Coffee shop owned by woman at center of Marion, Kansas, newspaper raid is moving out

The coffee shop owned by Kari Newell — the woman whose complaint about the Marion, Kansas, newspaper led to a police raid that captured the country’s attention — is closing its doors at the end of January, Newell confirmed Wednesday to The Star.

“The closing of Kari’s Kitchen is not primarily related to the events that occurred in August with the newspaper,” Newell said in a text. “I do not pit any responsibility on the newspaper for this outcome.”

Last summer, Newell claimed that the newspaper had violated her privacy in obtaining public records related to a past incident of driving under the influence of alcohol. Her complaint triggered an Aug. 11 raid of the Marion County Record. Police, led by then-Chief Gideon Cody, also raided the home of the paper’s co-owner, Joan Meyer, 98, who collapsed and died one day later.

In October, Cody, a former Kansas City police captain who had left and took the job in Marion under the cloud of an investigation, resigned amid the continuing controversy.

The raid on the Marion paper, co-owned by Meyer’s son, Eric K. Meyer, triggered a national debate over police overreach and attacks on the freedom of the press. Newell, as much as the police chief, became one of the faces of that event because of her well-known mistrust of the newspaper.

Newell, who opened Kari’s Kitchen last May at 301 Santa Fe St., said that complications surrounding her divorce have more to do with closing the cafe. Newell also owns Chef’s Plate at Parlour 1886, a restaurant across the street, 115 N. Third St., inside the Historic Elgin Hotel.

Operations of the coffee shop, she said, will become part of Chef’s Plate.

“My coffee shop is not closed,” she said in a text. “This location will be closed at the end of the month with its operations moved to another location.”

In a way, it was questions over Chef’s Table that triggered all that unfolded.

Officially, its liquor license was held by the Elgin Hotel’s owner, Tammy Ensey, who is the sister-in-law to Marion’s county attorney, Joel Ensey. The question of whether Newell would receive her own license had been on the Marion City Council agenda on Aug. 7, when she stood at the lectern and accused a reporter for the Marion County Record of illegally accessing her private information to confirm a tip that Newell had been convicted of a misdemeanor DUI 15 years prior.

Under Kansas statutes, a past misdemeanor DUI has no bearing on getting a liquor license. (Newell had also been driving without a valid license since that time.)

Newell’s accusation that the paper had engaged in identity theft was the catalyst for the town’s police chief, Cody, to get a search warrant signed by a magistrate judge. On Aug. 11, he and his police officers raided the newsroom, hauling away computers and cellphones. The police also raided the home of Marion Councilwoman Ruth Herbel, along with the Meyers’ home.

The Kansas Department of Revenue later said that the Marion reporter was using records open to the public to check Newell’s driving status.

Video of the police raid on Meyer’s home would later go viral. It shows Joan Meyer excoriating police, stomping her walker and demanding that officers leave her home. Meyer died the next day.

Newell received an avalanche of criticism following the raid and Meyer’s death. Refusing to cast herself as a victim, Newell would later tell The Star that she felt that she was unfairly demonized.

“I didn’t go in and raid the newspaper,” Newell said previously. “I didn’t incite the raid.”

Regarding Kari’s Kitchen, Newell said Wednesday that she had originally wanted to rent the space until she could purchase the property. The property may soon go up for sale, she said.

“I’m not in the position to purchase the property at this time,” she said.

Newell still does not have a liquor license for her hotel restaurant. She has offered BYOB, bring your own bottle, service. Per Kansas statue, a patron can drink alcohol in an unlicensed business with restrictions: the alcohol must not be sold on the premises and must be in the possession of the patron. It cannot be consumed between midnight and 9 a.m. The business or owner cannot have had a previous license revoked and cannot charge for the drink.

“I have an amazing support system in our local community,” Newell said. “I have had very few and far between critics locally.”

Despite all that has happened, Newell said, she still gets the local newspaper.

“I support local businesses regardless of my personal experiences. … I generally have a copy laying on the table for cafe guests to read.”