Dec 19, 2014 5 min read

Quotes breathe life into our stories, and although our notebooks are filled with them, some of them stick in our memories all year long. These are the quotes that touched us, shocked us and entertained us in 2014.

10.) How did a

9.) Kelly Bowland confronted Jordan Jacobson in court after he pleaded guilty on Dec. 2 to vehicular homicide in the crash that killed her son, Joseph, and another man, Dillon Gregg, in July 2013.

“You’re a coward and showed no remorse or have taken any responsibility for his death. All of his goals are gone. And you can’t even look at me. You can’t even put your head up.”

8.) North Strabane resident Karen Harr discussed

7.) Joseph Babka discusses how his brother, David, has been traumatized by the deaths of his wife, Karen, and daughter, Kaitlin, in the November 2012 crash on I-70 caused by a trucker who fell asleep while driving. Joseph Babka gave a victim impact statement to the driver, Yevgeniy Bugreyev, during a plea hearing in January.

“This didn’t just impact one person who drove that truck negligently,” Joseph Babka said while sternly raising his voice. “You took three lives. You took my brother’s life. He walks around like a zombie. You killed him.”

6.) After 10-year-old Ta’Niyah Thomas was shot and killed in her home by intruders in February, Washington Mayor Brenda Davis spoke at a rally for peace.

“The gang life crime and the brutality of the drug trade could care less about who it affects.”

5.) Phillip Whitlock began cooperating with investigators in April 2012 after his motion to dismiss the homicide charge in the death of 24-year-old Troy Saunders Jr. outside the Cabaret West bar was denied. Defense attorney Mike DeRiso suggested during a testy cross-examination that Whitlock only started talking after he learned prosecutors might seek the death penalty against him.

“The issue in your mind was that you would get a needle in your arm or spend the rest of your life in prison,” DeRiso said.

4.) Veronica and Randy Thomas of Burgettstown kept a pet alligator, Jackie, on their property for 10 years, feeding her pork chops and letting her soak in a baby pool. When an anonymous caller complained to the Washington Area Humane Society, a humane officer found no safety issues.

“We’re going to care for her. We love her, even though she can be hissy,” Veronica Thomas said. “We did our damndest to find a good home, and we could not. We’re not going to just toss her out like an old, rotten rag.”

3.) West Virginia teen Shelia Eddy pleaded guilty to first-degree murder with mercy in the stabbing death of her 16-year-old friend, Skylar Neese. Eddy and another friend, Rachel Shoaf, lured Neese into Greene County before stabbing her to death and burying her under twigs and debris. Neese’s aunt, Carol Michaud, spoke at the sentencing about Eddy.

“She came and acted as if she knew nothing. She pretended and stayed with us and comforted us and swore she had no idea what was going on. To come to this day and admit she did just shows how evil she can be.”

2.) The Rev. Stephen Smythers, pastor at First Christian Church in East Washington, talked about the possibility of the congregation leaving the borough after officials demanded they replace curbs in September and stop renting out the facility for Weight Watchers meetings.

“It’s like living in East Germany before it was liberated.”

1.) Fred Pfender spoke about his wife