The Bismarck Tribune from Bismarck, North Dakota • 7

Bismarcktribune.com Bismarck Tribune Tuesday, October 7, 2008 Page 7A 1 ft -jmjh i v. it i BRIAN GEHRINGTribune A group of people on a rocky point had a good vantage point Monday morning to witness the west span of the old Liberty Memorial Bridge being dropped into the Missouri River. Gonein seconds Continued from 1A 3" h. BRIAN GEHRINGTribune Above, a number of people put their boats in the water to view the demolition of the old Liberty Memorial Bridge up close, including a pair of kayakers. Left, demolition crews used a large crane mounted on a barge to lift and retrieve the 28 pieces of steel from Liberty Memorial Bridge from the Missouri River on Monday afternoon.

The large sections of steel were cut into smaller pieces before being hauled away. 4- Shaped charges, hightech, armor-piercing explosives were used to virtually burn through the steel girders and trusses. Gustafson said, in all, 198 charges or a total of 43 pounds of explosives were used to drop the bridge. He said it came down in 28 pieces. Crews now have 24 hours in which to remove the debris from the river.

Gustafson said the job on the Memorial Bridge was a little different from other jobs they do in that the new bridge was so close in proximity to the old one. He said precautionary measures were taken in placing the charges so there would be minimal damage to the new bridge. The measures apparently were successful. "We haven't heard of any damage yet." Most of the bridges Gustafson and his four-man crew do aren't as large as this one. "There aren't too many (spans) in the 400- to 500-foot class," he said.

He said the original plan was to drop the remaining two spans separately, but he said now there have been discussions to do them both at the same time to get them on the ground before freeze-up. At the Port of Bismarck boat ramp, folks lined up along rocks, in their vehicles and on the sand early to get a good view. Louis Rose of Bismarck was one of them. A retired electrician, Rose has lived in Bismarck since 1979. He retired from IBEW Local 714 and recalled mak- TOM STROMMETribune feelings about it coming down.

"It's been there a long time," he said. "The landscape will definitely look different." And like a watching Fourth of July fireworks celebration from a distance, there was a flash and puffs of smoke, followed several seconds later by "the boom." Friedig said, like others, he recalls his own tales in the storied history of old bridge. Some are humorous stories some are not. And all are just memories now. "If that old bridge could talk, there would be a lot of stories," he said.

(Reach reporter Brian Gehring at 250-8254 or nearby and came to witness the event. Marcia Tabram Phillips, an author from Winston-Salem, N.C., with roots in Bismarck, was there. She said her family's farm was right along the river frontage by the old bridge and she remembers her mother talking about cutting ice from the river to sell. Ray Friedig said he made his share of trips across the old bridge and back in the last 44 years. Twice a day, in fact, working at NISC in Mandan.

Since retired, Friedig said he can remember back when the bridge deck was all steel, before it was replaced with steel and concrete. He said he had mixed ing a lot of trips across the old bridge. "I wanted to see a piece of history," he said. Rose said he even worked on the old bridge in the 1990s, doing maintenance and work on the lights while employed with Eddling Electric. "There's a lot of good work going up in smoke," he said.

"But, I guess that's part of construction. They did a good job of building and engineering on the old one we should be good for another 100 years." Along the shoreline, stories were swapped and tales told as the hundreds upon hundreds of people waited for the old bridge to come down. Wesley and Alyce Kessler used to live in an apartment LIBERTY MEMORIAL BRIDGE FACTS 1922 bridge facts Work began in 1920 Completed in September 1922 Cost, $1,375 million Length, 2,550 feet Two 4-foot sidewalks Deck width (including sidewalk), 38 feet Traffic count, estimated 2,570 vehicles per day Materials, 2,800 tons steel, 467 tons concrete, 80,000 rivets Workers, 200-plus 2008 bridge facts Work began in June 2006 Cost, $49.5 million (not including utilities, right-of-way, engineering) Length, 2,369 feet One 10-foot sidewalk Deck width (including sidewalk), 84 feet, 8t inches Traffic count, estimated at 15,000 vehicles per day Materials, 5,471 tons of steel, 38,946 tons of concrete and 21,000 bolts Workers, core crew between 14 and 40 per day, plus subcontractors Source: North Dakota Department of Transportation Hearing held on Lehman Brothers FeClTS ofreCeSSiOU WASHINGTON (AP) The now-bankrupt investment bank iJ WASHINGTON (AP) The now-bankrupt investment bank Continued from 1A percent. In turn, the prime lending rate, now at 5 percent, for certain credit cards, home equity lines of credit and many other consumer and business loans, would drop by a corresponding amount. global rate cut.

But even that I don't think would solve the basic problem, which is that everybody's just scared of loaning money to anybody else," said David Wyss, chief economist for Standard and Poors. Pressure was growing on the Fed and other major central banks to band together and announce a global interest-rate cut. Many believe the Fed will ratchet down a crucial lending rate to U.S. banks, now at 2 SEES the Bta Qoodesign Embroidery Bash October 18th 8am-4prn 9T Lehman Brothers arranged millions in bonuses for fired executives as it pleaded for a federal lifeline, lawmakers learned Monday, as Congress began investigating what went so wrong on Wall Street to prompt a $700 billion government bailout. The first in a series of congressional hearings on the roots of the financial meltdown yielded few major revelations about Lehman's collapse, and none about why government officials, as they scrambled to avert economic catastrophe, declined to rescue the flagging company while injecting tens of billions of dollars into others.

But it allowed lawmakers still smarting from a politically painful vote Friday for the largest federal market rescue in history to put a face on their outrage at corporate chieftains who took home hundreds of millions of dollars while betting on risky mortgage-backed investments that ultimately brought the financial system to its knees. That face was Richard S. Fuld the Lehman chief executive who sat for a two-hour-plus grilling before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee as the panel combed through his pay history, management practices and financial strategies. "You made all this money by taking risks with other people's money," Rep. Henry Waxman, the panel's chairman, said.

"The system worked for you, but it didn't seem to work for the rest of die country and the taxpayers, who now have to pay $700 billion to bail out our economy." Oil prices fall in midst of turmoil NEWYORK (AP) Oil prices plunged below $90 a barrel Monday, coming within reach of year-ago levels as a widening financial maelstrom spreads overseas and crimps global demand for energy. It settled at $87.81 a barrel. A barrel of oil has not been this cheap in eight months, suggesting that the climate in which oil soared to unheard of levels is coming to an abrupt end. No matter what your skill level, you will absolutely enjoy this fun filled day of embroidery education! Learn the latest Each year businesses file annual reports of owners of unclaimed property under the requirement of the ND Uniform Unclaimed Property Act. (N.D.C.C.

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