The 'Parks on a Roll' award - A rose to the Oceanside City Council, which last week voted to build three new skate parks -- a large one near the airport and two smaller, satellite parks at Melba Bishop and Martin Luther King parks.

To many old-timers' chagrin and many newcomers' delight, skateboarding is an integral part of our coastal culture. Since the city closed a temporary park near the pier in 2005, skateboarders have been craving a place where they can grind, kickflip and ollie on their boards legally and safely. We're glad the city is on board.

The 'Pass the History' award

A rose to Palomar College history professor Joseph Bagnall, who took his History 102 class to one of the Wednesday gatherings of World War II veterans at the Denny's in Oceanside.

The students heard stories and gained perspective from members of the "Greatest Generation" while eating breakfast. Some said they plan to stop by on future Wednesdays. At a time when it seems many youngsters are solely focused on pop culture and obtaining a PlayStation 3, it's good to see good teachers like Bagnall connecting them with the dwindling ranks of local treasures who fought in World War II.

The 'Off-Track Budgeting' award

A raspberry to North County Transit District officials who continue to scoff at the federal government's demands that they budget more money for cost overruns related to the Sprinter light-rail line.

Encinitas Councilman Jerome Stocks, the district's chairman, said of the feds' concerns this week: "All the risks they have identified have not come to fruition."

Stocks is right on the specifics, wrong on the big picture. Last week the NCTD had to throw an addition $5 million toward the Sprinter project due to unexpected costs and repairs to a section of track that was bent by a landslide. The pessimistic feds appear to be right. Remember, the NCTD projected that the Sprinter would cost $351.5 million to build in 2004 and it has since turned into a $440 million -- and rising -- boondoggle.

The 'Love Thy Neighbor' award

A rose to residents of La Costa Valley who blanketed their neighborhood by the hundreds to help police locate two missing girls Nov. 10. The girls, ages 3 and 5, were found safe that evening.

It's heartening to know that, even though most of us don't take time to get to know our neighbors as well as we should, folks will turn out in droves in a time of need.

The 'Wind Beneath Its Wings' award

A rose to the San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park and the California Condor Recovery Team, which watched with pride on Oct. 22 as the second California condor chick to fledge in the wild in 14 years left its nest in the Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge in Ventura County.

The Wild Animal Park's conservation biologists have played a key role in bringing back this largest of North American birds from the edge of extinction; in 1985 the wild population dropped to nine birds. Young condor "No. 412" -- with such lackluster names, perhaps condors need an agent -- has a team of scientists led by Valley Center resident Mike Wallace to thank for its birth. Wallace personally swapped out a wild-born egg and substituted into the wild nest 412's egg, which was hatched in the Los Angeles Zoo.

It's only proper that people play such an active role in helping this bird and bird species get off the ground; our poisonous lead bullets and our electrifying power lines helped clip the condor population's wings in the first place.