Thanks to all of you that crossed the sound for last months meeting. Everyone I talked to thought that it was a great success and that it needs to be made an annual occurrence. As our area grows and our communities get closer we need to make a joint effort to reach out and share experiences and ideas. Also a large thank you to melody Lane for their help in providing the venue the meeting and the great food.

A project that has been ongoing for several years now that is being chaired by one of our most active members, Tex Lewis, is the Clear Creek Trail project. Tex has assisted in the planning and permitting for the construction of the trail and is spearheading the construction process of a 100-foot footbridge across Clear Creek. Tex is working with the local schools to get students from Central Kitsap High School and Olympic High School to assist in the planning, permitting and design process. Our past-president, Darrell Smith, helped Tex obtain a public relations grant from ASCE National. As the project develops there will be a need for technical support from the local engineers and volunteers. As engineers in our community we are in a unique position to provide the technical support that projects like this need. Our organization needs to develop contacts with organizations within our community and let them know that we have the resources to provide them with the technical assistance that they need to complete their projects.

A project that dovetails nicely with Tex’s effort is the Building Big program (www.pbs.org/buildingbig) being produced by PBS that will air next October with five programs highlighting different types of construction . As part of the program, an effort is being made to provide educational tools for volunteers to use as part of an outreach program for 5^th to 8^th graders. More on this program will be coming out in the upcoming months.

Coming up June 10 is the Kitsap Branches annual field trip. This year we are going to visit the efforts of the Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group. The Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group is part of the state wide enhancement project established in 1990. The HCSEG’s mission is "To protect and enhance the genetic diversity and populations of wild salmon in Hood Canal by the protection and restoration of habitats, water quality, education, wild salmon incubators and other means." The Hood Canal group has developed six Wild Salmon Conservancies in the Hood Canal Watershed in partnership with private landowners, local and state agencies. They have experienced outstanding success in salmon returns on their completed projects and each year are extending their efforts to damaged rivers. The Hood Canal salmon Enhancement Group is made up of over 1,000 volunteers working to enhance the Hood Canal watershed. Email address for more information hcseg@hctc.com or their website is hood.hctc.com/~hcwater/hcseg.salmon/. If anyone is interested in attending the field trip they can contact Gordon MacDonald or myself to get more information.

By Cindy M. Hirsch, P.E.

The Seattle Section History & Heritage Committee recently submitted to the ASCE National Committee on History & Heritage, a report nominating the Cedar Falls Hydroelectric Project as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. The Committee will vote on the nomination and inform us of the status sometime this Spring.

The Cedar Falls Hydroelectric Project, constructed in the period 1902 to 1930, was the first municipally owned hydroelectric project in the United States. Many of its original features, such as the high head reaction turbines and the 45 kV alternating current transmission line, were the first of their kind in the United States. City Engineer Reginald Thomson and electrical engineer James D. Ross conceived the project. The project was the forerunner of the public power movement of the 1930's that extended throughout the United States. The facility is owned and operated by Seattle City Light.

Many people put time and effort into developing the submittal. Cal Bannon, a retired employee of Seattle City Light, did the original research and report preparation, and the Seattle Section History & Heritage Committee followed up with supplemental research, editing, formatting, photography, and report preparation. Our special thanks go to Rik Shafer for his fabulous job in the preparation of the final document.

The History & Heritage committee's charge is to recognize and promote our civil engineering heritage. One of our primary activities is the documentation of historic structures to meet this charge. If you would like to get involved, please contact Cindy Hirsch, Chair of the Seattle Section History & Heritage Committee. She may be reached at URS Greiner Woodward Clyde, 206/674-8205, cindy_hirsch@urscorp.com.

Time: Thursday, May 18, 12PM-1PM

Location: Brown and Caldwell, 999 Third Ave., Room 500, Seattle

Topic: Predicting Streamflow in the Pacific Northwest Using Mesoscale

Atmospheric Models

Speakers: Kenneth Westrick and Pascal Storck, UW Department of

Atmospheric Science

Streamflow forecasting remains a formidable challenge in the mountainous areas of the Pacific Northwest. The scarcity of real-time rain gauge data, poor radar coverage for precipitation estimation, combined with strong orographically induced precipitation gradients and considerable snowmelt contributions, complicates the forecasting of streamflow throughout the region. Furthermore, continuous land use change related to forest harvest and development may affect watershed response, resulting in further uncertainty in predicted peak streamflows. In recent years, the use of mesoscale atmospheric models to directly force spatially distributed hydrologic models has been shown to provide reasonable streamflow simulations in many of these data void regions.

The speakers will present a streamflow forecast system configured for real-time application over a 10,000 square kilometer region draining the western slopes of the Cascade Mountains in Washington State.

Issues in model calibration and validation will be presented along with results from the operational system for the winters of 1998/99 and 1999/2000.

The feature speakers are Kenneth Westrick and Pascal Storck, Research Meteorologist and Research Hydrologist, respectively, from University of Washington Department of Atmospheric Science.

For more information on this meeting, please contact AMacEwan@hdrinc.com.

By Harvey W. Parker

The Fourth North American Rock Mechanics Symposium will be held here in Seattle this summer. Mark your calendar and make plans to attend. The conference, titled "Pacific Rocks 2000: Rock Around the Rim" will be held at the University of Washington in Seattle this summer from July 30 to August 3 2000. More details on the conference and registration information can be found at www.armarocks.org.

Civil Engineer / Utility Designer

Challenge yourself within the environment of a progressive, multi-disciplined engineering firm in Seattle, Washington. This firm has been in business since 1935 and is known for developing innovative cost effective, and environmentally sound solutions. This firm recognizes the importance of dedication and commitment to our municipal clients.

This individual will be responsible for providing utility design services or water, stormwater and sanitary infrastructure projects for municipalities, special utility districts, and county, state and federal agencies.

The ideal candidate will posses a BSCE plus 3 to 5 years of utility design experience.

This firm in located in the beautiful city of Seattle, which offers unlimited recreational and cultural activities. Please respond to Anna Swigart, Recruiter, Hall & Company by e-mailing your resume to anna@job.com, fax to (360) 598-3703 , call (800) 583-0379, or apply on line at www.job.com.

Top ranked ENR transportation engineering consulting firm, Frederic R. Harris, Inc, has immediate openings in its Seattle, WA office for high quality engineers, project managers and CAD operators from entry level to senior level in the following areas of expertise:

Railroad/Transit Engineering

Construction Management

Port & Harbor Engineering

Highways/Local Arterials

Marine/Bridges/Structural

FRH is ranked #7 in transportation, #3 in rail and transit, and #2 in port and harbor engineering nation wide and is an operating company of AECOM Technology Corporation, one of the largest providers of engineering, design and construction services in the country. We have an expanding presence in the Seattle Metropolitan area and seek top professionals to help grow our employee-owned company. Top pay, benefits and opportunities for stock ownership available. Downtown Seattle location. If you seek opportunity for growth, advancement and involvement in highly technical and challenging projects and excel in a fast paced challenging environment, please visit our web site at www.frharris.com. Click on career opportunities/job listings for available positions in Washington and elsewhere in the company.

Marketing Materials Liability
Duncan Findlay, Shannon & Wilson, Inc.

J. Duncan Findlay, the president of Shannon & Wilson, spoke on February 15th about the legal problems a company can face if it engages in false advertising. The point of his talk was, "Lying is bad, especially if you get caught."

As an example, he passed out an article about lawsuits between two pizza companies. Pizza Hut sued Papa John's for using the slogan, "Better Ingredients. Better Pizza." Papa John's then asked the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to reject Pizza Hut's application to register its slogan, "The Best Pizza Under One Roof." Companies can sue their competitors for false claims. Unfortunately, most advertising includes examples of "puffery" - claims that are generally recognized as exaggerated hyperbole or salesman's talk. The ramifications of this case could be severe if companies are no longer able to say that their products or services are better, but merely okay.

For engineers, lawsuits could stem from improperly written marketing materials such as statements of qualifications or project proposals. Even a mission statement could be suspect if it says something like, "We perform our services with the highest degree of professionalism." That might set a standard that a court would expect the company to live up to in a damage claim. It might be safer to say, "Our goal is to perform our services with the highest degree of professionalism."

Advertising is regulated by federal law, state law, and Federal Trade Commission regulations. State and federal laws prohibit the use of false, deceptive, or misleading advertisements. "Deceptive" and "unfair" advertisements may be challenged by the FTC, by federal or state attorneys general, or by your competitors in civil litigation. In addition, there are industry regulatory agencies such as the Better Business Bureau, and consumers may also sue for deceptive advertising.

An advertisement is "deceptive" if it is likely to mislead consumers who act reasonably and lead to their detriment. It is "likely to mislead" if it is literally false or implicitly false such as making a false claim, true only in limited circumstances or based on unrealistic or unreasonable assumptions. It is "unfair" if it causes injury or is likely to cause substantial injury which is not reasonably avoided by consumers and is not outweighed by the benefits.

Anyone with a reasonable interest to be protected can sue. This could include lost sales or lost good will with customers. Remedies can include an injunction to stop further advertising of a claim, money damages if they can be proven, or treble damages for malicious intent. Monetary fines can be levied by the FTC. Attorneys fees can also be collected in some circumstances. The elements of a claim must include a false statement of fact in an ad about one's own or another's product. The plaintiff has the burden to prove the elements of the case by a preponderance of the evidence.

Bait and switch advertising is an alluring but insincere offer to sell a product or service which the advertiser does not intend to sell. Its purpose is to get the consumer into the store and then convince them to buy a more expensive product. In the engineering business, this might be a proposal that includes staff who are not really available to work on the project for the amount of time that is described. A losing competitor might file a protest on the basis that a request for proposals required expertise that you purported to have but didn't have available. Another problem might be a claim that your firm worked on a certain past project. Whether the expertise rests with the firm or with the staff may be an issue, especially with the amount of staff overturn that occurs these days.

The puffery rule amounts to an advertiser's privilege to lie his head off so long as he says nothing specific, on the theory that no reasonable man would believe him. Claiming expertise can create additional duties in warranties or contractual obligations. Are any of your claims capable of measurement? Also, be careful of what you write in contracts. If you signed a contract that says you will "perform work to an expert duty of care", your insurance premium just went up. Often, wording will be taken directly from your proposal to the contract language, so it's wise to remove all puffery from your proposals.

What are your defenses? The Parol Evidence Rule says that any oral agreements merge in the written contract and cannot be changed by Parol evidence or verbal testimony, unless a mistake or fraud in the preparation of the writing can be proven. Integration clauses in contracts can be used to say that the terms and conditions of the written contract include the entire agreement. Also, the proposal should not be included in the contract by reference.

In a recent survey of 160 cases, none of them involved engineers. The reason for this is that engineers follow Canon 5 of the Fundamental Canons of Ethics from ASCE. "Engineers shall build their professional reputation on the merit of their services and shall not compete unfairly with others. Engineers may advertise professional services in a way that does not contain misleading language or is in any other manner derogatory to the dignity of the profession." Also, fear of having their licenses revoked by state boards of registration is stronger than a fine or lawsuit. It would put them out of business.

In conclusion: If it's measurable, it has to be true. Puffery may get you to warranty or impact your standard of care. Protect yourself with integration clauses. Follow the canons of ethics. (Keep up the good work.)

Notes by Mary Irvine, Techstaff, Inc.