Notable Quotables

“Their motivation was the Jolly Ranchers.”

-- Wendy Balden of Newport Beach, on why sons Nick and Zach Balden ran

a one-mile race Sunday during the 19th annual Spirit Run. Nick, 6, and

Zach, 8, both attend Roy O. Andersen Elementary School, one of five

schools that will benefit from money raised during the run.

“You can’t tell a person to clean up their garage, just as you can’t

walk into somebody’s house and ask them to do the dirty dishes or vacuum

their carpet.”

-- Robert Myers, a resident of Monticello Town Homes Complex that

suffered two recent back-to-back fires, on the possibility of having the

complex put regulations on garage contents. Fire officials say how people

store their possessions and what they store has an effect on what happens

in a fire.

“There was so much smoke, fire and water and all these firefighters in

their suits. The building looked like a spaceship and the whole place

looked like another planet.”

-- Ken Burger, on arriving Sunday at his furniture and upholstery

business on Brioso Drive after hearing the complex that houses it was on

fire. The fire gutted the 10,000 square-foot, two story building.

“Security doesn’t come without a price. It’s our responsibility to act

on this without any hesitation.”

-- Todd Spitzer, member of the Orange County Board of Supervisors, on

raising parking fees at John Wayne Airport as 71% to pay for added

airport security costs since the Sept. 11 attacks.

“I arrived in an environment of utter chaos. I had to rebuild all the

financial systems, had to re-budget the district. It was a whole

different environment than I thought I was walking into, but I never

looked back.”

-- Mike Fine, Newport-Mesa school district’s assistant superintendent

of business service, on what his job as budget analyst/internal auditor

was like when he arrived in 1992. Fine is leaving in May to become deputy

superintendent for the Riverside Unified School District.

“Has a miracle happened?”

-- Gay Sandoval of Costa Mesa, on hearing Judge Ronald C. Kline asked

the courts to remove his name from the November ballot, on which he was

running for re-election to Superior Court. Sandoval is running a write-in

campaign for his seat.

“People are still dealing with the trauma. Some of them are even

afraid to flip on the stove to make a cup of tea.”

-- Julia Cross, board member of the Monticello Homeowners Assn., on

how residents of Monticello Town Homes are dealing with the two unrelated

fires that consumed several homes recently. Members of the community

attended a town hall meeting Thursday to talk about the fires.