LIKE many of you I spent the tickover from 1999 to the year 2000 on Armageddon Watch instead of sipping bub- bles and stumbling over the words of Auld Lang Syne. Admittedly it’s been many years, from the time when | earned my daily crust as a police officer in fact, since I had to work a New ¥ Year’s Eve. This year’s annual pas- sage was markedly different because of the potential onslaught of the so-calied Y2K bug. {t was also different because of the planned ceie- ~ brations to mark what was described as the new millen- nium, albeit a year early. Police forces across the coun- try cancelled all leave and _ scheduled all available officers to man the portals. In North Vancouver they had three times the normal comple- ment of squad cars patrolling the streets. The only incident of note occurred as a result of a clash of culture fuelled by alcohol, when a 14-year-old girl ~ jumped off the overpass on the Upper Levels at Capilano Road. ; It seems she had been at a party with friends. Her moth- er, a first generation immi- grant whose religion does not tolerate alcohol, came to col- lect her. She discovered the teenagers drinking and « threatened to call the police on her friends. ’ The young gil got into a ; screaming match with her mother, torn between the old world with its restrictions and her_new world where the _code of the teens is “do not rat.” . The uafortunate result was she fled from her mom “and threw herself off the * overpass, falling 100 feer . down to the Capilano River. Evidently the only reason she didn’ t die was becatise the: aillch © Mexx © Marese * Bebe Coceal dert Knight crime and punisiment trees on the shoreline broke her call. The other point of inter- est in North Vancouver on New Year's Eve, was what did not occur. The traffic sec- tion was out in full force manning the roadbiocks and checking hundreds of cars. By 3:30 in the morning they had not arrested one drunk” driver or even issued one 24 hour suspension. Not one. Vancouver fielded almost half of its entire force, includ- ing quick response vans con- taining tactical officers who could quickly get to pockets of rouble before things got out of hand. In a typical iron- ic twist, after Vancouver Police announced their Y2K coverage plans and a “no tol- erance” policy, cries of out- rage emanated from the pointy-headed ones, suggest- ing the police were being heavy-handed. But apart from a few drunks and assorted other idiots who were rapidly con- tained, there was no real trouble, Surrey RCMP had more . than half its detachment strength on duty and handled fewer calls than on most Friday nights. All across the world as the clocks ticked over the witch- ing hour, the world held its collective breath but nothing happened. And what of it all? The lack of problems had many wags wondering ‘whether it was all over-hyped. Midnight came and went around the world with few problems. Monday morning _ and the opening of the inter- national markets came and went without the predicted ¢ ANGELS ON BELLEVUE * Children’s Boutique Sizes newborn to 12 1463 Bellevue Ave, S "West Vancouver 926-8737 Hours: Mon.-Sat. .10-5:30pm Sun. & Holidays 12-4pm about Y2K chaos. With the bills being tabulated, it appears more than $800 billion was spent around the world to combat Y2K problems. Was it worth iv Certainly, as far as the police response, Pd have to say it was. The proactive positioning, of the various forces coupled with the “no tolerance” announcement surely sent a clear message. But, whar of all the money spent on sofiware updates, computer consul- tants and the rest? In fact it seems a whole new industry was created for the event which leaves one to wonder just what will all these con- sultants do now, Will there suddenly be chousands of techno-wienies looking for work? Professor Anthony Finkelstein, head of software systems engineering at University College, London, seems to think the whole thing has been totally overblown for the basest of reasons — greed. In an interview on Australian radio, Finkelstein said, “The story is of a panic which scrambled out of the control of all the parties, even those that sought to make money from it. 1 believe greed was an element of it.” An interesting take. Bill Gates, the Microsoft supremo, said it was all worth it. But then he would. According to Gates, “it ended up being a fairly minor issue because people really worked together. If people had ignored the thing then we would be secing the real impact.” But, one does have to wonder. Whatever the final analysis of the Y2K issue and even if the new millennium does not See Internet page 9 21 pt. Safety check, 15 minutes - FAST! 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