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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

In their words …

The Spokesman-Review

“I’m the one who presented it to the world, and (it) will always be a part of my record. It was painful. It is painful now.”

Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, speaking in an interview with ABC’s Barbara Walters about his prewar speech to the United Nations about the likelihood of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq

“They said it’s none of our business. He’s free now.”

Millie Teupel, complaining that she and her family weren’t notified about the release from prison of John Rollins Tuggle, the man who raped her daughter 12 years ago and recently pleaded guilty to assaulting his own daughter

“This is clearly a situation of a parent doing what is in the best interest of her son.”

– Former state superintendent of public instruction candidate Juanita Doyan, coming to the defense of Spokane kindergarten teacher Debra Pearson, who has been accused of helping her own special-education son cheat on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL)

“Sorry I’m late for dinner.”

– Former hostage Roy Hallums, to his ex-wife after he was released by Iraqi captors who had taken him captive last Nov. 1 shortly before he was scheduled to fly home for a Thanksgiving dinner

“That would be a PR nightmare for us. That’s an absolute last resort.”

– New Orleans Police Capt. Marlon Defillo, talking about the use of force to remove Hurricane Katrina victims who have refused to leave their flooded homes

“We want to send a message that if you want to come around our high schools to recruit or sell drugs, most likely you are going to go to jail.”

– Spokane County Sheriff Mark Sterk on a plan to double the number of resource officers in high schools

“I’m the person who lives with him. I know what he’s like, and I know what he thinks, and I know how he cares about people.”

– First lady Laura Bush, in response to rapper Kanye West’s statement that President Bush doesn’t care about black people

“I guess I’m here because I’ve got nowhere else to go.”

– 49-year-old Jeff Knight, who lost Medicaid benefits to treat his clinical depression and is back in jail, where he has been sent 20 times in six years

“If there is to be only a single (ordinary high-water mark) for a lake such as Lake Coeur d’Alene, where and how should the determination be made: at the outlet? At the inlet? At the midpoint of the lake?”

– Idaho 1st District Judge James Judd, in his court ruling declaring that Coeur d’Alene’s Sanders Beach belongs to the public

“OK. I’m, like, totally lost.”

– Central Valley High School ninth-grader Joe O’Brien on the first day of school

“We’re making this up a lot as we go. It’s a dynamic situation. We don’t have a playbook for this.”

– Coast Guard Lt. Joe Leonard, in charge of distributing Red Cross debit cards to Hurricane Katrina victims at the Houston Astrodome