Marion, Kansas, continues to make national headlines after police there raided a weekly newspaper’s newsroom and the publisher’s home.
Although much of the country is talking about what the Marion County Record’s 98-year-old co-owner called “Hitler tactics” before she died, Marion city council members will not discuss it during Monday’s regular meeting.
“Council will not comment on the ongoing criminal investigation at this meeting,” pronounced members in its agenda posted to the council website.
The declarative sentence was printed in large red font, using all capital letters and followed by 47 exclamation points for emphasis. It seems they REALLY don’t want to talk about it.
Marion’s chief of police, Gideon Cody, and all officers on his small force raided the newsroom of the Marion County Record and seized files, computers and cellphones.
The weekly newspaper, in continuous publication since 1869, has about 4,000 subscribers. Co-owner Eric Meyer acknowledged his paper aggressively covers local government news.
Local businesswoman Kari Newell, who owns Kari’s Kitchen, complained to authorities that the weekly paper obtained documentation of her drunk driving conviction illegally.
Magistrate Laura Viar approved a warrant request from Cody to raid the newspaper’s office and seize files and computers. He also raided the 98-year-old owner’s home, which her son claims led to her death the following day.
Raiding a newspaper’s office is so un-American to so many U.S. citizens that publications from around the world converged on the tiny town to understand how it happened.
Scrutiny from national publications like the New York Post and The New York Times uncovered previously unpublished information that probably caused the perpetrators to regret their acts.
Newell’s transgression is now known to the world. She is not a public official, though, so her DUI pales in comparison to disclosures about the police chief and the judge who approved the search warrant request.
The Marion County Record had received many calls alleging Gideon Cody retired from the Kansas City, Missouri, police force as a captain after 24 years to avoid demotion after facing allegations of sexual misconduct.
Co-publisher Eric Meyer said the Record was contacted by Cody’s former colleagues, who revealed the claims of sexual misconduct, according to a report published on The Handbasket, which is on Substack.
Judge Viar was arrested twice within two months in 2012 for driving drunk, according to a report from NPR.
Despite her DUI arrests, she was appointed to fill a judicial vacancy as a magistrate judge in the 8th Judicial District after the sitting judge retired late last year.
Given all the dirt on Marion public officials, it seems likely many people attending the regular council meeting will use their allotted three minutes of speaking time to talk about the issue.
In related news, the meeting agenda declares members will convene an executive session to discuss privately litigation concerning Batt Industrial Park. Public meeting law requires such sessions to be declared after an open meeting convenes upon a majority vote.
It is unclear how the members know they will receive enough votes to enter executive session unless they met secretly ahead of time to discuss the open meeting.
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