FILE THIS WEBSITE under the heading: “Life is what happens to you when you’re making other plans.”
My plan was to write a book about the adventures of Cherie Rodgers in Spokane, Wash. At its heart is the clash of two uniquely American characters: media and real estate heiress Betsy Cowles, daughter of old money American publishing royalty, and Cherie Rodgers, fourth generation in her family to be raised on an Indian reservation, Spokane’s first Native American city council member.
Until the rainy afternoon of April 8, 2006, their conflict revolved around money, really. Well, money and power. A more uneven contest is hard to imagine.
And then Jo Savage died under mysterious circumstances on that fateful Saturday in the parking garage of the Cowles-owned River Park Square shopping mall. When Savage’s heart stopped beating, the story changed. The Girl From Hot Springs wasn’t just about money anymore.
Allegations of improprieties that I had uncovered years earlier suddenly took on a new meaning. In good conscience, I could no longer sit on them until the book came out. That is the reason for the launch of this website in July 2006. The article “Death By Parking” explains what those allegations are.
When the book is finished I will offer it to a handful of agents and publishers. If there are no takers, we will publish the book ourselves.
A Little Background
The Girl From Hot Springs evolves from an unusual online magazine that my wife, Judy Laddon, and I co-published for five years, beginning in 2000. Called Camas magazine, its purpose was to cover a controversial public/private partnership to redevelop a private shopping mall.
The purpose of Camas was very different from the purpose of The Girl From Hot Springs. Camas was essentially an exercise in investigative reporting. We covered the River Park Square story because we thought the public was entitled to know about it, and because we believed that no other media would adequately cover it. We published 137 stories and some 280,000 words. No fact we published was challenged; no retraction or correction was ever requested. In the course of our work we won some half-dozen of the nation’s top journalism awards. Camas’s history and archives can be read at www.camasmagazine.com.
The Girl From Hot Springs, on the other hand, is a work of dramatic nonfiction. Its themes are the ability of the human spirit to resist pandemic corruption and the vulnerability of modern society to ensorcellment by its media. It is offered as both an inspiring and cautionary tale.
LARRY SHOOK
For five years Larry Shook was co-publisher and editor-in-chief of Camas Magazine. He has been an editor of San Diego Magazine, editor-in-chief of Washington Magazine, state editor of Seattle Weekly, and with his wife, Judy Laddon, was co-publisher of Spokane Magazine from 1976 to 1982, as well as being that publication's editor-in-chief. He has been a stringer for The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Newsweek. He is a veteran investigative reporter who helped break the story of half-a-century of secret radiation releases at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.
In 2004, with his wife, Laddon, and colleague Tim Connor, Shook won the first-place award for online investigative journalism from the National Society of Professional Journalists for a reporting package entitled, “How the Spokesman-Review Subverted Democracy in Spokane, Washington.” (See below.)
He is the author of The Girl from Hot Springs. In addition, he is author of news stories on this site.
JUDY LADDON
Judy Laddon was co-publisher and executive editor of Camas Magazine, co-publisher, editor and general manager of Spokane Magazine, and was a staffer with San Diego Magazine. Editor and manager of this website, she is also its in-house photographer and filmmaker. Author of eight books, Laddon’s latest, Sally—The Older Woman’s Illustrated Guide to Self-Improvement, has won three national book awards. (See SALLY THE BOOK.COM)
REFERENCES & LINKS
CAMAS MAGAZINE—
“Investigation Wins National Prize,” April 13, 2004
“How The Spokesman-Review Subverted Democracy in Spokane, Washington” Lands Top Journalism Award
“We’re No. 2!” July 3, 2002
MSNBC edged out Camas magazine in the National Press Club’s competition for online journalism
“Camas Wins Journalism Award,” June 2, 2002
“All in the Family” by Larry Shook wins top national award
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