“I remember she showed up for this 6:45 (a.m.) workout and I said, ‘Dang, you’re serious about playing.’ She really has been. I’ve never coached a girl in baseball, but it’s all been good. Ellen is basically one of the guys.”

— Mike Herndon, Salisbury baseball coach on Ellen Yang joining the team

“It was very, very sickening. It was a big letdown, knowing all of the people that enjoy it and the families that meet there. When we didn’t have it, it was just a big void.”

— Randall Barger, chair of the Fourth of July committee in Faith discussing the return of festivities after last year’s cancellation

“We have had over 100 people participate in public comments since we’ve gone to a virtual world. I do not think that we have inhibited anyone from speaking. If anything, I think we’ve opened it up.”

— Tamara Sheffield, Salisbury City Council member on a return to in-person meetings after being all virtual during the pandemic

“Memorial Day is one of these holidays where nobody understands what it’s really about. They think it’s about honoring veterans. Businesses use it as a day to sell mattresses, a day to sell cars.”

— Michael Chapman, an advocate for Memorial Day awareness since his brother was killed in Operation Desert Storm in 1991

“We’re looking for protection, equal protection under the law.”

— Olen Bruner, former pastor at Trinity Presbyterian Church at a protest organized by Women for
Community Justice in conjunction with the Salisbury-Rowan NAACP

“A company our size, we can pivot in a few days, but when you’re talking about a company like Target or Costco or Bank of America, they can’t do that overnight and they’re making multiple decisions in 50 different states. … As consumers, quite frankly, we need to be patient with them.”

— Steve Fisher, of F&M Bank on how businesses are dealing with wearing or not wearing masks

“The biggest question we’ve heard is: are you going to do it?”

— Don Bringle, director of Rowan County Parks and Recreation on
Autumn Jubilee at Dan Nicholas Park