Baby sitters not in high demand for New Year's Eve

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Just as concerns about electricity and water shortages have calmed, one more has surfaced. Reports of parents across the nation scrambling to find last-minute baby-sitters for New Year's Eve and being forced to pay up to $300 - if they even found a baby-sitter - are the latest in the Y2K scare.

In Carson City, however, there seems to be more supply than demand for babysitting.

Donna Avila, a child care provider and mother of three in the Seeliger area, is offering services on New Year's Eve but said she has had only one interested person.

She's hopeful the interest will increase before Christmas.

"As the time gets closer, I am hoping that I will hear from more people," Avila said.

Avila said she decided to work because she had already planned to stay home and spend New Year's Eve with her family.

"I decided it was a good way to make a little extra money and give parents a good place to leave their children," she said.

In other cities, child care has not been so easy to come by.

Stacy Ontiveros, a mother of two in Alamo, Calif. , told The Associated Press, "It's a total joke. I was willing to pay $300 for the night, but no one, I mean no one, was available."

Like Ontiveros, many parents are willing to pay big to celebrate the "party of the century" without their children. Child care providers are aware of that.

The Associated Press reported that one agency, Sitters-By-The-Sea, in Monterey Calif., doubled its fees to $40 an hour for the first child and $10 for each additional child, with a four hour minimum on New Year's Eve.

Child care providers offering services in Carson City on New Year's Eve are charging anywhere from $25 to $300 for the night. Avila said she plans to charge $75 for overnight services.

However, many parents, like Avila plan to spend New Year's Eve with the family.

Molly Reil, mother of one and expecting one more, said she is not sure what she and her husband are going to do on New Year's Eve, but she is certain their plans will include their toddler son.

"If we went anywhere, we would go somewhere that Johnny (their son) could go with us," she said.