The following documents are available for downloading and printing.

The Fancher Report
The 1977 Harvard economics thesis of Terrence E. Fancher, who interviewed over 200 city officals and business people, portrays the climate of fear that grips Spokane due to the domination of one family. The thesis’s full title is The Cowles Empire: A Report Relating to the Effects of Cowles Common Ownership of Media and Real Estate in Spokane, Washington. (325 pages)

Atwood Hinzman 1993
Commissioned by the River Park Square developer, this engineering firm evaluated the pre-cast concrete wall panels after the “complete failure” of a panel. Further testing was done by Budinger and Associates (attached). Atwood concluded, “In our opinion, the panels are not resisting the required lateral loading of 6000# although the engineering analysis indicates they should… It is our understanding that several panels cracked in the past when they were struck in a similar way.”

The Walker Report, June 1996
Prior to the public/private partnership between the City of Spokane and the Cowleses, this report was commissioned by the city to evaluate the general condition of the parking garage. The national firm of Walker Parking Consultants recommended a number of repairs.

Jacobson Report, Aug. 1, 2003
Commissioned by the City of Spokane, this report by the engineering consulting firm of N.G. Jacobson and Associates describes the extensive disrepair of the River Park Square garage, noting that most repairs suggested in the Walker study of 1996 had not been done. For the attached photos, click here.

WJE Report, May 2006
Commissioned by the River Park Square developer, the consulting engineering firm of Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates evaluated the vehicle barriers after the accident. They found the “panels appear to meet the requirements” of the current code. Includes cover letter from the developer’s attorney, Witherspoon, Kelley, Davenport and Toole.

Declarations of Witnesses, April 21, 2006
These are the two declarations of the husband and wife who were eyewitnesses to the accident of Jo Savage on April 8. To protect their privacy, the witnesses’ names have been redacted.

Police Report, April 10, 2006
The official report of the Jo Savage accident by Glenn Bartlett of the Spokane Police Traffic Unit.

Family of Jo Savage Press Release, June 7, 2006
Via attorney Robert Rembert, the family of Jo Savage issues a press release responding to the Atwood Hinzman report of 1993. Savage’s attorneys claim the garage is unsafe, based on evidence in the report. “The barrier which failed Jo Ellen Savage was marked for repair or replacement more than ten years ago but no action was taken.

Letter to Newspaper Editor Steve Smith, Jan. 3, 2006
Camas magazine senior editor Tim Connor wrote to Spokesman-Review editor Steve Smith, attaching a list of documents damaging to the River Park Square project that were never reported by the newspaper.

Steve Smith to Tim Connor, Jan. 4, 2006
In response to Connor’s letter of Jan.3rd, Smith promises an independent audit of the newspaper’s coverage of River Park Square. “It will look at whether or not we did our job as a news organization.”

Betsy Cowles Memo to Jim, Stacey Cowles, Feb. 1, 1996
Obtained during litigation, this confidential memo of River Park Square developer Betsy Cowles notes the family’s “ground rules,” which included the plan to contribute no more than $15 million toward the redevelopment project.

Betsy Cowles's Editing, Oct. 22, 1996
This one-page fax discovered in 2003 during the securities fraud litigation shows that a Spokesman-Review news story draft by reporter Alison Boggs was substantially altered. A forensic documents expert hired by Camas magazine concluded the notations were likely made by Betsy Cowles. Ms. Cowles refused to comment.

Letter to HUD, Aug. 21, 1998
To counteract then-Mayor John Talbott’s skepticism of the proposed $22.65 million HUD loan to the Cowles family, five city council members sent this letter to HUD. Contradicting former Cowles personnel who were familiar with garage operations, the letter claims, “The garage has been operating profitably for some twenty-four years.” Later, during the discovery phase of the River Park Square securities fraud case, the letter was found on the computer of a Cowles attorney, suggesting Cowles authorship.

Defeating the Mayor, June 26, 2000
Betsy Cowles writes to PR consultant John Giese of Rockey Hill and Knowlton to say that she and her brother Stacey want to be sure Mayor John Talbott, a River Park Square critic, is defeated in the next election. She notes, “we probably need to be more behind the scenes than up in front.” Talbott was defeated in November 2000. To read the related Camas magazine story, click here.