In their words
A selection of quotations from people in recent news stories, big and small
“It was sort of like being in a snow globe.”
– Meteorologist Mike Fries , of the National Weather Service, about his drive to work on Thursday morning.
“If people can be patient and sedentary and chill out …. today is not the day to go shopping for socks or something.”
– Coeur D’Alene Deputy City Administrator Jon Ingalls, on Thursday’s snowstorm.
“There is no way to tax your way out of this problem. We have to live within our means.”
– Washington state Gov. Chris Gregoire, in announcing large budget cuts for the 2009-2011 biennium.
“When you take away the books you think are not OK for me, you are taking away my freedom of thought. You are taking away pieces of me.”
– Lake C ity High School freshman Sam Fortis, 15, addressing the Coeur d’Alene School Board during a public meeting to consider whether certain books, including Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World,” should be removed from the senior reading list.
“It is too late to reverse the big and ugly act that I perpetrated.”
– Shoe-flinging Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zeidi, in a letter asking Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for a pardon so he won’t have to spend two years in prison for insulting a foreign leader, namely President Bush, the target of his outburst.
“We have heat and we have a bathroom. What more can you want?”
Tree of Sharing coordinator Dru Powers, expressing appreciation for the spacious donated warehouse where volunteers stored and sorted gifts collected for the seasonal charity.
“I’d say a little more than wild. There were bets around in high school that I wouldn’t live until I was 30 years old.”
– Mike Reed , one-time wrestling champion at West Valley High School and Eastern Washington University and now employed as a Superfund cleanup worker at Hanford Nuclear Reservation, commenting on his reputation for risky endeavors.
“We need these loans, and we’re not particularly fussy about how we get the loans or where they come from.”
– General Motors board member George Fisher, as the White House considered coming up with rescue financing because the Senate rejected a bailout plan for automakers.
“We would love to have more.”
– New (sort of) father Jim Bob Duggar, of Rogers, Ark., after his wife gave birth to a daughter, the couple’s eighth, to go along with their 10 sons.
“Are we going to give everyone chemotherapy or chop off everyone’s breasts?”
– Breast Cancer Action director Barbara Brenner, expressing skepticism about the value of a new test that is said to do a better job of identifying women at high risk of breast cancer.
“Anytime you start cutting back, it doesn’t matter where you cut, all that affects public safety.”
– Kootenai County Sheriff Rocky Watson, explaining the consequences of trimming his budget during an economic downturn, when crime activity tends to increase.
“The lessons that are learned in this type of situation go far beyond the imposition of any sanctions that could be imposed by the court system.”
– Stevens County Prosecutor Tim Rasmussen, following a decision not to file charges against a 14-year-old boy who killed another child with a hunting arrow in an archery accident on Thanksgiving.