Quote:Police face criticism over central Kansas newspaper raid in which computers, phones seized
ByJOHN HANNA and MARGERY A. BECK Associated Press
August 13, 2023, 3:02 PM

. . . The Marion County Record said in its own published reports that police raided the newspaper’s office on Friday, seizing the newspaper’s computers, phones and file server and the personal cellphones of staff, based on a search warrant.

. . . Police simultaneously raided the home of Eric Meyer, the newspaper’s publisher and co-owner, seizing computers, his cellphone and the home’s internet router, Meyer said. Meyer's 98-year-old mother — Record co-owner Joan Meyer, who lived in the home with her son — collapsed and died Saturday, Meyer said, blaming her death on the stress of the raid of her home.

Meyer said he believes the raid was prompted by a story published last week about a local restaurant owner, Kari Newell. Newell had police remove Meyer and a newspaper reporter from her restaurant early this month, who were there to cover a public reception for U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner, a Republican representing the area.

. . . The next week at a city council meeting, Newell publicly accused the newspaper of using illegal means to get information on the status of her driver's license following a 2008 drunken driving conviction and other driving violations. 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 the 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.

. . . A two-page search warrant, signed by a local judge, lists Newell as the victim of alleged crimes by the newspaper. When the newspaper asked for a copy of the probable cause affidavit required by law to issue a search warrant, the district court issued a signed statement saying no such affidavit was on file, the Record reported.

Newell declined to comment Sunday, saying she was too busy to speak. She said she would call back later Sunday to answer questions.

Cody, the police chief, defended the raid on Sunday, saying in an email to The Associated Press that while federal law usually requires a subpoena — not just a search warrant — to raid a newsroom, there is an exception “when there is reason to believe the journalist is taking part in the underlying wrongdoing.”

Quote: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.

(08-14-2023, 07:28 AM)727Sky Wrote: As with many things the truth or evidence does not matter when all you want to do is intimidate !

(08-14-2023, 07:50 AM)Snarl Wrote:

(08-14-2023, 07:28 AM)727Sky Wrote: As with many things the truth or evidence does not matter when all you want to do is intimidate !

God help them if the shoe is ever tied onto the other foot.

I can lay back at a comfortable 400m and kill anything I see with a single shot. Most Americans wouldn't be able to comprehend what I just said. Others know the only way you'd be able to get me is: air support, indirect fire or a 'practiced' special forces team.

You let me get setup behind my .338LM and I can extend that range to 2000m+. Why would I _not_ start from there? You let me coordinate with three other shooters and I can end all movement in a reasonable sized town. Increase that number to 16, and we could lockdown a city as large as Nashville ... no problemo.

Give me those 16 a month in advance and whatever target is chosen can be deprived of water and power before the Turkey Shoot commences. Give me three more teams of 16, and I can pretty much eliminate the threats of air support, indirect fire or sf intervention. And, I'm just a stoopid hick ... LOL

(08-14-2023, 11:06 AM)727Sky Wrote:

(08-14-2023, 07:50 AM)Snarl Wrote:

(08-14-2023, 07:28 AM)727Sky Wrote: As with many things the truth or evidence does not matter when all you want to do is intimidate !

God help them if the shoe is ever tied onto the other foot.

I can lay back at a comfortable 400m and kill anything I see with a single shot. Most Americans wouldn't be able to comprehend what I just said. Others know the only way you'd be able to get me is: air support, indirect fire or a 'practiced' special forces team.

You let me get setup behind my .338LM and I can extend that range to 2000m+. Why would I _not_ start from there? You let me coordinate with three other shooters and I can end all movement in a reasonable sized town. Increase that number to 16, and we could lockdown a city as large as Nashville ... no problemo.

Give me those 16 a month in advance and whatever target is chosen can be deprived of water and power before the Turkey Shoot commences. Give me three more teams of 16, and I can pretty much eliminate the threats of air support, indirect fire or sf intervention. And, I'm just a stoopid hick ... LOL

You have to wonder how many of the 6 to 10 million that have been flooding into America can do the same thing ?

(08-14-2023, 12:17 PM)Michigan Swamp Buck Wrote: Damn Snarl!

We're friends, right? I'm a friendly, even sympathetic.

By the way, how good are you with thick, dense, swampy hardwood forest lowlands?

(08-14-2023, 07:50 AM)Snarl Wrote:

(08-14-2023, 07:28 AM)727Sky Wrote: As with many things the truth or evidence does not matter when all you want to do is intimidate !

...

 And, I'm just a stoopid hick ... LOL

(08-14-2023, 08:52 PM)Snarl Wrote:

(08-14-2023, 12:17 PM)Michigan Swamp Buck Wrote: Damn Snarl!

We're friends, right? I'm a friendly, even sympathetic.

By the way, how good are you with thick, dense, swampy hardwood forest lowlands?

Definitely.

I think the magic word amidst all the others is swampy. Even I don't wanna do swampy. 

(08-15-2023, 04:03 AM)727Sky Wrote: I guess I am old fashion as I always think Napalm or a 500 pounder.. Push a button and make them disappear. Less close and personal that way plus you do not even have to break a sweat or get eaten by bugs. Lot to be said for playing Sky God with life and death at your finger tips; why do one shot one kill when you can push a button and get many many kills ?

Quote:The Kansas Bureau of Investigations has launched a probe into the shocking police raid on the newsroom of the Marion County Record and the home of its publisher and co-owner, Eric Meyer. Last week, police seized computers, hard drives, servers and phones. Eric Meyer lived with his 98-year-old mother, Joan Meyer, who was co-publisher of the family-owned newspaper. She died one day after the raids. We get an update from Sherman Smith, editor-in-chief of the nonprofit news outlet the Kansas Reflector, who was speaking to Joan Meyer on the phone as the raid was underway. "If the police in Marion County are allowed to get away with this, it becomes open season on journalists everywhere in Kansas," says Smith. He discusses the reported dispute between the newspaper and a local restaurant owner who accused it of illegally obtaining information about a drunk driving incident, and how the paper had also been actively investigating Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody over sexual misconduct charges at a previous job in Kansas City. Details about that investigation were on a computer seized in the raid.

(08-20-2023, 07:20 AM)727Sky Wrote:

Quote:The Kansas Bureau of Investigations has launched a probe into the shocking police raid on the newsroom of the Marion County Record and the home of its publisher and co-owner, Eric Meyer.