Here's a message I received from a friend that may be of interest to all of you:

Last month I met a guy through the Civil Air Patrol who is a senior engineer with American Light & Power (I think that was the name of the company). Anyway -- it covers most of southwestern Virginia including Lynchburg Blacksburg and that area, plus most of West Virginia and parts of 13 other states. Although I hadn't heard of his company, I respect his claim that they are one of the nation's largest utilities.

Several other Fredericksburg Civil Air Patrol members were with me and we began quizing him on their Y2k compliance. We had just met him a few hours earlier and so he started out with "the company line." Fortunately, his wife was with him, so she told him to cut the crap and tell us the truth.

He said the truth is, "nobody can now for sure" what will happen. He is certain that some parts of the country will suffer brown outs and it could last for a month or so.

One of my friends asked if he had a generator at his home. He said no. (A natural response in support of the company "line.") Then his timid wife said that their son, who is an electrician for a residential builder, has their generator and plans to spend New Years with them -- generator in tow.

Our Civil Air Patrol Squadron has several members who join us in concern about Y2k disruptions.

-- Eric (Eric99@now.com), March 04, 1999

Answers

anyone who is a volunteer in a group like CAP may get called upon, best bet to avoid anxiety is to make sure the family has plenty of provisions so you don't need to worry about them if you're out saving the world.

-- jocelyne slough (jonslough@tln.net), March 05, 1999.