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Photo by Andy Atkinson Melodee Badley (right) and Bill Fuller give Y2K tips to a small crowd in Wimer Tuesday evening at the Wimer Grange. Preparing for the millennium Folks in rural areas figure they'll be OK By BILL KETTLER Other Y2K groups dot Rogue Valley Several Y2K groups have organized across the Rogue Valley. The groups listed below were compiled from several sources, including the Rogue Valley Y2K Task Force: The Rogue Valley Y2K Task Force has scheduled a number of meetings and activities. The group maintains a Web site at: www.rv-y2k.org . For more information, call 608-9265. An Ashland group meets from 7 to 9 p.m. the first and third Tuesdays of each month at the community room of Walker Elementary School, 364 Walker Road. For more information, call 488-8782. An Eagle Point group meets at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 22, at the Nazarene Church, 400 Stevens Road. The Phoenix Emergency Preparedness System meets at 7 p.m. the third Thursday of each month at Phoenix City Hall. A Rogue River group is organizing. Contact person is Helen Price, 582-4691. A group is organizing around Shady Cove and Trail. Contact person is Kim Ragsdale, 878-2056. The Wimer Y2K Task Force is scheduled to meet May 17 and June 21. For more information call Ron or Glenda McKercher, 582-4847. MILLENNIUM Y2K CHAOS or CALM? WIMER -- If the world as we know it starts to totter on New Year's Day, many folks who live in this rural community think they may fare better than their city cousins. "We have our own woodstoves and our own wells," said Glenda McKercher, one of the organizers of the Evans Valley Y2K Task Force. "We're on our own out here." McKercher and her husband, Ron, have organized monthly meetings to help rural folks prepare for any disruptions that might occur when computer clocks tick over from 12/31/99 to 01/01/00. The meetings focus on topics such as home medical care, raising livestock, preserving meats the old-fashioned way and home security. "Our main thing is to be informed and eliminate fear," said McKercher. "To be ready eliminates fear." Preparing for uncertainty is nothing new for many people who live in the little valleys of northwest Jackson County. Over the past 15 years forest fires and floods have forced many residents to flee their homes along Sykes Creek, Pleasant Creek, Mays Creek and a dozen other streams that feed Evans Creek. Storms have toppled power lines and closed roads, cutting off electricity to some people for days and stranding others in their homes. "A couple of years ago we had a mudslide on one side (of the road to town) and a rock slide on the other and we couldn't go anywhere for four days," said Laurie Williams, who lives far up in the headwaters of the Evans Creek drainage. Many Wimer folks see possible Y2K disruptions as just another uncertainty they need to be ready for, said Bill Fuller, acting fire chief for Evans Valley Fire District 6. "We're all pretty much prepared," said Fuller. "We're a step ahead of city people. We just automatically do that." Fuller said a few people are still preparing for major disruptions that have been predicted when some computers may act as though the year 2000 is 1900. "There's a group of people who totally believe it's gonna happen," said Fuller. "They go and talk to their friends and get 'em all excited. I don't see a big group, but there is a concern." As many as 60 people turned out for the group's early meetings. Just 18 gathered on Monday night to hear a local nurse, Melodee Badley, talk about home medical care. Badley assured the group that local hospital emergency rooms will still function on Jan. 1. "Nine-one-one will still be going," she said, but she encouraged her audience to build a good home first-aid kit and learn basic first-aid skills to prepare for all kinds of emergencies, Y2K or otherwise. "We live so far out," she said, "that it's vital for you to know how to take care of medical emergencies. "My advice to you is to go tomorrow and sign up for a first-aid class and CPR." Some people who came to the Wimer Grange hall for Monday's meeting said they have taken precautions to help them meet basic needs if disasters happen. Maria Vaughan said she has put away a two-month food supply and added a propane heater to her all-electric home just in case electricity disappears. "I don't look at this as being a really big crisis," she said. "I look at (my preparations) as insurance. I have car insurance. I have homeowner's insurance." "I don't think there's any big rush of people hoarding and preparing for Y2K," said Fuller, the fire chief. "We're conscious of it. But how far do you want to go (to prepare)? And how much time do you want to spend?" Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA