ECHOES OF ‘93: A COLLECTION OF MEMORABLE SOUND BITES FROM STORIES THAT HAD EVERYONE TALKING

‘The grass is kinda long, the course is kinda wet and the greens are kinda slow, but who the hell cares?’

-Ted Johnson, Pasadena golfer, on soggy end of a seven-year drought.

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‘I do believe I remember you saying, “I dare you.”’

-Ted Danson, wearing blackface makeup and gobbling watermelon, to paramour Whoopi Goldberg during infamous routine at Friars Club.

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‘I know people are saying ‘I hope we find another Dr. King, another Cesar Chavez.’ I’d say stop hoping and start organizing.’

-Larry B. McNeil, grass-roots organizer.

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‘Our problem is not with the haters of the world who have nothing within. Our problem is with the lovers of the world who have something within and never let it come out.’

-The Rev. Cecil L. Murray of First AME Church, in first sermon after alleged shinhead/neo-nazi plot to shoot up black churches was revealed.

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‘My intent was to cripple Rodney King. That is a better option than having to use deadly force, having to choke or having to shoot Rodney King.’

-Sgt. Stacey C. Koon, testifying at Rodney King civil rights trial.

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‘I felt a tug ... it hurt a lot.’

-John Wayne Bobbitt, on how it feels to have one’s penis cut off.

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‘Grief can be a finite phenomenon. But how do you accommodate two losses at once or, after 12 years of AIDS epidemic, the loss of an entire peer group? It’s psychologically impossible. You shut down.’

-Dan Alonzo, theapist.

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‘The abused children of this country do not want pity for what they’ve gone through. Erik doesn’t want pity for what he’s gone through ... what he wants is understanding.’

-Leslie Abrahamson, attorney for Erik Menendez.

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‘Erik feared all right. He feared he’d have to get off his butt and work like the rest of us.’

-Deputy Dist. Atty. Lester Kuriyama in closing statements in trial of Erik Menendez, younger of the Beverly Hills brothers who claim self-defense in the shotgun slaying of their parents.

‘It just made everything in life seem so stupid ... Let me talk about what I felt, let me talk about what my neighbors’ house looked like, you know? It made reality seem a lot different.’

-Danna Brownell, 16, of Altadena, on the impact of the fire that destroyed her family’s keepsake-filled garage.

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‘That is my job. That is my life. That is what I do.’

-Mike Kelly, Burbank firefighter, on why he endures the hard work and peril of fighting wildfires.

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‘We should look at all ways possible to stick it to Sacramento.’

-Supervisor Gloria Molina, on state budget crisis.

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‘There have been many disgusting statements made recently concerning allegations of improper conduct on my part ... Don’t treat me like a criminal because I am innocent.’

-Michael Jackson, responding to accusations of sexual activities with young boys.

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‘In the history of this business ... no one has ever been able to do what I do.’

- Heidi Fleiss, accused “Hollywood Madam.”

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‘American people don’t have a monopoly on the American Dream. People have the tendency to think that if you come here you “discover” the American Dream. People all over the world have it.’

-Alix Baptiste, Haitian immigrant and manager of Radisson’s Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, on the debate over immigration.

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‘A gun is power. It just makes you feel like somebody.’

-Lorenzo, 17, South-Central gang member.

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‘I just want to tell kids to be careful of gangs in schools and to stay away from them. Because they’ll probably get shot. Just like I did, for no reason.’

-Glenn Browne, 15, shot in the chest on first day of classes at Dorsey High School.