The Bellingham Herald from Bellingham, Washington • A1

TheBellinghamHerald.com Friday, September 4, 2009 75 cents Business Classifieds Comics Horoscope Lottery Movie times Sports TV listings Whatcom INDEXNEWS TIPS WEATHER HIGH 65 LOW 55 Full report inside on A6. Send news and event information to herald.com Customer Service: 676-2660 Cloudy with a chance of light rain. bellinghamherald.com/whatcomhiker Check out our interactive map of county walking and hiking trails, including distance, difficulty and driving directions. FIND trails in North Cascades National Park and Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.

PREP FOOTBALL Area players and games to watch, team rosters and schedules INSIDE RURAL, TRIBAL BUSINESS AIDLocal development advisers win federal grant A7 SALMON FIND SPAWNING AREA Tribal project on Nooksack River attracts fish A2 JARED PABEN THE BELLINGHAM HERALD Highway crews have reached a milestone in their project to build a new Guide Meridian bridge over the Nooksack River: two halves of the bridge have now been connected. Crews will have to work into next week to finish the connection, but the first two steel beams have been installed, said Bronlea Mish- ler, spokeswoman with the state Department of Trans- portation. The new bridge a type the DOT rarely builds any- more, called a steel truss bridge is part of the proj- ect to widen Guide Meridi- an between Ten Mile Road and Lynden. Before the connection was made, the bridge was in two halves dangling over the river from each bank, supported by cables strung over temporary towers and anchored in the ground. Those two halves had to be delicately maneuvered to properly fit the last connec- tion.

guess is that now that got everything aligned and have gotten those first two pieces in, that the rest of it should move along fairly Mishler said. hardest part is getting it lined up in the first Crews still have much more to do on the bridge, including putting in the road surface. The bridge is expected to open in late fall. WISER LAKE CAUSEWAY Crews planned to switch traffic from the existing causeway over Wiser Lake to the new causeway late Thurs- day, Sept. 3, Mishler said.

Dur- ing the switch, delays were expected as crews paved a transition area to allow vehi- cles to drive between the lanes. Reach Jared Paben at 715- 2289 or jared.paben@belling hamherald.com. Read his Traf- fic Talk blog at TheBellingham Herald.com/blogs. Halves of Guide bridge joined MIKE STOBBE ASSOCIATED PRESS ATLANTA The first detailed study of U.S. chil- dren killed by swine flu found the outbreak differs from ordinary flu in at least one puzzling respect: It appears to be taking a higher toll on school-age youngsters than on babies and toddlers.

At least 40 children have died, accounting for about one in 13 U.S. swine flu deaths, scientists with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thurs- day. Two-thirds of those already had high-risk health problems. It is not clear whether the new virus is more dangerous than ordinary seasonal flu for kids, though some health offi- cials suspect it is. But the analysis shows some prelimi- nary and important differ- ences.

The CDC report focused on 477 lab-confirmed swine flu deaths reported through Aug. 8. Thirty-six of them were children. Ordinarily, half or more of the children who die of the flu are 4 and younger. Babies and toddlers have less ma- ture immune systems and smaller airways, putting them in more danger from respira- tory infections.

But more than 80 percent of the kids who died with swine flu were ages 5 through 17. Dr. Beth Bell, a CDC epi- demiologist, said that may be because older children spend time at school and summer camp, and are exposed to more people than younger children kept at home. Two-thirds of the chil- dren who died had high-risk medical conditions. Nearly all had an illness related to the nervous system, including mental retardation, cerebral palsy, epilepsy and other seizure disorders.

In a previ- ous flu season, only a third of the children who died had those conditions. A bacterial infection on top of the flu virus played a role in most of the deaths of 10 otherwise healthy chil- dren. Swine flu death toll higher in older kids ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON, D.C. Facing eroding public support for the war in Afghanistan, the Pentagon chief said Thursday that the Obama administra- effort in the eight-year- old conflict is now Defense Secretary Robert Gates also said he disagrees with people who say time to get out of Afghanistan. Several recent public opin- ion polls have shown Ameri- cans expressing declining sup- port for the idea of sending more troops to the conflict and falling confidence in how the campaign is going.

But at a Pentagon news conference, Gates challenged the public perception that the effort is getting away from the admin- istration. believe that the war is slipping through the admin- Gates said. nation has been at war for eight years. The fact that Americans would be tired of having their sons and daugh- ters at risk and in battle is not Gates said President Bar- ack new strategy in Afghanistan been given a chance to work. decisions on this strategy were only made at the very end of March; our new commander appeared on the scene in Gates said, adding that the extra troops Obama ordered are not even all there yet, nor is the he wants on hand to help.

Trend uncovered in CDC study is unusual for flu Time not right to leave Afghanistan, Gates says KIRA MILLAGE COX THE BELLINGHAM HERALD BELLINGHAM After two years in the Bellingham School District, Superinten- dent Ken Vedra is leaving to lead international schools in the United Arab Emirates. The Bellingham School Board decided Thursday afternoon, Sept. 3, that cur- rent deputy superintendent Sherrie Brown will serve as acting superintendent after last day, Sept. 30. Brown, who has been with the district since 1993, will continue with plans and pro- grams that are set for the cur- rent school year.

will carry on the good work Dr. Vedra has started she said during the board meeting. love this dis- trict and just want to assure you that I will carry out the directions of the board to the best of my Brown has 39 years of edu- cation experience, 15 of those in Bellingham. She was the planning principal and acting principal for Kulshan Middle School until 2000, at which point she became the director of curriculum and profession- al development. In 2004 she became executive director of school administration and was appointed deputy super- intendent in 2008.

She earned her superintendent creden- tials from Washington State University in 2002. Plans for how to cover the deputy job responsibilities will be devel- oped over the next couple weeks. new position will be director of schools for the Emirates National School in Abu Dhabi, UAE. He will over- see six schools on three cam- puses and develop which are schools with a fully aligned curricu- lum through all grade levels, preparing students for any college or university in the world. Vedra, 54, was recruited Vedra will direct schools in Abu Dhabi City schools chief takes Mideast job SWINE FLU Swine flu, first identified in April, is now responsi- ble for almost all U.S.

flu cases. It has caused more than 1 million ill- nesses, though most were mild and not reported, the CDC esti- mates. Confirmed deaths: More than 550. Hospitalizations: 8,800. Seasonal flu, by con- trast, plays a role in an estimated 36,000 deaths each year.

Of those deaths, only 50 to 100 are children. Brian Callahan, a ironworker for Schneider Up, works on the bridge over the Nooksack River on Guide Meridian in Lynden on Wednesday afternoon, Sept. 2. The workers were preparing for the closure of the trusses. Daniel Johnson The Bellingham Herald Span over river to open in late fall See AFGHANISTAN, A9 See VEDRA, A9 CORRECTION name corrected Teresa Anker was pictured kissing her daughter goodbye in a photo taken at Sumas Elementary School on Wed- nesday, Sept.

2. name was misspelled in a photo caption that appeared under the photo with a story head- lined day of school for chief, on page A1 of the Thursday, Sept. 3, edition of The Bellingham Herald. We correct errors of fact promptly and courteously. If you have a correction or clarifica- tion, please call Executive Edi- tor Julie Shirley at 715-2261.

A government study shows more than 80 percent of children who have died from swine flu were age 5 or older. Children influenza deaths Seasonal Swine UNDER 5-YEARS-OLD AGES 5-17 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2009 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2009 NOTE: Years 2007-08 and 2008-09 were not part of this study 0 20 40 60 80 SOURCE: Centers AP for Disease Control.