Marion County law enforcement were determined Eric Meyer would learn a lesson: Don’t go messing where you’re not wanted.
So the entirety of the Marion Police Department and two sheriff’s deputies raided the home he shared with his elderly mother and his newspaper office last Friday, seizing the equipment necessary to publish his weekly newspaper, the Marion County Record.
Though the goal was to put him out of business, the heavy-handed method spurred Meyer’s staff and supporters to cobble together enough equipment and resources to successfully put out this week’s paper.
The emotions must have certainly been mixed for Meyer and crew.
Any celebration would have been muted.
The day after law enforcement officers raided their home, Meyer’s mother, Joan, and co-owner of the paper, collapsed and died.
Wednesday afternoon, Marion County Attorney Joel Ensley said it appeared “insufficient evidence” existed for Magistrate Judge Laura Viar to issue a search warrant on Meyer’s home and business as well as that of Marion councilwoman Ruth Herbel, as requested by the police and sheriff’s departments.
Ensey ordered the newspaper’s equipment returned.
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation will continue to review the case. What’s supposedly in dispute is whether the newspaper violated a restaurant owner’s privacy when a reporter followed up on a news tip that her driver’s license had been suspended, a fact that could interfere with her pending application for a liquor license, which was before city council.
The reporter used the Kansas Department of Revenue’s website — a public database — to conduct the search, which confirmed the woman’s DUI record. The newspaper did not print the information.
County attorney Ensley said he would determine whether the KBI’s report produces sufficient evidence to pursue charges.
By all appearances, there is no there there.
Most newsrooms aren’t typically a nest of intrigue.
We don’t chase down criminals.
We don’t go digging for dirt.
Most times, it’s delivered on our desks or in our emails, often anonymously. Which is telling.
From there we separate the wheat from the chaff, dispelling rumors and fatuous claims. Sometimes it leads to more research and interviews.
And even then, we may not publish the story, weighing whether the outcome does more harm than good. Oftentimes we work with school administrators and the local police and sheriff’s departments to come to a satisfactory resolution.
Sometimes people come to us with sensitive information that we conclude is best kept private. Sometimes they just need to have someone to talk to.
