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 the friends and family of Oregon National Guard Capt. Bruno Giancarlo de Solenni. The 32-year-old Oregon State University graduate was killed Sept. 20 when a bomb ripped through his vehicle as he and four others drove to the airport in Kandahar, Afghanistan. All were killed.

The fight to stop production of opium, one of the primary sources of funding for terrorist organizations, is about as directly an assault on the war over terror tactics as you can name. De Solenni, who also had served in Sinai, Egypt and Iraq, gave his life to that effort. We salute him.

• LATE-BREAKING ROSES to the Oregon State University Beavers football team for defying oddsmakers who had No. 1-ranked University of Southern California over OSU by 25 points.

Instead, the Beavers' 27-21 victory didn't ever feel close.

In the quest to find the right headline, we mulled over "Giant Killers III" (in deference to the 1967 game as well as 33-31 game in 2006), and "Amazing Grace" and "We Believe."

And … ahem … we must indelicately remind our readers who were naysayers after the Penn State game that the best seasons always start slow.

• ROSES to Rusty Pattieshaw, a Corvallis craftsman whose creative side has been recognized for assembling - or we should say reassembling - the "Solar Sonat," the 26-foot-by-26-foot metal "loop-the-loop" sculpture on display on the north end of the Kelley Engineering building at Oregon State University.

Pattieshaw, 58, a burly welder and boilermaker from Corvallis, knows a thing or two about forging metal-to-metal. So when artist Po Shu Wang of Berkeley needed someone reliable to re-fabricate the statue, he went to work.

We don't see enough recognition of the people who literally ensure that objects stay together, so we're grateful that, for decades to come, people who admire the gleaming statute can appreciate that this may have been the design of Po Shu Wang, but it was brought to you courtesy of the skill of Rusty Pattieshaw.

And isn't design and function the essence of good engineering?

• RASPBERRIES to what may have been a thoughtless school prank that has shamed officials at George Fox College and brought Oregon unwelcome national news coverage. We're talking about whoever hung a cardboard cutout of presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama from a tree with fishing line.

A custodian at the small private Christian college in Newberg found the object Tuesday, and a Secret Service agent based in Portland said Thursday that he doesn't expect to turn up a crime.

"We are continuing to investigate but I don't think it's going to go any further," agent Ron Wampole said. "There certainly wasn't any crime committed. I don't believe."

It's true that reprehensible conduct doesn't always constitute a crime, and the sign on the cutout, "Act Six Reject" reflected dissatisfaction with a scholarship program at George Fox by that name that was intended to increase the number of low-income and minority students on campus.

Even if this wasn't a hate crime or civil rights violation under the legal definition, it was a display of rampant ignorance and insensitivity. We hope the students responsible will be identified, disciplined and educated about the infamous history of lynching in the United States.

• ROSES to a plan to run a public city bus out to Crescent Valley High School to supplement the school buses that ferry students back and forth. We think that the high gasoline prices that have fueled record attendance on the Corvallis Transit System could justify making this expansion, which would be good news for CVHS parents and staffers.

School district and transit officials are inviting the public to weigh in on which of several routes under consideration would best serve the area. Half a dozen routes are under consideration for a pilot program. Interested persons can keep on top of events at the www.ci.corvallis.or.us/ or direct questions to Steve Rogers, the Corvallis public works director, at 766-6916 or send him e-mail at steve.rogers@ci.corvallis.or.us.

• RASPBERRIES to wild turkeys causing a furor in Philomath.

The only-as-a-last-resort suggestion to shoot the turkeys is proving fairly unpopular with the people who bent Philomath Mayor Chris Nusbaum's ear and filled our e-mail and forum comments.

Mayor Nusbaum called Thursday to pass along this message: It isn't a done deal. The turkeys are not in the cross-hairs of the Philomath Police Department, which was mentioned as the possible trigger guard in case all else fails.

And that "all else," Nusbaum wanted us to let you know, involves possible trapping and relocation to properties where the wild turkeys might settle and be welcome.