Carter, Gates dedicate new UW bioscience center

U.S. Secret Service agents scrambled to ensure the safety of former President Jimmy Carter Wednesday when high winds at the University of Washington briefly threatened to collapse a tent on him and hundreds of others.

Carter was sitting onstage alongside Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates in front of 700 audience members when a side of the tent lifted, pulling concrete blocks into the air and slackening wire support cables above the crowd.

Both men, however, appeared unruffled by the dramatic turn.

The high-profile guests had come to speak at the opening of the UW's new William H. Foege Genome Sciences and Bioengineering building. Foege, a UW alum and one of the world's foremost epidemiologists, spearheaded the successful worldwide effort to eradicate smallpox in the 1970s. Foege has worked alongside both Carter and Gates at their respective charitable foundations.

Wednesday's events came just after UW Dean of Medicine Paul Ramsey reassured the audience, already chilly from the cold winds, that the tent would withstand 50-mph winds. When one side of the tent lifted, organizers told people they must leave immediately and move inside the new building. No one was injured.

Foege was able to complete his speech inside an auditorium named after him, although only about 200 people were able to squeeze in to hear him.

University police Officer Rob Kendrick was standing on one of the large concrete tent supports when it began rising about one foot into the air. He said he was worried when the tent began to sag.

"I'm just glad it didn't come down on the president; that would have been bad news," Kendrick said.

One of the Secret Service agents who held the pole said he wasn't fazed.

"The president wasn't in danger or anything like that, but it could have been a big mess," said the agent, who declined to be identified. "That's why we always have alternate plans."

Earlier, Carter entertained the audience with tales of Foege, who is a tall man. Once, Carter said, a chief in a remote African village enticed other villagers to a Foege-led immunization by promising them they would see the world's tallest man.

In a more serious moment, Carter said that, outside of his father, he considered Foege one of the two most influential men in his life, and someone who had improved the overall health of the planet. The other influential man, Carter said, was Adm. Hyman Rickover, whom he worked for on a naval nuclear-submarine program.

Carter, who appeared a robust 81, was a deft speaker, cracking jokes and enthralling the audience. Several family members joined him for the Seattle event.

The new building, at Northeast Pacific Street and 15th Avenue Northeast, is nearly 300,000 square feet and will be used for cutting-edge research into the human genome and microscopic medical devices. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation donated $50 million toward construction.

In a news conference before the dedication, a reporter asked Carter about his views on the Iraq war.

"I think it's a completely unnecessary war and a completely unjust war," Carter replied.

He said Iraq appears to be on the verge of civil war but that American troops need to stay for now.

"My prayer is to see some sort of stable democratic government evolve," he said.

Nick Perry: 206-515-5639 or nperry@seattletimes.com