MARION, Kansas (KWCH) – A year later, it still bothers her.
But the work at the Marion County Record must go on.
“It’s very difficult to even have a day off,” said Eric Meyer, publisher and editor of the weekly newspaper. “And it’s a great dedication that many people put into keeping the paper running.”
Law enforcement, led by former Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody, searched and seized property at the Marion County Archives and the home of property owners Eric Meyer and his mother, Joan Meyer.
Joan, who was 98 years old, died the following day.
Only a few days after the raid, the arrest warrants issued for the search were withdrawn.
Cody said at the time that he had evidence that the newspaper, one of its reporters and a city council member had committed identity theft by obtaining information about a local business owner’s traffic record and checking that data against a public state database that could be accessed legally.
That view was confirmed last week when a 124-page report by the special counsel found that the incidents were based on poor investigations and incorrect conclusions.
That report states that of the 43 people named, only former police chief Gideon Cody faces obstruction of justice charges because he ordered Kari Newell to delete text messages between the two after the searches.
Eric Meyer said that despite this report, there is still more to learn.
“We should know exactly who was involved in this because whoever was involved cost the city of Marion a lot of money, whether it came from an insurance company or exceeded the insured value,” Meyer said. “They need to be held accountable for this.”
Marion County residents have filed five lawsuits in federal court.
Deb Gruver, a former reporter for the newspaper, reached an agreement earlier this year.
But the complaints from Eric Meyer and the newspaper, reporter Phyllis Zorn, office manager Cheri Bentz and former Vice Mayor Herbel continue.
However, Meyer said it was not about money.
“We want to make sure that a precedent is set,” Meyer said. “I mean, the whole point of this is to make sure that this doesn’t happen anywhere else, and that’s why we’re pursuing these lawsuits for so long and so vigorously, even though they’re not even all filed yet.”
This crackdown is also affecting other journalists in Kansas, noted Stephen Wolgast, a journalism professor at KU who has studied the impact on small-town newsrooms.
“We found that 7 of the 19 respondents felt that this had a chilling effect on themselves,” Wolgast said. “They were afraid that they would not report as much as they had before, either for reporting reasons or, as one person mentioned, because of the legal costs of a defense.”
Meyer said he hopes all this will demonstrate that strong local journalism continues to be important and contributes to a better community.
“We can be the city where First and Fourth Amendment rights were trampled upon,” Meyer said. “But we can also be the city where no one stood up for them.”
A year has passed, but the story is far from over.
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