Post Will Publish In Y2k

BY SARA PITZER
SALISBURY POST

Whatever happens New Year’s Eve, you should be able to read about it in the Post, Jan. 1, 2000.

Cathy Wilkerson, Post publisher, said the Post crew has tested all its systems and will replace newsroom computers and the telephone system, which were not Y2K compliant. The new equipment will work propertly when the date rolls over. ‘‘The community depends on us as a leader in disseminating information,’’ she said. ‘‘This is our duty and obligation to our readers.’’

The Post has also leased a generator for December and January, so even if the power fails the Post will still publish.

And while some folks are celebrating the beginning of the new millenium at parties, most of the Post staff will be at work making sure everything is running OK and on schedule.

Lee Wilson, production manager, said he and the staff have approached the Y2K event in a logical manner, assessing all the equipment and identifying every piece that could have a date-related problem, even calculators, fax machines and cash registers.

Wilson said, ‘‘We contacted manufacturers of all the items we could and asked for letters stating whether or not the item is Y2k compatible or date oriented.’’

Wilson said the Post was getting the new telephone system because the manufacturer will not guarantee the old one is Y2K compatible. ‘‘We take that to mean it’s not. We are being very prudent in our approach to be sure we can produce the daily paper well into the next century.’’

The Post has purchased a software fix for the non-compatible newsroom computers so they can serve as backup if there should be an unforseen problem with the new computers.

Wilkerson said buying new equipment goes beyond gearing up for the Y2K bug. It is good business.

‘‘Putting in new business systems took care of Y2K but we needed to do it any way,’’ she said.

Wilson said Y2K served as an opportunity to make major changes in equipment the company needed to grow and modernize. He called the process, ‘‘moving from the dark ages into the space age.’’

New computers will make more modern and efficient production possible and a docking site for a generator will allow the Post to use auxiliary power in any future emergency.

But some other preparations are more immediate. Wilson said Y2K is a unique situation because it is the first potential crisis that we’ve known about ahead of time.

So, just in case, the Post will have a supply of gas for newspaper carriers, an on-site portable toilet and a supply of food and water, in case people need to stay at the plant for some length of time working on problems.

‘‘We have to take extreme measures because of the type product we produce. We don’t publish when it’s convenient,’’ Wilkerson said. ‘‘We want to make sure we are able to produce a paper every day.’’