1.   And Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, lamented the absence of prayer in classrooms.

2.   At the hearing that freed Ms. Ray, a judge openly lamented the absence of any legal mechanism to make sure she received medical help.

3.   For now, people in the tourist industry here are lamenting the absence of their American patrons.

4.   For years, religious leaders have lamented the absence of any major television series that took religious life and spiritual struggles seriously.

5.   One laments the absence of such distinctive contributions to American greatness as musical comedy and the concert music of Copland or Ives.

6.   The Hugo Wolf Quartet, also a product of Vienna, was sufficiently fine in its lone movement to make a listener lament the absence of the others.

7.   The promise of heavy morning trading caused restaurateurs to lament the absence of the usual breakfast crowd.

8.   There were some complaints along the way, mostly from critics lamenting the absence of American music.

9.   He then launched a tour with a new band, leaving fans to lament the absence of the E Streeters.

10.   When Chavez failed to appear at a news conference Tuesday, Gamache lamented his absence while charming the assembled media.