RELIGIOUS RIGHT FEARS Y2K BUG.(MAIN)

Byline: GARY D. ROBERTSON Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Marvin Tarlton and his neighbors fear a great storm may be approaching, and they're preparing like coastal residents would for a hurricane.

The tempest would not be wind and rain, but computer data gone haywire on New Year's Day.

So his family in Marshville, a rural community 30 miles southeast of Charlotte, is stocking its farm pond with fish, buying bags of dried pinto beans and keeping 600 canning jars on hand to preserve vegetables they may have to grow.

After listening to Focus on the Family chief James Dobson, attending a Christian Coalition conference and doing his own research, Tarlton decided to err on the side of caution with the Y2K computer problem.

``We're preparing a little more radical than others,'' said …