ROSE (roz) n. One of the most beautiful of all flowers, a symbol of fragrance and loveliness. Often given as a sign of appreciation.

RASPBERRY (raz'ber'e) n. A sharp, scornful comment, criticism or rebuke; a derisive, splatting noise, often called the Bronx cheer.

We hereby deliver:

• ROSES to Benton County's move to drum up public support for a Corvallis-Albany bike path. The bicycle path along Highway 20 is long overdue, and we stand behind the county in encouraging Oregon Department of Transportation to move funding to the top of the heap.

The "Rails to Trails" path could give bicyclists an alternative to taking their chances with the trucks and cars on Highway 20, giving them a separate paved trail near existing railroad tracks between Corvallis and Albany. But the $580,639 needed to start construction on the project is in a long line for funding.

Although ODOT already granted $460,000 in February 2007 to pay for design work on the project and to acquire rights-of-way along the path proposed by Benton County and the city of Corvallis, and although the City of Corvallis has almost doubled the match of 10.27 percent from partner cities to 20 percent, public support for the project is needed.

Submit comments via an online survey, which is located on the ODOT Web site's "Local Government Section" at www.oregon.gov/ODOT/HWY/LGS under "Announcements." Send comments to ODOT in support of this Transportation Enhancement funding project by Sept. 15.

• RASPBERRIES to a criminal who's just not all that bright: He or she burglarized the Coburg police station.

The Oregon State Police, the investigating agency, is asking the public's help in catching the thief (or thieves). They said that sometime overnight on Aug. 14, someone removed a Motorola hand-held police radio and, two batteries and collar phones from the police office. It is connected to the other city offices, and a city employee discovered the burglary about 6 a.m. on Aug. 15.

Also removed were 75 gold-plated presidential coins of undisclosed value. No other city office was burglarized.

The state police aren't taking any questions. If we could, we'd like to ask what else of value was there, was there any forced entry and just who on the outside knew about those gold-plated coins being there?

Anyone with information to help in this investigation is asked to call OSP Northern Command Center dispatch at 800-452-7888. A swift resolution to this crime is in everyone's best interest.

• ROSES to the teachers who are this year's winners of the 12th annual Golden Apple and Stellar Service awards: Julie Williams, Sandy Bell, Joe Fulton and Betty Phillips and Mary Devine, the winner of the "Stellar Service" award. Their dedication, energy, love of education and sense of fun all have made them the kind of educator that students long remember as a positive influence on their lives. We're lucky to have them.

• ROSE-BERRIES to the Oregon State University Beavers! We won't recap the scoring history of their first game of the season Thursday against Stanford or the roller-coaster score. But with three minutes left, we thought the Beavers were going to endure a mighty sound thumping, 36 to 20. But a touchdown and gutsy 2-point conversion had hearts pumping for the last three minutes of the game as the Beavers came within a play of perhaps tying the game.

It's important to remember that football is a game for entertainment, and there was nothing more riveting for all four quarters, to the last seconds. True, the final score of 28 to 36 ended in Stanford's favor, but let's remember that many a Beaver winning season started with a loss or two.

We've come to consider them almost like waffles: you throw out the first one or two, but they teach you how to get it right.

Oh, and those new uniforms. Outstanding.

• RASPBERRIES to the school district officials in Harrold, Texas. They have put this small border town with Oklahoma on the map with the dubious honor of being the first school district in the nation to allow teachers to pack firearms to in class.

No good can come of it. Although they cite concerns over crime, they can ask any professional corrections officer why they don't bring weapons into the inmate population.

Security cameras would have been a much better investment, but we side with the sensible parents in Harrold who equate enabling teachers to class the same as supplying young toughs with guns.

It's not a good idea, not a good example and likely to create a run for the border, where teachers' supplies don't include ammo.

• ROSES to the fleet-of-foot Corvallis Police Department, whose officers doggedly pursued a wanted felon out of Linn County on Wednesday night during a chase that lasted more than an hour and took them along Third Street in south Corvallis.

We're hearing that the police department has a fitness incentive built into its new contract. Nice to know some officers already qualify. As for the rest: The bar has been set.