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Methow Valley News
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Page A3
Two still standing in bidding for bridge By Carol Stull “Worst case scenario, the [Susie Stephens Trail] pedestrian bridge could be done by summer 2011.” That prediction came from John Battle of Olympic Associates at the Wednesday, Oct. 21, Winthrop council meeting. Acting as owner’s representative for the town, to ensure everything goes correctly in this complex design/build project, Battle reported the bridge undertaking’s final stages are ready to begin. First, Olympic Associates will be sending out requests for proposals to the top two of eight initial applicants that the town’s selection committee judged to be most qualified. The selection commitee consists of Battle, Mayor Dave Acheson, Mel Hartwig and Mike Horton of consulting firm Perteet. The commitee chose Sahale of Seattle and Sure Span out of Canada. They will be asked to submit detailed final designs and bids for actual bridge construction.
The same selection commitee will make the final decision. Finally, contracts will be drawn up with the best bidder, materials can be ordered, and work can begin. And according to Battle, all this can happen within a few months. He noted that ideally, setting bridge foundations is best done at low water in the fall. But off-site fabrications could proceed before that. Depending on circumstances, actual bridge erection could be finished late next fall or in the spring of 2011. Learning that a $10,000 honorarium will be paid to the losing bidder, councilwoman Mort Banasky asked for an explanation. Battle noted that bidding firms must expend an effort worth some $35,000 to complete more than 100 pages of documents, and the detail required in their work warrants more than a free estimate. “We’re buying certainty,” said Battle. He explained that once the losing qualified bidder accepts the honorarium, he re-
leases all rights to his designs – ideas that can be incorporated into the finished product. “This is normal in construction,” agreed councilman Rick Northcott, adding “$10,000 is a minor amount for this.” Property acquisition securing a bridge-landing site came closer to closing. The state Department of Transportation – funding partner – approved all paperwork, and the council authorized Mayor Dave Acheson to complete the transaction with Gary Belsby. The council also reviewed the town’s six-year Capital Facilities Plan – also known as the staff’s wish list for 2010 through 2015. Questions raised included a police request for $5,000 in next year’s budget to install cameras in the main areas of town. Interim marshal Dave Dahlstrom said these would help catch burglars and alert him to heavy traffic periods. A public hearing on the Capital Facilities Plan is set for the next council meeting, Nov. 4.
SWINE FLU
From Page A1 doctor or go to the emergency room, he said. “In remote areas like this, things don’t spread as easily,” said Billings. On a subway in the city, five people with the flu get on and at the end of the train ride, 50 people have been exposed. While vaccine supplies are uncertain at doctors’ offices, prescription influenza medications to treat symptoms are well stocked, with the exception of the liquid form of Tamiflu, according to pharmacist Bill Kilby at Ulrich’s Valley Pharmacy. Influenza activity is increasing on both sides of the Cascade Mountains, but has been greater east of the Cascades, according to a news release from the Washington Department of Health. Since Sept 19 there have been 12 deaths, and 331 hospitalizations reported statewide. The state continues to receive supplies of H1N1 vaccine for distribution to local health jurisdictions like Okanogan County Public Health, but due to unanticipated production delays, the delivery rate has been slower than anticipated. The Centers for Disease Control have developed prioritization guidelines for who should receive the vaccine: pregnant women; household contacts and caregivers for children younger than six months of age; health care and emergency medical services personnel; all children from six-months to 24 years of age; and young adults from 19 The Valley’s full-service bike shop in the heart of Winthrop through 24 years of age; people aged 25 through 64 years of age who have health conditions associated with higher risk of medical complications from 50% discounted labor on bike overhauls influenza.
chills, and a cough and over a day’s time feel like you’ve been hit by a truck, those symptoms are consistent with influenza. “The shots are working this year, partly because it hit so early,” said Jensen. “It happened quickly. By September the seasonal flu was widespread in our community.” “Every shot and FluMist [the nasal vaccine spray] has a name on it,” said Jensen. Nurses at his office spent hours researching who can get what and prioritizing patients at highest risk for the illness. His clinic has given 500 shots already and has 100 remaining. He called today to get more seasonal vaccine and found out it is back-ordered. “A funny thing, we haven’t had anybody over 65 years old,” said Jensen. He said the elderly seem to have an historical immunity to the H1N1 strain from previous illnesses, though they typically make up a large percentage of serious seasonal flu patients. Schools within the county this week are reporting absentee rates ranging between 5 and 30 percent, according to County Health, but the causes of the absences have not been determined. A mix of colds and flu is keeping about 10 percent of the students at home this week, according to Methow Valley School
District superintendent Mark Wenzel. “Absenteeism has increased this week and a couple of staff members are out, but we’re noticing more among students,” said Wenzel Tuesday (Oct. 27). Liberty Bell High School teacher Mike Putnam noticed students coming and going with coughs until he developed a cough that put him in Central Washington Hospital in Wenatchee for four days. He said tests to confirm H1N1 influenza were “indeterminate.” He has been recovering at home since Thursday (Oct. 22). “What was significant for me was the deep cough,” said Putnam. His wife and daughter relied on Tamiflu to keep from getting sick, but his son has missed seven days of school with the flu-like illness. “It’s not an epidemic,” said Mike Billings, administrator at Mid-Valley Hospital in Omak. “We have a few confirmed cases of swine flu, but it’s no big concern here yet.” “We’re encouraging people with common flu symptoms to stay away from the hospital and not put our patients at risk,” said Billings. He said 20 or 30 people showed up over the weekend with flu symptoms. “Most will do just as well at home taking fluids.” People with a fever of 102 degrees or greater should see their
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For more information regarding the flu contact OCPH Influenza Hotline at (509) 4227393 or the state H1N1 swine flu hotline at (888) 703-4364 or www.doh.wa.gov.
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THE DIRT DOCTOR
Naked Eye
Friends of the night I have a lot of friends hanging around this time of year. They have many interesting stories to tell, but they never whine, talk back, or gossip about you behind your back. Step outside some dark autumn night and let me introduce you to a few of them. Look up high in the north for a slightly tilted “W” of stars. This constellation is Cassiopeia, the queen of an ancient kingdom known as Aethiopia. She boasted that she was more beautiful than the sea nymphs known as the Nereids, which got her into all sorts of trouble. In revenge, Poseidon, the god of the sea, sent a horrible monster, Cetus, also a constellation visible in the fall, which swallowed ships and made a nuisance of himself. To rid her country of this creature, Cassiopeia chained her daughter Andromeda to a rock at the seashore to be sacrificed to Cetus. As punishment, the queen was chained to her throne and placed in David Ward the sky to circle the North Star forever, sometimes hanging upside down in a very disgraceful position. Below Cassiopeia in the due north, look for the North Star, Polaris. It is about the same brightness as the stars of Cassiopeia with no other bright stars nearby. Polaris is the end of the tail of Ursa Minor, the little bear, or the end of the handle of the Little Dipper, as this constellation is commonly known. Imagine the North Star as a nail driven into a plank and the dipper slowly spinning around and around the nail. Polaris is less than 1 degree from true North so it is the only star in the sky that doesn’t move. If you are ever lost at night, you would be wise to be familiar with this star. Polaris is one of a class of stars known as Cepheid variables. It has a layer of helium inside of it that acts like a giant piston responding to pressure from the star’s core causing the star to expand and contract and therefore brighten and dim slightly. These variable stars have been very important in determining the distances to other galaxies. More about that in another column. High overhead, Pegasus, the winged horse, gallops westward across the sky. When the Greek hero Perseus cut off the head of Medusa – one of the dreadful Gorgon sisters at the seashore – Pegasus sprang from the blood stained sea foam. Look for a large square of four stars of equal brightness with no bright stars inside. You can see the horse’s wings stretching out from the western side of the square. Andromeda, the daughter of Cassiopeia the queen, trails to the northeast from the other side. West of Pegasus, look for the three bright stars of the summer triangle, Altair, Deneb and Vega. These stars belong to three birds, Aquila the Eagle and Cygnus the Swan in Greek mythology, and a vulture in ancient Indian mythology. Cygnus the Swan is commonly known as the Northern Cross and this time of year, the cross is standing almost upright with the bright star Deneb at its head. Low in the south, to the left of bright Jupiter, the star Fomalhaut lies all by itself in a dim area of the sky. Don’t ask me how to pronounce this odd name, which means “the mouth of the fish.” Indeed, it lies in the obscure constellation, Piscis Austrinus, the southern fish. Fomalhaut is one of our close neighbors in the cosmos at only 25 light years out. Compare that with the giant star Deneb, which is almost 2,000 light years from us. Fomalhaut is the only easily seen bright star that is known to have a planet around it, one of the first exoplanets to be seen directly through a telescope. A great night to meet some of my old friends will be the evening of Nov. 17 and the early morning of the 18th. Meteor forecasters, who spend untold hours tirelessly plotting unseen nuances in meteor streams with computer models, are predicting that the Leonid meteor shower could be a happening thing this year. Some estimates say that we might see as many as 500 shooting stars per hour for short periods of time! Unfortunately for us, people in Asia have the best chance of seeing such a show. It’s worth checking it out anyway, if you don’t get too cold. Look for them radiating out of the east, streaking across any part of the sky. Have fun meeting some of my old friends up there!
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MVN, pg 3
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