gjsentinel.com
Not so great expectations
<Picture: y2k supplies >MORE AND MORE, PEOPLE ARE PUTTING TOGETHER stockpiles of food and water as worries about computer problems associated with the year 2000 mount. Photo by CHRISTOPHER TOMLINSON/The Daily Sentinel
By C. PATRICK CLEARY
The Daily Sentinel
Someone walked into Deep Rock Crystal Drop Water in Grand Junction recently, plopped down a couple hundred dollars and left with enough packaged water to last a year.
Company secretary Carolyn Mitchell said she had a feeling the man had bought the water in preparation for the year 2000. He was a new customer and he wanted the water in five gallon bottles but had to settle for 2.5-gallon boxes. She said he estimated he would need five gallons a week.
To some, that isn't even enough water to brush teeth.
To others, though, the coming of the new millennium has provoked a need to prepare for anything that might come along so storing any water at all is a step in the right direction.
Mitchell and representatives of Culligan Water Conditioning in Grand Junction have seen an increase in inquiries from people planning to store water for the year 2000.
Bert Whittenberg, a design and applications engineer for Culligan, said about two dozen people in the last few months have inquired about buying stored water for the year 2000.
He said the company is designing a fail-safe system to collect, purify and store water.
The system would use ultraviolet light for purification.
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"All you need is a tin roof," Whittenberg said. "It's an amazing thing. A lot of people are paranoid."
Perusing the Internet will give the reader plenty to think about in terms of what might happen when the clock strikes midnight on New Year's Eve 2000.
Decades ago, when computers were invented, to save valuable disk space, programmers used only two digits to signify the year. When Dec. 31, 1999, moves on to Jan. 1, 2000, some computers will automatically assume the year is 1900 and not adjust.
Predictions range from the end of life on earth to failing computers disrupting everything from power and electric service to water delivery, telephones and traffic signals.
Some are predicting nothing but a date change, too.
However, across the country people ranging from survivalists and doomsayers to communities and everyday families are preparing for whatever.
That includes a growing number of Grand Valley individuals who are storing or at least inquiring about storing water and food in preparation for what might come with the year 2000.
"They are from all walks of life," said Nova Holloway, owner of Tom's Military Surplus in Grand Junction. "Even doctors and such are in here looking at different things."
Holloway said he is getting inquiries and selling water-purification tablets while many people just ask general questions about survival gear.
New Horizons Foursquare Church last week held a preliminary meeting to consider options the church might want to pass on to members about being prepared for the year 2000.
One church member said she has noticed communities from Pagosa Springs to Medford, Ore., making preparations just in case something out of the ordinary happens.
Mesa County's emergency-management group for the first time Wednesday discussed "Y2K," as the millennium change is called, during its monthly meeting.
"We don't know where we really stand," said Kimberly Parker, emergency management coordinator for Mesa County. "It depends on who you talk to. Some say it is not an issue and others say it is. As an emergency management officer I plan for the worst and be prepared as possible."
Parker's group, which includes all law enforcement, fire and emergency hospital groups in the county, will discuss the issue monthly until the new millennium has dawned.
Parker said the group plans to approach the issue from two perspectives - the technological, such as potential computer breakdowns; and the human-behavioral, such has anticipation about a higher level of celebration next New Year's Eve.
The human instincts of survival and preparedness also will come into play, others say.
"What I am noticing is (interest in) the plastic 55-gallon drums," said Jim Holmes, owner of Surplus City USA in Grand Junction.
Holmes is in a national buying group that purchases water-storage containers. The 700-member group's last order, though, couldn't be met, he said.
"They said the supply and demand ate it up," Holmes said. "And they said it is for people for the year 2000."
It's not just water people are curious about, either.
Both Holmes and Holloway noted increased sales of military-style "meals-ready-to-eat."
Wornick Co., the McAllen, Texas, company that makes 50 percent of the meals for the military and produces a civilian version, said sales have skyrocketed in the last six months.
Holmes and Holloway said it is becoming increasingly difficult for retailers to get the meals as a result.
The drive to store is fed by the uncertainty of the millennium, fueled in some ways by information available on the Internet, some say.
Searching the World Wide Web, for instance, revealed nearly 500,000 home pages dealing directly with potential problems, solutions and survival tips for the Year 2000.
Pages range from one offering Y2K-friendly places to move, to how to prepare and store food. One real-estate page recommends the White Mountains of Arizona, the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas and Missouri and Trinity County, Calif., as Y2K friendly.
A Y2K friendly area is described as being some distance from a major metropolitan area, having milder winters and moderate summers and "safe" from major known hazards, such as earthquakes and nuclear power plants.
Other pages focus on what a family needs to be prepared should a computer catastrophe hit.
The Noah's Ark Homesite, for instance, offers everything from how to organize a 72-hour survival kit to details about long-term storage and water purification.
The storage of food and water is not new in western culture.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has for at least 50 years encouraged church members to keep a supply of food and water on hand to take care of the family for at least a year in case of emergencies.
"The church has not taken a position relative to the year 2000 but has always suggested to members to provide at least one year's supply of food and water," said Grand Junction LDS West Stake President Jerry Chadwick. "Not for a catastrophe but for emergencies that may come along, if you lose a job. But if the computers refuse to function after awhile, a year's supply of food and water would be welcome. ... Members would certainly share with the neighbors around us if that need should arise." |
