In an article at: http://www.clevelandlive.com/news/pdnews/metro/f28y2k0.ssf linked at:

LINK

Cleveland PD ran a great "Sleep people" article. Article by Chuck Melvin and a host of departments here is my response: Dear Mr. Melvin; After seeing the wonderful job that the Chicago Trib. did a few weeks ago on Y2K, I had high hopes for the PD's efforts. While I understand that the "planes falling from the sky" myth/strawman is attractive, and catches the reader's attention, I would have hoped you could have dealt with it in a bit less space and saved the space for more substantive reportage. Perhaps covering the fact that the FAA is woefully behind in its remediation, and, in published reports has actually gone BACKWARDS in readiness. (see the last two Dodd Report cards. The percent complete has decreased.) You report " Yet the news from electric utilities is mostly good. It appears there is little danger that the glowing ball on Times Square that marks the beginning of each new year will suddenly blink off as it lands at precisely 12 a.m. on Jan. 1. In a report last month, the North American Electric Reliability Council said the Y2K rollover "is expected to have minimal impact on electric systems in North America."" Have you actually read the statistics in the NERC Report? The stats do NOT support this evaluation. the total average percent complete across the board is aproximate 57%. This is a misleading statistic because it does NOT show the large percentage of RESPONDING power systems who are in the 10% and 20% complete range. For a more in depth analysis please read this website publication: http://www.cbn.org/y2k/insights.asp?file=990114o.htm Bonnie Camp has done the analysis that needed to be done on the preceding NERC report to turn the data into information. In reference to the PR "dancing" you mention, your PR person ("There is such a huge concern about Y2K-related lawsuits," said Kevin Donahue, head of the crisis communications practice for the public relations firm Dix & Eaton. "That's why you're not at this point reading a lot of point-blank statements that "we are Y2K compliant,' because then what happens later when you're not?") appears to be wholly unaware of the enactment of the Y2K "Good Samaritan" legislation which protects corporations from the type of litigation which is aluded to but not mentioned. I find it interesting that none of your power sources said anything to you about remediatinig embedded controllers. I also find Ms. Sheffield-McClain's assertion that the power will definitely keep flowing for CPP initeresting, given that CPP is primarily a supplier of what is called "Wheeling Power"; which is the short way of saying that the power is generated by another power company, and purchased by CPP. Equally intersting is Mr English's assertion that as "long as water flows downhill, the sewage collection system works." This disregards the concentration and collection nodes in the system, which concentrate the "solid" waste for transmission. These are electric powered centrifuges. It is also interesting that you did not make us aware of the fact that the treatment plant, by law, maintains at least one layer of backup power to run the treatment system, always assuming that this is present. Here again, while the system will be powered up, there is an exposure to computer controled processes. Embedded controllers control things like the addition of chlorine, the opening and closing of gates for water flow, etc. Whether these embedded controllers have a date issue can only be determined by specific, individual firmware/software examination and individual testing. You do not mention whether any of this testing has been done. In contacting the "several dozen businesses and groups" for the artcle, I am surprised you missed Ohio State Auditor Jim Petro, who as recently as Mid February, announced that the majority of Ohio's small cities, towns, villages, as well as a large percentage of the school systems in the state are not going to be ready for the turnover. You do indicate that the preparedness varies widely, and that " all the communities, schools and colleges contacted for this article began attacking the problem months or years ago." Unfortunately, months ago is not really soon enough. You also seem to equate a lot of money having been spent with completion. Any in depth reading of the 10-Q reports of utilities, and other companies will show that just because a lot of money has been spent, completion has not been guaranteed. It is unfortunate that you relegated the preparation steps to the last paragraph. These steps are the minimum steps a prudent person should be taking. Taking them now will ensure that there will be less likelihood of panic and or shortages as teh year winds down. If you wish to minimize the possibility of panic, these preparations should have had MUCH more up-front billing. Hiding them at the end of an article which especially strongly seeks to minimize the active response of teh reader strikes me as being somewhat irresponsible, and counter-productive in terms of minimization of future panic. Another area you have no comment on is contingency plans. Many of the companies in the area are drawing up contingency plans, have interviewed ALL of their suppliers, etc. It would have been interesting to see some of the contingency plans in place for the City, as well as for First Energy, CPP, and some of the other large players in town. It would also have been interesting to see what the local EMA is doing in light of FEMA's assertion that the response to any disruptions will have to be local in nature. Always assuming that such plans are being made. On the other hand, talking about these types of plans, including the Fedreral Government's desire for local community preparedness would have been somewhat disconcerting to the readers who have not been terribly aware of the potential for problems the rollover presents. Overall, I am sorry to say you have not done anywhere near the job done by the Trib. You were unable, apparently, to get anyone in the Cleveland Metro area at any of the numerous companies headquartered in the area (Reltech, Applied, etc.) to comment on their status, or on their contingency plans. You were unable to comment on anything which might be in process for local community preparedness, and succeeded in presenting an article which will not assist the average reader (who in all likelihood, never got to the preparedness reccomendations at the end of the article) in being even minimally prepared for an event which has a non-zero probability of major negative impacts on their lives. For my sources or should you wish to discuss this further, you may contact me by any of the following: e-mail ::::> rienzoo@en.com snail mail ::> trust me, he got 'em!! Phone :::::> Sincerely yours; Chuck Rienzo

-- Chuck, night driver (rienzoo@en.com), February 28, 1999

Answers

Your rely was quite simply BRILLIANT!

-- Carol (usa-uk@email.msn.com), February 28, 1999.

Good job, Chuck. I wrote a letter several months ago to the Dallas Business Journal, chastizing them for superficial, misleading and ignorant reporting. They published the letter, but subsequent Y2K stories have been of the same sort. This from Roadrunner, who is daily more ashamed that he shares a job title with the purveyors of the news. Stickie: Buy extra reading glasses.

-- Vic (Roadrunner@compliant.com), February 28, 1999.

OY VEY!! Sorry about the non-formatting. I'm not at all sure how I can fix that one. I'll try to blockquote on the next one I paste.

Sorry

Chuck

-- Chuck, night driver (rienzoo@en.com), February 28, 1999.

Chuck, I was also dismayed at the lack of depth to this article. I hope your response was a letter to the editor, so that it will be published for all to read. Thanks for speaking for the few concerned Clevelanders.

-- Cheryl (cherylk428@aol.com), March 02, 1999.

Chuck,

Re: Formatting

If you don't include any HTML in your posting, blank lines will be retained as paragraph separators.

But if you have even _one_ HTML command (such as your link) in your posting, the forum software no longer preserves paragraph-separating blank lines. To get separation, you then have to use the <p> HTML command between all paragraphs.

-- No Spam Please (anon@ymous.com), March 02, 1999.

10Q 10Q NOSPAM!!!!

Will try harder next time.

CR

-- Chuck, night driver (rienzoo@en.com), March 02, 1999.