“It’s good for them to face reality about life and death.”

– The Rev. Joe Hien, at a memorial, attended by about 60 sixth- and seventh-graders, for Susette Werner, who died after being dragged a mile by a hit-and-run driver.

“When someone calls a ‘code blue’ for a patient going into cardiac arrest, it is vital that a crash team and not the security guards race to the patient’s room.”

– Chief medical officer Larry Schecter of Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, explaining the need for statewide uniformity in the way Washington hospitals summon emergency help.

“Simply saying that it’s going to be hard or that it would be impossible is falling on our deaf ears.”

– Washington state Rep. Jeannie Darneille, D-Tacoma, cautioning witnesses at a legislative hearing that requests for state funding during a budget crisis will be met with skepticism.

“It just became clear to me that it would be very difficult, day in and day out, to serve in this Cabinet or any Cabinet for that matter and be part of the team and not be able to be 100 percent with the team, 110 percent with the team.”

– Republican Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, withdrawing his own nomination to be commerce secretary in the Obama administration.

“I regret that some things did slip through the cracks under my watch. That is just the reality. I admit it and I addressed it. I think Eastern Washington is better for it now because they’ve implemented policies and procedures to protect the athletes, coaches and other personnel in the athletic department.”

– Washington State University football coach Paul Wulff, after Eastern Washington University, his former post, was slapped with sanctions for violating NCAA rules.

“The whole time he was gone, he told the chief he didn’t want to work anywhere else. He’s ready to come back and just be a hard worker.”

– Spokane Police Guild President Ernie Wuthrich, after an arbitrator ruled that firing was too harsh a punishment for Officer Jason Uberuaga, who used a department-issued cell phone while off duty to photograph a woman’s bare breasts before having sex with her in her car at a tavern parking lot, then drove home in his city-assigned car after consuming alcohol.

“Some of these boards and commissions report to no one. To no one. And no one knows what they do. That ought to be a red flag right there.”

– Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire, announcing a government reform plan that includes eliminating some of at least 470 boards and commissions in the executive branch of state government.

“Even with the economic downturn, I don’t see people long-term getting into the migrant farm worker trade. That sounds brutal, but I just don’t see it.”

– The Washington Farm Bureau’s director of employer services, Dan Fazio, arguing for a guest worker program to allow immigrant farm laborers into the country.