Roses to the organizers of the movement to have a state historical marker erected in downtown Chapel Hill commemorating an important but little-known early civil rights protest.

In 1947, a group of black and white travelers set out to test a recent Supreme Court ruling forbidding segregation on interstate bus travel. The riders on what was called the Journey of Reconciliation boarded a bus in Washington, D.C., bound for points south.

Their route brought them through Chapel Hill -- where, sad to say, they encountered the most heated opposition of any stop on their trip. When the black riders refused to go to the back of the bus, local police arrested four of the riders and angry residents assaulted another.

Yonni Chapman and the local chapter of the NAACP organized the drive to have a historical marker erected to remember what has been called the "First Freedom Ride," predating the more well-known civil rights rides in 1961. On Saturday, the marker was erected amid a rousing ceremony highlighted by the presence of one of the 1947 riders, 92-year-old George Houser.

Although the Journey of Reconciliation is less well remembered than later protests, it was a critically important step in the civil rights struggle. By employing the tactics of non-violent resistance to the injustice of institutional racism, the riders established a model that Martin Luther King Jr. and other activists would adopt and adapt in the 1960s.

Roses to the UNC men's fencing team, not only for winning the overall title at the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Fencing Association championships, which it did recently, but even more for an act of sportsmanship that makes us proud to call ourselves Tar Heels.

In the tournament in Easton, Pa., Carolina captured its first championship in just its second season in the league (last year Johns Hopkins outpointed UNC in the championships by just one touch).

On their way to the team title, the Tar Heels finished first in each of the three individual weapons competitions, epee, foil and sabre -- but they brought home the second-place trophy in sabre.

Although UNC's sabre team -- Bobby Ziechmann, Kevin Ziechmann and John Powell -- technically won the event, Stevens Institute of Technology would have won it if not for what was called "an uncorrectable scoring error."

The entire Carolina squad huddled up and held a team vote. Their decision: if the scorekeepers couldn't correct the scoring mistake, the Tar Heels would. They swapped trophies with Stevens, letting the Ducks take home the first-place trophy.

The Carolina squad showed not only competitive excellence but a lot of class.

Now they're preparing for the regional tournament on Saturday. We admit that up until now we haven't followed the fortunes of the fencing team quite as closely as we might have, but we'll be cheering for you this weekend.

Roses to the folks who organize and participate in the Governors Club Speakers Resource program.

Governors Club is home to a lot of residents who have experience and expertise in a wide range of subjects, ranging from global politics and business leadership to astronomy and the New York Yankees.

Many of them happen to be skilled public speakers, as well, and more than 25 of them have joined the Speakers Resource, which makes them available at no cost as guest speakers for community organizations, service clubs, schools and other not-for-profit groups.

Since the program was founded less than three years ago, its speakers have given more than 150 presentations.