“Why does integration fall on the shoulders of a 10-year-old?”

– Former Army Sgt. Kitara McClure, an African-American woman who says that after she complained about racist slurs against her son, Davenport, Wash., school officials invited him to make cultural presentations to other classes

“It’s just like nothing sticks to him.”

– Former Spokane County commissioner candidate Kathy Reid, who made nepotism an issue in her 1998 campaign against Commissioner Phil Harris, who had two sons employed by the county then and now has three

“My wife and daughter have any right, just like any other American, to be employed and be compensated for their employment.”

– U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, dismissing as political attacks a recent news report that his political action and campaign committees have paid his wife and daughter more than $500,000 since 2001

“I almost had a really bad anxiety attack.”

– Rebecca Potts, who was startled to see a knife plunge through the ceiling of her Coeur d’Alene duplex, the escape path allegedly chosen by a man police had tried to arrest when he was visiting next door

“I just took it for granted that we wouldn’t be that stupid.”

– U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., who earlier denied that anyone in his office had anything to do with a controversial memo outlining the political advantage to Republicans of intervening in the Terri Schiavo case, a memo now known to have been written by Martinez’s legal counsel, Brian Darling

“I’m not getting any e-mails from anyone saying, ‘Please, tax me more.’ “

Washington state Sen. Brad Benson, R-Spokane, saying a proposed state gasoline tax increase would have little benefit outside King County

“If you can’t buy enough booze Monday through Saturday, you have a serious problem.”

– Washington state Sen. Bob McCaslin, R-Spokane Valley, speaking against a bill allowing Sunday liquor sales at certain locations

“There’s still going to be the possibility that a golden BB could hit us.”

– Deputy manager Wayne Hale of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s shuttle program, acknowledging that risks will face the shuttle Discovery, which could be launched as early as May 15, the first manned U.S. space mission since the Columbia disintegrated upon re-entry in 2003

“It reached a point where people were wondering what value is there in having a leader.”

– Palestinian political analyst Hani Masri, commenting on the Palestinian Authority’s seeming inability to curb violence that has been reigning in the West Bank