A Ketchikan resident submitted a letter to Alaska’s Attorney General Treg Taylor that she calls a formal complaint against a series of local elected officials. The February 8th letter accuses local officials, organizations, and public employees of retaliating against her after she attempted to remove books from teen library shelves.
Deborah Simon submitted the “complaint,” which is levied against several local organizations – the City of Ketchikan, the Ketchikan Public Library, the Ketchikan Gateway Borough School Board, and the Ketchikan Gateway School District as a whole. It specifically names almost 30 city officials.
Simon is a member of the city’s Library Advisory Board. In recent months, she’s attempted to get multiple books moved out of the teen sections at the public library and the high school libraries. In the complaint, Simon describes what she calls “deliberate retaliatory actions” in response to the book challenges. Simon alleges she was targeted and treated unfairly by local officials because of her repeated challenges and corresponding appeals.
Simon has argued the books, which include Flamer by Mike Curato and Red Hood by Elana Arnold, should be moved because they are inappropriate for teens – saying they include content like vulgar language, masturbation, menstruation, and themes of depression and suicide. According to Simon, the school district changed their policy while her book challenges were still in process, and the School Board deliberately released her personal information, which threatened her family’s safety.
In the complaint, she also cites a performance at the recent Wearable Arts runway show as being retaliatory. At the show, Ketchikan-area librarians gave a performance in which they wore art pieces that included pages of banned books and pages of the US Constitution under red robes. Simon alleges the performance was “meant as retaliation against residents who have recently challenged youth titles and to all those who speak out in support of those challenges.”
Simon cited social media posts, as well as coverage of the event by media outlets including KRBD as evidence in the complaint. Simon specifically references one librarian’s art piece – a dress made from the pages of Flamer, one of the books she challenged.
Simon also alleged that the timeline of the performance means that the performers were “actively working to undermine the established Reconsideration process while they were supposedly evaluating citizen Requests.” [sic]
Patty Sullivan, Communications Director for the state’s attorney general and Department of Law, said in an email that Simon’s letter is not a lawsuit “complaint.” The letter was also submitted to the Alaska Ombudsman’s Office. Sullivan says the Ombudsman’s Office only deals with complaints against state agencies. Sullivan called it “a local issue” and said “the complaints should be shared/ discussed with the city and school district/ school board.”
