The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly is standing behind their controversial invocation policy.
At their Jan. 3 meeting, Assembly President Kelly Cooper introduced an amendment to the policy that would have allowed individuals who share a common “interest or belief” to be able to give the invocation.
That amendment failed in a 6 to 3 vote.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska filed a lawsuit against the Kenai Peninsula Borough on Dec. 14 over the invocation policy.
Under the current policy, only individuals or religious associations on a pre-approved list are allowed to give the invocation. The ACLU claims this policy violates constitutional rights to free speech and equal protection under the law.
In preparation for the lawsuit, the Borough Assembly passed a resolution authorizing the transfer of $50,000 from Borough Mayor Mike Navarre’s office to defend the invocation policy in court.
Shahla Farzan is a reporter with KBBI - Homer.
Shahla first caught the radio bug as a world music host for WMHC, the oldest college radio station operated exclusively by women. Before coming to KBBI, she worked at Capital Public Radio in Sacramento and as a science writer for the California Environmental Legacy Project. She is currently completing her Ph.D in ecology at the University of California-Davis, where she studies native bees.
When she's not producing audio stories, you can find Shahla beachcombing or buried in a good book.
