A12
East Oregonian
PEANUTS
COFFEE BREAK
Thursday, January 6, 2022
DEAR ABBY
BY CHARLES M. SCHULZ
Politics strain friendship
that’s lasted for decades
FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE
B.C.
PICKLES
BEETLE BAILEY
BY LYNN JOHNSTON
BY MASTROIANNI AND HART
BY BRIAN CRANE
which they would meet at our
Dear Abby: A friend of 40
house over the lunch hour.
years got mad at me after the
My wife does not know this
last presidential election. I told
friend has confessed to me.
her I didn’t want to talk poli-
Should I tell her I know or go on
tics, since we voted for different
as though nothing happened?
candidates. She then emailed me
— In The Know In Illinois
saying she thought we should
Dear In The Know: I can-
take a break from our long-dis-
J EANNE
not guess what justification this
tance phone calls.
P HILLIPS
“friend” has given for trying to
Because it has now been
ADVICE
clear his conscience by telling
more than a year, I emailed her,
you something that could de-
texted her and finally left a mes-
stroy your marriage. The pun-
sage on her answering machine
asking if she was still mad. Then I got ishment for his guilt should have been the
worried, since she’s in her 80s. I finally burden of carrying it to his grave without
called her daughter and was told she was sharing it with you. If his confession will
in the hospital recovering from heart sur- erode your relationship with your wife,
gery. When her daughter told her I was tell her what you were told so you can
trying to get in touch, I received a text talk it through.
Dear Abby: My neighbor’s hus-
that read, “Not mad. Just don’t want to
band died of COVID-related problems.
talk.”
I hate to give up on a long friendship. About a week later, his clothing, favor-
Her birthday is coming up. Should I send ite chair and other items were put on the
her a birthday card, or respect her wishes curb in a free pile. While the pile is now
gone, my concern is for the people who
and give up? — Old Friend In Florida
Dear Old Friend: People in the early took the items. I will let you inform the
stages of recovery from major surgery world what might be the better solution.
may not feel up to long discussions un- — Panicked In Oregon
Dear Panicked: The information is
til they are stronger. By all means, send
your friend a birthday card and include available to anyone who is interested. Go
in it that you treasure your friendship to cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/faq.
and wish her a speedy and complication- html, where you will find a “Frequently
Asked Questions” section with informa-
free recovery. .
Dear Abby: I have been married to tion about how the virus is spread and
a lovely woman for 40 years. I recently how to avoid contracting it. From what
found out that five years into our mar- I have read, germs on surfaces are less
riage she had an affair with a friend of likely to spread the virus than person-to-
ours. It lasted several weeks, during person contact.
BY MORT WALKER
DAYS GONE BY
GARFIELD
BLONDIE
BY JIM DAVIS
BY DEAN YOUNG AND JOHN MARSHALL
100 years ago — 1922
Just what demand exists now for wheat
land? Pendleton people think there will be a
partial answer to this question by the action
of the public at the sale of Indian lands by the
government on January 18. A total of 1,289.64
acres in 20 different tracts has been advertised
by Supt. E. L. Swartzlander. The highest price
ever realized for Indian lands on the Umatilla
reservation in government sales was $256 the
acre. The highest appraisal on the land offered
for sale now is $130 the acre. Local bankers
declare that they have received very little indi-
cation of any interest in the sale. People are
anxious to buy, Swartzlander states, but the
ability to pay is the universal problem.
50 years ago — 1972
“As long as there are differences between
people, conflict and dissension are inevitable,”
said Dr. David Brody, professor of psychology
at Oregon College of Education in Monmouth,
keynote speaker at Blue Mountain Commu-
nity College’s Minority Awareness Seminar
Tuesday. Dr. Brody added, “It isn’t the conflict
and dissension that is a threat to mankind. It is
the manner in which we cope with it. The art
of living with others is the result of construc-
tive resolving of conflicts. Minority Awareness
Day at BMCC was designed to help faculty
members and student leaders at the community
college become more cognizant of minority
problems, specifically the Chicanos, blacks,
disadvantaged whites and native Americans.
25 years ago — 1997
While some people were ringing in the new
year watching Dick Clark or celebrating with
family and friends, the Boettcher family kept
their eyes on Butter Creek. “New Year’s Eve
we spent watching the waters come up, hoping
it wouldn’t come up as far as the house,” said
Sheila Boettcher, who, along with her husband,
Jari, owns Westwinds Nursery on Colonel
Jordan Road right off of I-84 near Hermiston.
Although it didn’t reach the house or store, creek
waters covered everything else on their 21-acre
property, including a driveway and retail tree
area. The Boettchers’ barn and pasture also
flooded, forcing them to put several horses,
sheep and cows from their hobby farm under the
care of neighbors who live on higher ground. By
the weekend the water still hadn’t receded. The
owners are trying to keep their sense of humor.
“It looks like a lake. We were thinking of putting
an ad in for waterfront property,” Boettcher said
with a laugh.
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 Jan. 6, 2021, sup-
porters of President Don-
ald Trump, fueled by his
false claims of a stolen
election, assaulted police
and smashed their way
into the Capitol to inter-
rupt the certification of
Democrat Joe Biden’s vic-
tory, forcing lawmakers
into hiding; most of the
rioters had come from a
nearby rally where Trump
urged them to “fight like
hell.” A Trump supporter
was shot and killed by a
police officer as she tried
to breach a barricaded
doorway inside the Capi-
tol. Capitol Police Officer
Brian Sicknick, injured
while confronting the ri-
oters, suffered a stroke the
next day and died from
natural causes, the Wash-
ington, D.C., medical ex-
aminer’s office said. (In
the weeks that followed,
four of the officers who
responded to the riot took
their own lives.) Congress
reconvened hours later to
finish certifying the elec-
tion result.
In 1838, Samuel Morse
and Alfred Vail gave the
first successful public
demonstration of their
telegraph in Morristown,
New Jersey.
In 1919, the 26th presi-
dent of the United States,
Theodore Roosevelt, died
in Oyster Bay, New York,
at age 60.
In 1941, President
Franklin D. Roosevelt, in
his State of the Union ad-
dress, outlined a goal of
“Four Freedoms”: Free-
dom of speech; the free-
dom of people to worship
God in their own way;
freedom from want; free-
dom from fear.
In 1974, year-round
daylight saving time began
in the United States on a
trial basis as a fuel-saving
measure in response to the
OPEC oil embargo.
In 1994, figure skat-
er Nancy Kerrigan was
clubbed on the leg by
an assailant at Detroit’s
Cobo Arena; four men,
including the ex-husband
of Kerrigan’s rival, Tonya
Harding, went to prison
for their roles in the attack.
(Harding pleaded guilty to
conspiracy to hinder pros-
ecution, but denied any
advance knowledge about
the assault.)
PHOEBE AND HER UNICORN
BY DANA SIMPSON
BIG NATE
BY LINCOLN PEIRCE