1.   Better to have the children in school, officials reasoned, than at home watching horrific events on the news.

2.   Better to have the children in school, officials reasoned, than be at home watching horrific events on the news.

3.   But Border Patrol officials reason that a fence would cut down on illegal immigration while frustrating the Mexican gangs that prey on the railroad.

4.   If the strain on relations had continued, Chinese officials reasoned, there was no room for a meeting of Koizumi and Chinese leaders during the APEC session.

5.   Once the machines were in the marketplace, agency officials reasoned, manufacturers would figure out how to make them smaller, faster and less expensive.

6.   So, local officials reasoned, why not conduct city government meetings in Spanish, the language nearly everyone speaks?

7.   What sane man, our officials have reasoned, abandons a loving family to engage in a suicidal crime?

8.   With a workshop, company officials reasoned, as well as committed backers and fence-straddlers, they could get a taste of the production.

9.   Then, the officials reason, the league will be forced to make a new offer.