ROSES to the Carolina Global Water Partnership, a collaborative project designed to provide safe drinking water for families in Cambodia.

Around here we take ample, safe water supplies for granted -- or we did until recently, anyway; the drought has forced all of us to recognize just how precious sufficient water resources are. We literally can't live without it.

People in many other parts of the world know that far more intimately than we do. Waterborne diseases claim countless lives in undeveloped regions. Many of those lost are children, and the tragedy is that the solution is so simple.

Water purifiers -- including basic, low-tech household filters -- remove dangerous organisms and contaminants, turning deadly water into safe water.

The problem is getting those purifiers where they need to go and educating the people in their importance and use.

That's what the Carolina Global Water Partnership comes in. Headed by Mark Sobsey of the UNC School of Public Health, the project is developing models and means to get purification systems in place in rural Cambodia. The challenges are significant, but the potential reward -- the dramatic improvement in the health and livelihood of possibly millions of people -- is greater.


RASPBERRIES to whomever has been vandalizing the home and property of a prominent local voice against teen substance abuse.

Dale Pratt-Wilson founded the Coalition for Alcohol & Drug-Free Teenagers, an organization that is dedicated to just that. The coalition considers teen drinking and drug use a serious public health issue that adults have a responsibility to try to stem.

Pratt-Wilson doesn't accept the commonplace attitude that teens, almost by definition, will experiment with alcohol or drugs. It's not sufficient, she says, to tell them, "Don't drink and drive" -- substance abuse, especially in young people, carries plenty of threats besides automobile accidents.

The coalition has a lot of support among law enforcement, school board members, medical professionals and others. Some in the community have taken issue with Pratt-Wilson's absolutist approach. Most of those, of course, express their positions verbally or in writing. But some 15 times, by her count, people have strewn her yard with beer cans and liquor bottles, smashed her mailbox, vandalized her house or otherwise directed boorish and criminal actions toward her.

After the most recent incident, last month, police charged five teenage suspects.

Anyone who puts herself in the public eye as Pratt-Wilson does is likely to draw some opposition. That's fine. But vandalism and destruction of property goes way beyond any acceptable bounds. As we tell kids when they're little, "Use your words."


ROSES to the Carrboro Farmers Market, which is now open on Saturdays all year long.

The market used to close in the mid-winter months. Starting this month, vendors will be on the Town Commons, selling fresh produce, baked goods and other fare, every Saturday year-round. The market still is showing some deference to the season; it opens at 9 a.m. until mid-March, when it switches to its normal hours of 7 a.m. to noon.

Several market farmers are growing winter produce in greenhouses or cold frames. So you can look for things like greens, sweet potatoes and winter squashes, as well as meats, eggs, cheeses, jams and other good stuff. Just bundle up first.