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 Larry and Helen Hearing, with thanks for the memories. For half a century, their elegant restaurant, The Gables, has been the "special-occasion" restaurant in Corvallis.

Of course it was. The dark wood paneling, crisp linens and candlelight all created the right atmosphere for a good time, whether a memorable Easter or Mother's Day's buffet.

That ended Thursday, when the Hearings, who are 80 and 84, decided that they were "retiring the restaurant" that they have owned since 1966.

Their youngest son Michael, who has worked at the restaurant since he was 19, said that after 30 years, he'd like a break and to try something new. The building will go up for sale.

Our thanks and best wishes for the Hearing family. We were having such a good time, we didn't think about all of the hours and hard work that went into our elegant experience at The Gables.

• RASPBERRIES to desperation. It indeed is the world's worst cologne, and we're been catching a heavy waft of that nastiness from the re-

election campaign of Sen. Gordon Smith. Here is a seasoned and intelligent Republican leader who seems engaged in a wrong-headed attempt to convince Democrats that their biggest leaders - first Barack Obama and now John Kerry - liked him … they really liked him. And so should they!

It's a shallow and transparent strategy, and it's doing Smith no good. We're sorry about that because we've commended Smith for being a strong and lonely centrist long before Democrats took back the Congress in 2006, when few Republicans sought (or needed) Democratic consensus.

But now that Smith is the last Republican standing on the West Coast, and he's facing a close campaign against state House Speaker Jeff Merkley, he seems to be desperate to distract voters from the fact that his voting record is very similar to that of President Bush.

As for Merkley: He and Smith have one important attribute in common: Merkley was impressive in Salem as House Speaker, crafting agreements across the aisle in his five terms in Salem, and we'd always liked his low-key approach. Which makes it somewhat distressing that he's coming off as a shrill tattletale with his campaign's "Nuh-UHN " rejoinders to Smith's claims of Senate alliances with Obama and Kerry.

Good leaders know when to speak up and, perhaps more important, when not to. When your opponent is doing your work for you? One of those times.

• ROSES to the organizers, vendors and spectators who attended the Benton County Fair and Rodeo. So far, we've focused on the new rides and the contests and all the modern attractions. But we encourage people to also check out the timely displays that remind us of our agricultural heritage and the ageless tradition of gathering at harvest time to celebrate it.

Even if you're not into either of those events, consider it a place of sensory overload; the forbidden perfume of hot fried foods, carnival sounds, happy shrieks and the last hurrah of late summer.

• RASPBERRIES to the spectre of a ghoulish sort of election tampering.

In South Dakota, if you are a registered voter and cast your mail-in ballot - and then die before the election for some reason - your ballot is tossed. (Sort of the extreme "Ya snooze, ya lose" electoral philosophy, we reckon.)

But now that 31 states have some kind of mail ballot election, more election officials are raising the question: If you cast a vote but don't survive to the election, should your ballot count?

It's a non-issue in Oregon, where any ballot cast by a registered voter (living and legal, of course) in advance of the election counts, whether the voter is around to see the election results or not. That is as it should be.

To suggest that deaths should cancel a legally cast ballot threatens the voting rights of soldiers in harm's way and people coping with a terminal illness - and every other voter out there who happens to be mortal …

• ROSES to the cool new games at the Teen Center at the Corvallis Boys & Girls Club made possible through the ingenuity and generosity of Meaghan Greenough and her boss at Hewlett-Packard Co., manager Glen Hopkins, to provide some fun music and dance and other video games popular with young people.

In addition to providing the young people with more reasons to enjoy this great community resource, the games also provide a considerable workout, especially that treacherous dance game that prompts participants to match their flying feet to the squares that correspond on a dance mat with the arrows appearing before them on a computer screen.

Let us tell you, that's a game not designed for people older than 30.

As great as these new games are, we also hope that young people will get out and enjoy what has been a near-perfect summer so far - and maybe host a backyard dance where they can try out their fancy new dance steps with friends.