After months of pedaling a bicycle or depending on rides to conduct Carson City business, Mayor Marv Teixeira is back behind the wheel of a car again.
Teixeira, 72, obtained a restricted driver's license this week so he can drive to and from business appointments. His license was suspended in April for a misdemeanor count of driving while under the influence of alcohol.
The red Schwinn cruiser he was using to get around town "wasn't all that bad" when the weather was milder but "103-degree heat wasn't something I was looking forward to on the Schwinn," he said.
One particularly bad moment on the bicycle was when he veered smack into a building. The mayor has diabetes-related complications, including lack of feeling in his feet and lower legs.
"Another embarrassment," he said of the episode.
Teixeira has referred to his drunken-driving incident as "the biggest embarrassment of my life."
The mayor said he still has community service time and DUI school to complete before he has done everything ordered by the court.
Liz, his wife, will be taking him places at night.
First-time offenders, such as Teixeira, can apply for a full-fledged driver's license 90 days after sentencing, according to the state Department of Motor Vehicles.
The restricted license allows driving during specified times to certain locations for work or school.
• • •
Ralph Arista, a Virginia City resident and roadie for Huey Lewis and the News, is also one of the town's good neighbors.
A week ago, some local rowdies decided it would be fun to turn over 14 garbage cans on the west side of C Street in the wee hours of the morning last Sunday.
After a busy Saturday night, of course, the cans were full.
Arista came up to C Street just after it happened and decided to clean it up himself.
He borrowed a snow shovel from the Mark Twain Casino and cleaned up the mess from all 14 cans.
"It was just a mess, and I didn't want people to come in to work and have to start picking up garbage," he said. "Someone had to do it, so I said, 'I'm tired, but I'll do it.'"
He said if the local authorities ever find those responsible, he wants to send them a bill for cleaning up their mess.
Cleaning up other people's messes isn't the only thing he does for Virginia City. Arista volunteered his own sound equipment - four large speakers, two microphones and endless wiring - for the parade announcers on the Fourth of July, doing all the set-up and take-down himself.
• • •
Virginia City is known for fast-spreading rumors, and since Storey County Sheriff Jim Miller was born and raised there, he's gotten used to them.
But the latest, which flies every year since he became sheriff, was that he wanted to shut down the Thunder on the Comstock, Virginia City's slice of Street Vibrations.
"I have nothing against Street Vibrations," he said. "It's good for Virginia City, it's good for business. I ride motorcycles, I have no problem with motorcycle riders."
Miller is serious about enforcing the law, but said it's the same everywhere.
"Wherever you go, there are rules you have to abide by," he said. "As long as you abide by the rules, you'll have no problem from me."
Miller added there have rarely been problems at the motorcycle event.
"I have more trouble on the Fourth of July than I do for Street Vibrations," he said.