Silver Dollars & Wooden Nickels: 9/11 memorial deserves praise

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 Jim Shirk, a member of the Carson City Cultural Commission who is spearheading the project to build a 9/11 memorial in Carson City. The Board of Supervisors on Thursday approved sending a letter to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which is taking requests for pieces of steel beams and other material from the Twin Towers to be used in memorials around the country. Shirk said no public funds will be involved: "Our intent is to have this memorial funded by citizens and groups."

The firefighters, police officers and regular citizens - our fellow countrymen - who died that day deserve our remembrance. Shirk deserves praise for working to connect Carson City to that piece of history for generations to come.

Silver dollar: To the Women's Council of the Builders Association of Western Nevada, for taking a day to make repairs around the homes of 13 single and elderly women in Carson City. What may be a simple household repair for some people can be an overwhelming, expensive ordeal for others. The volunteers lent their skills on small projects that made a big difference to the recipients.

Wooden nickel: To Sen. John Ensign, about whom new allegations of shady dealings surfaced this week in the New York Times. The newspaper reported that the Nevada senator skirted, if not outright broke, ethics laws by arranging a lobbying job for the husband of his mistress, then intervened for the man's clients with federal agencies. Ensign had just started to raise his head in public after the last wave of news about the affair came out. Now it's likely he'll dodge back into the shadows and wait for the latest allegations to blow over. Sen. Ensign, you can't be an effective leader while playing whack-a-mole with the media and public.