Oct. 17--It is the large fork in the road. A turning point. The juncture.

And, perhaps, maybe: The end of the line.

Whatever cliche is used, the story is the same: This Monday night may be the last meeting of the Polk Computer Users Group. The club came into being a little over a quarter-century ago. At one point, it was 600 members strong.

Microsoft, Apple, and other big names sent representatives to make presentations.

To place things in perspective: During the 1984 Super Bowl, Apple Computer introduced the Macintosh. It was the first successful mouse-driven computer with a graphic user interface, and carried a list price of about $2,500.

During the early years of the club -- and even up until a few years ago -- nice door prizes, supplied by the vendors making the monthly presentations, were common.

These days, however, with cutbacks, it's hard to remember when the last time a software program was offered as a prize.

PCUG had a board meeting this month. "There were three members there," lamented Ruth Anderson, the club's vice president and long-time member.

At one point, the digital-image special interest group she ran drew almost as many people as the club's general meeting. Those new-fangled filmless cameras were all the rage.

Dallas Clay, the current club president, thinks Monday's meeting may be the equivalent of "this version is no longer supported" in computer lingo. "If people don't want to participate, if they don't want to help out, if they don't have an interest, we're done," he said.

Ever the optimist, he's hopeful. And he very succinctly summed up the problem the club has when it comes to membership: "Computer users need us, but they don't know that they need us."

Indeed. Over the past decades, I've visited the PCUG club, the Apple group, and other clubs around the county.

More than once I've witnessed what is known as an "ah-ha" moment, followed by: "I didn't know you could do THAT with a computer."

But you can do those things. Did you know you don't necessarily need a scanner to send copies of documents or old photographs to friends or coworkers?

Did you know that you can save a lot of money on long-distance phone calls -- and you can still use the regular land-line phone?

Do you know about the free program that will not only help catalog your photos, but will improve their exposure -- and identify faces automatically and catalog pictures according to what people are in them as well?

Did you know there are free virus-protection programs available that work as well as subscription-based ones?

If not, drop by the Grace Lutheran Church, 745 S.