This is from my weekly column in the "Bloomington Independent". Kruzan's letter is in response to a request to sign a statement urging individual preparation.

(If you are interested in seeing the text of the statement, email me)

The article is at: http://www.indepen.com/1999/aug0599/cols/y2k.html

Indiana House Majority Leader says important to prepare

By Michael Redman "While I believe most in the private and public sector are doing as much as possible to prepare for Y2K, the fact is even these well-intentioned individuals cannot guarantee uninterrupted essential services," writes Mark Kruzan in a letter to "Y2K This Week". Kruzan is a representative from Bloomington to the Indiana House Of Representatives and is the House Majority Leader. In response to a request for political leaders to sign a statement supporting individual preparation for Y2K, Kruzan returned the signed statement with a letter of support. Relating an account of a friend who recently involuntarily changed banks due to a bank merger, Kruzan says computer glitches prevented him from using his money mover card, incorrectly informed retailers that he was overdrawn and blocked direct deposits of paychecks. "And then it occurred to me," explains the legislator, "if he and hundreds of others went through aggravation bordering on financial gridlock in their personal lives as the result of a single bank merger, what might happen if even a fraction of the computers thoughout a heavily networked community, state, country and world experience technological trouble?" "The answer is, nobody really has the answer," he adds. Kruzan stresses individual preparation, "There is only one Y2K certainty  we can only rely on ourselves to be prepared. Whether it be Y2K-related or not, we should make it a practice to have a reasonable level of essential supplies on hand." "The fact whatever problems could happen so far as power, phone and food service go will take place in the dead of winter make it all the more important that we take reasonable steps to be prepared," he cautions. "I hope 2000 arrives without a glitch," he writes, "My even greater hope is that if it doesn't, we're all prepared."

-- Michael Redman (redman@indepen.com), August 16, 1999

Answers

Please excuse the formatting, or lack thereof, in my post. Obviously I haven't figured out how to cut & paste and do paragraph breaks on this board.

Anyone with that particular piece of knowledge who wants to enlighten me?

--MIchael

-- Michael Redman (redman@indepen.com), August 16, 1999.

Michael,

In order to be sure that a blank line occurs between two paragraphs, you can insert a line that contains a less than sign then a letter p then a greater than sign.

If this works, it will look like this:

"

"

Jerry

-- Jerry B (skeptic76@erols.com), August 16, 1999.

Well, that didn't work as I had hoped.

"<"p">"

Jerry

-- Jerry B (skeptic76@erols.com), August 16, 1999.

OK, if you leave out the following quotes, it would look like this:

"<"p">"

Jerry

-- Jerry B (skeptic76@erols.com), August 16, 1999.

Who cares what this two bit pol thinks.

-- whocares (pol@rescum.com), August 16, 1999.

Perhaps more than care what "whocares" thinks. :-)

Jerry

-- Jerry B (skeptic76@erols.com), August 16, 1999.

I can send this to my good friend in Indiana to help psyche him into preparing. That's why I care.

-- Mara Wayne (MaraWAyne@aol.com), August 16, 1999.

I live in Indiana.....enough said...that's why I care. Keep info coming. This can be used to encourage others to prepare.

-- Moore Dinty moore (not@thistime.com), August 16, 1999.

for those of us in indiana, here is a good article about monroe county, where bloomington is located, and its y2k preparedness program: http://www.indepen.com/1999/jul2299/columns/y2k.html

-- jocelyne slough (jonslough@tln.net), August 16, 1999.