The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper The Spokesman-Review
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
Current Temperature
56°F
Current Conditions
Overcast clouds
View complete weather report
Subscribe now
Thomas Clouse

Thomas Clouse

Current Position: deputy business editor

Thomas Clouse joined The Spokesman-Review in 1999. He s currently the deputy editor for the business section. He previously worked as an investigative reporter for the City Desk and covering federal, state and local courts for many years.

Email
tomc@spokesman.com
Phone
(509) 459-5495

Recent Front Pages

All Stories

News >  Spokane

Tucker faces toughest challenge

After unseating the incumbent in 1998, Steve Tucker has attracted progressively more opposition in his bid to remain Spokane County prosecutor. No candidates challenged him in 2002 and he easily defeated Democrat Bob Caruso in 2006. This year, Tucker was challenged in the primary by two former deputy prosecutors – Chris Bugbee and David Stevens – and prevailed.
News >  Spokane

Burglar stole more than gold

Dennis Miller had been collecting gold and silver coins since 1950, but this summer he began selling some to help finance a move to a retirement home. Then Miller and his wife, Bette, returned home two months ago to find their basement ransacked and the coins missing.
News >  Spokane

DSHS settles abuse case from ’70s for $1.7 million

A Spokane man molested in the 1970s after being placed as a foster child in the home of a convicted child molester will be paid $1.7 million by the state Department of Social and Health Services as part of a settlement that avoids a civil trial that was to begin Monday. Attorneys informed Superior Court Judge Tari Eitzen that they reached the settlement Sunday night, which avoided a civil trial scheduled to last five weeks.
News >  Spokane

Temple Beth Shalom honors role of furry (and scaly) friends

Dozens of dogs, shy cats, a tortoise and even a boa all played nice Sunday at Temple Beth Shalom – until the rabbi’s dog started barking, turning the temple’s first pet blessing into a chorus of canines. The event is “a way to bring people together in a more unusual way and to give thanks to the role animals play in our lives and in our world,” Rabbi Michael Goldstein said.
News >  Spokane

John Clark, lawyer for the working class, dies

The common man has lost one of his best advocates. John Clark, a prominent local defense attorney, died this morning following a long battle with cancer. Earlier this year, the Spokane Bar Association honored Clark with the 2010 Smithmoore P. Myers Professionalism Award for Clark’s passion in working — often without pay — to help residents in legal trouble.
News >  Spokane

High court sends assault case back for resentencing

Stabbing a man in the neck, leaving him paralyzed below the chest and in a wheelchair for life, isn’t grounds for an exceptional sentence, the Washington Supreme Court has ruled, returning a case that originated in Pend Oreille County to Superior Court for resentencing. Troy Dean Stubbs was sentenced to 38 years in prison for the first-degree assault against Ryan E. Goodwin after a jury determined that the attack was particularly egregious.
News >  Spokane

Incumbent, attorney face off in District Court race

A young attorney who has big ideas on how to make court more efficient is taking on a one-term judge who said her life experiences have made her better at making tough decisions. Defense attorney Timothy Note, 35, is challenging Spokane County District Court Judge Debra Hayes in the Spokane area’s only contested judicial race on the Nov. 2 general election ballot.
News >  Spokane

Sentence too long in stabbing case, high court says

Stabbing a man in the neck, leaving him paralyzed below the chest and in a wheelchair for life, isn’t grounds for an exceptional sentence, the Washington Supreme Court has ruled, returning a case that originated in Pend Orielle County to Superior Court for re-sentencing.
News >  Spokane

Senate confirms Ormsby for U.S. attorney post

The U.S. Senate has confirmed Spokane attorney Mike Ormsby as the next U.S. attorney for Eastern Washington. Ormsby will replace James McDevitt, who has held the post since he was appointed by former President George W. Bush.
News >  Spokane

Two convictions in 2009 double murder

A Spokane man faces a minimum of 45 years in prison after a jury convicted him Wednesday of two counts of murder that followed a dispute over a car swap. The jury convicted 28-year-old Merle W. Harvey of first-degree murder in connection with the shooting death Sept. 26, 2009, of 41-year-old Jack T. Lamere. The jury also convicted Harvey of second-degree murder for the killing of 45-year-old Jacob J. Potter, who happened to be with Lamere on the day of the shooting.
News >  Spokane

Rossi makes case with small-business owners

Republican challenger Dino Rossi told a room full of small-business owners in Spokane on Monday that he is the candidate they should elect if they want a chance at restoring the American dream. Rossi, trying to unseat Democratic U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, took particularly sharp aim at federal spending, saying $30 billion could be saved immediately by halting planned raises for government workers and freezing wages at their current levels. Substantially more could be saved by trimming federal jobs created during the past two years.
News >  Spokane

Deputy’s order to Creach to drop gun was lawful

Although the Constitution gives citizens the right to bear arms, state laws passed since then dictate how citizens can legally carry and use weapons. Spokane County Prosecutor Steve Tucker and other legal experts say the law is crystal clear on this point: A person must follow a lawful order from police.
News >  Spokane

When police issue order, only legal choice is to comply

Although the Constitution gives citizens the right to bear arms, state laws passed since then dictate how citizens can legally carry and use weapons. Spokane County Prosecutor Steve Tucker and other legal experts say the law is crystal clear on this point: a person must follow a lawful order from police.
News >  Spokane

Police report details pastor’s shooting

Deputy Brian Hirzel told investigators that he feared for his life before he fired the shot that killed Pastor Wayne Scott Creach. The 733-page investigative file released Thursday by the Spokane Police Department provides the first public glimpse into the deputy’s account of why he opened fire on the 74-year-old man. The documents include forensic, medical and witness reports that detail what happened on Aug. 25 in the parking lot of Creach’s Plant Farm, at 14208 E. Fourth Ave.
News >  Spokane

Sheriff’s Office reports detail pastor’s gun use

Pastor Wayne Scott Creach not only routinely carried his .45-caliber pistol on his property, he was known by police to hold theft suspects at gunpoint until officers could arrive and once apprehended a fleeing man several blocks away by threatening to “blow his head off.” Those incidents were among the 21 contacts Spokane County Sheriff’s Office deputies had with Creach or his business, the Plant Farm, over the past five years, according to records obtained by The Spokesman-Review.
News >  Spokane

Deputies had responded to Creach’s property many times

Pastor Wayne Scott Creach not only routinely carried his .45 caliber pistol on his property, he was known by police to hold theft suspects at gunpoint until officers could arrive and once chased a fleeing suspect several blocks before apprehending him by threatening to "blow his head off." That report was among the 21 contacts Spokane County Sheriff’s Office deputies had with Creach or his business, the Plant Farm, over the last five years, according to records obtained by The Spokesman-Review.
News >  Spokane

Candidate wants WSP in charge in Creach case

The Democratic challenger for Spokane County prosecutor on Monday called for the Washington State Patrol to take over the investigation into the fatal shooting of a Spokane Valley pastor. Spokane lawyer Frank Malone said he had not contacted the WSP, but noted they were already involved in the investigation of the Aug. 25 shooting by Deputy Brian Hirzel as part of a protocol that is designed to avoid having a department investigate itself.
News >  Spokane

Sheriff’s Office looks at Hirzel’s role in online sex toy business

Deputy Brian Hirzel, already under investigation for fatally shooting a Spokane Valley pastor, now is the subject of a new probe. Hirzel failed to disclose, as required under Sheriff’s Office rules, that he and his wife are co-owners of a business that sells sex toys online, and could face disciplinary measures if investigators determine he’s taken an active role in the company’s operations, Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich said Monday.
News >  Spokane

Witnesses sought in Creach shooting

The Spokane Police Department announced Thursday that it is still seeking potential witnesses who may have seen or heard the encounter on Aug. 25 when Deputy Brian Hirzel shot and killed Pastor Wayne Scott Creach in Spokane Valley.
News >  Spokane

Sheriff frustrated by vacation flap

Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich is frustrated and caught off guard by the public reaction to the decision to allow Deputy Brian Hirzel to leave for vacation just hours after he shot and killed a Spokane Valley pastor late last month. Knezovich acknowledges that everything with his department ultimately is his responsibility. But he believes he’s been unfairly portrayed in the decision to allow Hirzel to leave town before explaining the encounter that resulted in the death of 74-year-old Wayne Scott Creach.
News >  Spokane

Sheriff regrets way vacation decision was made

Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich is frustrated and caught off-guard by the public reaction to the decision to allow Deputy Brian Hirzel to leave for vacation just hours after he shot and killed a Spokane Valley pastor late last month.