NOTABLE QUOTABLES

“Several planes with bright red balls on their wings flew right over

us. I remember picking up a handful of sand and throwing it at them. It

was my first gesture towards them, but certainly not my last.”

-- Ted Hubert of Newport Beach, who was an executive officer on board

the minesweeper Reed Bird, docked at Pearl Harbor, in 1941. Hubert was at a friend’s house 10 miles away when the Japanese started their infamous

attack.

“The planes were so low, we could see the pilots’ faces. It felt like

we could reach out and touch them. We could see the rising sun on the

wings.”

-- Glee Queen of Corona del Mar, who was 11 and living 10 miles away

from Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, the day the Japanese attacked.

“I see kids out there playing in gutter water. People don’t know what

pollution is, what’s in the runoff, because they can’t see it. They think

it’s clean.”

-- Bob Caustin, founder of Defend the Bay, on how beach goers ignore

signs of bacterial contamination posted by the Orange County Health Care

Agency.

“It was just a last minute ‘How can we save this?”’

-- Libby Cowan, mayor of Costa Mesa, on coming up with the idea for a

mobile skate park after the City Council reversed its decision to build a

skate park. The mobile version debuted May 19.

“Picture one person who died. Picture them how they might have looked

had they lived -- probably like the old gray-haired guys you see up here

. . . their legacy was freedom.”

-- Dennis Lahey, commander of the American Legion on Balboa Island,

speaking during a Memorial Day tribute at Pacific View Memorial Park.

“Ficus trees are gorgeous in the right place. But that’s not the right

place.”

-- Tod Ridgeway, Newport Beach councilman and chairman of the

council’s committee for the revitalization of the peninsula, on why he

thinks the ficus trees that line Main Street on Balboa Island should be

removed. The committee has recommended that the city replace the trees

with coral gums.

“Out of hundreds of cities in the country, we’re 30th. I think that is

an accomplishment.”

-- Dave Snowden, police chief of Costa Mesa, on the city’sranking on

an FBI list of the nation’s safest cities. Costa Mesa ranked 30th among

209 cities with a population of 100,000 or more.