Silver Dollars & Wooden Nickels: Hats off to Gov. Guinn's accomplished life

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 standards the late Gov. Kenny Guinn set for Nevada's chief executive. A sensible, no-partisan-nonsense politician, Guinn had a reputation for listening to all sides, for being humble, approachable and a consensus-builder. He was not an ideologue, but a pragmatist. He supported education, leaving an indelible mark on thousands of lives with his Millennium Scholarship. He had a long and loving partnership with his gracious wife. His attributes are too numerous to mention here. Suffice it to say, Nevada needs, desperately, more men like Kenny Guinn. He will be missed.

Silver Dollar: To the Interim Finance Committee, for finding a temporary fix so those who anticipated receiving the full Millennium Scholarship for the 2010-11 school year will do so. A big cut in the amount of scholarship money with so little time to plan for alternative financing would have been far too harsh on struggling families. Now we need to just find another four million silver dollars a year to fix the problem permanently.

Silver Dollar: To Denise Shull of Carson City for taking down her attempted assailant. Now, we would never recommend anyone fight back against a robber. The risks are just too high. But we can't help but be thrilled by the spectacle of the petite store manager - a former jail worker - hauling off on the woman who tried to snatch her bank bag. Try to rob Denise? Oh, it's on.

Silver Dollar: To all the members of Congress who voted - finally - to extend unemployment benefits. Who among us doesn't know someone who wants a job but can't find one? The accusations that the jobless are lazy, sponging off the government, are refuted every time you talk to a Nevadan desperate for work. To play politics while people are losing their homes and going hungry is nothing short of a sin. Now, Washington, get to work on creating those jobs.