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 to mid-valley school officials who this week faced a no-win decision: Go ahead and hold school in the face of unusual wintry weather or cancel? No matter how you decide, someone gets irritated. From what we saw, officials kept their priorities straight this week, and made their decisions based on the safety of students, teachers and staff members. Complicating situations somewhat this week was the fact that schools around Benton County head into their Christmas break beginning next week. Let's hope the break gives this icy blast a chance to blow itself out as we head into the new year.

• RASPBERRIES to vandals apparently intent on self-enforcing the Corvallis sign ordinance. Warren Volkmann of the Corvallis Lions Club relates the details: The club is in the middle of its annual fund-raiser in which it sells boxes of See's Candy. The club has set up shop in the former Navy recruiting office on Circle Boulevard, east of the Albertsons at the corner of Kings and Circle boulevards. The Lions are promoting the sale by locating their familiar trailer in the parking lot there and also have some sandwich signs. But now, Volkmann said, two of the sandwich signs are missing, a third has been damaged and someone took a permanent marker and wrote this message on the trailer: "Please read the city sign ordinance and stop breaking the law."

Was the club breaking the sign ordinance? Guilty, Volkmann admits: In the early days of the sale, the sandwich signs had been placed in the space between the sidewalk and the street. Club members have since moved the signs into the parking lot, which he says is legal under the ordinance.

The club's candy sale, by the way, continues through Dec. 23 and has faced tough sledding this year: "Our biggest challenge every year is to let the people know we're there," Volkmann says. Satisfy your sweet tooth - or someone else's sweet tooth - and help out one of Corvallis' hard-working service groups.

• ROSES to the family and many friends of inventor, artist and toy maker extraordinaire Michael Marks, 54, who died Tuesday after being diagnosed two years ago with amytrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

Marks was one of the people who make Corvallis such a wonderful place to live. Many his contributions wer noted in our Thursday article about him and about the round-the-clock three-day home vigil his loved ones organized for him Wednesday at the home of his good friend Christine Waters. It concludes this morning at 11.

But we saved one additional anecdote that Waters shared:

Waters teaches preschool at the Corvallis Waldorf School, which Marks helped to establish.

"The last he made while his hands still worked was everything in my preschool," she said. That included tables and benches. He painstakingly carved angels on the back of each chair, and a heart under each angel. He handcarved the wooden stars that hold the birthday candles lit on each child's birthday.

"He was in a pretty dark place with the disease and feeling himself fade," Waters said Wednesday. "Making those -. really brought him back."

• RASPBERRIES to a Tygh Valley man now facing misdemeanor charges for trying to give his family a close view - way too close - of some wildlife. A recent Oregon State Police news release told the story: State Fish and Wildlife troopers, investigating poaching

cases in Wasco County, placed a decoy deer in a clearing along a Forest Service road. On the evening of Dec. 7, the Tygh Valley man allegedly drove his pickup off the roadway, through a ditch and then slammed into the decoy, knocking it backward about 12 feet. The impact knocked off the decoy's antlers and broke two of its legs. The driver, who was accompanied by his wife and two small children, told troopers that he was out to get a Christmas tree and didn't intend to run over the deer; instead, he said, he wanted to give his kids a close-up view of the deer. Sounds like they got that.

• ROSES to the people of the Corvallis Homeless Coalition and others who cared for the homeless during this cold spell.

The library's closure for remodeling eliminated one place where the homeless can stay warm on frigid days. But the caring people at the First Christian Church, 602 S.W. Madison Ave., opened their basement as a daytime warming center, complete with coffee and cocoa. It will remain open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

An emergency men's shelter is open at Westside Community Church, 4000 S.W. Western Blvd., from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m.

Women and children can stay at the Community Outreach Inc.'s shelter at 865 S.W. Reiman Ave.

Our thanks and best wishes to them - and to all of you.