The Bellingham Herald from Bellingham, Washington • A1

TheBellinghamHerald.com 50 centsThursday, September 17, 2008 Business Classifieds Comics Horoscope Lottery Movie times Police log TV listings Whatcom INDEXNEWS TIPS WEATHER HIGH 63 LOW 49 Full report on A11. Send news and event information to herald.com Customer Service: 676-2660 Morning clouds, then mostly sunny. THIS CREDIT UNION IS FEDERALLY INSURED BY THE NATIONAL CREDIT UNION ADMINISTRATION. Safe and secure for generations. Serving members in Whatcom County since 1936.

bellinghamherald.com/wineandbeer Wine enthusiast Dan Radil offers tips on good buys of local and international vintages each week with his wine column. READ Peter weekly column on some of his favorite microbrews. PREP INSIDER: FOLLIS IN SPOTLIGHT Athletes of the week, events, Notebook, B4 AREA NURSERIES SELL MORE SEEDS More people growing vegetables in weak economy, A7 ANNA WALTERS THE BELLINGHAM HERALD All lanes of Guide Meridian between Smith and Axton roads will be closed over the next four days while crews replace the Deer Creek culvert. Drivers should use another route or expect significant delays. The road will close at 7 p.m., Thursday, Sept.

18, and reopen at 7 a.m., Monday, Sept 22, possibly causing delays of up to half an hour during peak times, said Dustin Terpening, spokesman for the state Department of Trans- portation. But the four-day closure is bet- ter than the alternative, he said. had two options: close the road or close one lane, 24 hours a day, for several Terpen- ing said. chose the method, because it allows us to get in and get out quickly without a long, drawn- out The culvert replacement is part of a larger project to widen more than 10 miles of Guide Meridian from two lanes to four lanes. Construction on the Guide from Horton to Ten Mile Roads has been adding minutes to drive times since June of 2007.

While crews replace the cul- vert, detour signs will be posted, and flaggers will direct traffic around the closure. Southbound drivers will be rerouted west on West Axton Road to Northwest Drive and then back to the Guide via West Smith Road. Northbound drivers will go east on East Smith Road, head north on Hannegan Road, and then turn left on East Axton Road to get back to the Guide. Semi trucks that use the Guide should be able to drive though the detour routes without trouble. detour routes established are for all Terpening said.

will be signed, and we Detours set until Monday; work likely to delay traffic Section of Guide closing tonight TIM PARADIS ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK Wall Street plunged again Wednesday, as the bailout of insurer American International Group Inc. left investors with little con- fidence in many banking stocks. The Dow Jones industrial aver- age lost about 450 points, giving it a shortfall of more than 800 so far this week. About $700 billion in investments vanished. As investors fled stocks, they sought the safety of hard assets and government debt, sending gold, oil and short-term Trea- surys soaring.

The market was more un- nerved than comforted by news that the Federal Reserve is giving a two-year, $85 billion loan to AIG in exchange for a nearly 80 per- cent stake in the company, which lost billions in the risky business of insuring against bond defaults. are scared to said Bill Stone, chief investment strategist for PNC Wealth Man- agement. would have imag- ined that AIG would have gotten into this He said investors were con- cerned that AIG able to find a lifeline in the private sector and that Wall Street fears other institutions could falter. It was the fourth consecutive day of extraordinary turmoil for the American financial system. Stock in two investment banks, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, was pummeled.

are scared to Stocks tumble 449 points after Fed saves insurer ECONOMY ISABELLE DILLS THE BELLINGHAM HERALD BELLINGHAM Animal lawyer Adam belief in the ethical treatment of animals extends well beyond his desk in his downtown Bellingham office. Karp also is a vegan, a wildlife rehabilitation volunteer, an ad- junct professor of animal law at the University of Washington and owner of four cats. Karp recently challenged an ordinance in his former home- town of Spokane. The city requires all cats to be licensed and allows animal control offi- cers to euthanize unlicensed cats immediately after they are picked up. a violation of an right to Karp said.

It also limits a cat chance of claiming a lost pet while still alive, he said. Karp said he believes cats should be given the same treat- ment as unlicensed dogs, which get a three-day holding period before being euthanized or put up for adoption. The ordinance is also vague, Karp said. Animal control offi- cers are allowed to kill any cat that is considered but the ordinance does not define Local attorney fights for rights PEOPLE cases set precedents DANNY GAWLOWSKI THE BELLINGHAM HERALD Animal lawyer Adam Karp holds Moxie, one of his four cats, in his home on Lummi Peninsula on Tuesday, Sept. 16.

Karp is one of two full-time animal lawyers in Washington state. He will be taking a case involving a calf that was Tasered by police in the Spokane Valley to the state Supreme Court in 2009. Though the bulk of his cases are in King and Pierce counties, Karp is based in Bellingham. ASSOCIATED PRESS OLYMPIA Fewer adults are smoking in Washington, but state health officials said Wednesday the numbers among low-income adults and those with less educa- tion are not encouraging. A recent survey found Wash- adult smoking rate has dropped about 25 percent since 2000, which means about 240,000 fewer people smoked in 2007 than in 2000.

About 16.5 percent of Washington adults smoked in 2007. below the national average of nearly 20 percent. The Washington survey was part of a national health study conducted by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Preven- tion in 2007 by telephone with randomly selected adults. STATISTICALLY SPEAKING: Most people who smoke in Wash- ington are either low income earning less than $25,000 a year or less educated. The smoking rate for people with a low income is 32 percent.

The rate for people with a high school diploma or less is 27 percent. For people with an education beyond high school, the smoking rate is 12 percent. For those with an income above $25,000, the smoking rate is 14 percent. About 45 young people start smoking every day in Washing- ton. About 7,500 people in the state die every year from tobacco- related diseases, health depart- ment officials said.

HELP OFFERED: The state is targeting low-income smokers by offering free help, including nico- tine patches and gum to people on Medicaid. A Tobacco Quit Line (1-800- Quit-Now and in Spanish, 1-877- 2No-Fume) offers free assistance to all residents of Washington. MORE ONLINE: Washington Department of Health: www.doh.wa.gov Centers for Disease Con- Washington smoking statis- tics: http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/ Survey finds fewer adults smoking in Washington HEALTH Rate increases as incomes fall See PETS, A12 See GUIDE, A12 TRANSPORTATION GUIDE DETOUR Drivers on Guide Meridian will be detoured around road con- struction between Smith and Axton roads from 7 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 18, to 7 a.m., Monday, Sept 22. 5 ID ER ID IAN AN EG AN RTH EST RD AXTON RDW AXTON RD SMITH RD SMITH RD Southbound detour Northbound detour THE BELLINGHAM HERALD SEC FORBIDS PRACTICE The Securities and Exchange Commission said it will strictly prohibit naked short-selling start- ing today.

Short-selling occurs when traders borrow shares of a stock they expect will fall and sell them. If the stock does indeed fall, the traders buy the cheaper shares to cover the borrowed ones and profit from the differ- ence. Naked short-selling occurs when sellers actually borrow the shares before selling them. a practice some say is part- ly responsible for the huge drop in the shares of investment banks like Lehman, Merrill Lynch and Bear Stearns which JPMorgan Chase Co. bought earlier this year.

STATE RANKS 6TH States with the lowest rates of smoking in the nation, in order: 1. Utah 2. California 3. Connecticut 4. Massachusetts 5.

Minnesota 6. Washington 7. Oregon 8. Hawaii, Rhode Island (tied) 10. Maryland SOURCE: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Washington Mutual appears headed for sale, A7 AIG: A risky deal? A12 SWEET TEMPTATION WSO stages and as opera.

Music, movies, event calendar: TAKE FIVE.