The Week in Words

By Times Staff Writer
Published March 2, 2008

"It was his. That race was his."

- Brooks Johnson, coach of John Capel, above, both photos, a former Brooksville track star, on Capel's hesitant start that cost him the 200-meter final in the 2000 Olympics.

"I kind of feel bad for the guy."

-Jon Scott, one of more than 100 victims of Steven Bartlett, right, president of Coral Bay Construction, after Bartlett was convicted on grand theft charges.

"You can see, moneywise, why they do it."

- Jeanette Moran of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, citing the estimated value of $3,500-per-plant of marijuana plants seized in a recent raid at a home near Weeki Wachee.

"If this is approved, then I'll tell you that there's going to be a lot of meetings between the sheriff's office and county finance people about how this will all work."

-Sheriff Richard Nugent, on a proposal to have the sheriff's portion of the county budget removed and made into a separate taxing district.

Editor's note: The following is a recap of the week's news events , in the words of the newsmakers.

"My, my, my. We've come a long way since last year."

- County Commissioner Dave Russell, on the efforts of county staff to rein in spending in advance of this year's budget hearings.

"I said to myself, 'Someone just got it big.' Then I heard water running in the house."

-Zel McDowell, on her reaction to a tremendous thunderclap outside her Spring Hill home. The noise was the sound of a huge oak tree crashing into her house during a severe storm.

"You knew him well even if you had met him only for a minute."

- Greg Frey Jr., speaking of his father, Greg Frey Sr., at a memorial service. The elder Frey, a pilot from Spring Hill, is missing and presumed dead after his small plane crashed into the stormy north Atlantic Ocean near Iceland more than a week ago.

"Where does she get the nerve to speak that way?"

- Manny Mojica of Spring Hill, on comments made by U.S. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite that residents of Puerto Rico are foreign citizens. Mojica was among nearly 100 people who protested at Brown-Waite's Brooksville office.

[Last modified March 1, 2008, 20:34:25]