By David Grant Long

Is civilization as we know it about to come crashing down around our pampered ears, or are we, come Jan. 1, still going to be able to get up to a steaming cup of coffee that was programed to brew the night before, retrieve our morning paper from the driveway or the Internet and turn on the gas-log fireplace for a cozy read?

Will water still flow from our taps, current still charge our electric outlets and gas still fuel our furnaces and stoves? Or will we spend New Year’s Day huddled in sleeping bags, chewing on stale crackers and berating ourselves for not taking this worldwide cataclysm more seriously?

And what about money? Should we be hurriedly digging a hole in the back yard to stash our pathetic savings after withdrawing them from the bank? And even if we do, will paper currency be worth anything in the World of 2000?

Will our fancy microchip-enhanced cars refuse to start and our solid-state appliances cease to respond to our push-button commands? Will panic-crazed adults rampage through our streets, looting and pillaging while our peace officers are looking after their own salvation?

Should we be making lists of people with whom we’ll share our hoarded supplies and those whom we’ll shoot if they try to take them? And should we decide in advance if, when and in what order we’ll eat our pets?

Well, only if you really have nothing better to do, according to experts.

At any rate, here are a few final words of reassurance from those who are supposed to be in the know that might calm those remaining grave doubts about entering the new millennium:

ELECTRICITY

Unless interrupted by weather-related problems, electricity should continue to light our homes and operate our appliances, according to Dave Rightly, an engineer with Empire Electric Association.

"We don’t anticipate any problems," he said Tuesday. "However, winter is always a good time for consumers to prepare for an outage anyway."

All computer-dependent systems and devices in Empire’s system have been upgraded, then checked and rechecked to make sure they’ll keep on working, he said, and the power-generating plant in Craig that supplies Empire has already been operating as though it is 2000 for the past couple weeks.

That plant, operated by Tri-State Generation and Transmission, set the clocks in its equipment ahead recently so they could see if any glitches would occur and none have, he said, nor are any expected.

Rightley said the myriad other power companies that make up the power grid in the western U.S. have conducted similar exercises and are confident the changeover will be uneventful.

"I can’t speak for a thousand utilities," he said, "but they all say they’re ready. They’ve all done testing and the majority have done things like Tri-State, such as turn the clock ahead to ensure that they don’t have to think about it come Friday the 31st."

Rightley said he has taken no extraordinary precautions in his private life to prepare for what he believes will be a non-event.

"Personally, I have done nothing —I’m not stocking up food, I’m not stocking up on money and I am very confident that the system will be available and a computer is not going to cause an outage.

"At the same time, I’m always somewhat ready for an outage at my house —we’ve got sleeping bags and blankets and we could store a little water in some jugs if we had to."

NATURAL GAS

Atmos Energy Company, owner of Greeley Gas, which supplies southwestern Colorado, has a "Year 2000 Fact Sheet" posted on its web site expressing guarded optimism that the delivery of this essential commodity will most probably continue uninterrupted.

In language surely crafted by a lawyer, Atmos stresses that even though approximately $1 million has been spent to make its delivery system Y2K-compliant, something may have been missed, and that it is but a small cog in a national delivery system at any rate.

"Despite the company’s efforts, there can be no assurance that all material risks associated with Year 2000 issues related to systems and imbedded technology within its control will have been adequately identified and corrected before the end of 1999," it equivocates.

"On the other hand, while the company has researched the Year 2000 readiness of its suppliers and vendors, the company can make no representations regarding the Year 2000 readiness status of systems or parties outside its control," it adds, "and cannot assess the effect on it of any non-readiness by such systems or parties." The fact sheet ends with a disclaimer absolving the company of any legal liability for anything that turns out to be incorrect in these "forward-looking statements."

A Greeley Gas representative will be available by cell phone during the rollover to respond to any customer problems. That number is 970-260-2135.

WATER

The computerized equipment in Cortez’s water-delivery system has been checked and found satisfactory, according to City Manager Hal Shepherd, but even if something does go wrong the gravity-fed network could easily be manually operated.

"All of our computer systems and our water system have been checked out," Shepherd said. "People should not worry —food will still be in the stores, electricity will be on.

"We don’t expect any blips here," he added. "We spent the last six months making some last-minute adjustments in our computer systems (but) it wasn’t too much.

"I think it will be the biggest non-event of the century."

Mike Bauer, manager of the Montezuma Water Company, which supplies potable water to the rural areas of the county, also is confident his customers’ pipes will remain filled.

"We recently reconstructed our plant so that it’s state-of-the-art," Bauer said Thursday. "It is computerized, but it’s all been hard-wired for manual operation —if we do have computer problems, we can just turn them off and this all can be run manually."

Most of that system is also gravity-fed, he explained, but some parts in the northern part of the county use pumping stations operated by electricity.

"We do have a supply (for those areas) that would last from 24 to 48 hours," he said, "but if the power supply is down for any length of time, they’re going to be out of water."

Bauer said he had considered placing portable generators at the pumping stations but the cost would have been "astronomical."

PHONE SERVICE

Phone lines being heavily used during the several hours before and after the start of the new year could cause people to experience dial-tone outages and "busy-circuit" recordings, according to US West officials, but they also anticipate no major problems stemming from computer failures related to outmoded equipment.

However, they are concerned that such high usage could block emergency 911 calls from getting through and are urging people to limit use around that time.

Cortez Police Chief Roy Lane said new equipment was recently installed at the dispatch center here to make its 911 equipment Y2K compliant.

LAW ENFORCEMENT

Lane said all his officers will be working from Dec. 29 through Jan. 3, doubling up on 12-hour shifts to be prepared for any eventuality, even though he expects nothing earth-shaking to happen.

"It’s going to be an extra-busy New Year’s Eve" because of all the celebration accompanying the rollover of the celestial odometer, "but I’m not concerned about computer issues."

Montezuma County Sheriff Joey Chavez informed the county commission Monday that his department will also be fully staffed to deal with any problems associated with either computer glitches or out-of control revelry.

County administrator Tom Weaver said other than the standard civil-defense plan the sheriff’s office would employ for any crisis situation, no special plans had been formulated, although at a recent meeting of the various local entities the Cortez Middle School had been discussed as a possible emergency shelter in the event one is needed.