Silver Dollars & Wooden Nickels 1-25

The Nevada Appeal's "Silver Dollar" and "Wooden Nickel" feature recognizes positive achievements from the Capital region and, when warranted, points out others that missed the mark.

Silver dollar: A sack full of silver for the Carson City Rotary Club and the Lesch family, who this week teamed up to donate $40,000 to the Boys & Girls Club of Western Nevada.

Rotary donated $20,000 it recently raised at the roast of former Mayor Marv Teixeira. Betty Rae and Locke Lesch, who were recognized at a Rotary luncheon, matched the $20,000 as part of a pledge made last fall to donate $100,000 to the Boys & Girls Club campaign to build a new $5 million youth building at the corner of Northridge Drive and Russell Way.

Wooden nickel: Blaming it on the continuing shaky economy, the Washoe County Regional Transportation Commission voted earlier this month to reduce bus service between Carson City and Reno.

Commission officials cited falling sales tax revenue and a failed ballot initiative as the main culprits behind the cut. Unfortunately, the service reduction comes at a time when ridership had increased " 15 percent in November compared to the same time a year before.

Pointing to a $500,00 budget shortfall, an RTC representative uttered what is becoming an all-too-familiar refrain: "That money has to come from somewhere."

Silver dollar: For the Senate's passage of a federal lands bill that included a land exchange between Carson City and the U.S. Forest Service, giving each entity land that is more suited to its mission and management abilities. The bill, which the House is expected to approve, also conveys the Silver Saddle Ranch and Prison Hill to Carson for continued public use. More than 5,000 acres from the Bureau of Land Management east of the city and about 1,000 acres from the Forest Service on the west side would go to the local government, tripling the land the city has for parks and open space.

The city would give up about 2,200 acres of high mountains in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest under the bill, but that land is easier for the Forest Service to maintain. About 150 acres the city will receive under the bill, mostly along Highway 50 East, will be available for economic development. The Washoe Tribe is scheduled to receive about 300 acres next to the Carson and Stewart Indian Colonies.

Silver dollar: Several pieces of Comstock silver to the following ...

- Ben Steele of Steele and Associates and Pat Calhoun Ariaz for their longtime support of the Capital City Arts Initiative, which recently presented awards to each.

- Lynette Conrad, a Carson City mother of two, who was selected from a dozen applicants to fill a vacant seat on the Carson City School Board.

- Neil Rombardo, Carson City's district attorney, the newly elected president of the Nevada District Attorneys Association.

- Editor's note: Do you have a suggestion for a Silver Dollar or Wooden Nickel award? Send your idea to editor@nevadaappeal.com.