In their words
“It was tough running Bloomsday with what felt like an extra 100 pounds on your back.”
– Sports event promoter Toby Steward, who, with his wife, Barb Beddor, led the winning effort to bring the 2010 U.S. Figure Skating championships to Spokane, news that was announced the day after the annual road race.
“I had to confiscate it so it wouldn’t escalate any problems in class. We’re worried about that stuff all the time. We always have kids saying stuff to each other, and we have a lot of fights between kids.”
– Minico High School instructor Clint Straatman, explaining that he took a Mexican flag away from a student and put it in a garbage can to protect the boy from possible harm at the hands of white classmates at the Rupert, Idaho, school.
“Who wants to sit in a mega-mansion at 75 degrees when you have the ability to turn the air conditioner to 72 degrees?”
– Shell Oil Co. President John Hofmeister, telling a Coeur d’Alene audience that rising petroleum costs aren’t enough to make people give up the comforts to which they’ve become accustomed.
“If you don’t have transparency, everyone assumes you’re trying to cover something up. On top of it, people need to know what their government is doing.”
– Idaho Lt. Gov. Jim Risch, on the importance of open public records.
“His friend died a year ago in Iraq and I’m thinking, ‘Oh my God, this may be the last time I hear my son’s voice on the phone.’ “
– Otis, Ore., resident Sandie Petee, after listening to a gunbattle that was captured on a voice mail message sent from the cell phone belonging to her soldier son in Afghanistan.
“They’re doing this for monetary purpose. They’re not in it for the good of anything. It’s strictly something to rally around, hoping they are raising funds from this, and I hate it.”
– Thoroughbred trainer Larry Jones, challenging the motives of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, which called for the suspension of jockey Gabriel Saez after his mount, the filly Eight Belles, broke her front ankles in the Kentucky Derby and had to be put down.
“If you’ve got to get the job done, sometimes you have to use an unusual tactic.”
– U.S. Sen. John Warner, R-Va., co-sponsor of a measure designed to get President Bush’s approval of domestic spending programs and a troop withdrawal schedule by tying them to funds for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“Those animals did not close the gates by themselves and die. Somebody had a hand in killing them.”
– Sharon Young, Humane Society field director for marine issues, blaming a human cause for the deaths of six sea lions at Bonneville Dam, even though an examination showed they were not shot as previously believed.
“We must step in to require action that will ensure that our children and families can turn on their taps and be assured that what comes out is safe to drink.”
– U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., saying that if the Environmental Protection Agency won’t limit the amount of a contaminant called perchlorate in drinking water, Congress will have to.