Having these meetings was more important than taking part on that panel,

We've had a lot of meetings about this issue (and its) challenges. We're definitely partners in this. Input is extremely important.

We talked all spring about this, ... We talked about it at town hall meetings, at concerts, everywhere. Seventh- through 12th-graders should take some responsibility. The students need to tell their parents.

Meetings are a middle class kind of thing, and we want to value the voice of people who can't come to meetings.

We are just flabbergasted. It could be curiosity, or pent-up excitement from people who for several months have been unable to play. We do know that it's an economic gold mine right now.

You could get on one side of the Gulf Coast and shoot a bullet, and it wouldn't stop until it passed the state line. Nobody was coming.