APA signs on to letter condemning raid on Kansas newspaper

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and scores of news media organizations nationwide, including APA, sent a letter on Sunday condemning the August 11 police raid of the Marion County Record, a weekly newspaper in Marion, Kansas, during which law enforcement officers seized the newspaper’s electronic equipment, including personal cell phones, and reporting materials.

In a letter sent to Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody on Sunday, Reporters Committee attorneys noted that, under any circumstances, the raid and seizure appeared overbroad and unduly intrusive, and raised concerns that the execution of the warrant may have violated federal law strictly limiting federal, state, and local law enforcement’s ability to conduct newsroom searches.

The letter urged Cody to immediately return any seized equipment and records to the newspaper; purge any such records retained by the police department; and initiate a full, independent, and transparent review into the department’s actions.

According to news reports, the Marion

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Police Department executed a search warrant at the Record’s offices and at its publisher’s home last Friday as part of an investigation into allegations of identity theft and illegal use of a computer. The Record’s owner and publisher said the raid happened after the newspaper contacted the police department about information it had received from a source, suspecting that the paper was being “set up.”

Joan Meyer, co-publisher of the newspaper, died shortly after the raid at her home. She was 98 and reportedly in good health. Her son, the Record’s editor and co-publisher Eric Meyer, attributed her death to the stress of the intrusion.

Meyer worked with his staff Sunday to reconstruct stories, ads and other materials for its next edition Wednesday while also arranging his mother’s funeral.

Meyer said that one Record reporter suffered an injury to a finger when Cody wrested her cellphone out of her hand, according to the report. The newspaper’s surveillance video showed officers reading that reporter her rights while Cody watched, though she wasn’t arrested or detained. Newspaper employees were hustled out of the building while the search continued for more than 90 minutes, according to the footage.

The raid of the small weekly newspaper — virtually unprecedented in the United States — was apparently prompted by a dispute involving a local restaurant owner in Marion, a town of about 1,900 residents located about 60 miles from Wichita. Kari Newell claimed that the paper’s reporters had illegally stolen her identity to access a government database that contained records of her arrest for drunken driving in 2008. Newell is attempting to obtain a liquor license for her establishment.

The newspaper countered that it received that information unsolicited, which it verified through public online records. It eventually decided not to run a story because it wasn’t sure the source who supplied it had obtained it legally. But the newspaper did run a story on a city council meeting in which Newell herself confirmed she’d had a DUI conviction and that she had continued to drive even after her license was suspended. The allegation led officials to seek a search warrant from a local magistrate judge to search the newspaper and the Meyer home. It was announced on Wednesday that the seized items would be returned. The Kansas Bureau of Investigations has taken lead on the case.

Second Annual Press Freedom Gala to be Held October 12

APA will hold its second Press Freedom Gala on Thursday, Oct. 12 at the Chenal County Club in Little Rock. The evening will begin with an hors d’oeuvres reception at 6 p.m., followed by a dinner and the program at 7 p.m.

“The Press Freedom Gala is a celebration of both a free press and of individuals who brought positive headlines to Arkansas and either work within or are strong supporters of the media industry and FOIA,” said APA Executive Director Ashley Kemp Wimberley.

The honorees this year are:

• APA Headliner of the Year — multi-platinum musician and songwriter Justin Moore

• APA Distinguished Service Award — Arkansas DemocratGazette Senior Editor and Columnist Rex Nelson.

• APA Distinguished Service Award — longtime journalist and recently retired editor of the Northwest Arkansas DemocratGazette Rusty Turner.

• Golden 50 Service Award (more than 50 years in the newspaper industry) — Independent Columnist and Correspondent for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Mike Masterson.

• APA Freedom of Information Award — presented posthumously to Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller for his signing of the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act into law in 1967. The award will be accepted by Rockefeller’s family, including William Rockefeller and Winthrop P. Rockefeller, Jr

A native of Poyen, Moore won Artist of the Year: Breakthrough Artist at the 2012 American Country Awards and New Artist of the Year at the 2014 Academy of Country Music Awards. He has charted 21 times on the Billboard Country Hot 100 and Country Airplay charts, including his current number 1 hit with Priscilla Block, “You, Me & Whiskey,” the number 1 singles “Small Town USA”, “If Heaven Wasn’t So Far Away”, “Til My Last Day,” “Lettin’ the Night Roll,” “You Look Like I Need a Drink,” “Somebody Else Will, “The Ones That Didn’t Make It Back Home,” “Why We Drink,” “We Didn’t Have Much,” and “With a Woman You Love”, and the top 10 hits “Backwoods,” “Point at You,”and “Small Town Throwdown” with Brantley Gilbert. “If Heaven Wasn’t So Far Away” also won Mainstream Inspirational Country Song and Inspirational Video at the 2011 Inspirational Country Music Awards. His seventh album, Stray Dog, was released in May of this year.