Carson City 's millennium eve

The New Millennium's Eve was much like many New Year's celebrations in the past 100 years in Carson City - crowds filling casinos to dance and gamble and raise a midnight toast.

Others chose to avoid the crowds and booze, marking the midnight hour with quieter observances in homes or churches or with a good night's sleep.

"What does 2000 mean to me? It means that life will go on after tonight and that we as a people need to stop taking life for granted and live before its all too late," said Jarvis Bass, a bouncer at Mo and Slugger's Bar in Carson City.

Others say they see envision signs of universal peace.

"For me, the coming of the new millennium means that there are a lot of challenges ahead. But, I am hopeful that we are heading for a period of peace worldwide," said Janice Rosencrantz, of Carson City.

Others say they are pleased with the state of the nation as it enters into a new century.

"I'm looking forward to a new year, and the new millennium, "said Jim Duncan of Minden, celebrating at the Ormsby House. "There's a lot to be excited about. The economy's doing great, and people, more or less are feeling pretty positive about our country. So, yes, I'm optimistic."

On the walks below the Laxalt Building, dozens of youngsters celebrated the years' end and beginning. They had come from the Carson City Community Center, where an overnight Millennium Blast was sponsored by the city recreation department, the Boys and Girls Club of Western Nevada and the city countdown committee.

A few minutes into the new year, the kids were hustled back to the community center for hot cocoa, cookies and bedtime.

Before an hour-long power outage at midnight sent crews scurrying, Red Cross volunteers Jack and Judy Frobes had hoped to settle in for a quiet night at the city Emergency Operation Center at Fire Station One on Stewart Street.

"If it stays this quiet, it'll suit me just fine," Jack Frobes said as he watched television reports of smooth-running celebrations around the globe. Judy Frobes said the couple had been asked to help with Red Cross monitoring at Las Vegas, but chose the lower-key setting here.

But some peoples' ingenuity for mischief still caught the attention of local emergency workers.

About 8:30 p.m., deputies were sent to the 1200 block of Woodside Drive to investigate a small fire allegedly set in front of a home by juveniles. Dispatchers were told the suspected culprits had then climbed onto the roof of a nearby house. More kids reportedly egged a home in the 700 block of Marsh Drive about 9:30 p.m.

And an early millennium celebrant was taken by ambulance to the Carson-Tahoe Hospital emergency room after a two-car collision at Fifth and Elaine streets. The man allegedly was driving a small car that struck a second vehicle in the driver's door about 7:15 p.m., driving the second vehicle across a sidewalk, over a small retaining wall and onto a lawn.

One occupant of the second vehicle, a small boy, was reportedly shaken up but did not need an ambulance.

Area residents said the first driver had left his vehicle and attempted to leave the accident scene until someone stopped him. The man reportedly had just left a party in the area and had been drinking, they said.

A sheriff's report on that incident was unavailable at press time.

Dispatchers' radio transmissions included a number of reports of alcohol-related domestic disputes. Around 10 p.m., sheriff's deputies and state troopers looked for a silver Thunderbird heading east on Highway 50 at better than 75 mph.

And people in a downtown motel parking lot drinking, dancing and playing loud music prompted a complaint to the sheriff's office about 10:15 p.m. Police also investigated reports of bonfires in the hills east of Carson City, where some people apparently had gathered for parties.

At Capitol Baptist Church on Edmonds Drive, a few families gathered to watch a video about hope for the new millennium and to have a small worship service.

Pastor Larry Rothschild said the church has held Watch Night every New Year's Eve for more than a dozen years.

"This is a routine thing for us. Other churches do a Christmas Eve service, but we encourage our members to be home with their families then," Rothschild said.

"In this case, we're sending the old century out and a new one in, the millennium out and the new one in."

The kids' Millennium Bash also has been a New Years Eve alternative for several years in Carson City, but this time the Boys and Girls Club stepped in to provide with manpower and free club memberships .

About 63 younger children and 15 teenagers showed up, making a full house, club executive director Cathy Blankenship said. The overnight featured a couple hours of swimming, plus games and other activities before the midnight trip downtown.

Becky Vernon, a grant management worker from the state Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Abuse, and Suzi Kaufman, who runs the concession stand at community basketball league games, volunteered to help the club staff with the sleepover.