Quiet New Year's Eve at Stateline after busy morning

Most of the New Year’s Eve excitement in Douglas County on Thursday happened a lot closer to dawn than midnight and focused on Carson Valley.

Likely the most serious incident of the day occurred around 8:20 a.m. when a Pleasantview Drive home was struck by a flatbed pickup.

The driver of the truck punctured the front of the home, before knocking over a street light.

The owner’s daughter said the truck then drove around the lawn running into things before driving away.

The driver was stopped on Wintergreen and was detained by sheriff’s deputies.

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office reported five arrests in the Stateline area overnight and the lowest number of celebrants in decades.

For the first time since the early 1980s, Highway 50 remained open all night through the casino corridor.

Revelers were well-behaved and embraced the celebration without much commotion.

The arrests consisted of a felony warrant, a drug arrest and three people for trespassing.

“I would like to commend the Stateline casinos for their superb job of providing a safe environment for celebrants while still giving them an experience in the Stateline area,” Sheriff Dan Coverley said. “This was a tremendous task put upon the Stateline casinos and from our observations they did everything possible to comply with a difficult situation.”

Coverley thanked his personnel for their efforts on New Year’s Eve, along with the several agencies who helped.

“I would also like to thank Douglas County 911 Emergency Communications, the Nevada Highway Patrol, South Lake Tahoe Police Department, El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office, California Highway Patrol, Tahoe Douglas and East Fork fire protection districts, Cal-Trans and NDOT for a collaborative effort in public safety,” he said.

The Nevada Highway Patrol reported 17 DUI arrests over the holiday in the Northern Command, which includes all of Western Nevada.

The winter storm watch for the Sierra starts at 10 p.m. Sunday with predictions calling for up to a foot of snow through 10 p.m. Monday.

A winter storm dropped an inch of snow at Stateline early Thursday with a light dusting in the Valley.