Silver Dollars and Wooden Nickels: Sharing of pain, progress educated us all

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: Linda and Richard Martin of Gardnerville face a difficult date tomorrow: the 25th anniversary of Linda’s son Jeff Woodard’s suicide. She was set to take part in Saturday’s Walk in Memory/Walk for Hope, put on by the Suicide Prevention Network of Douglas County. Linda bravely discussed her struggles dealing with his death with the Nevada Appeal — and, therefore, with our readers. She values the chance to help others potentially deal with their pain by telling her story, but we appreciate it all the same.

SILVER DOLLAR: The ordeal involving a Carson City woman, her euthanized dog and Animal Services could be on the verge of coming to an end. The Board of Supervisors will vote Thursday on whether to settle with the woman for $41,500 if she signs a waiver of claims. We’re not judging the merits of the lawsuit or what happened at Animal Services; we’re just hoping all parties involved will be able to turn the page soon.

WOODEN NICKEL: Now that the smoke has cleared in Carson City, the costs of fighting the hunter-caused Rim fire are coming into focus. The latest price tag: an eye-popping $89 million, and counting. That’s a lot of money up in smoke.

SILVER DOLLAR: At the beginning of the week, our nation appeared poised to use military force in Syria. Fortunately, diplomacy appears to be coming to the fore just when it’s needed the most. The last thing we need is another costly war to polarize our nation.

SILVER DOLLAR: Full-time enrollment is up 2 percent at Western Nevada College’s Carson City campus. That’s encouraging news at a time when the college has endured budget cuts, and it’s good news for our region’s economy and work force.