Each year the January blahs bring out the worst in our readers. People write in to complain about their taxes, their elected officials, their bosses, their neighbors - nothing seems to escape this mid-winter vitriol.

A few years ago, we on the editorial page decided to bottle these complaints and pour them out in our annual Enquirer Whine Festival.

But then a funny thing happened. In reaction to all the complaints, people started to tell us about the good things in their lives. They wrote in to sing their neighbors' praises, to thank unknown doers of good deeds and to let us know that the world is not such a rotten place after all. Out of that sprouted our annual Rose Garden.

This year we combined the two, figuring that good and bad go together like sweet and sour. The 2003 Whines and Roses Festival received well over 100 entries, many of which we have printed during the past few weeks.

Of those we have selected two as this year's champions - the sourest whine and the sweetest rose. Champion Whiner Dan Nebert, whose day is ruined when he finds fuzzy blue stuff on his breakfast strawberries, received a bottle of wine. Katie Moning Ballinger and daughters Emily and Lillian, inspired by the UC women's basketball team, received roses on Valentine's Day to distribute to the team.

The Winning Rose

UC women have created a new sports fan

The University of Cincinnati women's basketball team deserves a bouquet of roses. My husband and I have two daughters, ages 10 and 2. When my oldest, Emily, was in first grade, her father bought season tickets for the two of them for the girls' team. Being not much of a sports fan myself, I got upset, even after listening to his logic: She would get to see quality games in which the focus was not on a player, but on the team.

This year, we have been taking 2-year-old Lillian, and not only is she having a wonderful time, but the players remember her and go out of their way to ask us about her. I have come full circle, from bringing novels with me to occupy my time while they watched, to being the one to bring both of the girls if their dad can't take them. If these girls can make a sports fan out of me, they have to be miracle workers.

- Katie Moning Ballinger, Cheviot

The Top Whine

Strawberry packers trained for deception

You open it later, only to find that all or most of the backsides have rotten or defective spots.

Inside there also may be completely rotten berries, successfully hidden from view.

This whole thing is done so artistically that I suspect the packer must be required to attend a 12-week course on How to Pack Deceptively, and then obtains the HPD degree, only after which the packer is turned loose in the strawberry section.

- Dan Nebert, Wyoming

The whines - Stadium taxes to UC uniforms to winter weather...

The roses - Tales of good samaritans, businesses and more...