Who is Kari Newell, restaurant owner at center of Kansas newspaper raid? What we know

The search warrant used by police in Marion, Kansas, to carry out a controversial raid on a local newspaper last week named one resident as the victim of an alleged crime.

That person was local restaurant owner Kari Newell.

As a small business owner in Marion, a community of fewer than 2,000 people about 60 miles north of Wichita, Newell would not normally have seen her troubles make national news. But her allegations that the local newspaper, the Marion County Record, broke the law by accessing online information about her 2008 drunken driving arrest are now part of a much larger discussion about the freedom of the press.

The raid on the newspaper, which saw police carrying off cellphones, computers and other materials, set off a firestorm of criticism that made national headlines. In the following days, other news outlets joined the Record’s efforts to investigate the raid and those who led it.

Additional news reports revealed the DUI arrest history of the judge who signed the search warrant and the checkered past in Kansas City of the police chief who executed it.

State and national elected officials, from Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly to the White House have weighed in, calling for more questions to be asked and expressing concern for the First Amendment. Free press advocates and the Record’s attorney have said the raid was illegal, and on Wednesday the local prosecutor withdrew the search warrant, prompting the return of the newspaper’s seized equipment. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation took over the case from local police.

For her part, Newell has said little publicly about the episode. The Star was unable to reach Newell for comment Thursday.

After the raid, Newell posted a statement on Facebook saying journalists are “not exempt from the laws they blast others for not following.” The post has since been taken down.

Here’s what we know about Newell.

Restaurant owner in downtown Marion

Newell looms large in the restaurant scene on Third Street, in downtown Marion.

First came the Chef’s Plate at Parlour 1886 restaurant, housed inside the Historic Elgin Hotel. Newell took over as restaurant owner and lead chef in January, according to The Hillsboro Free Press.

Newell told the Free Press she dreamed of bringing “next level fine dining” to the steak and seafood restaurant while also maintaining affordable plate prices.

Second came Kari’s Kitchen, a coffee shop and cafe that Newell opened in June, directly across the street.

With two downtown businesses in the town, Newell told a KSN-TV reporter that she was happy with her investments.

“I have fallen in love with Marion,” she said in the July 28 interview. “I’ve been here about 10 years, and being a part of this community does feel like family.”

Conflict with the Marion County Record

Before the raid, Newell had been in conflict with the Record.

In early August, when Newell hosted a meeting at her coffee shop with U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner and other officials, those in attendance included three members of the Marion County Commission.

The three commissioners represented a majority of the five county commissioners, which meant the gathering was an open meeting under Kansas law.

Law enforcement, including the Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody, were invited and in attendance.

The Record’s publisher, Eric Meyer, joined the meet-and-greet with another reporter. Then, he said, the police chief asked him to leave.

“I was standing in line waiting to get a drink at the coffee shop where we were and the police chief came up to us and said you’ve been asked to leave by the coffee shop owner,” Meyer told CNN. “She said we don’t want the media in here, so they threw us out.”

Newell told CNN that she had the journalists to leave because she said the newspaper “has a long-standing reputation for twisting and contorting comments within our community.”

Raided Kansas newspaper is known for aggressively covering small town’s many disputes

Past DUI arrest and liquor license application

At an Aug. 7 Marion City Council meeting, Newell’s request for a liquor/caterer license for Chef’s Plate at Parlour 1886 was on the agenda.

The Historic Elgin Hotel, where Chef’s Plate at Parlour 1886 is located, has an on-premise drinking establishment liquor license that was issued on Aug. 28, 2021, to Tammy Ensey, the previous owner of the restaurant, which used to be called Parlour 1886.

In Kansas, liquor licenses are valid for two years at a time. According to the Chef’s Plate at Parlour 1886 website, the restaurant currently has a full-service bar. But the liquor license is set to expire on Aug. 28, according to state records.

While the details of Newell’s DUI are not publicly available, the newspaper had reportedly been told about the arrest as Newell was applying for a liquor license.

In Kansas, those previously convicted of DUIs — with the exception of felony DUIs — can still work at retail liquor stores, drinking establishments and clubs. Those who work as servers, bartenders or managers at drinking establishments cannot work if they have three or more alcohol-related convictions, according to the Kansas Department of Revenue.

Individuals with any felony convictions cannot obtain a liquor license or work at an establishment with a liquor license, according to the state.

Publicly accused reporter of violating privacy

Newell took to a public podium during the same council meeting to accuse a Record journalist of “illegally” obtaining her personal information.

“What she did was negligent, reckless and unnecessary, and it was a violation of my personal privacy and information,” Newell said of the reporter, who she did not name at the council meeting.

Meyer in the same meeting countered that the paper had done nothing illegal, that the personal information Newell was referencing — a past DUI — had been shared with them on social media by an outside source.

Meyer said the paper did not share the information with Councilwoman Ruth Herbel, as Newell accused them of, or publish a story about it.

Named in search warrant used in raid

Four days after Newell’s comments at the City Council meeting, police raided the Record.

On Friday, Marion police officers and two sheriff’s deputies arrived at the newsroom with the search warrant, which gave them permission to seize correspondence about Newell, along with digital information or items that would establish the use of computers and networks “to participate in the identity theft” of Newell.

Marion County Record Search Warrant by The Kansas City Star on Scribd

Security footage from inside the Record newsroom captured law enforcement hauling out reporters’ electronics.

Police also seized a cellphone and laptop from City Council member Herbel’s home, and the home of the paper’s co-owners, Meyer and his 98-year-old mother, Joan Meyer, who died the next day.

Despite challenges posed by the loss of materials, the Record published its Wednesday edition paper on schedule, with the headline: “SEIZED ... but not silenced.”