Ute Mountain Ute tribal officials will team up with the Bureau of Indian Affairs during the New Year’s celebrations to ensure public safety. Precautions and emergency plans have also been compiled to handle any mishaps or hysteria resulting from so-called Y2K computer meltdowns and associated problems.

"I am quite confident that we are as ready as we can be," said Towaoc Police Chief Dusty Whiting in a memo to the tribal council.

Preparations have been laid to handle the New Year’s Eve celebration at the Ute Mountain Ute casino. Officials anticipate 3,000 to 7,000 people will attend the annual bash, according to the memo, and extra security will be in place. The Colorado State Patrol will increase patrols along Highway 160 north and south of the casino. The Montezuma County Sheriff department will place additional officers at the casino to augment the Towaoc police force, all of whom will be on duty.

The second scenario, which is unlikely, is if Towaoc and White Mesa, Utah, lose electrical power for an extended period of time. Of immediate concern would be the approximately 75 elderly tribal members who rely on dialysis and oxygen equipment.

The tribe and the BIA have planned extensively in case of a major power outage that lasts for a multi-day period. On New Year’s Eve, key personnel will meet at a command post set up at the Ute Mountain Ute Public Safety Center, directly across the street from the police department and detention center. From that location, Councilman Manuel Heart and Chairman Ernest House will assume joint command in the event an extended power outage or other major problem becomes evident. Law-enforcement officials will be on hand to provide shelter, food, and medical care to community members, in addition to beefing up patrols.

What follows are more specific preparations covered by the tribe.

• Gasoline supplies: The tribe has a 10,000-gallon gasoline storage tank that will operate with a small electrical generator. In addition, the police department will fuel all spare vehicles, a fleet of five units, to be made available to move people and material as needed. Numerous BIA vehicles (e.g. from Public Works) will also be fueled and be made available.

• Food: The tribe has a warehouse of commodity foods available for distribution. In the event of an extended emergency, a cache of cots, bedding and additional two-way radios will be accessed and a bunkhouse established for law-enforcement and safety personnel.

• Medical care: The tribal EMS and fire department will provide emergency medical care and triage. Individuals needing transport to Southwest Memorial Hospital in Cortez, or the Northern Navajo Medical Center in Shiprock, N.M., will be taken by ambulance. A liaison will be present at the command post to access emergency medical supplies as needed.

• Recreation Center: The Ute Mountain Ute community recreation center is the designated location for the disaster center in the event of an emergency. Food and bunks will be made available as well as a generator for heat. That center is also the site of a New Year’s "lock-in" for about 100 juveniles in the community.

• Communications: If electrical power is lost the repeater on Ute Mountain will go down. Radios communication will then be limited to line-of-site or very local communication with the base station, car-to-car and pack set capabilities. The police department will have a generator for back-up power.

• Fire: The tribal fire department will be on standby with tankers.

• Water: There is no anticipated problem with a safe water supply in the Towaoc and surrounding rural area. There is sufficient storage capacity in the entirely gravity-fed delivery and drainage system to support the entire community for three to six days of normal use and longer with restricted use. There will be an electrical generator posted at the White Mesa lift station to provide water to that community.

• Electricity: There is no anticipated loss of power in rural southwestern Colorado and southeastern Utah. All of the western grid has been tested and is Y2K compliant. In an extreme event there could be brown outs or intermittent electrical power.

• Generators: Weeminuche Construction, in connection with the tribal electrical department, will provide trailer-mounted diesel generators capable of powering all critical departments for Towaoc and White Mesa.

• White Mesa: Officers will be on duty. In the event they lose power (both Ute communities are on the same power grid) more officers will be sent over along with volunteers to assist the community.

• Command post phone numbers: 564-5441 or 564-5442; police 565-3706 or 565-3826.