“I remember about six years ago, kids...

“I remember about six years ago, kids were drawing out what they’d

like to see in a skate park design. We adults didn’t follow through

as quickly as we’d like. They got a lesson in civics. But today shows

... we do listen and react.”

-- Costa Mesa City Councilwoman Libby Cowan on the groundbreaking

of a new skate park.

“The school system there is totally different. Everyone stays

inside the whole day, and the teachers rotate.”

-- Newport Harbor High School student Heather Curfman, 14, on

schools in Okazaki, Japan, during Japanese students’ visit to Newport

Beach.

“Some of them wanted animals to be euthanized because they’ve been

in the shelter too long. But that’s the beauty of our shelter. We’re

a no-kill shelter. We give animals a chance to live and have had some

of them for a year or more.”

-- Jon Vreeland, a volunteer who works at the Orange County Humane

Society in Huntington Beach.

“They both started out strong -- Kerry a little stronger than

Bush. Bush lost his composure pretty quickly into it, and a lot of

pauses Bush made, we didn’t know what he was thinking, which in

debate is never good.”

-- Jeremiah Pfaff on the first debate between President Bush and

John Kerry.

“I didn’t want to feel compelled in any way when I make decisions

[to consider] how would the endorsing party feel about that. This

stuff’s complicated enough without having to filter through a bunch

of endorsements.”

-- Newport Beach City Councilman John Heffernan on campaign

endorsements, even though he felt confident that he could accept

endorsements without being bound by them.

“People can tell you how to dedicate yourself. But you have to

find it within yourself to bring that out.”

-- Olympic Gold medalist Aaron Peirsol, talking to students at

Ensign Middle School.