In their words
A selection of quotations from people in recent news stories, big and small
“The consensus here is that it wasn’t a smart thing to do, but as far as we know, there’s nothing illegal about it.”
– Whitman County sheriff’s Deputy Ron Rockness, after kayaker Tyler Bradt reportedly paddled over 198-foot Palouse Falls.
“Many people can’t afford what’s become a million-dollar piece of ground. This is a summer home.”
– Hagadone Hospitality secretary John Barlow, whose company wants to expand a Blackwell Island marina so luxury boat owners could sleep on their yachts rather than buy pricey vacation cabins around Lake Coeur d’Alene.
“Will we become a broken, corrupt, poverty-stricken, socialist country like Brazil and Indonesia, where these plan models were created by the U.N. agencies?”
– Spokane County Republican Party Chairwoman Cindy Zapotocky, explaining the danger posed by a report being offered to the City Council by the Mayor’s Task Force on Sustainability.
“What it does is says that the city is on a path and that there are guiding principles to put us on a path to be a more sustainable city.”
– Spokane Community College dean of instruction services Mary Carr, explaining the opportunities presented by a report being offered to the City Council by the Mayor’s Task Force on Sustainability, of which Carr is a member.
“Tucker’s exclusion of this information does not appear to be purposeful; rather it is a mistake on his part. An egregious mistake, but a mistake nevertheless.”
– Spokane police Maj. Scott Stephens, in his report on the investigation into police dispatcher Marvin Tucker’s failure to make any entry in his log about a self-incriminating comment he later testified was made to him by Shonto Pete, who had been shot by off-duty police Officer Jay Olsen.
“It’s a gun bill, but it’s another way of demonstrating the sovereignty of the state of Montana.”
Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer, signing a bill that exempts firearms that are manufactured, sold and kept in the state from federal laws requiring gun registration, background checks and dealer-licensing rules.
“I am sick and tired of being asked to give billions to these banks. If they have no sympathy for homeowners facing foreclosure, I don’t have any sympathy for them.”
– U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., during debate over a bill that would have let bankruptcy judges make lenders lower the principal on home mortgages.
“The ship of state is an ocean liner, it’s not a speedboat.”
– President Barack Obama, appealing for patience as his administration tries to deal with the recession and other problems facing the nation.
“If it takes another two weeks or three weeks, I can tell you, I don’t want to be here, but I’m not going to walk away from this. Governing by saying ‘I’m not going to raise the tax’ is the easy way out.”
– Idaho state Sen. Mike Jorgenson, R-Hayden, holding out in Boise for an elusive highway funding bill.
“It really eliminates a lot of possibilities as far as fire goes if there is no electricity.”
– Spokane fire Battalion Chief Joel Fielder, investigating a fire at a possible meth house where the power had been shut off and the landlord was in the process of evicting the tenants.