In their words
A selection of quotations from people in recent news stories, big and small
“We have totally stopped commerce in this state.”
– Washington Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond, after avalanches and floods shut down all three main highway passes through the Cascades and a section of Interstate 5 south of Olympia, sealing Seattle off from most truck traffic.
“I’m happy to know he’ll never walk the streets again and will never hurt another child.”
– Elizabeth Phelps, after 30-year-old Jonathan Lytle was sentenced to 70 years in prison for the homicide by abuse of the ex-couple’s 4-year-old daughter Summer.
“We’re not out there trying to test the antitrust laws of the United States of America.”
– Bowl Championship Series coordinator John Swofford, defending the college football championship format against possible legal challenges based on undefeated Utah’s exclusion from the top game.
“We’re a close community; everybody helps everybody, and we’re all hunters, so they all knew how to take care of the elk.”
– Cassie Petrich, wife of one of the people who helped turn a herd of elk, killed when caught inside a barn that collapsed under a heavy snow load, into a food bank windfall.
“I’m Irish, sir. It’ll be nice to have a beer and – even if it’s just for three hours – feel like I’m back home.”
– Army First Lt. James McGuire, speaking from Mosul, Iraq, where a special waiver from top U.S. commander Gen. Ray Odierno will lift the ban on alcoholic beverages, but only during the Super Bowl and only for two beers per person.
“He was bound and determined. He did not want to miss breakfast and P.E.”
– Northumberland County, Va., Sheriff Chuck Wilkins, explaining what motivated a 6-year-old who missed his school bus to take his mother’s car for the 10-mile drive to his elementary school.
“If you don’t seat Mr. Burris, it has ramifications for gubernatorial appointments all over America.”
– U.S. Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., commenting on the complications that will ensue if the Senate declines to accept Democrat Roland Burris, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s controversial appointee to Barack Obama’s vacant seat.