THEY SAID IT : QUOTES OF THE YEAR

“It’s time for you to stop it and begin acting like the kind of lady you so repeatedly say you are.”

--Beverly Hills Municipal Judge Charles G. Rubin, after sentencing Zsa Zsa Gabor to three days in jail for slapping a Beverly Hills police officer and related charges.

“Big deal. Death comes with the territory. See you in Disneyland.”

--Night Stalker Richard Ramirez to reporters after a Los Angeles Superior Court jury recommended that he receive the death penalty for committing 13 murders and 30 other felonies.

“That is not to say that there is ‘no evidence’ of wrongdoing, but it is only to say that, given applicable standards of proof, insufficient evidence exists to prove a violation of law.”

--City Atty. James K. Hahn, in his report on Mayor Tom Bradley’s outside employment with two financial institutions that had business with the city.

“Every time I come home from work at night I want to cry because I have to come on this street.”

--A resident of 47th Place in South Los Angeles, who requested anonymity because she fears the drug dealers who have taken over her neighborhood.

“Hey, scumbags, get out of my courtroom. You’re all guilty.”

--Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Tynan after dismissing a case against three men allegedly caught with 10 kilograms of cocaine because the Sheriff’s Department refused to provide documents about its investigation of suspended narcotics officers who were to be key witnesses.

“You can either preserve the California dream. Or you can preside over the California nightmare.”

--Santa Clarita Mayor Jan Heidt, urging regional environmental officials to adopt air pollution guidelines to clean up the South Coast Air Basin within a generation.

“I still don’t get it. Nowadays, they’re tearing other places down so they can make them look like this.”

--Richard Tomasian, lamenting the closing of his family’s Duarte hamburger stand, which for decades served Route 66 motorists before being bulldozed to make way for a redevelopment project shopping center.

“Today is a great day for this country. The system works . . . . they got the right guy.”

--Teen-age business whiz Barry Minkow, at his sentencing as a securities swindler.

“El toro poo-poo, that’s what I’m hearing . . . . Is he trying to clean my carpet, or what?”

--U.S. District Judge Dickran Tevrizian, reacting to Minkow’s comments as he sentenced Minkow, owner of the ZZZZ Best carpet-cleaning firm, to 25 years in prison.