Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Y2K Fizzles, Everything OK

Predictions of doom with the coming of Y2K made it one of the top stories of 1999 as well.

Predictions were made of a coming computer collapse when 1999 ended and 2000 began.

According to "experts", computers were not designed to have four-digit dates for the year, and when 1999 ended, the computers would revert to 1900 on their internal memories.

However, both of Gurdon's banks were more than ready for the so-called Y2K bug.

Steve Osborne, manager of Gurdon's Mercantile branch bank, said the parent company developed a web address and toll-free phone number so its customers could see what had been done.

John French, president of First State Bank in Gurdon, said FSB had been working on the problem for years.

Both said customers had no reason to fear the coming of the new year as the banks were prepared for it.

The two said their companies had been working with reputable software companies to upgrade their computers for Y2K.

The banks had their systems upgraded, tested and examined by the FDIC to make sure there would be no problems occurring when Dec. 31, 1999, became Jan. 1, 2000.

"The banking industry," French said, "has not taken this lightly."

Banks are heavily regulated by the federal government, with upgrades made to deal with the Y2K bug.

Osborne said Mercantile had a budget of $30 million to upgrade and prepare for Y2K, adding there was no reason for anyone to be afraid.

The American financial industry, they said, is better off than others elsewhere in the world.

To insure the local banks computers would function properly on Jan. 1, 2000, they were "rolled forward", with nothing happening.

Utility companies were also contacted about the Y2K bug and how they had prepared to deal with it.

Ron Easley, with South Central Electric Cooperative, and Randy Jerry, with Entergy, said they were ready for New Year's Eve.

Both said they would have full crews standing by in case an emergency occurred (none did), but neither expected anything to happen.

Easley said South Central sent notices to its customers letting them know what it had done to prepare for Y2K.

He said the company wasn't worried about the computer system rolling over either, but added there were some things out of the company's control which could cause a power outage.

One of his concerns was someone running into a utility pole or a tree falling across power lines and knocking out the electricity in some areas.

Entergy, Jerry said, was declared Y2K compatible on June 30, 1999, with the company expecting and having no problems with Jan. 1, 2000.

Still, he said, contingency plans were put in place just in case.

"We've tried to put things in place to deal with anything unexpected," he said. "It's an interesting situation."

Entergy did a company-wide Y2K program, checking the inventory of its hardware and software.

Critical systems were assessed to see where any problems might occur. Any potential problems were corrected.

From there backup plans were put in place, in case something was overlooked.

Margaret Preston, with Arkla Gas, said Y2K would have little if any affect on Arkla, as most of its equipment is mechanical and not date sensitive. The computers used by the company, she added, were used for administrative purposes and upgraded for Y2K.

Government offices in Clark County were also questioned as to their Y2K readiness, with Clark County Judge Floyd "Buddy" Manning saying the computers in the courthouse were ready.

"We had people go through our system and get it lined out," he said.

The county did purchase a generator in case a power outage did occur. Manning said this was done as a safety precaution for other emergencies as well.

The county's 9-1-1 emergency telephone system, Office of Emergency Services and Sheriff's Office were also checked and found to be Y2K compliant.

When Dec. 31, 1999, ended and Jan. 1, 2000, began everything went as planned for everyone involved with Y2K as nothing happened.