Roses to the volunteers in Chatham County who have established a new website that makes it easy for people in need to find those who can help, and for people who want to help to find those in need.

A group of about a dozen volunteers recognized a need for an online repository of information that could connect people with human service agencies of all types. The Chatham Connecting database ( chathamconnecting.org) includes contacts and information about government and nonprofit agencies, as well as other community-based service programs in the county.

The site also includes information for people who want to volunteer or donate. It features easy-to-navigate tabs labeled "I Need Help," "I Want to Help" and "We Provide Help."

Those volunteering and donation sections might be especially helpful during the holiday season, when many of us feel moved to lend a hand.

Roses to both the UNC and UNC Charlotte men's soccer teams.

The two Tar Heel state squads took different paths through the NCAA tournament - Carolina as a top seed, Charlotte unseeded - but wound up on the same field, facing each other in the national championship game Sunday.

They turned in a thriller that was as exciting as you could hope for in a title tilt. The 49ers kept relentless pressure on UNC, outshooting the Tar Heels by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, but in the end the championship turned on single splendid shot by Carolina midfielder Ben Speas. His 25-yarder cleared the arms of a leaping Charlotte goalkeeper Klay Davis to lift Carolina to a 1-0 win.

UNC won its second men's soccer championship, and its 38th overall national team title. Charlotte was playing for its first national championship in any sport (some of us remember another close call, the Cedric "Cornbread" Maxwell-led run to the men's basketball Final Four in 1977).

Both teams did themselves, and our state, proud.

Raspberries to those who have been defacing property with graffiti, apparently as some sort of protest.

Police discovered graffiti on several buildings downtown, including the former Yates Motor Co. building that was briefly taken over by self-proclaimed "anti-capitalist" occupiers last month before police removed them the next day, in an operation that drew national attention for the powerful weapons the officers were packing.

Among the graffiti at Yates was a black skull with an "A" in the middle of it, which, we are told, is an anarchist symbol. Similar graffiti was found on the building next door, which houses the Lantern Restaurant, and still more was found on a Bank of America building.

The damage all in all was estimated at more than $900.

Most of us learn to respect other people and their stuff. It's a shame that some tiny minority around here still hasn't learned that yet.