“We want to show whoever did this...

“We want to show whoever did this crime -- this hate crime -- that it

won’t silence us. Arabs, students, the community, we all stand united

against hate.”

-- Vanessa Zuabi, vice president of UC Irvine’s Society of Arab

Students, during a rally to denounce acts of hate and the destruction

of a symbolic wall built by Arab students.

“I came down here one night when I forgot something. There was a

bright, full moon. I looked off to my left, and there was a skunk up

on its hind legs, dancing in the moonlight.”

-- John Dean, former principal of Harbor View Elementary, which

celebrated its 50th anniversary last week.

“It’s like an armpit over there.”

-- Bob Caustin, president and founder of Defend the Bay, about the

mouth of the Santa Ana River, which earned an “F” during the wet

season in an annual beach report released last week.

“This is also an attempt to save the lives of the young men who

may be carrying [these guns].”

-- Tod Ridgeway, mayor of Newport Beach, as the City Council

agreed to ban Airsoft toy guns.

“These are not the kind of toys that you play around with, but I

think you need to support the 2nd Amendment. The reason we can’t take

over Iraq is because they have guns in their homes.”

-- Dick Nichols, Newport Beach City Councilman, during the same

debate. Nichols was the lone vote against the ban.

“Mrs. Newman is a teacher retiring in full stride. She is

sprinting, not limping, across the finish line. She’d never talk to

me again if I told you her age, but here’s a hint. Take a look at

her, make your best guess and then add 15 years. That will get you

close.”

-- William Lobdell, writing in the Daily Pilot about Mariners

Elementary’s Marge Newman, who is retiring from teaching after 48

years.