Silver Dollars & Wooden Nickels: Silver dollars all around this week

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 Carson City's health department, for dispensing more than 4,800 seasonal flu shots to residents Saturday. The vaccines were for seasonal flu; H1N1 (swine flu) vaccines will be available in upcoming weeks, dispensed first to the high priority groups such as healthcare providers, pregnant women and people with health conditions that put them at higher risk. The frightening instances of young, healthy people dying from swine flu in cases across the country should inspire everyone to take precautions and get their regular and swine flu vaccinations this season.

Silver Dollar: To Mother Nature, who gave us just a taste of winter last week, enough to let Boreal and a few other resorts make snow for the earliest opening day on record. It's weather just how we like it: Pleasant and cool for those of us down in the valley; snow for the ski and board crowd. The best of both worlds.

Silver Dollar: To the Veterans Administration hospital worker in Reno who alerted Carson City Sheriff's deputies to two boys who showed signs of child abuse. After a deputy checked out the Carson City home and found the boys locked in their room with urine-filled potty chairs, showing signs of physical abuse, the parents were arrested. This, following the case of the Berkeley security staff who alerted police to Phillip Garrido, leading to the recovery of Jaycee Dugard, highlights the importance of speaking up when things just don't seem right. Better to report suspected abuse and be wrong than to stay silent, and possibly prolong a child's suffering.

Silver Dollar: To Nevada voters, whose ranks continue to grow. The number of registered voters as of September is nearly 5 percent higher over the same month a year ago. Secretary of State Ross Miller says of the 54,451 additional voters who have registered in the past year, 15,670 registered as non-partisan, a

9 percent increase from September 2008. About 25,000 registered as Democrats, up 5 percent, while 8,200 registered as Republicans, up nearly

2 percent. As we head into another election season next year, it's good to hear that more Nevadans are getting ready to participate in the democratic process.