Y2K Arrived in North Country with Minimal Issues and Calm
As Y2K approached, North Country residents prepared for potential disruptions, but the new millennium arrived with few significant problems.
Y2K, North Country, Massena, Glens Falls, Watertown, Jefferson County
Massena: Back in December 1999, folks were buzzing about Y2K. There were food drives and a rush for portable toilets in Glens Falls. Everyone was gearing up for what could have been a tech disaster.
People were a mix of calm and a bit anxious. It was all about the unknown. Willie C. Kennedy Jr. from KeyCorp had this recurring dream about traffic lights being out and not being able to get into work. He joked that maybe Nostradamus was onto something.
But he also imagined a fun New Year’s Eve party with programmers. As the clock struck midnight, everyone’s pagers went off, but his stayed quiet. That was the hope, right?
The big worry was that older computers only used two digits for the year. So, when 2000 hit, they might think it was 1900 instead. But when the clock struck midnight, most people in the North Country found things were pretty smooth sailing.
Sure, there were a few bumps, but nothing major. Watertown City Hall spent a hefty $697,000 to upgrade their systems, but on January 2, it felt like a big letdown. “It was kind of anticlimactic,” said City Manager Jerry C. Hiller.
People were still a bit jittery from the Great Ice Storm of 1998. So, to be safe, David A. Luyk from WUZZ-AM bought generators to keep the stations running just in case. Emergency management officials advised everyone to stock up on supplies, just like prepping for a winter storm.
On New Year’s Eve, about 20 folks from various agencies were on standby, ready for anything. They called it a “Y2K non-event practice run.”
When January 3 rolled around, a few computers had minor hiccups, but nothing that couldn’t be fixed quickly. Jefferson County spent over a million bucks to get everything compliant, but it paid off.
Meanwhile, Massena’s big industries, like Alcoa, breezed through Y2K without a hitch. They even shut down their command center early because everything was running smoothly.
Local broadcasters and telecom companies reported no issues, except for a small glitch at WBQZ-TV. The master control operator just had to manually reset an old computer, and that was that.
Cellular One had extra staff on hand, but they wrapped up testing by 2 a.m. with no problems. Even the Internet services were running fine.
However, a few police agencies in St. Lawrence County faced issues with new breathalyzer machines that didn’t work right. Canton Police Chief Alan P. Mulkin shared how they had to process a suspect using a different machine because of the glitch.