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 Albany Mayor Doug Killin, who resigned his office this week due to failing health. After a distinguished career on the Albany City Council, Killin was elected mayor in November 2006. The following April, he learned that the intestinal cancer he'd overcome 20 years ago had recurred.

Despite the diagnosis and treatments, Killin actively served as mayor until about two months ago. He then continued to be involved in city business from his home and even after he began hospice care. His daughter dialed the telephone for him this week so that he could deliver news of his resignation to the city.

Our thanks to Killin for his dedicated service to his community and to the mid-valley, including his involvement in the "Prosperity that Fits" proposals. We wish him and his family all the best.

• RASPBERRIES to a bad way to end 2007 and start 2008. According to data from the Oregon State Police and the Oregon Department of Transportation, traffic-related deaths and drunken driving arrests were up over last year for the 102 hours between 6 p.m. Dec. 28 and 11:59 p.m. Jan. 1.

Five people died in four separate crashes during the period. Two pedestrians were struck and killed, and a mother and her daughter died in one collision. Last year, four people died in four separate traffic crashes.

The number of drunken driving arrests increased from 81 to 98 this past New Year's.

It's a pity that having two extra weekend days to celebrate the new year apparently translated into "the more, the deadlier."

• ROSES to a timely and well-articulated outside "Roses" nomination. First, a recap:

It began with Sunday's unfortunate impulse by Morgan, a 2-year-old border collie mix, to bolt into the snowy McDonald Forest during a walk with owner Ellen Gradison - and get lost.

Gradison, a lawyer and a volunteer with two search-and-rescue teams, searched for hours, but she could not find her dog. So she called all the logical sources for help, and she e-mailed friends for comfort. In reply, she found not only sympathy but a novel plan of action, courtesy of Peggy Peirson, the county's manager and coordinator of emergency and search and rescue operations.

Peirson thought that the dog's loss might provide a good test for a fledgling person-to-person e-mail, phone and "personal sightings" network that she was helping to establish in Wren. Such a network is designed to help rural communities cope with a natural disaster or other emergency in case of a communications cut-off.

The network worked.

By Tuesday, the various reports of "Morgan sightings" near Wren ended with a "Morgan finding," in a shed.

Peirson's nomination for a rose goes to "The good people of Wren, who have taken on this important issue of emergency planning and looking out for each other and whose first, unannounced test - even before they had officially implemented their network - saved a four-legged life and made hearts all over Benton County warm."

• RASPBERRIES to the overblown flap over a three-year-old online image of Arlington mayor Carmen Kontur-Gronquist, showing off her well-toned figure. The image first was posted on her MySpace page. She's wearing a set of black underwear and is backdropped against a city fire truck. (Her day job is as the fire department's executive secretary.)

But the photo is three years old, and her MySpace page no longer is public. Furthermore, according to postings in response to the story on the East Oregonian's Web site, the person who brought this to light evidently didn't like the mayor long before she made Kontur-Gronquist's MySpace image national news.

The mayor's response: This was three years ago, I wasn't mayor, and this is my private life.

The majority of posted comments regarding the photo echo the person who wrote on the East Oregonian's Web site: "How dare she be in public without her burka! (sic) Where does she think she is, the United States? Oh, wait a minute … never mind."

Of course, the matter was a big deal at the city's annual town hall meeting Wednesday, where some Arlington citizens confronted the mayor and demanded her resignation, contending that the underwear photo reflects poorly on the city.

We say, let the voters decide at the next election if a tame photo taken three years ago has any bearing on the way Kontur-Gronquist is conducting the city's business. Until then, we say hang in there, Madam Mayor.

• ROSES - again - to the crews and emergency workers who repaired power lines, plowed and sanded roads and who answered dozens of distress calls.

The first two weeks of 2008 hurled high winds, hail, snow and pelting rain our way, with only a few breaks. As we nervously listened to the winds howling, we were fortunate that we didn't see more long-lasting or widespread power failures. We appreciate that many of emergency personnel worked long and exhausting hours in that weather. We don't know all of their names, but we know them by their deeds, and we are grateful.