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 Gerritz -. Christopher Gerritz. He has a license to thrill.

Gerritz, 20, the president of the fraternity and in the Air Force ROTC program at Oregon State University, actually starred in an action sequence six days ago at the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house at 140 N.W. 13th St.

He had stopped by for a second and paused with eight of his fraternity brothers who were in the living room watching the OSU football game against Cal. Another four were elsewhere in the house.

Gerritz went to the basement to investigate an odd odor and sound. He found steam and noise spewing from the boiler room directly below the living room.

Gerritz coordinated the rapid escape of 12 people and a dog, just seconds ahead of an explosion that so heavily damaged the fraternity house, it has since been condemned as uninhabitable.

The Phi Kappa Psi fraternity members now are living in scattered locations. But we're hoping that the many former fraternity members will unite to help them locate another fraternity - one where Gerritz again can be president.

And now for a completely different example of leadership:

• RASPBERRIES to a clear demonstration by Detroit's "Big Three" CEOs of the kind of thinking that has their companies teetering on the brink of collapse. Wednesday, when they showed up in Washington D.C. seeking another $25 billion, the public learned that CEOs Richard Wagoner of General Motors, Robert Nardelli of Chrysler and Alan Mulally of Ford spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to fly to the public trough in their luxury company jets.

This prompted Democratic congressman Gary Ackerman of New York to quip, "There's a delicious irony in seeing private luxury flying into Washington D.C. and people coming off them with tin cups in their hands -. It's almost like seeing a guy show up in a soup kitchen in high-hat and tuxedo -. "

Except there's nothing funny these days about the spectre of soup kitchens.

The CEOs were stone-faced and unresponsive to the jabs by those in Congress who suggested that they made a classist blunder on a par with the Titanic's "First-class-first" escape plan. Their own unfortunate transportation choice may have doomed their subsequent efforts to testify for the money by casting themselves as on-top-of-it-, steering-a-new-course-for-success leaders who will confidently pilot the Big Three to renewed prosperity if only the public entrusts them with another $25 billion.

As of this writing, their presentation had all the persuasive horsepower of a '71 Pinto.

• ROSES to a random act of kindness. It was well described by local reader Toni Acock, and we wanted to share it with you just as she described it:

"I am a homeowner on Harrison and 31st streets who lives under our gorgeous canopy of trees. As you well know, it is fall and sometimes keeping up with the leaf drop can be daunting. I was going to a meeting this morning, and as I walked to my car, I noticed a group of people (about eight) quietly raking my leaves with large plastic rakes. One had a small child on her back.

"When I first spoke to them, they said nothing and kept working. So I said, 'Oh, my goodness! Thank you!'

"One young man said 'You're welcome.' I had to drop something off, but I did so and came right back, and they were gone. But their good work was finished, and the leaves were in the street where they are awaiting the street sweeper.

"Do you or any of your staff know about this group? It was wonderful to get up and find them here.They were so quiet that even my pugs did not know they were there.

"It is such a lovely thing to do. A real act of kindness. I would like to thank them in some way. If they are to remain anonymous, as the editor, can you get a message out about this wonderful thing they did?"

Of course we could. And if you know, do tell.

• RASPBERRIES to the comparisons between our global economic woes and The Great Depression. While understandable, they're inaccurate, alarmist and premature.

We could write a lot about how pessimism and fear tend to be self-fulfilling. But we'd rather quote an appropriate line from the movie "Apollo 13." It was attributed to real-life flight commander Gene Kranz. Moments after the 1970 explosion that endangered the lives of three astronauts; when no one aboard the space craft or in Houston knew what had happened or how bad it was, Kranz takes control of the situation by telling people to calm down: "Let's work the problem, people. Let's not make things worse by guessing."

• ROSES to the return of the white-light illuminated snowflake decorations that line the lamp posts in Corvallis' commercial districts. They are so elegant, and they brighten these long nights.