“We’re really proud of ourselves, and we’re...

“We’re really proud of ourselves, and we’re really happy that Newport

decided to go smoke-free and help the environment. The cigarettes get

washed into the ocean, and then the fish eat them, and we eat the

fish.... If you think about it, that’s kind of disgusting.”

-- Caroline Wilkinson, a junior at Newport Harbor High School and

president of the school’s Earth Resource Foundation Club, which

lobbied the city to adopt the smoking ban on Newport beaches

“I think it helps us focus in on school needs. We know there are

populations of students who need additional attention. We’ll begin to

follow all the rules that are needed.”

-- Newport-Mesa Unified School District Director of Assessment

Peggy Anatol on the schools that didn’t meet federal marks for the No

Child Left Behind Act

“I feel very, very good that the City Council and the

Redevelopment Agency and the community stuck with a process that was

pretty messy at first, and not very well supported at first, and yet

came with a recommendation that the report was unanimously

supported.”

-- Councilwoman Libby Cowan after the council directed staff

members to prepare a plan for putting the recommendations of the

Westside Revitalization Oversight Committee report into place.

“Finally, in 2004 it’s getting done. I’m just glad I wasn’t

holding my breath.”

-- CoastKeeper Executive Director Garry Brown on the construction

of swales that will filter storm water before it is discharged into

drainage facilities.

“We’d turn on the lights only 20 feet above the ground right

before landing, so no one can spot us and then turn them off after we

land.”

-- U.S. Air Force Reserve officer Gary Mathieson about his job

flying wounded soldiers from combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan to

hospitals in Europe.