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 leadership and membership of the Westside Community Church. They have shown the true meaning of charity and humanity in the midst of real-world trials.

All winter, the church at 4000 S.W. Western Blvd. has provided a shelter for homeless men who have no money and for whom no other doors open.

As the Corvallis City Council mulls where to place a permanent campsite for the homeless (amid community concerns that such a camp would bring more problems), the church members simply focused on the people who needed help for four months.

Aleita Hass-Holcombe, chairwoman of the Corvallis Homeless Shelter Coalition, said the shelter averaged about 30 men a night. As we and the Corvallis City Council contemplate where (or if) to place a permanent camp for the homeless somewhere in the city, we thank those who have shouldered a problem all winter that many would rather shun.

• RASPBERRIES to a sharp new sprout in the seasonal thorn forest of scams that seem to crop up every spring. This one actually teases the taste buds, but Oregon Attorney General John Kroger warned consumers Thursday to hit the "delete" key without filling in a phony "Satisfaction Survey" supposedly from McDonald's restaurants.

The lure is that those "select" few who fill in the survey - which comes complete with the Golden Arches logo and a dancing Ronald McDonald - receive $150.

Actually, there isn't even a small order of fries, but the survey does contain some identity theft poison, asking the participants to provide their credit card number and expiration date.

McDonald's is not responsible for the

e-mail and is warning customers to just delete it.

Consumers who want more information about this and the imaginative collection of scams at work out there can access the Attorney General's consumer hotline at 1-877-877-9392. The information is available online at www.doj.state.or.us.

• ROSES to former U.S. Rep. Darlene Hooley, who was honored this week by the Oregon House of Representatives for her many years of service to Oregon.

Monday the former state legislator, a 1961 graduate of Oregon State whose congressional term expired this year, saw the membership of Oregon's House pass the resolution 59-0.

Hooley announced her retirement last year. Voters last November elected Kurt Schrader of Canby as representative of Oregon's 5th Congressional District.

• RASPBERRIES to some examples of the regular assortment of idiots who merited special attention:

• The person or people who, at about 3 a.m. on March 20, took four temporary stop signs from Northwest 14th Street and Monroe Avenue. The estimated loss value was $400.

We fully expect the signs will show up as decor that will serve as another kind of warning: "STOP! You are entering the abode of a living cliche."

• The vandals who, around 1:25 a.m. on Saturday, March 21, painted a swastika and other symbols on the lettoring of the Sigma Pi fraternity house at 410 N.W. 25th St. One fraternity member estimated that the vandalism happened in the three hours before the symbols were discovered.

We suppose this is the sort of thing that evokes a shrug, at best, in many people. But we also hope it prompts a person who knows who did this to do the right thing and report that person so they can be held personally and financially responsible.

• ROSES to a bit of common sense, even in Congress.

We recently reported that the Consumer Products Safety Commission's well-intentioned effort to keep children and lead far from each other could mean that, by 2010, children's books containing lead in the ink (typically books published before 1985) might no longer be available in the library - despite assurances by the Centers for Disease Control that it's highly unlikely that old ink presents any real threat to children.

Well, as she promised to do, Teresa Landers, the deputy library director at the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library, sent an e-mail Tuesday updating the situation:

The American Library Association apparently has a friend in U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, a Nebraska Republican who on Tuesday moved "to amend the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) to exempt ordinary books from the lead limit within the act. This is a welcome step toward ensuring libraries will not be adversely affected by the law."

Let's hope that Fortenberry's colleagues on the Hill join him in showing some common sense.