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Vy Weekly Times ton and Lcycnd ci nee 1937 Subscriptions $28.04 + $1.96 G.S.T. = $30.00/year Publications Mail Registration No. 09301 Publishing 50 Issues Annually at the Office of Publication "We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada, through the Publications Assistance Program (PAP), toward our mailing costs" 5310 Main Street, P.O. Box 209, Orono, Ontario LOB 1M0 E-Mail Address: oronotimes@speedline.ca Phone/Pax (905) 983-5301 Publisher/Editor Marg Zwart V J A Love Affair by Roy Forrester No, this is not an Ann Landers' story but it may well be that we are all involved. The fact is we were some twelve months past and bitten hard by the Love Bug, the Y2K hype, that took the entire country from sea to sea and including the world on a big binge. It was a period in which we celebrated the beginning beginning of the end, year 2000 rather than waiting a full twelve months to celebrate the beginning of the future, the 3rd Millennium, 2001. We partied to the extreme, a point of total exhaustion and totally empty pockets. Both extremes are still with us today hindering any effort in righting a wrong or having funds to even light a candle this past New Year's eve. We had to get it right. After all there were predictions predictions of planes following out of the sky, electrical power grids would falter, as would possibly sewer and water systems. There were reports of underground bunkers being built and here in Clarington the municipalities' municipalities' Y2K Advisory Committee was keeping council council abreast of what was being undertaken to assist citizens citizens who had concerns. The municipality also purchased purchased a large capacity generator that would be available available if needed. You may well know the end of the,story. Two days after the Y2K event both Canada and the United States reported that despite an unprecedented government government and industry fact-finding operation it was impossible to find any major issues because of the Y2K Millennium bug. In fact, throughout the world there was no evidence evidence of Y2K damage even in areas where very little was spent in so-called updating. The total cost across the globe has been estimated estimated at $250 billion U.S. Who paid the bills? - "you and I" - who repeated the benefits? - "our industrial darlings darlings and consultants". This is likely the largest "con-job" of the last Millennium. We were taken in big time. Why did it become a "Love Affair" for all people. Historian Bert Hall of the University of Toronto has observed that we all love those big black 0s in a row. It's a big deal to reach 20, then 30 and so on and the kilometers in the car are only spoken of in the 5000s to 10000s. When 2000 came along there was the hype of the 0s and a fear of an introduced Millennium bug. Computers with two digits wouldn't recognize 00. They did and I can tell you that writing 00 as the year on a cheque didn't stop it from being cashable. Hope you all had a good new year's and we are now in the new Millennium. Water & sewer rates (continued from page 1) Council passed the $1.8 million increase to the water and sewer budget. "The water bill is the one bill you write yourself," stated stated Port: Perry's Mayor, Doug Moffat. "You can control the amount of water you use in your house." Part of the increase will go towards fixing a smelly water problem in Port Perry. J MUNICIPALITY OF [jlarîncBton ONTARIO NOTICE MAYOR'S LEVEE Everyone is cordially invited to join Mayor Mutton and Members of Council at the Mayor's Levee to be held Sunday, January 7, 2001 from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Municipal Administrative Centre, 40 Temperance Street; Bowmanville