The Journal loves a good quote. Here are 10 that caught our eye in 2018.
10 - “You can put up fancy street lights and flower baskets but that’s not going to solve the problem. If people are threatening to burn businesses down, they’re not going to stay.”
- Greg Jones, who started a 2,500-member Facebook group called ‘Take Back Our City from Meth, Fentanyl and Pills,’ on problems in Mitton Village.
9 - “In my head I just thought — this is too good to be true, to get new lungs on my birthday.”
- Tara Bourque’s health was failing when she received the call from The Trillium Gift of Life Network and underwent a successful double-lung transplant on her 25th birthday in July.
8 - “I was lucky my songs were on YouTube, so I could watch me play and relearn my own songs.”
- Sarnia singer-songwriter Preetam Sengupta, on recovering from brain surgery.
7 - “You need a cross-section of people with different personalities. We can’t all just be Robocop.”
- Police Chief Norm Hansen, on recruiting more women to Sarnia’s male-dominated force.
6 - “I’ve invested half a million dollars between the two stores and now I’m working 12 to 14 hours a day.”
- Coffee Culture owner Eric Parsons, who in January laid off staff, reduced store hours and increased prices following a rise in Ontario’s minimum wage.
5 - “As my girlfriend said, we knew each other in high school, but now we’re really getting to know each other.”
- Barb Ellwood, co-organizer of a 60th anniversary reunion for Grade 9 commercial class girls at Northern Collegiate in 1958.
4 - “It’s awesome that we can just walk down the street now without having to worry about whether or not we’re getting caught by the cops. It felt stupid before not being allowed to do it.”
- Ethan Trepanier, 19, celebrating the legalization of recreational marijuana on Oct. 17.
3 - “I do plan on writing one more letter. Will it make a difference? Probably not. But if this is the last chance for me to write something that he is going to read — whether it affects him or not — he needs to know that it’s not OK. That he is not forgiven and what he did has an effect on many people.”
- Stephanie Nethery, on a parole application by Jeremy Molitor, who was sentenced to life in prison for murdering her sister Jessica Nethery 16 years ago.
2 - “Sarnia comes together when tragedy happens. That’s made me feel it’s OK to talk about what happened.”
- Alicia Reny, who lost everything in a January house fire. The Red Cross, employers, friends and dozens of strangers rallied to get her back on her feet.
1 - “He said, ‘I don’t care what you do for a living. You could be shovelling out manure at the horse racing sheds for all I care, as long as you’re the hardest working one shovelling manure.’ (I thought), this is something I want to do and I’m not going to waste my parent’s time and money if I’m not going to give it my all.”
- Goaltender and Brigden native Kaden Fulcher, on his father’s advice, after leading the Hamilton Bulldogs to an OHL championship.