Marion County Record
The Marion County Record is a weekly newspaper published in Marion, Kansas, United States, and the newspaper of record for the city and Marion County. It publishes Wednesdays. Its offices are across the street from the Marion County Courthouse. The paper was founded as The Western News in 1869 in nearby Detroit, Kansas. It soon moved to Marion, as it went through a series of owners and publishers and several names until 1874. It was then purchased by the Hoch family, which sold it in 1998 to the Meyer family, who had been involved since 1948 and continue to own it.
In August 2023, after one or more people complained to the local police department about reporting which the Record had not published, the police raided the office and homes of staff, seizing computers, reporting materials, and financial records. Joan Meyer, the 98-year-old co-owner, died the day after experiencing the tumultuous raid on her home. National news coverage of the raid precipitated criticism from local and national journalism organizations.
Origin
A. W. Robinson founded the paper as The Western News, publishing its first issue on September 24, 1869, initially in Detroit, Kansas. Robinson relocated it to Marion Centre in 1870.John E. Murphy purchased the paper and renamed it The Western Giant. He sold it five months later to C. S. Triplett, who in 1871 changed the name to Marion County Record. The nearby Emporia News praised Triplett's efforts after his first year running the paper. Triplett sold the paper in 1874 to Edward W. Hoch.
Family ownership
Since 1874, two families have owned the Record. The Hoch family owned it for 124 years. The Meyer family, which had been involved with the paper since 1948, bought it in 1998, so that it could continue to be locally owned and operated rather than sold to a larger chain of newspapers.E. W. Hoch ran the newspaper until 1925. Son Wallis Hoch and grandson Wharton Hoch also served as editors. E. W. Hoch and another of his sons, Homer Hoch, both held statewide political offices.
The Hochs acquired several other newspapers and merged them with the Record. Eighteen newspapers were published in Marion, each for fewer than two years, between 1880 and 1895. The Marion Times, founded in 1890 by C. E. Foote and Henry Kuhn, became the Marion Headlight in 1899 when J. J. Buschlen purchased it. Buschlen sold the paper to the Record in 1909.
The Marion Review, founded by D. O. Bell as the Lincolnville Lance in 1907, became the Marion County Lance, moved to Marion in 1908, and changed its name to the Marion Review. C. C. Jones was the Review’s first publisher. Mr. and Mrs. T. B. Matlock, Mr. and Mrs. Burton Smith and Mr. and Mrs. John Riddle followed him as publishers until, in May 1944, the Record and the Review merged to become the Marion Record-Review.
Wharton Hoch purchased the Riddle interest in May 1948. Bill Meyer joined as associate editor three months later. The paper's name reverted to Marion County Record in October 1957. Meyer became editor after Hoch's death in 1967. He and his wife, Joan W. Meyer, and son, Eric K. Meyer, a journalism professor at the University of Illinois, purchased the newspaper from Wharton Hoch's estate in 1998. The Meyer family bought the paper to prevent it from being sold to Liberty Group Publishing. The Hoch family has remained active in Kansas journalism until as recently as 2016.
Bill Meyer died in 2006. Joan Meyer, who compiled the Record’s "Memories" column until her death in 2023, was the newspaper's most senior staff member, having worked there for more than 50 years. Eric Meyer serves as publisher and president of the parent corporation, Hoch Publishing Co., Inc.
Donna Bernhardt, who remains a member of the board of directors along with longtime employees Melvin Honeyfield and Jean Stuchlik, became editor after Bill Meyer's retirement in 2003. Susan Berg, who later became Marion County treasurer, succeeded her as managing editor in 2008. After a series of news editors, including Adam Stewart, David Colburn, Sheila Kelley, and Mindy Kepfield, Eric Meyer assumed the role of editor after his retirement from the University of Illinois in 2021. Other current staff include reporters Finn Hartnett, Nicholas Kimball, Rowena Plett, Phyllis Zorn and Ryan Richter, sales manager Debra Steele and office manager Cheri Bentz. The paper's staff is larger than typical for a community of its size, since in 2023 it had five full-time and seven part-time staff, compared to a more typical size of three staff members.
"Official" billing
Bill Meyer described his newspapers as "official", in reference to their status as officially recognized venues for legal advertisements in their cities. While run by the Hoch family in the 19th century, the Record described itself in its masthead as "Official Paper, Of City and County" and was identified by name in a number of city ordinances.Significant stories
The Record follows a model of journalism that focuses on accountability.In 2004, the Marion County Record reported that the city was using water from a contaminated water reservoir.
In 2022, the paper investigated a housing development project with possible zoning irregularities.
Present status
The Record is the oldest publication in Marion County; the Peabody Gazette-Bulletin, which the Record purchased in 2001, is three years younger. The Record purchased the Hillsboro Star-Journal in 1999. The Record is printed on presses owned by CherryRoad Media in Hutchinson, Kansas.Following the 2023 police raid, the paper doubled its paid circulation to 5,500. However, owner Eric W. Meyer said he was down three staff positions and had struggled to fill them. Meyer doesn't take a salary. He wants to some day hand over the paper to its office manager when he's ready to retire, who has declined his offer, or give it away to "some young people that might be able to come here and might get enchanted with it."
2023 police raid
Newell dispute
The raid originated with a dispute between local restaurant owner Kari Newell and her husband Ryan, who were undergoing divorce proceedings. Ryan Newell told The Washington Post that he was concerned that his wife had continued driving and received a liquor license despite losing her driver's license in 2008 for drunk driving. Ryan Newell stated that an unnamed source gave him a screenshot of his wife's driving record and that he had passed the screenshot to a friend, who sent the screenshot to councilwoman Ruth Herbel and a Marion County Record reporter.Sworn affidavits allege that a Marion County Record reporter obtained the driving record of Kari Newell. Newell alleged someone had accessed her private files by using a piece of postal mail addressed to her by the Kansas Department of Revenue. She claimed this was a violation of the Driver's Privacy Protection Act, which makes it illegal to use "false representation to obtain or use any personal information derived from an individual's motor vehicle record drivers' personal information".
The Record did not initially report on the evidence against Newell, believing the materials to have been leaked in relation to divorce proceedings. Eric Meyer notified the police of the leak. At a city council meeting on August 7, 2023, Kari Newell accused the Record of having her "private personal information". She confirmed that she had continued driving after losing her license due to a drunk driving charge, but alleged that the newspaper had illegally obtained and disseminated the information. The Record then published an article about the allegations Newell made against the newspaper at a Marion city council meeting. In that article, the Record reported that a confidential source alleged that local law enforcement was aware that Newell didn't have a valid driver's license and that the city police had ignored "repeated violations of driving laws by Newell". In a post-raid statement, Newell said she has a driver's license and that the prior conviction was too old to influence the liquor permitting process.
Marion Police Department chief Gideon Cody wrote that the records would otherwise not have been accessed if the employee had not impersonated Newell's husband Ryan or lied. Magistrate judge Laura Viar authorized a search on August 11 in connection with a criminal investigation into identity theft using Newell's information.
The raid
On August 11, 2023, the Marion Police Department raided the Record's office and home of one owner, showing a search warrant to publisher Eric Meyer afterward. Officers seized computers, cellphones and reporting materials. The raid came after the paper had received evidence from a confidential source that Kari Newell, a local restaurant owner, had been convicted of drunken driving and continued to drive her vehicle without a valid operator's license, which could have prevented Newell from obtaining a liquor license for her business. The search warrant, signed by Marion County District Court Magistrate Judge Laura Viar, alleged identity theft and unlawful use of a computer and authorized police to seize equipment that could have been used to steal Newell's identity. After Meyer filed to obtain a copy of the affidavit supporting the issuance of a probable cause warrant, the judge responded that she did not have a probable cause warrant.Bodycam video showed that recently hired Police Chief Gideon Cody was alerted to the presence of printed information about himself during the raid. Cody also spoke with Newell, while the police were conducting the raid on the paper. Two veteran female reporters suffered health problems after the raid. One of them, Deb Gruver, earlier had discovered that Cody had been anticipating being demoted at the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department due to allegations against him of workplace harassment and opted instead for retirement there. Gruver resigned from her position at the Record, saying the raid caused her to suffer the exacerbation of a stress-related condition. She filed a federal lawsuit against Cody. The other reporter, Phyllis Zorn, also stated her intention to sue, citing permanent aggravation of a seizure disorder as a result of the raid.
According to the Kansas Reflector, the raid "appears to violate federal law that provides protections against searching and seizing materials from journalists. Cody wrote in a Facebook post that the law allows a search warrant "when there is reason to believe the journalist is taking part in the underlying wrongdoing". One day after the fractious raid on her home, the 98-year-old co-owner of the Record, Joan Meyer, died. The Record claimed she died after being unable to eat or sleep due to stress following the raid. In bodycam footage later obtained by the Record after Eric had left their house during the raid, Joan can be heard telling the police, "You know, if I have a heart attack and die, it's all your fault... If I die, you're going to be sued for murder." Her son Eric, publisher and co-owner of the newspaper, stated that a coroner determined that the raid contributed to his mother's death.
The officers also searched the home of Vice Mayor Ruth Herbel.