“Telecommunicators are driven people — the kind of people who can take a tornado by the tail and make it sit down and listen. You get nine or 10 Type A’s in a room, it’s a lot to handle.”

— Sherry Earnhardt, a supervisor at the Rowan County 911 Communications Center, about the stress that comes with the job

“I like people going from, ‘I can’t do anything’ to ‘Look what I did.’”

— Sam Kearns, who recently opened
Wanderer’s Rest, a combined coffee shop
and art studio in China Grove that also offers art classes

“I caution our school board and citizens, this proposal is a starting point. Much of it takes money we do not have. I urge you to remain calm and work with us.”

— Josh Wagner, chairman of the
Rowan-Salisbury Board of Education, after a staff member presented a plan that
recommended closing several schools and
consolidating  others to deal with declining
enrollment and aging buildings

“I admonish our board and future boards to keep a good eye on our resources. We can’t afford to keep schools open with too many seats and too few children.”

— Richard Miller, who will step down from the Rowan-Salisbury school board after eight years, in his parting message after the
restructuring plan was introduced

“There was a big change in my confidence level last year. I started
believing in myself.”

— Makaila Gadson, a
member of the cross country team at Carson High School who has signed with UNC Wilmington next year

“She doesn’t go anywhere without her Barbara Bush pearls.”

— Robin Thomas, whose 2-year-old
granddaughter, Layla Faletti, wore her
Christmas outfit and a big necklace to the
Santa & Grinch gathering at Salisbury City Hall last Saturday