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Technology Stocks : Discuss Year 2000 Issues -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: J.L. Turner who wrote (5683)	5/9/1999 3:13:00 PM
From: Jim	Respond to of 9818

Somebody once said that the main problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves and wiser people are so full of doubts.

To: J.L. Turner who wrote (5683)	5/10/1999 7:50:00 AM
From: flatsville	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9818

J.L.T.--I read some of the responses to Yourdon's call for assistance. My biggest concern is that people will lack adequate specific information making preparations or the decision to prepare at all, impossible for some. Numerous posters to the greenspun thread have mentioned this. Take my water and sewer provider as examples: The water provider does not plan to issue a Year 2000 compliance statement. A customer would never know that the "big" back-up power plan is three generators and 1500 gals. of diesel for 48 hrs. pumping (and treatment?) time and that there are no plans to stock-pile treatment chemicals due to storage space constraints unless the customer called and asked a series of hard questions. (My inquiry as to locating a back-up suppliers for treatment chemicals got no response at all.) In the case of my sewer provider, the public statement is more "deceptive" than not saying anything at all. I just got the compliance statement in the mail Saturday. The last two paragraphs read: We are completely confident that (the two electric utilities) will be able to provide power as necessary. However, we have emergency plans to handle service outages or mechanical failures at the lift stations. We are currently upgrading these existing plans to examine any specific Year 2000 issues. By late summer, we should have detailed procedures in place, as necessary, to handle contingency situations and staffing operations for January 1st, 2000. This statement might inspire confidence, eh? But a customer would never know that there is no plan to provide back-up power and that sewer back-ups are likely within 4-6 hrs. and that the ability to treat and pump fails in 12-24 hrs. and that they've had no experience with a prolonged power outage unless the customer called and asked a series of hard questions. After speaking with Mr. Sewer a second time he suggested I contact the county emergency management authority which had just held a public y2k meeting at Red Cross headquarters. He indicated they had been meeting monthly but planned to meet bi-monthly until the end of the year. I asked why the stepped-up schedule? He indicated if for no other reason than to "craft a statement to keep people from doing something stupid." I commented that given the lack of specific information out there and the readiness of some entities I could guarantee that would happen.