Dear Abby: I dumped my ex 52 years ago and she threatened to sue me, can I still reach out?

A man asks whether he should apologise to a former girlfriend he left more than five decades ago, after she previously told him to stop contacting her. Dear Abby says he should respect her wishes, arguing that another letter would serve his own need for closure rather than help her.

The man says they dated during and after high school, and he ended the relationship without explanation after meeting someone else. He contacted her several times about 20 years later, then received a certified letter warning that further contact could involve lawyers; they have been silent for 30 years. The column also answers a reader whose fenced backyard was entered by two women selling magazines, saying strangers should not enter without permission.