In their words
“We are definitely moved by their forgiveness and feelings and wonderful sense of just being nice people. But that is not something we can take into account.”
– Washington State Patrol Detective Ryan Spangler, after the family of the five Schrock children killed in a traffic accident last Nov. 1 asked that the other driver not be charged with a crime.
“We’re really begging the patience of the Logan neighborhood. We’re really trying to make a cultural shift on campus.”
– Gonzaga University employee Kassi Kain, describing efforts to encourage off-campus GU students to curb the parties and other activities that create tension with nearby residents.
“I know I look a lot older, that’s what being leader of the Labor Party does to you.”
– British Prime Minister Tony Blair in a farewell speech at the Labor Party’s annual meeting in London.
“You don’t train veterinarians for the same price that you do English majors.”
– Washington state Sen. Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville, during a hearing in which Western Washington legislators were questioning the cost of a proposed first-year medical and dental program in Spokane.
“(O)ne of the detectives is a personal friend. I’ve known Joe since junior high.”
– Spokane County Prosecuting Attorney Steve Tucker, explaining last May why he wouldn’t personally handle the case if Spokane Police Sgt. Joe Peterson were charged with tampering with evidence for telling a Spokane firefighter to delete allegedly pornographic images of himself and a 16-year-old girl.
“I’ve known Mark for quite a while.”
– Spokane County Prosecuting Attorney Steve Tucker, a former Washington state trooper, explaining why he assigned deputy prosecutors to handle the case of Trooper Mark Haas, who has been charged with two felony counts alleging he required two women to expose themselves during a traffic stop.
“Prosecution is necessary but persecution was not. These factors call for mercy.”
– U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt, imposing a lighter than expected sentence for former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow, architect of a hedge fund scheme that helped send the energy company into collapse, who pleaded guilty in 2004.
“This is going to be a lingering epicenter of disease.”
– Kazakhstan health official Vyacheslav Dudnik, after 63 children in the industrial city of Shymkent were infected with HIV because of medical negligence, possibly involving illicit trade in blood.
“If Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard were alive today, they’d be appalled.”
– Hewlett-Packard CEO Mark Hurd, commenting on the internal spying scandal that cost his predecessor, Patricia Dunn, her job.