Have you tried squeezing the ends of the clips together and/or rotating and pulling them out?

PS: it's "fluorescent"...it has nothing to do with flour ;-)

There's a reason that they are called "1/4 Turn Retainer Clips". :-)

thanks. i did try turning but they didnt come right out. knowing that they should, i'll try again.

Use pliers. It'll save your fingers.

Just to be clear - the clips don't "come right out" - they stay in the fixture cover.