Silver Dollars & Wooden Nickels: Sen. Ensign's week gets worse with a wooden nickel

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: To the anonymous man who on June 12 discovered a woman who had been shot in the side, beaten and left for dead near the Carson River off Brunswick Canyon Road. The man called police and the victim is recovering from her injuries in a Reno hospital.

Wooden Nickel: As his one-time presidential aspirations slowly deflated during the past week, there's been a slow hissing sound coming from the office of Nevada Sen. John Ensign. The conservative Republican abruptly announced Tuesday he carried on an extramarital affair for much of last year with a woman on his campaign staff. Additional allegations that the woman's husband demanded "cash and other financial benefits" surfaced later in the week.

Silver Dollar: A native Nevadan, Brig. Gen. William Burks, has been named the 29th adjutant general of the Nevada National Guard. Gov. Jim Gibbons tapped the 32-year Guard veteran to replace Maj. Gen. Cynthia Kirkland, who recently relinquished her command after serving her four-year commitment. Former Gov. Kenny Guinn appointed Kirkland, the Silver State's first female adjutant general.

Wooden Nickel: A sobering reminder the recession continues to have a significant impact on Nevadans: May's unemployment rate reached its highest level since the state began keeping records in 1976.

Statewide, the seasonally adjusted rate reached 11.3 percent, which equates to 154,600 workers looking for jobs. Hardest hit in western Nevada is Lyon County at 14.7 percent.

Silver Dollar: The annual Pony Express re-ride, this year commemorating the 149th anniversary of the founding of the Pony Express and the 30th re-creation of the event, came through town Thursday. A unique tribute to western history, the event recognizes the Pony Express letter carriers who traveled the Central Route between Missouri and Sacramento in 1860-61.

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