Western Reader
Joan Meyer, the 98-year-old co-owner of a historic Kansas newspaper, passed away following an unexpected police raid on her home and office.
The incident sparked national outrage and was captured on surveillance video, showing Meyer fiercely defending her rights against the intruding officers.
The video, released by Meyer’s son and Marion County Record Publisher, Eric Meyer, shows the elderly woman standing her ground, clad in a robe and slippers, and using a walker for support.
As the officers begin their search, Meyer can be heard shouting, “Don’t you touch any of that stuff,” and asserting her rights with a firm, “This is my house!”
Breaking: Newly released footage of 98-year-old Kansas newspaper owner, Joan Meyer, shows her home being raided by police and the property of her newspaper, Marion County Record, seized by police.
Tragically, Ms. Meyer died the next day. pic.twitter.com/svPEcZH7R7
— Te𝕏asLindsay™ (@TexasLindsay_) August 22, 2023
The raid was initiated after accusations were made against the Record and one of its reporters of identity theft and unlawful computer access.
These allegations led to the controversial raids and seizures, which have been widely criticized as an infringement on First Amendment rights.
Before her untimely death, Joan Meyer likened the police department’s behavior to “Hitler tactics.”
The police chief, Gideon Cody, who spearheaded the raid, remained silent amidst requests for comments. In a questionable move, affidavits justifying the warrants were filed three days post the searches, raising eyebrows about the legality of the operation.
Eric Meyer has attributed his mother’s death to the undue stress caused by these “illegal” raids, which he equates to “Gestapo tactics.” The incident has since raised concerns about First Amendment rights and the freedom of the press.
.@ABC News has obtained video of a police raid on a small-town Kansas newspaper. The publisher says his 98-year-old mother, with whom he co-owned the paper, died one day later from the stress she suffered.
@ReporterFaith reports.
https://t.co/vKpgofPtUd pic.twitter.com/izlHED52PI— World News Tonight (@ABCWorldNews) August 14, 2023
In response to the public outcry, Marion County Attorney Joel Ensey withdrew the search warrants last Wednesday.
He ordered Marion police to return all seized items, citing no legal basis for the case against the newspaper or its staff. Bernie Rhodes, the attorney representing the Meyers and their newspaper, emphasized, “It is not a crime in America to be a reporter.”
The raids were conducted following the newspaper’s investigation into allegations against a local sweets shop owner, Kari Newell, and the city’s new police chief, Gideon Cody.
However, the paper had not published any story related to Newell’s DUI case prior to the raid, raising further questions about the motives behind the police action.
“The affidavits establish that Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody knew that Phyllis Zorn, a reporter for the Record, had been given a copy of Kari Newell’s driver’s record and that the only thing Zorn did was verify the authenticity of that record by going to the public website of the Kansas Department of Revenue,” Rhodes told Fox News Digital.
“What Zorn did is perfectly legal under both Kansas and U.S. law.”
The Marion County Record, founded in 1874, has been a beacon of independent journalism for over a century. Joan Meyer and her late husband bought the newspaper in 1998 to save it from a corporate takeover, continuing its legacy of upholding the truth.
This article appeared in FreshOffThePress and has been published here with permission.
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