Silver Dollars & Wooden Nickels: Kudos to Stokes for statewide award

The Nevada Appeal’s Silver Dollars and Wooden Nickels feature recognizes achievements from the capital region and, then warranted, points out other acts that missed the mark.

SILVER DOLLAR: The Carson City School District’s Richard Stokes has been named Superintendent of the Year by the Nevada Association of School Superintendents. Stokes, who has been with the district for six years, received the award during a meeting of the organization last week. It was a good week for Stokes, who received a rating of ‘superior’ in his annual review, a year after he received a rating of ‘very satisfactory.’ Stokes gave credit to district staffers and his family for their contributions; we give credit to him.

WOODEN NICKEL: Nevada’s foreclosure rate was the nation’s second-highest in October. The silver lining? That’s down 39 percent from the previous month, when the number of filings surged. September’s increase was attributed to lenders rushing to file before the Homeowners’ Bill of Rights took effect Oct. 1, adding protections for homeowners.

SILVER DOLLAR: The federal rollout of the Affordable Care Act has been rife with delays and glitches, and other states have had similar issues. Things haven’t been perfect here, but it’s nice to see that the introduction of the Silver State Health Exchange has been smoother sailing. More than 310,000 people have visited NevadaHealthLink.com, said Exchange director Jon Hager, who added that Gov. Brian Sandoval and the Legislature made a wise move in keeping control of the process rather than letting the federal government handle it. “If we didn’t do it, Nevadans would be stuck with the federal system and its problems,” he said.

SILVER DOLLAR: At Tuesday’s awards ceremony for The Foundation for the Betterment of Carson City Parks and Recreation, Richard Tieben was recognized as 2013 volunteer of the year, Let them be Kids was named organization of the year, Resource Concepts Inc. was business of the year and Scott Tully was volunteer of the years. Kudos to all for their hard work.