“When you have a grandmother crying, calling you on the phone, you can’t just turn that off when you go home.”

– Volunteer Shelley Mitchell who donates her time dealing with calls on a hotline for area residents in emotional or mental crisis.

“The creative stuff was funny. The other stuff? If I met some of those people in a dark alley … Well, I won’t finish that thought.”

– Wanda Morrison, mother of Gonzaga University basketball star Adam Morrison, describing her reaction to some of the crowd taunts she’s heard directed at her son from the stands.

“The day I told him his investments had gone over $3 million, he told me, ‘That’s too much money for one person.’ “

– Financial consultant Cort L. Wilcox, describing the low-key attitudes of his former client, John Harrison, a well-known Hayden Lake figure who lived a notoriously frugal lifestyle but left an estate of $3.5 million when he died this month.

“We’re building a community here. We’ve got bigger perspective than the next round of property taxes.”

– Liberty Lake’s director of planning and community development, Doug Smith, explaining the stringent requirements his city imposes on large retailers that want to build big-box stores there.

“I hear the voices, and I read the front page, and I know the speculation. But I’m the decider, and I decide what is best. And what’s best is for Don Rumsfeld to remain as the secretary of defense.”

– President Bush, talking to reporters about pressure coming from some retired military leaders for Rumsfeld to step down.

“I’m imagining that people think it’s quite funny that I have a book out about my life that was finished when I was 23.”

– Indy race car driver Danica Patrick, who finished fourth in the Indianapolis 500 last year when she was a rookie, and whose autobiography is being released under the title “Danica Patrick: Crossing the Line.”

“We will send out a notice that we’re going to suspend and – especially with hunting and fishing licenses, because that’s so dear to these guys – they’ll run out and settle real quick. You’re touching some guy’s heart.”

– Ross Mason, spokesman of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, explaining how effective it is to use hunting and fishing privileges as a tool for enforcing child support payment obligations.

“Canfield’s just hammered. Can you imagine what would happen on the highways if they pulled law enforcement off? That’s what’s happening out there.”

– Mike Magill, vice president of the North Idaho ATV Association, describing the impact of litter and vandalism along and near trails on Kootenai County’s Canfield Mountain.

“He took a gamble and lost.”

– Assistant U.S. Attorney Aine Ahmed, regarding the life sentence handed down in federal court to convicted drug dealer Raul S. Zavala, who had turned down a plea bargain that would have resulted in only a few years behind bars.

“If you look at the earlier estimates of anticipated costs, this war is a lot more expensive than it should be based on past conflicts.”

– Steven Kosiak, director of budget studies at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, explaining that the purchase and upkeep for today’s high-tech weapons helps make the cost of the conflict in Iraq (now $10 billion a month) comparatively higher than that of previous wars such as the one in Vietnam.