County is prepared for wave of Y2K weddings

Bill Gang

Monday, Dec. 27, 1999 | 11:50 a.m.

Sun reporter Ed Koch contributed to this report.

The county's Marriage License Bureau is going to have additional staff for the expected millennium wedding madness, and additional workers are going to be on call in case holiday business gets crazy.

But Clark County Clerk Shirley Parraguirre isn't sure the extra workers will be needed.

"It could be a madhouse, but we just don't know," she said.

A major problem, she said, is that wedding chapels along the Strip are going to be boxed in by the closure of the Strip on New Year's Eve to accommodate what is expected to be hundreds of thousands of revelers.

Many of the limousines that regularly ferry couples to and from the county courthouse for their licenses simply won't be able to navigate around the New Year's Eve throngs.

"I've been told by several wedding chapels that they have been telling couples they can't accommodate them," Parraguirre said, adding that the chapels now have fewer weddings scheduled than a normal New Year's weekend.

Last year 531 marriage licenses were issued on New Year's Eve and 565 on New Year's Day.

"I would think there will be more this year, but the costs of rooms might keep them away," she said.

The record for marriages was set during a three-day period this past Valentine's Day, with 2,483 licenses issued. On Sept. 8 and 9 of this year 1,201 marriage licenses were issued for 9/9/99 weddings, Parraguirre said.

In the event things pick up for New Year's weddings, she said, she has added eight staff members to the office and for the first time bailiffs will patrol the courthouse lobby throughout the weekend.

Parraguirre said she has urged chapels to tell couples to get their licenses early. Licenses are valid for a year from the date they are issued.

What Parraguirre won't have to worry about is a massive computer failure that would throw an already crowded situation into chaos.

"We're not computerized down there, so Y2K isn't an issue," she said of the division that still uses typewriters.

However, Parraguirre said, the Marriage License Bureau soon will switch to computers to process its licenses -- catching up with 20th century technology just as the 21st century dawns.