County has plans in place to put a lid on rumors at New Year’s

Tuesday, Dec. 7, 1999 | 9:42 a.m.

Few public fireworks will be shot on New Year's Eve in Las Vegas, and potential fireworks caused by wild millennium rumors will be doused by a public hotline, Clark County officials said.

Clark County Fire Department and Metro Police officials said Monday that an application for a fireworks display atop the replica of the Eiffle Tower at Paris Las Vegas has been denied.

"A lot of hotels that have been told about a ton of liability issues have not even applied for fireworks," Clark County Fire Department spokesman Steve La-Sky said.

County officials, along with police and fire administrators, will set up their command post Dec. 31-Jan. 2 at the Clark County Government Center.

They held a news media briefing Monday, asking that certain aspects of that operation not be printed.

However they asked that the pubic be made aware of the following:

Clark County spokesman Doug Bradford said people who hear a rumor of an incident on New Year's Eve will be able to call the county and confirm whether it is fact or fiction.

The phone numbers will be published before New Year's Eve, he said.

Metro Police spokesman Officer Steve Meriwether said he has already begun to hear rumors that the police will clear people off the Strip sometime after the celebration. Not true.

He said that when the crowd starts to disperse on its own early on Jan. 1, police will reopen sections of Las Vegas Boulevard to auto traffic.

"The public will dictate" when that happens, he said.

He also noted that from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., no bottles or cans will be allowed on the Strip and that juveniles who are not accompanied by adults will not be allowed on Las Vegas Boulevard after 6 p.m. on Dec. 31.

As for emergency calls, police warn that not every incident is an emergency and should not be called in on 911 lines, which figure to be very busy that night.

For example, a noninjury auto accident where a car hits a light pole, knocking out electricity to area homes is not a 911 emergency, police said.

Clark County Fire Department spokesman Bob Leinbach said that while fire staffing for the Strip will be "above and beyond" the protection usually provided, neighborhood fire stations also will be staffed appropriately.

The same is true for police, Meriwether said, noting that neighborhood cops will remain on their normal beats.