“We’re just fed up with how the union represented us to the community. They haven’t acted like good neighbors.”

– Registered nurse Tera Tveit, after nurses at Deaconess Medical Center voted to drop their bargaining unit, Service Employees International Union 1199NW, which had backed an ad implying staffing levels at the hospital had an adverse impact on patient care.

“I was very disappointed it wasn’t 9-0.”

– Spokane Valley gun dealer Terry Rogers, reacting to last week’s 5-4 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court overturning the District of Columbia’s gun ban.

“This case started back in 2003. How long do you suggest we wait? How long should these elderly people wait?”

– Spokane County Superior Court Judge Robert Austin, approving the sale of various parcels of Spokane Raceway Park to Spokane County and four other bidders, despite the objections of an attorney representing limited partners who believe they would recoup more through the bankruptcy proceedings if the sale were held off until real estate prices improve.

“Am certainly going to be a heck of a lot more careful about getting involved in the future.”

– Liberty Lake resident Scott E. Hughes, who was jailed for shoving a plainclothes security guard during a shoplifter confrontation that Hughes says he mistook for an assault.

“I don’t think the Pentagon is in the business of scaring the Iranians.”

– Senior fellow Martin Indyk, of the Brookings Institution, speculating that the Defense Department has taken a cautious approach to Iran’s nuclear program to avoid undermining U.S. efforts in Iraq.

“The margin of the vote demonstrates that Guild members now understand that modern police oversight is valuable. They are not letting older, less sophisticated plans color their thinking now.”

– Public issues lawyer Breean Beggs of the Center for Justice, after the Spokane Police Guild voted 171-4 to endorse a civilian ombudsman to examine complaints of police misconduct in Spokane.

“It’s not an inspection; it’s a seizure.”

– Freelance journalist Bill Hogan, who was returning from Germany when customs agents confiscated his laptop in a random inspection of electronic media and kept it for about two weeks.

“I was in fifth grade when 9/11 happened, and that’s when I decided the best thing I could do for my country was this.”

– California 16-year-old Kathleen Engle, attending a special camp at West Point for youngsters who want careers in the military.

“Their circle or clique, they’re not the most fortunate family-wise.”

– Student council member Emily Spreer of Gloucester (Mass.) High School, where 17 student pregnancies in the last year led to rumors, since disputed, of a pact among some of the expectant teens to become pregnant.