This Just in.. Notice, time is short to try to go backwards now. Soon these possibilities will be impossible. Following reproduced for educational purposes only.

Thursday, December 02, 1999 Maysville Ledger-Independent - By MARY ANN KEARNS Staff Writer Computer glitches have been causing problems on the Maysville tobacco market since Mondays opening, officials said Wednesday. Its made it very difficult for us to get our numbers in, said David Cartmell, president of the Tobacco Board of Trade.

It has not been fun, Supervisor of Sales Bill Collins said.

The problem stems indirectly from the Y2K bug, which can cause computer systems to misread the year 2000 for 1900, Collins said. With only two warehouse computer systems in Maysville Y2K compliant, the other warehouses had to upgrade systems, he said. When the new systems went online, a glitch occurred and the systems did not operate as expected, Collins said.

A lot of somethings didnt work, Collins said.

Theres always glitches, Cartmell said.

Without the computers, the Maysville market has been unable to report its sales numbers to the Tobacco Reporting Network in Atlanta, Cartmell said.

The computers have also prevented tobacco companies from getting figures on the pounds of tobacco they purchased, holding up transfers of funds for the purchases, Collins said. And more than $5.5 million has been paid out on the Maysville market in the first two days of sales, he said.

Only two companies have been paid, Collins said.

Farmers have not been affected, with only a few hours delay in payment on a few occasions, Collins said.

For now, a computer technician is working around the clock to re-install the old systems, hoping to get the warehouses back online until the market closes for the holidays Dec. 16, Collins said. Warehouses hope to work out the bugs and get the new systems back in operation before the market reopens Jan. 10, Collins said.

Collins predicted the computer problems would be worked out and the old systems up and running in time for todays sales.

Sales are also being held up by moisture testing of tobacco, Cartmell said.

This year marks the first time that the testing by USDA graders is mandatory, Cartmell said. The testing must be completed before the tobacco can be sold, he said.

A lot of personnel are waiting for the tobacco to be probed, Cartmell said.

As we get more regulations from the government and more stringent suggestions from the tobacco companies, we will have to implement them to keep the integrity of our product, Cartmell said.

Despite the problems which the market has experienced in its first two days, Cartmell said he is pleased with the way things are progressing.

Were having good sales on the Maysville market, Cartmell said.

-- Slammer (billslammer@yahoo.com), December 14, 1999

Answers

I am heavily prepared for a crises with tobacco. I even bought a small second refrigerator to store my cig's and tobacco in to keep it fresh until or if power goes out.

-- Paula (chowbabe@pacbell.net), December 14, 1999.

>> I even bought a small second refrigerator to store my cig's and tobacco in to keep it fresh until or if power goes out. <<

AFAIK, tobacco really doesn't benefit from refrigeration and may even dry out. A humidor or other tightly sealed container is the traditional storage method. Did someone recommend this method to you?

When I used to buy shredded tobacco in bulk to roll into cigs (I quit about 15 years ago) I would put a small slice of apple into the cannister to help keep it slightly moist (but not wet enough to mold). Of course, I never did really long term storage. Never more than 2-3 months.

-- Brian McLaughlin (brianm@ims.com), December 14, 1999.