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 state Department of Environmental Quality for working out a program to allow Oregonians to recycle, at no cost to them, old computers and television sets. Customers of the program will be able to go to a collection center and drop off their leftovers - up to seven - at no charge. The cost will be covered by producers who must pay the state a fee based on their Oregon market share or operate their own recycling program. The state estimates that more than 12 million pounds of electronic waste will be recycled over the next year. A number of sites in and around Corvallis are serving as collection centers; for their locations and more details about the program, see the Web site www.oregonecycles.com or call 888-532-9253.

• Speaking of recycling, ROSES to Corvallis resident Marge Stevens, who was a key player in establishing the county's first Agricultural Chemical Collection Program, scheduled to take place in February. The program, based on a similar program in Lane County, will allow farmers a chance to dispose of unwanted pesticides and other legacy chemicals - items that might have been legal decades ago but now have fallen into disfavor. For more details about the program, check out the Web site http://ex

tension.oregonstate.edu/lane/farms. And for inspiration, check out this quote from Stevens, who gets the credit for getting the entire program jump-started: "When you're a volunteer, it's a wide-open world out there."

• ROSES for 84 years of service to the Roll-A-Way Skate and Bounce, the roller rink just north of Corvallis. Sadly, the owners of the roller rink announced this week that, barring some kind of economic miracle, it will close Jan. 25. The owners said that the rink drew most of its business not from Corvallis, but from Albany, Coast Range communities and even Salem, which we find curious, but won't try to speculate about in this space. The closure leaves the mid-valley with one remaining roller rink, the Lebanon Skate Center.

• ROSES to Oregon State University student and Army Staff Sgt. Matt Zedwick, who won $227,000 on the TV game show "Deal or No Deal" - and then announced plans to donate part of the money to families with young children who lost a parent in Iraq or Afghanistan. It's a classy move by Zedwick, an Army ROTC student and member of a Corvallis-based Oregon Army National Guard unit.

• ROSES and RASPBERRIES in equal measure for a crime story that turned out all wet: A Portland car-wash attendant foiled a robbery attempt on Dec. 13 by squirting the would-be robber with a high-pressure stream of water. The attendant, a fellow named Chris B. Truax, was emboldened when he saw the robber's gun break and thought it probably was a fake. The squirting followed, and the robber ran off without the cash, perhaps making a clean getaway, if you will forgive the pun. Roses to Truax for his quick thinking, but raspberries for taking a needless risk - the gun could have been real, and the situation could have escalated quickly in dangerous ways. As for Truax, he got two days off with pay from his employer but ended up in jail on a 7-year-old warrant for driving under the influence of intoxicants.

• RASPBERRIES to the National Football League, for its plans to move its all-star game, the Pro Bowl, to the week between the conference-championship game and the Super Bowl, starting in 2010. That assures that the game won't include any players from the teams that qualify for the Super Bowl. If the idea is to make the Pro Bowl seem a little more relevant, this move won't do that. Probably the best idea for the Pro Bowl is simply to scrap the game entirely.

• RASPBERRIES, we think, to a job application that goes needlessly above and beyond: According to a Dec. 27 story in The New York Times, applicants at Portland's Ladybug Organic Coffee Co. are greeted with a five-page application that includes 10 - count 'em, 10 - essay questions. You'd think that's a lot of ink to spill writing about coffee, but some of these questions have broader ambitions: "What is the most important thing that you have ever learned, and how has it changed your life?" is one of the questions. "What is something that you do on a regular basis to make the world a better place?" is another. "What is one thing that you think would make Portland a better place?" is yet another. Presumably, smart-guy answers like "More focused job applications would make Portland a better place" are grounds for quick elimination.

• On the other hand, maybe some ROSES are due to Ladybug Organic Coffee. Upon additional consideration, it strikes us that it wouldn't be a bad new year's resolution to spend a moment from time to time reflecting on that question "What is something you do on a regular basis to make the world a better place?" We'll do that. You do that. We'll compare notes at the end of the year.