“I take responsibility. But I don’t take full responsibility.”

— Fired Spokane County Sheriff’s Deputy Joseph Mastel, contending in a statement to the County Civil Service Commission that he should get his job back because the espresso stand barista to whom he exposed himself (the action that cost him his job) had led him on.

“I couldn’t sleep for the first 36 hours, but I’m sleeping real good now.”

— Coeur d’Alene resident William Hennings, quoted in a news release from the Coeur d’Alene Casino where the unemployed man recently won $746.948.68 playing a Power Ball slot machine.

“The families are always crying and crying. Praying. Cursing the government. It’s so difficult to watch.”

— Sunni Moslem Saif Daham, describing what it’s like to be a mover who helps displaced Iraqi families leave their homes to escape the violence around them.

“A lot of that stuff is in every workplace in the county. You have to look at the context in which they were sent: as jokes.”

Kootenai County Prosecuting Attorney Bill Douglas, saying media accounts exaggerated the sexually explicit e-mail messages being circulated among his employees on their county-owned computers.

“It’s the girls. The girls are what we’re all about. Although we have great food.”

— Coby Brooks, president and CEO of Hooters, the restaurant chain that features busty waitresses in skimpy outfits.

“Putting the fun back in dysfunctional family, if you will.”

— Communications director Jacque Coe of the Washington state Lottery, explaining the agency’s promotional campaign, which features a character known as Winbig, who has been described as annoying.

“Maybe worship could be hanging out with a bunch of guys, admitting we like blowing crap up.”

— Stand-up comic Brad Stine, talking about a macho-Christianity movement that considers traditional worship practices emasculating.

“You clearly don’t want this to be a resort community.”

— Planning consultant Tweed Kezziah, maintaining at a Kootenai County Commission meeting that rewriting the county’s comprehensive plan should protect working people from being priced out of their homes by rich tourists.

“By the time we got to the end, we almost knew what we were doing.”

— Spokane legal assistant Janette Smith, who was part of a sweat-equity program administered by the nonprofit organization Community Frameworks under which she and her neighbors helped construct the homes they will occupy, working their way down the street.

“If people don’t want to pay for it, we can’t make them pay for it.”

— Spokane Valley City Councilman Richard Munson, a member of the Spokane Transit Authority Board, which decided to abandon thoughts of a light rail system that did not find favor with voters in an advisory election last month.