AGO 1989-072.

• Case Date: June 14, 1989
• Court: Kansas

Kansas Attorney General Opinions 1989. AGO 1989-072. June 14, 1989ATTORNEY GENERAL OPINION NO. 89-72Wayman Favors Wyandotte County Counselor 1314 N. 5th Kansas City, Kansas 66101 Re: Publications, Bibliography and Calendar--Legal Publications--Newspapers in Which Legal Publications May be Made Synopsis: The Wyandotte Echo, in its current form, qualifies as a newspaper in which legal notices may be published pursuant to K.S.A. 1988 Supp. 64-101. Cited herein: K.S.A. 1988 Supp. 64-101. * * * Dear Mr. Favors: Wyandotte county requests our opinion concerning whether the Wyandotte Echo qualifies as a newspaper in which legal notices may be published pursuant to K.S.A. 1988 Supp. 64-101 or if, rather, it does not qualify because it can be classified as a trade publication under K.S.A. 1988 Supp. 64-101(c)(3). K.S.A. 1988 Supp. 64-101(c) establishes what type of publications may carry legal notices in Kansas:

"(c) Except as provided by K.S.A. 12-1651, and amendments thereto, no legal notice, advertisement or publication of any kind required or provided by any of the laws of the state of Kansas, to be published in a newspaper shall have any force or effect as such unless the same be published in a newspaper having the following qualifications:

(1) It must be published at least weekly 50 times a year and have been so published for at least five years prior to the publication of any official publication;

(2) it must be entered at the post office of publication as second class mail matter;

(3) it shall have general paid circulation on a daily, weekly, monthly or yearly basis in the county and shall not be a trade, religious or fraternal publication; and

(4) it must be printed in the state of Kansas and published in the county publishing the official publication, or if there is no newspaper published in the county, then in a newspaper printed in Kansas having general paid circulation in the county. The provisions of this section requiring publication for at least five years prior to the publication of any official publication shall not apply to any newspaper which is qualified to publish official publications under the provisions of this section. . . ." (Emphasis added).

Two Kansas cases discuss the definition of a newspaper. In Kansas City v. Overton, 68 Kan. 560 (1904), the court defined a newspaper as "[a] weekly...