By Albert Lea Tribune

The Tribune reporters looked back through their stories and picked the most memorable quotations of 2007. Here they are, in no particular order:

&8220;I never seen a lightning bolt that big. It looked like a miniature atom bomb.&8221; &8212; Donn Smith, an ex-fireman who was sitting on his porch on Independence Avenue in Clarks Grove watching a storm July 16 when lightning struck the grain elevator.

&8220;Would I like to have this fully funded now? Yes, but that might not be feasible.&8221; &8212; Rookie state Rep. Robin Brown. Her first bill called for increased state funding for all-day, everyday kindergarten.

&8220;I wake up every morning and cry for a while.&8221; &8212; Virginia Tech professor of theater arts David Johnson in April, speaking on shootings at the university. The professor graduated from Albert Lea High School in 1964.

&8220;We believe local government aid is a property tax relief program.&8221; &8212; John Sundvor, a media consultant for the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities, which in February called for the state Legislature to assist local governments in rural Minnesota.

&8220;It&8217;s really a dramatic improvement when you look at the before unit and the after unit.&8221; &8212; Susan Strandberg, community development officer for Three Rivers Community Action, which remodeled the former Channel View Apartments and renamed the place Trailside Apartments. Three Rivers, which purchased the complex in December 2006, let the public have a look in May of this year.

&8220;You may discover we bought some land that was a little different in its character but still fits in with our efforts.&8221; &8212; Paul Sparks, who at the time was the executive director of the Albert Lea Economic Development Agency, at a luncheon in January. Mentioning 80 acres on the east side of Interstate 35, he hinted at a possible large company coming to Albert Lea. The city ended up No. 2 in Target&8217;s search for a cold-storage distribution facility.

&8220;With the existing facility in Cedar Falls, it just made sense from a business perspective.&8221; &8212; Target spokeswoman Lena Michaud, announcing on April 16 the company&8217;s decision. She praised Albert Lea&8217;s business prospects. Cedar Falls, Iowa has a Target dry-goods distribution facility.

&8220;As soon as it was daylight, they were anxious to go see family.&8221; &8212; Jeanie Opdahl, director of the Albert Lea chapter of the American Red Cross, on 54 travelers who stayed overnight at the Albert Lea Armory on Dec. 23. High winds reduced visibility, forcing holiday motorists off the highways and packing Albert Lea hotels. The governor authorized the use of the Armory to make room for people.

&8220;Why have you been screwing around?&8221; &8212; Real estate agent Hugh O&8217;Byrne to the Albert Lea City Council on the night of Jan. 22. On a 4-3 vote, the City Council required O&8217;Byrne and Clayton Petersen to provide a risk analysis of their Wedgewood Cove project before the city will consider a $1.54 million loan through the city&8217;s bonding capacity.

&8220;I shoveled the snow at my house.&8221; &8212; Griffin Thompson, 4, on what he did when he saw snow the morning of Nov. 30.

&8220;It&8217;s geared toward teens, but it&8217;s not a kiddie movie or a dirty trashy movie either.&8221; &8212; Moviemaker Gene Teigland on the 103-minute film, &8220;Arnolds Park,&8221; which opened at movie theaters across the region, including in Albert Lea, on Oct. 19.

&8220;It looked like a laser light. As far away as it was from us you could see it pretty clear. It had a flame behind it.&8221; &8212; Nora Kaehn, who with many other southern Minnesotans witnessed a bright flash during the day on Oct. 3. Experts say it likely was a meteor.

&8220;Mitch woke up and said, &8216;Oh, my God!&8217; He opened the door and my car was floating in the water. It was bobbing up and down like a bobber.&8221; &8212; New Richland mother Missy Thompson, whose family was camping near Altura and awoke Aug. 19 with floodwaters inside the camper. The camp manager forgot to notify them when evacuating the campground. The father, Mitch Thompson, walked through a strong current and back five times to save his family.

&8220;As soon as I opened the door, I hearing meowing.&8221; &8212; Cedar Rapids, Iowa, resident Heather Day, on a white kitten that rode under the hood of her 2001 Pontiac Bonneville at speeds in excess of 80 mph on the Albert Lea freeways from the Ramada Inn to Hy-Vee on Aug. 10.

&8220;Just think of all the time and effort me and my staff put into this thing. We were devastated.&8221; &8212; Albert Lea-Freeborn County Chamber of Commerce Operations Manager Tami Riecke on the cancellation of the Third of July Parade as a result of a thunderstorm with high winds and heavy rain. Riecke was on the Parade Committee.

&8220;I thought they were great.&8221; &8212; New Albert Lea resident Brad Hickman on the Fourth of July fireworks over Fountain Lake.

&8220;It&8217;s our contribution to homeland security by securing our borders.&8221; &8212; Minnesota National Guard Capt. Eric DiNatale, commanding officer of the Albert Lea unit, during a January sendoff for 80 soldiers who patrolled the U.S.-Mexico border for three weeks.

&8220;Some of the new ones are worth $200,000.&8221; &8212; Paul Remde of Cumulus Soaring on gliders over the skies of Albert Lea May 26 through June 6 for the U.S. Open Class Nationals Championship.

&8220;A camporee is where you get all the various troops from the area together, you know, instead of just one troop going out. And this time we invited the Cub Scouts and the Girls Scouts, so it&8217;s a big event.&8221; &8212; Cubmaster Michelle Schroader of Le Roy, on the boys and girls playing sports on the ice by Edgewater Park in February. The Boy Scouts hold the events and invite other Scout organizations.

&8220;It says a lot about the veterans and a lot about you for being here.&8221; &8212; Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlently on May 28 at the dedication ceremony for the Freeborn County Veterans Memorial in downtown Albert Lea.

&8220;Fatigue played no part of this.&8221; &8212; Wyoming, Mich., trucker Jerry Wiggins, a friend to Mark Kanis, who died March 26 when his big rig hit a bridge support column on Interstate 90 between Albert Lea and Alden. Wiggins said a medical complication was more likely the cause because Kanis had called him from the road about chest pains.

&8220;The deer stood up on its hind legs as if to hug one lady.&8221; &8212; Albert Lea real estate agent Robert Hoffman on a friendly male yearling that graced an open house in March in the rural Indian Hills neighborhood west of Albert Lea.

&8220;You couldn&8217;t meet a friendlier person in this world.&8221; &8212; Jon Larson, father of April Sorensen, who was killed in a bedroom fire on April 17. The Rochester Police Department announced April 19 that the death is a homicide.

&8220;I don&8217;t think it ever gets easier, you just adjust to living with it. It&8217;s always there. It&8217;s always on your mind.&8221; &8212; Clarks Grove resident Deb Goodnature in January, on the struggle she has had since her son Corey was killed in Afghanistan in 2005.

&8220;We are not asking for grants. We are not asking for tax increment financing. We are only asking for help in financing about one-third of the total project. Please help us out. We are at a crossroads right now whether this project goes ahead or is abandoned. I&8217;m sure you don&8217;t want this to fail.&8221; &8212; Wedgewood Cove developers Hugh O&8217;Byrne and Clayton Petersen in a letter to the Albert Lea City Council in January requesting financial assistance of $3.6 million through the city&8217;s bonding capacity.

&8220;We&8217;re just wore out. It&8217;s been over a year, and if this is a no vote on Monday, there won&8217;t ever be a golf course there. We need to move on. We&8217;ve tried hard to bring something nice to Albert Lea. (But) if this is a no vote, there won&8217;t ever be a golf course; it&8217;s over.&8221; &8212; Wedgewood Cove developer Clayton Petersen on what would happen if the Albert Lea City Council in January voted against a new request for $1.5 million in bonding for the project.

&8220;If we say no, what message does that send? I know that when we said no to Walgreens, it sounded good here in the city, but it sent volumes outside the city. Sometimes to be progressive, you have to start acting it and then you start looking it.&8221; &8212; Albert Lea Mayor Randy Erdman in January on Wedgewood Cove developers&8217; request for $1.5 million in bonding.

&8220;They were told before that vote that if they voted no, then we were done. And that&8217;s where we&8217;re at. We&8217;re not going forward with anything at this point.&8221; &8212; Clayton Petersen responding Jan. 24 to the Albert Lea City Council&8217;s Jan. 23 vote against a request for $1.5 million in bonding for the project.

&8220;Whatever the people desire, we&8217;ll do. It really did take off. It&8217;s so funny how things become a part of you and you don&8217;t even know it.&8221; &8212; District 27A Rep. Robin Brown in January about her trademark yellow blazer.

&8220;The situation at Walter Reed is not only deplorable, but also disheartening to our soldiers and to every American citizen.&8221; &8212; First District Congressman Tim Walz, D-Mankato, in March responding to the resignation of Army Sec. Francis Harvey after the controversy over the lack of proper care for soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

&8220;I think my looks are a blessing from God if it would help a kid.&8221; &8212; Tennessee man David Parnell, who has devoted his life warning about the dangers of meth. He spoke to the general public in March at Albert Lea High School. Parnell, who is now sober after spending 23 years on drugs, was addicted to meth for seven years before he attempted suicide by shooting himself under the chin &8212; blowing his face apart.

&8220;Everybody that met her seemed to remember her and love her. She always seemed to have a smile on her face.&8221; &8212; Albert Lea father Ron Reule on March 31, a day after his 20-year-old daughter, Janelle Reule, died at a Rochester hospital from injuries sustained March 28 when a Northern Country Co-op semi ran a red light and broadsided her 2004 Chevrolet Malibu at the intersection of West Main Street and U.S. Highway 69.

&8220;I understand I haven&8217;t been in Washington that long, but I&8217;ve been there long enough to know that something needs to change.&8221; &8212; U.S. Sen. Barack Obama during a campaign rally in Mason City, Iowa, in April.

&8220;We didn&8217;t get everything we wanted, and certainly the other side didn&8217;t get everything they wanted &8212; but surely we reached a compromise.&8221; &8212; State Sen. Dan Sparks in May, about the 2007 Minnesota State Legislature.

&8220;In the democracy or republic that we live in there has to be a level of respect. If they pulled this at the state Capitol, they would be handcuffed and in the Ramsey County Jail. This would not be tolerated.&8221; &8212; Albert Lea Mayor Randy Erdman in June, about unruly behavior displayed during the public forum portion of the City Council meetings.

&8220;It does not look good for it to be like pea soup. Sometimes you have to put some makeup on.&8221; &8212; Albert Lea Mayor Randy Erdman in July, after the Albert Lea City Council voted to initiate treatments of Fountain Lake to reduce its green color that came from an increase in algae blooms.

&8220;I&8217;m still really in shock. I don&8217;t understand how that could even happen. I&8217;m sure I&8217;ve been over it hundreds of times, and I&8217;ve never thought twice about it.&8221; &8212; Albert Lea native Megan Menning, after walking past the wreckage of the Interstate 35W bridge the day after it collapsed Aug. 1. Menning was driving southbound with her friend and was about 30 seconds away from the bridge when it collapsed.

&8220;There aren&8217;t enough words to express how I feel about my son, but I know he&8217;s gone and totally irreplaceable. It&8217;s every parent&8217;s worst nightmare, and I wouldn&8217;t wish it on my worst enemy.&8221; &8212; Scott Truesdell in August after his son, Ryan, died in a grain elevator accident at Glenville Grain.

&8220;I don&8217;t think we&8217;re going to get what we lost back, but at least we have each other.&8221; &8212; Rushford resident Jerry Reimann after the floodwaters hit his town of 1,700 people in late August.

&8220;Where do they come along and tell us how long we can talk? They&8217;re the public servant, not us. If they can&8217;t take the heat, like they say, &8216;Get out of the kitchen.&8217;&8221;

&8212; Albert Lea resident Roger Bok in September, one of the City Council&8217;s most vocal opponents, after the council this summer limited the public forum to two minutes and one topic.

&8220;It&8217;s a black mark right now for all of us because that was a place that had been there as one of the oldest golf courses in the state of Minnesota. Now it&8217;s been destroyed and we have a pile of dirt.&8221; &8212; Albert Lean Al Arends in October, after hearing word that two notices of foreclosure totaling almost $1 million had been filed against the controversial Eagle&8217;s Rest development.

&8220;There&8217;s nothing wrong in America that can&8217;t be fixed by what&8217;s right in America. When you take these guys on and the truth is on your side, you can win.&8221; &8212; U.S. Sen. candidate Al Franken in November, quoting former Democratic President Bill Clinton, during a campaign rally at the Ramada Event Center in Albert Lea.

&8220;It&8217;s hard to believe. Everybody worked so hard.&8221; &8212; Wedgewood Cove developer Clayton Petersen after the development agreement for the golfing community passed on a 4-2 vote Dec. 20 by the Albert Lea City Council.

&8220;She&8217;s little, she&8217;s chunky, she&8217;s perfect.&8221; &8212; Yolanda Gallardo said of her newborn girl Judy Ruby Gallardo, who was born at 4:45 p.m. Jan. 2. Judy was the first baby born at Albert Lea Medical Center in 2007.

&8220;I don&8217;t miss the tangles.&8221; &8212; 8-year-old Liana Schallock in March, after getting 10 inches of her hair cut off to donate to Locks of Love.

&8220;I&8217;ve never worn a cap myself. I do wear a stocking cap in the winter, though.&8221; &8212; Frost resident Roger &8220;Buckey&8221; Legried, the Guinness Book of World Records record holder for the most caps. He had 82,792 caps when a story on him printed March 31.

&8220;We&8217;re all just people, beads on a string.&8221; &8212; Singer/songwriter Dennis Warner performed his children&8217;s songs for Sibley Elementary School students in late January.

&8220;I couldn&8217;t think of anyone I&8217;d rather do it with.&8221; &8212; United Way of Freeborn County co-chairwoman Angie Eggum, on working with her mother for the 2007 campaign. Eggum and her mother, Karol Held, were announced as the first-ever mother-daughter team to act as chairwomen in February.

&8220;If we want improvement we need to improve their tools. We just need the tools to do the job that we need to do.&8221; &8212; Rep. Robin Brown speaking on education at a meeting between legislators and school leaders in February at the Southeast Service Cooperative in Rochester.

&8220;No one likes to offer kids less tomorrow than you would today. We&8217;ll use all of our resources as well as we can, as long as we can, to maintain the high quality educational opportunities for the students we serve.&8221; &8212; Superintendent Dave Prescott before the school board approved the decision to cut 25 teachers in February.

&8220;&8216;Minute Clinic&8217; is going to be like the word Kleenex.&8221; &8212; Nurse practitioner Rick Grode, who runs the OnSite Healthcare Clinic at Love&8217;s truck stop, said in February.

&8220;Look at the 40-year-old man going down!&8221; &8212; Lexie Simon encouraged her father to slide down a snowy hill in February.

&8220;Don&8217;t waste time trying to placate and pacify a small handful of disgruntled individuals.&8221; &8212; Ron Gabrielsen&8217;s suggestion to the board before he left his position as the county administrator Feb. 27.

&8220;I think this is really an exciting time to run for office, and for Democrats to be in congress.&8221; &8212; Al Franken told the Tribune in February his campaign will be a serious one, shortly after he announced his bid for a U.S. Senate seat representing Minnesota as a democrat. He will compete against republican Sen. Norm Coleman.

&8220;We need people to run for elected office who see solutions and not waste time identifying more problems. We need elected officials who have visions of what can be as opposed to people who want to maintain the status quo. We need to elect officials who understand that after the vote is taken we need to follow the will of the majority and not try to sabotage policies by bringing up old issues and spreading falsehoods and mistruths.&8221; &8212; Former Freeborn County Administrator Ron Gabrielsen had many words of advice for the Freeborn County Commissioners and community members before he left office in late February.

&8220;It&8217;s OK at times, but other times it is hard and doesn&8217;t appeal to my taste buds.&8221; &8212; Southwest Middle School eighth-grader Melanie Pederson speaks out about school cafeteria food in April.

&8220;It has lots of opportunities. The present is good and the future is brighter. It&8217;s all about location and you seem to have that.&8221; &8212; Freeborn County administrator candidate Harry Staven, of Richland, Wash., on Freeborn County and its potential for economic development.

&8220;We have great doctors and great sources, but we have medical mysteries and I&8217;m one of them.&8221; &8212; Kim Nelson, at the young age of 36, suffered a stroke-like episode around Christmas 2006.

&8220;It&8217;s not really about me. It&8217;s about kids really, touching lives.&8221; &8212; Choir and vocal teacher Diane Heaney said of being honored with the District 241 Teacher of the Year award April 18.

&8220;I was really happy but my mom was more excited than I was. When we got the message on the machine my mouth was hanging open and I shut it and it fell open again.&8221; &8212; Nicole Borneman, after winning first place for fourth-grade in the Once Upon a Story writing contest sponsored by the St. Paul Pioneer press at the end of April.

&8220;Just telling me that I can&8217;t do something or accomplish something makes me want to do it even more. And then I can say I told you so.&8221; &8212; Teresa Zitzmann, a single mother graduating from Riverland Community College&8217;s construction electrician program in May, on facing adversity.

&8220;Double-O-7s, your work here is done. Mission accomplished.&8221; &8212; Superintendent Dave Prescott at the 2007 Albert Lea High School graduation, June 8.

&8220;In a world of Cheerios, be a Froot Loop.&8221; &8212; Albert Lea school board Vice President Bill Leland, quoting his graduating daughter at the 2007 ALHS graduation June 8.

&8220;We&8217;ve always enjoyed singing. Most of us thought we were going to be rock &8217;n&8217; roll stars in high school. Singing is part of our family.&8221; &8212; Tim Penny in June during his family&8217;s performance in the Kee Theater for Kiester Days.

&8220;It&8217;s basically like Minnesota&8217;s 9/11.&8221; &8212; Twin Cities resident Dan Dragich, who was visiting in Albert Lea, on the Interstate 35 bridge collapse Aug. 1.

&8220;You can&8217;t feed an individual bologna sandwiches three times a day. By the third or fourth day you&8217;re going to have an uprising in the facility by people upset with what they&8217;re being served.&8221; &8212; Freeborn County Commissioner Mark Behrends about Commissioner Dan Belshan suggesting in September the county jail look into serving its inmates bologna sandwiches as a cost-saving measure.

&8220;I&8217;m on top of the manual world.&8221; &8212; Jensales owner Paul Jensen yelled as he jumped atop a filing cabinet in September.

&8220;There&8217;s talk about all our freedoms, but obviously they can be limited.&8221; &8212; Elbow Room patron Helen Seline about the smoking ban that went into law Oct. 1.

&8220;I think there&8217;s so much excess at the top of the administration that they could get rid of, and I get tired of their blackmail tactics. Why is it the students have to live without it and not the administration?&8221; &8212; Harold Kinney in October speaks out about the Albert Lea School District asking for a levy referendum.

&8220;It&8217;s about accountability and responsibility.&8221; &8212; Tonya Lynch, member of the levy referendum opposition group Let&8217;s Educate and Accept Responsibility Now, about the group&8217;s stance on the Albert Lea School District&8217;s request for a levy.

&8220;Luckily the little girl rolled.&8221; &8212; Lt. Tim Matson, of the Albert Lea Police Department, on a 2-year-old who fell out an open second-story window Nov. 5.

&8220;It&8217;s a good win, not just for our schools, but it&8217;s a good win or our community.&8221; &8212; Dan Dorman, on the passing of a levy for the Albert Lea School District Nov. 6.

&8220;Voters don&8217;t want to fund our schools with property taxes.&8221; &8212; Rep. Mindy Greiling after 67.6 percent of the statewide levy elections were approved Nov. 6.

&8220;It&8217;s not that they&8217;re not worth it. It&8217;s not that we don&8217;t want to pay them. We don&8217;t have the money. We just passed a referendum, we&8217;re on a fairly tight budget.&8221; &8212; Albert Lea School District Director of Finance and Operations Larry Kellogg on teacher contract negotiations, which went to arbitration in late December.

&8220;We had set a really high number because the needs were high, and I just think the people of Freeborn County are just exceptional in their concern for others.&8221; &8212; United Way of Freeborn County Executive Director Dave Bonnnerup on making the 2007 campaign fundraising goal of $562,000.