Silver Dollars & Wooden Nickels: Silver to rescue team, miners in Chile

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 triumph of human ingenuity and perseverance that was exemplified in the Chilean mine rescue. Sixty-nine days after being trapped, the 33 miners were lifted Wednesday to safety and a cheering world. We hope their transition to a new life of celebrity will be as seamless as their re-emergence into the world.

Wooden nickel: Jason Stinson of Carson City thought it'd be fun, and raise food for a good cause, to build an elaborate haunted house in his backyard and charge admission of a can of food, which he'd donate to charity. Then The Man got involved. City inspectors and the business license department got wind of the plan after a story in the Nevada Appeal, and the haunting is, for now, on hold. While it's no doubt a good idea to have the setup checked for fire hazards (can dry ice catch fire?) we'll be mightily disappointed if the Stinsons can't pull this off because of permit issues. He meets with the city Oct. 20. Stay tuned ...

Silver dollar: To the Fruit Barons, a collective of tree-loving volunteers in town who will harvest the fruit from homeowner's trees, leave a portion and give the rest to the food bank. Anyone who's spent their fall weekends picking wormy apples off the ground that could have been put to good use if picked in time sees the brilliance in this idea. The group could use more volunteers. To get involved, or to contact them about trees that need harvesting, call Tom Henderson at 224-3827 or Gianna Shirk at 220-6330.

Silver dollar: She doesn't need the dollar, but we have to give one anyway to Madeleine Pickens, the wife of Texas billionaire T. Boone Pickens. This wealthy wild horse advocate has bought 14,000 acres east of Elko to serve as a sanctuary that would keep mustangs on the range instead of in government-funded holding facilities. BLM officials said they recently received a formal written proposal from Pickens and must review it before taking an official position. This sounds like a win-win, especially for the horses.