“It’s out of control. This thing is like a Pandora’s box. The more they open the box up, the more things they find out wrong with it.”

— Executive Director Barry Rosenberg of the Kootenai Environmental Alliance, commenting after more evidence was found of petroleum leakage into groundwater below the BNSF Railway’s refueling depot near Rathdrum, Idaho.

“The budget is about the size of Utah’s entire state budget.”

— Career human services worker Robin Arnold-Williams, former director of Human Services for Utah, quoted by The Salt Lake Tribune in a story about her nomination to take over as head of the Washington state Department of Social and Health Services, the largest agency in state government.

“This Legislature has clearly failed our children. We have too many portables and too many crumbling schools.”

— Washington state Rep. Hans Dunshee, Snohomish Democrat, chairman of the House Capital Budget Committee, speaking in support of a proposal, approved by the House, to spend $100 million on public school construction over the next two years.

“It took me two months to get over my mental illness, and it took four years to get over the stigma.”

— Former King County Councilman Randy Revelle, diagnosed with manic depression in 1977, praising legislation that requires health insurance plans to cover mental illness the same as physical illness.

“If we lost money to support research, it would be the beginning of the end of agriculture in Washington.”

— Chief Executive Officer Thomas Mick of the Washington Wheat Commission, agonizing over the potential impact of federal budget reductions proposed by President Bush.

“Now we don’t want kids going back home. Mom is still using drugs.”

— Development Director Tinka Shaffer of the Children’s Village in Coeur d’Alene, explaining that rampant substance abuse has forced social service agencies to adjust their expectations from the days when reuniting families was a common strategy for helping troubled kids.

“Somebody, somewhere, the law of averages will come back.”

— Washington State University basketball coach Dick Bennett, after his Cougars’ season ended on a 60-58 loss to Stanford in the Pac-10 tournament, their eighth defeat of the season by three or fewer points.