Rigsbee, who was the 2008-09 North Carolina Teacher of the Year, is one of the four finalists for 2009 National Teacher of the Year.

She has reached a level you need help from a math teacher to grasp; just to win the North Carolina award she was chosen from more than 95,000 teachers. The four national finalists were selected from the teachers of the year in all the U.S. states, three extra-state territories, the District of Columbia and the Department of Defense Education Activity.

Rigsbee is in the running for the national award along with the teachers of the year from California, Colorado and Connecticut.

We have lauded Rigsbee before, and we are very proud to call her one of our own. But we suspect she would approve of our singling her out as a representative of all the wonderful teachers out there, most of whose wisdom, patience, creativity and passion are known to only a relative few -- their fellow teachers, the children they teach and the parents of those kids.

Just one or two great teachers in a child's life can make all the difference.

Raspberries to state and local officials who can't find enough wiggle room in the regulations to let Andrew Dykers live in his own home.

Dykers, a musician who is planning to attend N.C. Central law school in the fall, lives -- or used to, before Chapel Hill booted him out-- in an architecturally unique home. It's a sharply designed, custom-built abode with a log exterior, solid pine paneling inside, stainless-steel appliances, quartz countertops, ceramic tile, laundry room, sleeping loft and screened porch. And it's on wheels.

"It's the best-looking mobile home in Chapel Hill, and maybe even in the state of North Carolina," Chapel Hill Town Council member Matt Czajkowski said.

Problem is, the house, which is at a mobile home park in Chapel Hill, doesn't fall neatly into any of the official categories for what constitutes a dwelling.

If it's a mobile home, it needs a certification it doesn't have and Dykers, at this point, can't get. If it's a single-family home, the town is supposed to inspect its construction - which its own officials say would require tearing out the walls and costing Dykers hundreds of dollars or more. If it's an RV ... well, it's a shade bigger than the prescribed dimensions for an RV.

Dykers spent months designing his home; it's neat and functional, and no one has suggested that it's unsafe or unsound.

But because it doesn't precisely fit any of the standard boxes, the town evicted him three months ago, costing him thousands and forcing him to rent an apartment while his perfectly good home sits empty.

State and local regulations exist to protect the people and environment. But there ought to be room in there for common sense, too.

Please send suggestions for Roses & Raspberries to Dave Hart, associate editor, at dhart@nando.com. Thanks.