Security heightened for New Year’s celebration

Robert Macy

Monday, Dec. 27, 1999 | 3:16 a.m.

The crowds may or may not be unprecedented, but the security will be tighter when hundreds of thousands of revelers gather here to celebrate New Year's Eve.

Some 240,000 visitors are expected at the city's hotels, up from 236,000 a year ago, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. The figure is down from what tourism officials were projecting earlier this year, with potential visitors balking at pricey rooms and entertainment.

With Y2K issues and concerns over terrorism, authorities and hotels aren't taking any chances.

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police will have 800 officers deployed on the 4-mile Strip, up from 600 a year ago, according to officer Steve Meriwether. Another 100 will work crowd control downtown.

The Nevada Highway Patrol, Henderson and North Las Vegas police will also help, and 500 Nevada National Guard members will be on standby statewide.

Some 100 local FBI agents will be on duty or on standby, according to bureau spokesman Joe Dickey.

"We are on a heightened state of awareness here and around the country" because of terrorism concerns, Dickey said Monday.

He declined to say how or where the agents would be deployed.

Concerns over possible terrorism grew over the weekend after an airline clerk in Bellingham, Wash. said she sold a Las Vegas ticket to Abdelmajed Dahoumane. Authorities are trying to determine if Dahoumane is linked to Ahmed Ressam, an Algerian national, who was arrested Dec. 14 and charged with smuggling illegal explosives into the United States.

One law officer who spoke on the condition of anonymity said he was concerned about possible terrorism here.

"Where better than Las Vegas to make a statement," the officer said.

Grant D. Ashley, special agent in charge of the Las Vegas FBI office, said Monday there was "no credible evidence indicating any person suspected of terrorism activities has traveled to Las Vegas in recent weeks," including Dahoumane.

Police estimated some 350,000 to 400,000 people jammed the Strip a year ago, and earlier projected the figure might double in 1999.

But Y2K concerns and high prices changed that.

"There are plenty of rooms still available and plenty of entertainment still available," said LVCVA spokeswoman Richelle Thomson. "That's good news for people who are waiting for the last minute. It's absolutely a buyer's market now."

The authority projects 85 percent of the town's 121,665 hotel rooms will be taken compared with 91.4 percent occupancy a year ago. The projected visitor count is higher despite the lower occupancy level because 12,000 new hotel rooms opened on the Strip during 1999.

The key to the number of celebrants on the Strip will be how many of the 1.4 million Las Vegas-area residents and their guests decide to party there.

Earlier this year police were predicting Strip crowds of up to 800,000. At a Y2K drill earlier this month, that figure had dropped to 400,000 to 700,000, with police leaning toward the lower figure, according to Metro Undersheriff Richard Winget.

Party-goers may find it hard to access Strip resorts.

Caesars Palace plans to erect a chain link fence around the front and side of its property, hoping to prevent a recurrence of last year when celebrants defaced some of the Roman statuary and tore up shrubbery.

Phil Cooper, Caesars' vice president of marketing and advertising, said the resort had increased its security staff, but declined to give numbers. The resort may restrict visitors as the evening progresses.

"This is an unprecedented holiday," Cooper said. "We are following the course of the world in that we will be attentive to the security of our guests, as we always are. It's just that it's more intense this year."

Alan Feldman, vice president of public affairs for Mirage Resorts, Inc. said the company will, as in the past, limit access to guests and people with show tickets and dinner reservations.

"The sense is we may feel we need to do it a little earlier this year," Feldman said.

The company's local resorts - Bellagio, The Mirage, Treasure Island and Golden Nugget - will "fortify entry points with a little more security" such as barricades or extra security guards, he said.

At McCarran International Airport, the C terminal is expected to close New Year's Eve, then reopen early Saturday, according to airport spokeswoman Debbie Millett. The three remaining terminals will stay open for a limited number of arriving and departing flights.

The airport has been on a heightened state of alert for six years and that is not expected to increase this week, she said.