UPDATED: A sad day in Kansas – and America

By Rory Ryan
The Highland County Press

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." Amendment I, U.S. Constitution

The First Amendment is the foundation for a country free from tyranny and helps protect all of the other rights that are guaranteed to all people. It is comprised of five parts: freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of association, freedom of assembly and freedom to petition.

But the First Amendment is not in Kansas anymore. It died in the Jayhawk State this week.

As reported by the Kansas Reflector (https://kansasreflector.com/2023/08/11/police-stage-chilling-raid-on-ma…), "In an unprecedented raid Friday, law enforcement seized computers, cellphones and reporting materials from the Marion County (Kansas) Record office, the newspaper’s reporters, and the publisher’s home. Eric Meyer, owner and publisher of the newspaper, said police were motivated by a confidential source who leaked sensitive documents to the newspaper, and the message was clear: 'Mind your own business or we’re going to step on you.'"

According to Meyer, the city’s police officers and two sheriff’s deputies took “everything we have."

As of early Saturday, it wasn’t clear how the newspaper staff would take the weekly publication to press Tuesday night.

The Kansas Reflector reported: "The search warrant, signed by Marion County District Court Judge Judge Laura Viar, appears to violate federal law that provides protections against searching and seizing materials from journalists. The law requires law enforcement to subpoena materials instead."

Meyer said he had never heard of police raiding a newspaper office during his 20 years at the Milwaukee Journal or 26 years teaching journalism at the University of Illinois.

“It’s going to have a chilling effect on us even tackling issues,” Meyer said, as well as “a chilling effect on people giving us information.”

This type of law enforcement action simply cannot happen in the United States. It happens elsewhere, to be sure. But not here. We value the First Amendment and those rights to a free press.

We read about Russian authorities executing a raid on Nobel Prize-winning journalists and a raid of the home of the chief editor of an investigative news site that was designated as a “foreign agent,” to increase pressure on independent media in Moscow.

We read that Hong Kong pro-democracy media outlet Stand News was shut down after police raided its office, froze its assets and arrested senior staff on suspicion of “seditious publication” offenses.

But not here. Imagine if this were The Washington Post or The New York Times instead of a small locally owned and operated family newspaper in east-central Kansas. The pushback would reach presidential and congressional levels in an instant. FBI agents would be called in and supersede the local cops' authority. The network television media would be all over it. The magistrate would risk disciplinary action. Law officers would be suspended.

And all of this should happen posthaste in Marion, Kansas.

Kansas' members of Congress – Reps. Tracey Mann, Jake LaTurner, Sharice Davids and Ron Estes – ought to be inquiring on behalf of the newspaper and its employees. The same for Kansas' U.S. Sens. Roger Marshall and Jerry Moran. Gov. Laura Kelly needs to get involved, too. Now.

As reported, the raid on the Marion County Record followed news stories about a restaurant owner who kicked reporters out of a meeting last week with U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner, and revelations about the restaurant owner’s lack of a driver’s license and conviction for drunken driving.

So what? Is that just cause for a magistrate to issue a search warrant with police seizures of equipment that can possibly put a newspaper out of business? Good grief. Marion County, Kansas must be the safest, crime-free county in the country if this is how they use law enforcement resources.

As reported at http://marionrecord.com, legal experts contacted by the Record termed the raid "unheard of in America and reminiscent of what occurs in totalitarian regimes and the Third World."

The Record is expected to file a federal suit against the City of Marion and those involved in the search, which legal experts contacted were unanimous in saying violated multiple state and federal laws, including the U.S. Constitution, and multiple court rulings.

“Our first priority is to be able to publish next week,” Publisher Eric Meyer said, “but we also want to make sure no other news organization is ever exposed to the Gestapo tactics we witnessed today. We will be seeking the maximum sanctions possible under law.”

(For more information, visit http://marionrecord.com.)

Today, The Highland County Press contacted the Marion County Record to offer any assistance. One of our columnists, Jim Thompson, was quick to offer any help. I would have to think that every newspaper in Kansas has already offered assistance.

This simply cannot happen in the United States of America. The First Amendment is first for a reason. Its protections used to be respected. Even during all the COVID-19 mandatory business shutdowns, newspapers were exempt from the federal orders. 

"We have made the State of Kansas, 
And today she stands complete, 
First in freedom, first in wheat; 
And her future years will meet. 
 – Eugene Fitch Ware, former Kansas lawmaker and newspaperman

If Mr. Ware were still with us, he'd rewrite that third line. 

• Note: According to the Record, "stressed beyond her limits and overwhelmed by hours of shock and grief after illegal police raids on her home and the Marion County Record newspaper office Friday, 98-year-old newspaper co-owner Joan Meyer, otherwise in good health for her age, collapsed Saturday afternoon and died at her home.

She had not been able to eat after police showed up at the door of her home Friday with a search warrant in hand. Neither was she able to sleep Friday night. She tearfully watched during the raid as police not only carted away her computer and a router used by an Alexa smart speaker but also dug through her son Eric’s personal bank and investments statements to photograph them. 

"As her home was raided, other officers descended upon the Record office, forcing staff members to stay outside the office for hours during a heat advisory. They were not allowed them to answer the phone or make any calls. Marion police chief Gideon Cody forcibly grabbed reporter Deb Gruver’s personal cell phone out of her hand, re-injuring one of her fingers, which previously had been dislocated. Officers seized personal cell phones and computers, including the newspaper’s file server, along with other equipment unrelated to the scope of their search.

"They refused to say when the items, necessary for publishing next week’s issue of the Record, might be returned. The newspaper has obtained equipment to ensure publication and is working to re-create material for the paper."

See more at: http://marionrecord.com/direct/updated_illegal_raids_contribute_to_deat…

Good luck to the Marion County Record – and to the rest of us still putting ink on dead trees.

Rory Ryan is publisher and owner of The Highland County Press, Highland County's only locally owned and operated newspaper.