s owner, doesn’t
believe the claim. “We are very strict about
checking IDs. I’ve talked to the two bounc-
ers and they are very perturbed about it,”
he said. Umatilla Mayor George Hash, who
makes no bones about The Riverside “being
a bad thing for our city,” said he’d heard
nothing about underage patrons in the club
until the story appeared in the student paper.
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. 23, 1783,
George Washington re-
signed as commander in
chief of the Continental
Army and retired to his
home at Mount Vernon,
Virginia.
In 1788, Maryland
passed an act to cede an
area “not exceeding ten
miles square” for the seat
of the national govern-
ment; about two-thirds of
the area became the Dis-
trict of Columbia.
In 1928, the National
Broadcasting Company
set up a permanent, coast-
to-coast network.
In 1941, during World
War II, American forces
on Wake Island surren-
dered to the Japanese.
In 1954, the first
successful
human
kidney transplant took
place at the Peter Bent
Brigham Hospital in Bos-
ton as a surgical team
removed a kidney from
23-year-old Ronald Her-
rick and implanted it in
Herrick’s twin brother,
Richard.
In 1962, Cuba began
releasing prisoners from
the failed Bay of Pigs inva-
sion under an agreement
in which Cuba received
more than $50 million
worth of food and medi-
cal supplies.
In 1968, 82 crew mem-
bers of the U.S. intelli-
gence ship Pueblo were
released by North Korea,
11 months after they had
been captured.
In 1986, the experimen-
tal airplane Voyager, pi-
loted by Dick Rutan and
Jeana Yeager, completed
the first non-stop, non-
refueled round-the-world
flight as it returned safely
to Edwards Air Force Base
in California.
In 1997, a federal jury
in Denver convicted Terry
Nichols of involuntary
manslaughter and con-
spiracy for his role in the
Oklahoma City bomb-
ing, declining to find him
guilty of murder. (Nichols
was sentenced to life in
prison without the possi-
bility of parole.)
Time
In
2001,
magazine named New
York City Mayor Rudy
Giuliani its Person of the
Year for his steadfast re-
sponse to the 9/11 terror-
ist attack.
PHOEBE AND HER UNICORN
BY DANA SIMPSON
BIG NATE
BY LINCOLN PEIRCE