In their words

“If it’s just that he’s been now locked up so long that he’s become loony, that has nothing to do with his condition at an earlier time.”

– Former Idaho Attorney General David Leroy, now practicing in Boise, commenting on whether a finding that Joseph Duncan is not now mentally competent to go through the penalty phase of his trial would make his earlier guilty pleas invalid.

“This is the end of a child’s dream.”

– Tennis star Justine Henin, 25, who stunned fans and competitors by announcing on Wednesday that even though she is the top-ranked professional woman player, she was retiring on the spot.

“In six-plus years, the evidence comes down to what they beat out of him.”

– Army Lt. Col. Bryan Broyles, defense lawyer for alleged terrorist Mohammed al-Qahtani, who has been removed from a military commission case over the Sept. 11 conspiracy because of the interrogation methods used to obtain evidence against him.

“She was sitting in the bathtub, she had curlers in her hair and she wanted out of there.”

– Volunteer rescuer Ed Keheley, describing his experience helping to retrieve a tornado victim from the wreckage of her home in Seneca, Mo.

“In no way, shape or form was I trying to hurt anybody. I was going for a blocked shot, and unfortunately, Ronnie Price is a point guard and I am a big guy.”

– Former Gonzaga University basketball star Ronny Turiaf, now a member of the Los Angeles Lakers, after the 6-foot-10, 250-pounder was kicked out of a post-season game for a flagrant foul in which he bloodied an opponent who is eight inches shorter and 60 pounds lighter.

“Even though you can’t see it, you can breathe the same air they are breathing.”

– San Antonio resident Mary Wood, who drove to Crawford, Texas, to be there on the day President Bush’s daughter Jenna got married in a ceremony that was closed to outsiders.

“It’s like the 1950s here. It’s a time warp of niceness.”

– Administrative district director John Kettle of the Bountiful School District in British Columbia, site of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, whose members openly practice polygamy, even though it’s outlawed under Canadian statutes.

“If they ever played in the Super Bowl against each other, it wouldn’t be fun.”

– Former football star Archie Manning, whose professional quarterback sons Peyton and Eli both have won NFL championships.