Alabama computers won't be entirely ready for Y2K, official admits

The Associated Press 02/17/99 1:57 AM Eastern

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) -- The job of updating Alabama's computers to deal with the arrival of the year 2000 will not be completed by New Year's Day, the state finance director acknowledged.

The state has finished 60 to 70 percent of the work needed to make sure its computer systems and equipment won't fail, new Finance Director Henry Mabry said Tuesday in a speech to legislators.

"We have the potential to get most of the rest done. But we are not going to be in complete compliance," Mabry warned.

He said state officials are trying to pinpoint the problems that must be addressed before Dec. 31, and Gov. Don Siegelman has demanded contingency plans from all state agencies.

Mabry, who took over as finance director a month ago, criticized former Gov. Fob James for the lack of preparation for the Year 2000 computer phenomenon.

"I think the James administration was not necessarily interested in this particular issue," he said.

Alabama has spent about $45 million on the millennium bug problem, Mabry said. All of that money has been squeezed from agencies' existing budgets.

He said the state needs to spend another $65 million to address the problem.

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Again, more gross understatement. "Not in 'complete' compliance" ROTFLMAO Someday, all you ignorant pollyannas will wake up. Not likely though.

http://flash.al.com/cgi-bin/al_nview.pl?/home1/wire/AP/Stream- Parsed/BAMA_NEWS/j8454_PM_AL--Y2K-Alabama Paul Milne If you live within five miles of a 7-11, you're toast.

-- a (a@a.a), February 19, 1999

Answers

How many states are sunk?

-- Watchful (seethesea@msn.com), March 21, 1999.

As a resident of Alabama, I find it hard to get too upset about this. I'm not sure what 'sunk' means in this context. If you knew much about Alabama State government, you'd realize that taking the computers away from these clowns will doubtless do more good than harm.

-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), March 21, 1999.

Flint
I appreciate your astute observations

[big G]

-- Mr. Kennedy (grinning@the.thought), March 21, 1999.