“It makes us understand the privilege it is to play baseball every day, especially in college.” — Coach Jim Gantt, Catawba College,on influence of bat boy Caleb Stewart, who has cystic fibrosis

“If I was stealing money from the county as a corrupt public official or extorting money from people to get contracts — that would be one thing for running to get rid of me.” — Jim Sides, county commission chair, on efforts to vote him out of office

“What I hope to do is replicate, not duplicate. … I hope we find the same kind of chemistry, therapy, whatever, that we found over there.” — Tom Harrell, veteran and organizer, talking about coffee shops in Salisbury and Mooresville for veterans

“We’ve got to get the central office thing behind us. This one particular issue has been a thorn in everyone’s side for 25 years. It’s time we pulled it out.” — Mike Caskey, commissioner, after he and Chad Mitchell were voted down on meeting with the school board

“He’s always preaching, ‘You’ve got to be passionate about something in your life.’ You can tell he’s passionate about this, and about music in general.” — Lauren Thomas, East Rowan senior, about chorus teacher Dean Orbison and the Broadway Revue being presented this weekend