COFFEE BREAK
B6 — THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD
THURSDAY, MAY 5, 2022
Mom wonders how to reveal youngest son’s parentage
ings, after I explained what hap-
pened, he off ered to be Oliver’s
“dad” because he had bonded
with him — provided he would
not have to pay child support. I
agreed. I have two other older
sons whom he fathered.
There have been times when
Oliver and his brothers have
asked about his brown skin, and
I have been able to dodge the
question. He’s getting to an age
where I don’t think I can hold off
much longer.
I always knew the time would
come when he would have to
know his dad is not his biological
father, but I’m not sure what to tell
him. I don’t think I want him to
know he is a product of rape, nor
do I want to throw myself under
the bus and say I cheated on his
DEAR ABBY: I have a won-
derful 12-year-old son, “Oliver,”
who was conceived during a
date rape at a work party. I don’t
remember much about that night.
When I found out I was pregnant,
I hoped my husband at the time
was the father. When the baby
came, it was obvious he wasn’t,
because Oliver is a diff erent race.
(I am Caucasian, and I’m thinking
Oliver may be Pacifi c Islander.)
We divorced when Oliver was
2, and my ex had a DNA test,
which, of course, proved he was
not the father. Despite the fi nd-
COSTS
People who delay care
are more likely to see their
health conditions worsen,
and face higher costs in the
long run.
“We also see really sig-
nifi cant inequities in terms
of who is impacted by
health care costs and who’s
delaying care,” Vandehey
said.
For example, data from
the 2019 Oregon Health
Insurance Survey found
that Oregonians who iden-
tify as Pacifi c Islanders
were three times as likely
as white Oregonians to
delay care because of health
care costs. Other margin-
alized communities were
additionally more likely to
report they were unable to
pay medical bills.
Households have
struggled to pay med-
ical bills recently, incur-
ring signifi cant med-
ical debt, including many
who declared bankruptcy
— according to studies
the OHA report cited,
including from the Peterson
Center on Healthcare and
OSPIRG.
The study also found
10% of people in Oregon
reported using up all or
most of their savings
because of medical bills.
Health insurance and
health care systems in
the U.S. are complicated,
according to Vandehey, and
diffi cult to change.
“Part of it’s run by the
federal government, part of
it’s a combination of fed-
eral and state,” he said.
“For large insurers, actu-
ally, states are prohibited
from regulating parts of the
market. We can’t control
or manage the whole thing,
but there are a number of
have access to my house in case of
severe weather (we live in tornado
country). The layout and founda-
tion of my house are sturdier than
theirs. When I told her I didn’t
want anyone to have a key, she got
really off ended. It made me feel
awful, but Abby, this is my fi rst
house, and if I have to give a key
to someone when I don’t want to,
it defeats the purpose of having
my own place.
I have been living with my
parents to save up, and Mom has
used guilt trips against me before.
My sister and brother-in-law
agree I shouldn’t give in to her.
I feel like a horrible daughter
for refusing because she’s not
the type to snoop, but there have
been instances when I’ve been
in my room and she has entered
New Zealand rocket caught, dropped by helicopter
WELLINGTON, New Zea-
land — Using a helicopter to catch
a falling rocket is such a complex
task that Peter Beck likens it to a
“supersonic ballet.”
Rocket Lab, the company that
Beck founded, partially pulled off
the feat Tuesday, May 3, as it pushes
to make its small Electron rockets
reusable. But after briefl y catching
the spent rocket, a helicopter crew
was quickly forced to let it go again
for safety reasons, and it fell into the
Pacifi c Ocean where it was collected
by a waiting boat.
The California-based company
regularly launches 59-foot rockets
from the remote Mahia Peninsula
in New Zealand to deliver satellites
into space.
On Tuesday, the Electron rocket
was launched in the morning and
sent 34 satellites into orbit before the
main booster section began falling to
Earth. Its descent was slowed to about
33 feet per second by a parachute.
That’s when the helicopter crew
sprang into action, dangling a long
line with a hook below the helicopter
to snag the booster’s parachute lines.
Rocket Lab/Contributed Photo
In this image supplied by Rocket Lab,
the Electron rocket blasts off for its
“There And Back Again” mission from
their launch pad on the Mahia Peninsula,
New Zealand, Tuesday, May 3, 2022. The
California-based company regularly
launches 59-foot rockets from the remote
Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand to
deliver satellites into space.
The crew caught the rocket but the
load on the helicopter exceeded the
parameters from tests and simula-
tions, so they jettisoned it again.
The roller coaster of emotions
was caught in a livestream of the
event, with people at mission control
cheering and clapping as the rocket
was caught, only to let out a collective
gasp and sigh about 20 seconds later.
Still, Beck hailed the mission as
a success, saying that almost every-
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weather
AROUND OREGON AND THE REGION
Astoria
Longview
45/56
Kennewick
49/57
St. Helens
50/57
46/55
48/54
Condon
49/60
50/56
FRI
SAT
SUN
MON
A couple of
showers late
Periods of rain
A little
afternoon rain
Cold with a
little rain
Cold with
showers around
52 30
44 28
47 29
Eugene
1
0
0
50/57
50 33
43 35
45 33
1
0
0
La Grande
46 57 42
Comfort Index™
Enterprise
5
0
41 54 39
Comfort Index™
7
40 28
42 33
1
0
1
0
TEMPERATURES Baker City La Grande Elgin
NATION (for the 48 contiguous states)
High Tuesday
Low Tuesday
High: 99°
Low: 15°
Wettest: 1.90”
59°
35°
59°
37°
66°
40°
0.00
0.30
0.11
2.23
2.99
Trace
0.16
0.21
3.94
6.66
0.02
0.18
0.23
10.05
10.52
PRECIPITATION (inches)
Tuesday
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Normal year to date
AGRICULTURAL INFO.
HAY INFORMATION FRIDAY
Lowest relative humidity
Afternoon wind
Hours of sunshine
Evapotranspiration
50%
WNW at 6 to 12 mph
1.8
0.09
RESERVOIR STORAGE (through midnight Wednesday)
Phillips Reservoir
Unity Reservoir
Owyhee Reservoir
McKay Reservoir
Wallowa Lake
Thief Valley Reservoir
50/57
10% of capacity
85% of capacity
46% of capacity
98% of capacity
49% of capacity
99% of capacity
STREAM FLOWS (through midnight Tuesday)
Grande Ronde at Troy
4470 cfs
Thief Valley Reservoir near North Powder
28 cfs
Burnt River near Unity
6 cfs
Umatilla River near Gibbon
676 cfs
Minam River at Minam
491 cfs
Powder River near Richland
33 cfs
Zapata, Texas
Bodie State Park, Calif.
Henderson, Texas
OREGON
High: 70°
Low: 21°
Wettest: 0.22”
Hermiston
Klamath Lake
Meacham
SUN & MOON
THU.
FRI.
5:34 a.m.
8:05 p.m.
9:26 a.m.
1:11 a.m.
MOON PHASES
First
May 8
Full
Last
51/60
Grants Pass
New
May 15 May 22 May 30
Boise
50/67
Jordan Valley
46/64
Paisley
42/60
Frenchglen
47/64
Diamond
Grand View
Arock
46/62
49/74
47/69
Fields
50/64
47/66
Klamath Falls
41/59
Lakeview
41/56
McDermitt
Shown is Friday’s weather. Temperatures are Thursday night’s lows and Friday’s highs.
46/67
RECREATION FORECAST FRIDAY
SAT.
City
Hi/Lo/W Hi/Lo/W
Astoria
56/45/r 52/40/r
Bend
62/40/r 54/31/c
Boise
67/44/pc 56/36/c
Brookings
55/44/r 53/42/sh
Burns
61/37/r 51/29/c
Coos Bay
55/44/r 55/42/r
Corvallis
57/45/r 53/39/r
Council
63/43/r 54/36/sh
Elgin
56/41/r 47/33/r
Eugene
57/47/r 54/40/r
Hermiston
61/48/r 60/41/c
Hood River
55/47/r 54/43/r
Imnaha
62/45/r 51/37/r
John Day
60/38/r 48/30/r
Joseph
54/36/r 47/29/r
Kennewick
63/51/sh 63/42/pc
Klamath Falls 59/37/r 49/29/c
Lakeview
56/35/c 51/27/c
49/68
Silver Lake
40/56
Medford
Brookings
Juntura
40/61
51/61
49/55
Ontario
50/70
Burns
39/58
Chiloquin
FRI.
Denver, Colo., had its greatest May snow-
storm ever on May 5, 1917. By the time
the storm ended, 12 inches of snow had
accumulated.
5:35 a.m.
8:04 p.m.
8:32 a.m.
12:21 a.m.
Beaver Marsh
REGIONAL CITIES
WEATHER HISTORY
Sunrise
Sunset
Moonrise
Moonset
44/61
38/53
Roseburg
Powers
Brothers
50/57
Coos Bay
Huntington
42/58
45/62
Oakridge
47/63
47/66
Seneca
Bend
Elkton
Council
42/60
47/60
44/61
Florence
TUESDAY EXTREMES
ALMANAC
42/51
John Day
42/63
Sisters
49/55
Comfort Index takes into account how the weather will feel based on a combination of factors. A rating of 10 feels
very comfortable while a rating of 0 feels very uncomfortable.
46/63
Baker City
Redmond
46/55
49/57
Halfway
Granite
47/57
Newport
50/59
48 29
48/58
48/54
51/56
Corvallis
Enterprise
41/54
46/57
Monument
46/58
Idanha
Salem
TONIGHT
3
Elgin
46/56
La Grande
43/54
Maupin
3
49/58
Pendleton
The Dalles
Portland
Newberg
Lewiston
49/63
Hood River
49/58
TIllamook
Comfort Index™
Forecasts and graphics provided
by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2022
Walla Walla
52/63
Vancouver
49/55
48/54
42 60 40
thing went to plan and that the unex-
pected load issue was a tiny detail
that would soon be fi xed, a “nothing
in the scheme of things.”
“They got a great catch. They
just didn’t like the way the load
was feeling,” Beck said of the heli-
copter crew in a conference call after
the launch.
He said a detailed analysis should
reveal the reasons for the discrep-
ancy in the load characteristics.
He said he still hoped the company
could salvage some or all of the
spent rocket booster, despite it get-
ting dunked in salt water, which
they’d hoped to avoid.
Rocket Lab named its latest mis-
sion “There And Back Again” —
a reference to the movie trilogy
“The Hobbit,” which was fi lmed in
New Zealand.
The company described the brief
midair capture at 6,500 feet by the
Sikorsky S-92 helicopter as a mile-
stone. It says making its rockets
reusable will enable the company to
increase the number of launches it
makes and reduce costs.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX company
designed the fi rst reusable orbital
rocket, the Falcon 9.
The Associated Press
| Go to AccuWeather.com
Baker City
without knocking. Should I stick
to my guns or am I wrong? —
DAUGHTER IN DILEMMA
DEAR DAUGHTER: It
strikes me as somewhat pushy
that your mother would ask for a
key to your home before it is even
completed. What have your par-
ents done during previous torna-
does? Because the house symbol-
izes your independence, I don’t
think you should hand the key
over. It may make sense to have
someone you trust be able to enter
if you are traveling or have a pet
that needs to be walked while you
are working. In that event, you
may change your mind and see the
wisdom in off ering her one.
P.S. If she abuses your trust,
you can always have your locks
changed.
NEWS OF THE WEIRD
things that we can do as a
state.”
One of those things is
the Sustainable Health
Care Cost Growth Target
Program.
While the program’s
recent report looks at a six-
year period, future reports
are intended to come out
annually, with the intention
of holding the big players
in the health care system
accountable for rising costs
to patients.
“It’s sort of a goal and
a target that we’re going to
hold insurers and providers
accountable to meeting
year over year,” Vandehey
said.
The goal is to limit
annual increases in health
care costs statewide to
3.4% over the next several
years. That’s a percentage
similar to the average
increase in wages. State
programs, like Medicaid,
are already subject to a
3.4% growth target.
In comparison, health
care costs rose around 6.5%
a year during the period the
study looked at.
Looking at the numbers,
the average family’s insur-
ance premium in Oregon
was just under $20,000 in
2019, enough to buy a car.
For individuals the number
was around $6,600. While
the program, created by
state lawmakers in 2019,
is still in its early stages,
Vandehey said that future
steps could include talking
with lawmakers about ways
to mitigate the fast-in-
creasing health care costs
in the state.
“It’s critical that people
have access to health care
that they need, and that it
be aff ordable,” Vandehey
said. “And that they not
have to choose between
housing and food, and
health care.”
Continued from Page B1
dad. That would open up questions
about who his bio dad is. Please
help. — LOOKING FOR BEST
WAY IN WASHINGTON
DEAR LOOKING: I fail to
understand why you would equate
“rape” with “cheating.” What hap-
pened wasn’t your fault, and you
should feel neither guilt nor shame
that it happened. While I under-
stand your desire to protect Oliver,
you should tell him the truth.
When you do, be sure to empha-
size how much you and your ex
love him and how proud you are
that he is your son.
DEAR ABBY: I’m in the pro-
cess of building my fi rst house
down the street from my par-
ents. (The lot was a good deal.)
Recently, my mom told me she
wants a key so she and Dad can
City
Lewiston
Longview
Meacham
Medford
Newport
Olympia
Ontario
Pasco
Pendleton
Portland
Powers
Redmond
Roseburg
Salem
Spokane
The Dalles
Ukiah
Walla Walla
FRI.
SAT.
Hi/Lo/W
63/48/r
57/46/r
55/43/r
64/47/r
55/44/r
55/43/r
70/48/r
64/50/sh
58/44/r
56/48/r
57/47/r
63/39/r
60/48/r
56/46/r
57/40/c
60/50/r
53/38/r
58/46/r
Hi/Lo/W
57/42/c
54/41/r
46/33/r
57/39/r
51/38/r
53/38/r
61/41/c
62/43/pc
53/39/sh
55/42/r
53/41/sh
54/29/c
53/39/sh
54/40/r
53/35/c
59/43/sh
43/29/r
54/38/sh
Weather(W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain,
sf-snow fl urries, sn-snow, i-ice
ANTHONY LAKES
PHILLIPS LAKE
Occasional rain
A touch of rain
34
24
53
37
MT. EMILY REC.
BROWNLEE RES.
Chilly with rain
A touch of rain
43
33
64
46
EAGLE CAP WILD.
EMIGRANT ST. PARK
A little rain
Periods of rain
40
29
49
35
WALLOWA LAKE
MCKAY RESERVOIR
Periods of rain
Periods of rain
54
36
57
44
THIEF VALLEY RES.
RED BRIDGE ST. PARK
A bit of rain
Periods of rain
60
40
57
42