Notable Quotables

“I personally grabbed the congressman in front of me, and I said, ‘Look, the two of us are going to sing “God Bless America” right now,’ and he said, ‘I’m with you.’ It was almost like a movie — everybody starts turning around and coming back and joining hands…. We sang ‘God Bless America’ right there on the Capitol steps.”

— U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, remembering Sept. 11, 2001, when he and some 300 congressional officials gathered on the Capitol steps just hours after the terrorist attacks

“Because of you, arts and music will continue to flourish in California.”

— Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, at Thursday’s dedication of the new Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall

“Our patrol boat was responding Code 3, lights and sirens, to the body ... and as they came to a certain section in the water, Rupert came swimming out…. It’s tragic. We were going to try to save a person, and we very likely killed Rupert.”

— Sgt. David Ginther of the Orange County Sheriff’s Harbor Patrol, on the death of Rupert, the black swan that was struck and killed by a patrol boat on its way to a rescue call

“There’s no downside to having a swan.”

— Tod Ridgeway, Newport Beach city councilman, on a businessman’s offer to buy new swans for the harbor

“Primarily, the issue that bothers us the most is the late-night issues when the beaches are supposed to be closed and we wind up with people coming in. Those are the people who tend to leave six-pack beer bottles, condoms, that kind of stuff right in front of your house…. [At] 2 and 3 in the morning, you can hear car alarms going off, people shouting and laughing.”

— Ken Drellishak, member of Balboa Peninsula Point Assn. board, on a request that the city limit street parking near the beach

“These projects have the ability to do a lot of good for Costa Mesa. If we were to develop anything high density, that is the place to have it.”

— Bill Perkins, Costa Mesa planning commission chairman, on the proposed North Costa Mesa High-Rise Residential Project