BUSINESSES*  Four Hundred & Ninty Five (495) businesses went out of business when UPS went on strike a few years ago because they had no contingency plan.   The U.S. Govenrment Office of the Department of Commerce, Department or Agriculture and the SBA has been offering to assist businesses for over a year with a well presented Self-Help Package called th Y2K JumpStart Kit.  This Y2K-JSK  has software to be used in taking a facility inventory, doing some prioritization, asking yourself what is critical to your business, deciding on contingency plans (What If) and working towards remediation.  What if your facility has no lights on January 3rd or 4th... what are you going to do with 10 or 50 employees during this dark time?  What if paroll stops working and the employees can't get paid, what if you can't ship product or open your store because the security system failed or there is no heat to protect you and your folks from the January freeze?  What if you had ordered the "FREE" Y2K JumpStart Kit and you had resolved all these issues ahead of time?  It is never too late all it costs is 15 minutes of your time.  There is an MEP office right here in Lowell that can deliver one right to your door tomorrow, "FREE" and no further obligations.   Call this number right now... 1-800-Y2k-7557, you will thank yourself in a few weeks.

We will be sitting down with the Director of Finance at the City of Lowell soon to ask some Y2K questions which will be presented in a report card format.

COMMUNITY ASSISTANCE**

Your it my friends.  It is time to start thinking neighborhood and neighborly.   If we were already in crisis some how, we would certainly ban together in our communities to help each other out.  Think of an elderly or sickly neighbor or family member who can not fend for themselves and rely on assistance, who is going to be for them when... supplies for fuel, food, medication, heat, refridgeration, electricity or water fail? o you have some extra blankets to lend, a wood stove to huddle by, a few extra tanks of cooking propane to fire up the grill for a warm meal, an extra place to sleep over, a months additional medication?   No, we are not being alarmists, we are suggesting that you think community preparedness, self preservation and doing contingency planning.

For those of you old enough, remember the "BLIZZARD of '78"?  If you had known the outcome would have been as bad as it was and, you had a two week warning, would you have had more than a flashlight and a couple of extra candles hanging around?   What about that bad freeze in VT a year or so ago, you think VT isn't prepared for another bump in the road that will cause some disruption in their lives?  No the world is not going to end.  You do not need to remove your life savings and buy guns, bullets and a years supply of K-Rations, not unless you want to make some one real rich.   You just need to ask "WHAT IF?"

Those who prepare may only experience some bumps in their travel through the new millennium, those who do not prepare will experience pot holes and possible sink holes or bridges collapsing?  In any case, this is a FREE COUNTRY, live free or die, rough and rugged, and all that other hype.  Me and Wayne, we're going to have a couple of extra bottles of water, maybe an extra six pack (rootbeer), some canned and boxed foods with an old fashion hand can opener.  I might take out some extra cash just in case, but my money is staying in a safe Federally Insured Bank.

So, what's the goal?

• To understand the problem and make the status public
• To fix Y2k problems that can be fixed in time, or to limit the effect of failures
• To create and test contingency plans
• To reach out to those in need
• To provide opportunities to help
• To help other communities do the same

Are you are the kind of person who likes to step in and help when there is a problem? Well, now become the person who is going to step in to prevent or reduce the problems.

Larry R. LeClaire

BNA Y2K Committee

Larry2000@AltaVista.net

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