In their words …
“The only time I didn’t take a flu shot, I almost died.”
— Carl Mount, who came to Spokane from Cheney where flu vaccine, scarce this year, wasn’t available.
“When people are interested in what they’re seeing, when they’re enthusiastic — by no means are we rock stars, but we are the center of attention up here.”
— Forest Service ranger Scott Hinderman, commenting on the public interest in the rumblings at Mount St. Helens.
“If people come into a neighborhood and see that no one cares, if they’re wanting to go in there and do harm, they know there’s a good chance they won’t be reported. But if it looks like someone is there and present, chances are that people will not tolerate illegal activity. It just offers some inspiration and hope to others — both to city employees, who get discouraged that things never change, and to the neighbors, who get tired.”
— Spokane Fire Marshal Lisa Jones, commenting on the improvements made by owner Marshall Clark to a previously condemned building he has renovated in north Spokane.
“Stable neighborhoods can change in a few months to jungles.”
— Writers James Q. Wilson and George Kellin, explaining in a 1982 Atlantic Monthly article, “Broken Windows,” how neglect of property can lead to a breakdown of law and order.
“Dan is the hottest thing going. He is the medium and the message.”
— Chris Bock, an audience member at a panel discussion where network television anchors, Tom Brokaw and Peter Jennings spoke in support of colleague Dan Rather who is under fire for relying on unreliable documentation for a story that aired Sept. 8.
“I cannot imagine any secretary of defense awarding this to Airbus.”
— Congressman Norm Dicks of Bremerton, saying he doesn’t think the European aircraft manufacturer will wind up with a U.S. Defense contract, previously expected to go to Boeing, to build a new generation of air-refueling tankers.
“This is not what we were bargaining for. We thought we were getting functional furniture.”
— Leslie Shapiro, co-chairman of the board of the City Museum of Washington, D.C., where a satirical painting of President Bush in the nude was removed from an exhibit titled “Funky Furniture.”