“We have many good officers, but this incident makes the whole department look bad. That’s my disappointment.”

— Spokane City Councilman Al French, talking about an officer who was fired in 2004 for using excessive force and rehired in 2005 with the approval of the City Council which, French and others now say, received incomplete information from city officials.

“What a knucklehead he is. That dollar just cost him a $50,000 job.”

— Grant County sheriff’s Deputy John Turley, whose office dealt with Spokane Police Officer Jonathon Smith, who was fired after allegedly buying a marijuana-laced cookie for a dollar while off duty and attending a rock concert at the Gorge Amphitheater.

“It’s great to be a part of that great fraternity, even as a pretend cop.”

— Actor and Coeur d’Alene resident Dennis Franz of television’s “NYPD Blue,” talking about his support for local law enforcement.

“They write a new constitution of Iraq and they ignore the Constitution at home.”

— NAACP Chairman Julian Bond, who contends a two-year investigation that eventually upheld his nonprofit organization’s tax-exempt status was done as political retaliation over the group’s criticism of President Bush during the 2004 campaign.

“I was feeling pressured, and I was so new to this.”

— Spokane City Councilwoman Nancy McLaughlin who, before being named to the council, signed a Republican precinct committee officer support card on behalf of sheriff candidate Cal Walker, whose campaign materials subsequently listed her as an endorser. McLaughlin has withdrawn the endorsement because she wants to remain neutral.

“That was a little embarrassing.”

— Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leland, whose home plate argument with an umpire was interrupted when “God Bless America” was played over the stadium public address system.

“I’m not saying that’s right, but that’s what they have done.”

— Idaho Gov. Jim Risch, talking about the strategy used by the retailer Cabela’s to keep its catalog and online business separate from its retail business so it can avoid collecting state sales tax on remote sales to Idaho residents.

“I don’t know if it was a real gun or a toy gun, but we did what he said and that was that.”

— Carjack victim Colleen Grassman who, along with her daughter, was ordered out of her SUV at gunpoint at a Liberty Lake convenience store.

— “As teachers we’ve really had to buckle down, and we’ve done that. Now we feel it’s time for us to feel like we’re respected.”

— Riverside School District teacher Bill Shaw, as the school year was about to open without a contract.