Who’s Left to Tell

They must have thought no one would be looking.

That’s the best explanation I can muster for the police raid on the offices of a weekly newspaper in Marion, Kansas.

That, or they are dumber than a brick.

The entire police force of five officers entered the premises of the Marion County Record last Friday and seized computers, mobile phones and other items – allegedly to investigate the “identity theft” of a restaurant owner who had a public feud with the newspaper.

Oh, and yes, the newspaper also had been nosing into the past of the new chief of police.

At least they did it in daylight, rather than under the cover of night. But if they thought they could get away with it, with no one noticing, they were delusional. Not only is it state news and national news. It’s international news.

The whole world is watching. And the whole world knows what ugly small town politics has done in Marion, Kansas. The whole world knows that ugly small town politicians rule in Marion, Kansas. And the local Chamber of Commerce might as well hang up its shingle because that town’s goose is cooked.

Local authorities are hanging tough. What else can they do? Admit their perfidy? There will be suits and countersuits and charges and countercharges. And when the dust settles, the reputation of this town will be as good as gas station toilet paper.

Elsewhere in Kansas on Friday, people were mourning the death of a Fairway police officer who was killed in the line of duty. But in Marion, Kansas, cops were shutting down a newspaper. Last time this happened in Kansas, as I recall, was right before the Civil War, when slavers shut down an abolitionist paper, threw its press in the river and ran the editor out of town.

I get a little steamed about such things because I used to be in the newspaper business. My wife and I once considered buying a small paper. Really glad we didn’t do that, for many reasons.

There’s a country song, “Try That in a Small Town.” You know that most lynchings were done in small towns. And when people were asked who was involved, they just shrugged. They knew. But they didn’t dare tell the truth.

Who’s left in Marion, Kansas, to tell the truth?