New hero in charge at the VFW

Dayton's Veterans of Foreign Wars post 8660 elected its new officers recently.

Taking over from Stan DeStwolinski as Post Commander is Vietnam Veteran John Alexander.

Alexander served as a Chief Warrant Officer in the U.S. Army as a military physician's assistant. He won the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart and the Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with Palm, the Vietnam Campaign Medal and Service Medal, among others.

His wife, Donna, was a M.A.S.H. nurse in Vietnam and holds a Vietnam Combat Medal along with many other citations.

Alexander is also active with the Boy Scouts in Dayton.

The Post is always looking for new members, so any veterans out there moving into the Dayton area need only show discharge forms showing overseas campaign medals or duty in Korea since 1945.

The Dayton VFW is a very active post. They support essay contests for area students on patriotic subjects and are regulars in Virginia City's Celebration of Heroes parade on Memorial Day weekend, as well as the Fourth of July, Labor Day and Veteran's Day parades. T

hey hold special ceremonies at the Dayton cemetery every Memorial Day to honor their fallen comrades.

The vets and their wives meet the fourth Thursday of each month at 6 p.m. at the Dayton Senior Center. Call Alexander at 241-0575 or Skip Skjeie at 246-5620.

These men carry on an important tradition in our country that sometimes seems to be going by the wayside - honoring our men and women who have fought for their country overseas.

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Here's another pet peeve of mine (as if you haven't read enough of those).

I attend a lot of public meetings every month, from the county commissions of Lyon and Storey counties, to occasional visits to planning commissions, school boards, tourism authorities, Comstock Historic District, water boards, advisory boards and the Nevada Commission for the Reconstruction of the V&T.

Outside of the advisory boards, which are usually pretty punctual unless someone brought doughnuts and coffee, most of these boards spend an inordinate amount of time thanking fellow members for their enthusiasm or hard work or good questions or great shoes or whatever.

They would cut the amount of time the public (and me) has to sit through their meetings if they would cut out giving flowing praise to each other.

Some of them get paid for what they do, others are volunteers, but even they must get something out of it because they volunteered!

That doesn't mean no one appreciates their effort. I serve on a board myself, but our meetings are strictly limited to one hour (we have to get to work), and we don't waste time on congratulations at every single meeting.

That's not to say an annual thank-you isn't in order, because it is, but at nearly every meeting someone on a board is busy congratulating someone else on a board.

How about some big signs at the meetings that say thank you to every board member, then they don't have to say it, they can read it and know it's about them.

Then they'll have more time to get down to the people's business, or cut out early and head to the bar.

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For those who would like to perform in a classy Virginia City saloon - no that's not a contradiction - call Danielle or David at the new Danielle's Brass Rail at 847-4343.

You can also perform on Tuesday at open mic so they can hear what you've got.

Danielle's Brass Rail is the former Cool Cat Cigar Bar and is completely redone inside, with a humidor for cigar aficionados to keep their cigars fresh. Live music goes on most nights there, including open mics, karaoke and Doug and Sundee.

• Contact reporter Karen Woodmansee at kwoodmansee@nevadaappeal.com or call 881-7351.