11 Interesting Quotes in 2011

Everyone has moments where they say something out of passion, something goofy or something just plain ineloquent.

Luckily, most reporters carry recorders, or scribble down notes to preserve those awkward phrases forever. You're welcome. 

Here are 11 quotes (taken out of context of their articles) to sum up 2011. 

1. “If it’s positive and constructive and we were accomplishing things, then I would consider running for a three-year term, but considering my advanced age, I don’t even buy green bananas,” Fred Padberg said when interviewing for an open position on the school board. 

2. “I felt like I was smacked in the back by a two-by-four and every muscle flexed and tensed for five seconds. Five seconds became a long time,” Police Officer Brett Belcher said. “Injuries to criminals and police have dropped dramatically since the taser.” Belcher was referring to the feeling of being shocked by a taser.

3. "Re-electing me is the most important issue,"  when asked what the most important issue of his re-election race was in April. 

4. “He (Charlie Dooley) is now grasping at straws trying to make a personal attack on me,” Stenger said after Dooley demanded Stenger apologize for remarks made on the Mark Reardon Show. “If they’re going to zing me on something, they’re going to need to do better than that.” 

5. “That’s the only time I’ve spent some money on the lion were those Mardi Gras beads, and they were taken,” Dana DeLucia said when describing decorating the stone lion outside her house. 

6. “Today just isn’t your day,” Anthony Sanfilippo said jokingly to John Johnson after the River City Casino chef lost to South County Police Captain Marion Monteleone in a sausage cook-off. 

7. "In my pre-baby 5-speed convertible days, I would stifle an evil laugh as I zipped past a minivan in the morning traffic on my way to work. Now the minivan laughs back and says, 'Ha, ha! You need me now, don’t you?'" Jenny Wescoat wrote in a column about buying a new car for her family.

8. “Never store anything of value in the master bedroom,” Detective Chad Louis from the Crimes Against Persons Unit said. “That’s the first place they look for, and always find things.” Louis was advising a group of residents attending the Citizens Police Academy. 

9. “They are brothers, they love their cat, they love space, and they decided to combine all these things,” Mike Bender, co-author of Awkward Family Pet Photos, said. “When people aren't aware, that’s when its really authentic awkwardness.”

10. “Tom, I want to compliment you on reading your speech, you did that really well, obviously it came from the heart,” school board member Rich Franz said in a September board meeting. “What you folks don’t understand…this isn’t about the kids, this is about those folks sitting in those seats not trusting us as a board. Folks, they don’t trust you.” 

11. "I fight for every one of these teachers because they fight for my kids. Threaten to take dental and vision insurance from these people (i.e. teachers)? What’s next on your agenda, sir: Ask them to bring toilet tissue to work? It is about the children. It’s not about you,” Jeff Clobes said at the next board meeting in response to Franz's statement.