In their words …
“I am so happy that the citizens of Spokane did not make this a gay issue. This is an abuse-of-power issue and almost everyone in Spokane seems to get that.”
– Gay activist Bonnie Aspen, following Tuesday’s election to recall Spokane Mayor Jim West.
“Follow the screams.”
– Alleged Tacoma Mall gunman Dominick Sergio Maldonado, purportedly replying to a 911 operator who had asked him his location.
“Any amount of money is not going to work if we don’t have mutual respect.”
– Foster Parent Association of Washington President Daniele Baxter, saying leadership as well as funding is a problem that the embattled state Children’s Administration has to overcome.
“The Democrats want to take away the paychecks of (my constituents), replace them with welfare checks and call that compassion.”
– Congressman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, defending the extension of federal tax cuts that are now scheduled to expire after this year.
“You can’t eat butterflies.”
– Abel Cruz, leader of Rosario Village in Mexico, where some residents complain about the economic consequences of curtailing logging in order to protect the nearby Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve.
“Sexual abuse by its very definition is cloaked in secrecy and cloaked in lies.”
– Spokane attorney Bob Crotty, representing the family of a girl who, the Washington state Supreme Court ruled, can’t be considered partly responsible for a sexual relationship between her and a Royal City teacher. The family is suing the school district over the events that happened in 2001 when she was 13 and he was 26.
“Everybody’s in the middle of New York City, and it’s freezing, and we’re singing, ‘All You Need is Love.’ How crazy is that?”
– John Lennon fan Terra Merget at last week’s massive gathering in Central Park to mark the 25th anniversary of the former Beatle’s assassination.
“Why can’t it do it? Why can’t it do it?”
– Congressman Joe Barton, R-Texas, during a congressional hearing on why Division I-A NCAA football doesn’t schedule playoff games to determine a national champion the way other college sports do.
“I can’t figure out what the hell they did.”
– Yakima County Jail Director Steve Robertson, telling county commissioners he didn’t know what steps were taken following a 1994 jailbreak to reinforce an air vent that had been pried open – and was again by a new batch of escapees on Nov. 25.