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Various streets and road patches will soon be paved after the Petersburg Borough Assembly approved a resolution providing $532,085 in funding for and approval of a sole source contract for paving services to Southeast Alaska Construction SECON at its January 19 meeting. The bulk of the funding comes from National Forest Receipts, federal dollars to the municipality, along with some from the Rasmus Enge Bridge Reconstruction Fund. This is the last year the borough will receive National Forest Receipts unless congress reauthorizes the funding...
In nearly every conversation related to borough government, capital projects or borough services, you can’t help but hear a borough employee or staffer say something along the lines of “with the state budget the way it is…” or “without any money coming from the state…” The warnings have become almost cliché during Borough Assembly meetings and in coffee shop politics talk. But what, exactly, is the challenge we’re facing and what can we do about it? This Friday you’ll have an opportunity to find out. State officials and employees will hos... Full story
Some Petersburg officials and civic leaders are against using annual raw fish tax revenues to help pay back a potential loan that would help pay for a portion of the $9.9 million municipal and police building remodel project. Petersburg Borough Finance Director Jody Tow helped come up with the funding plan that would borrow around $1.3 million from Power and Light's electric fund and would pay those funds back with a portion of the annual fish tax revenues. Some think the bulk of those monies... Full story
The Petersburg Land Selection Committee approved proposed language to request additional land allocation from the state legislature. “If we’re going to do something this session and we want to get the answers, then we need to get moving on it,” committee member Dave Kensinger said. Committee member Ron Buschmannn echoed that need and said Petersburg needs a greater area to select since it’s been left with slim pickings after a long awaited court decision. The Petersburg Land Selection Committee was put on hold until last month when the Alaska...
The Petersburg Police Department issued a press release stating the Southeast Alaska Cities Against Drugs Task Force (SEACAD), with assistance from the FBI and United States Postal Service, arrested Lars Christensen and Lawrence Christensen on charges of possession of heroin and methamphetamine with the intent to distribute. According to the press release, investigators seized more than 500 combined dosage units. Lars and Lawrence are being held in Petersburg on a $25,000 cash bail. “The investigation is ongoing and no further comments will b...
Oregon resident William Wahl, 41, pled guilty Tuesday in Petersburg court to a misdemeanor count of Prohibited Conduct after State Wildlife Trooper Cody Litster found illegally harvested Red King Crab aboard his boat, the F/V Victory. Wahl and his crew were tendering in Bristol Bay early last summer and after the season wrapped up they fished for the crab around the Aleutians before moving to Southeast to tender for salmon. Litster said he’d been tipped off that Wahl and his crew had the Red King crab in his front freezer and investigated t...
The U.S. Forest Service announced Dave Zimmerman as the new Tongass National Forest Petersburg District Ranger. Zimmerman will arrive from Medford, Ore. where he served as the Timber and Special Forest Products program manager for the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest. "My current national forest is 1.8 million acres spread across five districts, so working on a district of similar size to my former forest will be exciting," Zimmerman said in a press release. "This will necessitate continued...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly advanced a funding plan for the $9.9 million police and municipal building remodel, and put the project out to bid. The remodel has been in the works for several years and architects have spent more than a year designing the facility. MRV Architect Corey Wall gave a tour to interested residents and borough staff Monday morning before the January 4 assembly meeting. He detailed the sinking concrete slab, which visibly affects the structure of the police station... Full story
Work on the Petersburg Children's Center expansion is continuing smoothly as volunteers from around the community are donating sweat and supplies. Volunteers from Rocky's Marine helped install a new roof on the expansion that will allow the Children's Center to enroll around 20 more students from an already staggering waitlist. "Right now my waitlist is about 40, maybe 50 kids," Children's Center director Brandi Heppe said. The new expansion will enlarge one classroom and add another. A crew... Full story
Petersburg’s Local Marijuana Regulation Advisory Committee was disbanded earlier this week. Petersburg Borough Assembly Member and Committee Chair Jeigh Stanton Gregor recommended last Monday to the assembly during a committee update that the marijuana advisory committee should disband due to its ineffectiveness. Stanton Gregor said a majority of committee members didn’t read the state’s retail marijuana regulations, which had been available for review and public comment throughout the summe...
Brooklyn based singer-songwriter Lijie will perform in the Wright Auditorium Thursday, January 7 where she'll play original and cover songs on guitar and piano. Although Lijie describes her music as "dirty rock pop" she is a classically trained pianist. She moved to the United States from China at a young age. Her parents soon after enrolled her in piano lessons and she's been playing ever since. Lijie has performed from Los Angeles to Brooklyn and this evening's show will be her first trip to...
Local poet Lee Ribich and visiting poet Anna DeWitt will be reading their work Monday, January 11 at the Petersburg Public Library. DeWitt, a writer and photographer from North Carolina, holds an MFA in Creative Writing from American University. Her work has been published in national literary journals. Her current project, "How You Got Here", explores maternity care, childbearing and childhood around the world through writing, photography, and participant observation. Ribich has published...
A fire blazed in a blacksmith shop near Muddy River on the mainland Tuesday evening. Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department spokesperson Dave Berg said PVFD received a call around 4:50 p.m. on December 29 after someone reported seeing a fire on the mainland to the Petersburg Police. Berg said volunteers asked over a VHF radio if anyone knew anything about a fire. “Orie Bell on the M/V Lindy came back to me and said they had a fire in their blacksmith shop over there and that it was fully engulfed and everyone was accounted for, there were no i... Full story
Petersburg Police are charging a man with multiple counts of burglary and theft after a Christmas Eve break in left a family without a vehicle, tools and firearms. According to charging documents, police charged Neil Ray Hacker, 37, with 12 felony counts after a confession to police where he admitted to stealing nine firearms, including rifles and shotguns, along with a 2012 Toyota pickup truck, vehicle parts and tools from a warehouse on Hungerford Hill owned by Albert Hofstad. The charging... Full story
It's a question Petersburg's Northern Nights Theater manager Anne Tate fields every now and then. "I've been asked, I think, about a million times," Tate said. "I'm not certain I can leave my house without someone asking." It's no surprise people are inquiring. 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' shattered records, including the largest box office record of all time, and will likely continue to eclipse previous big movie box office sales. The movie has already grossed more than $1 billion...
Petersburg rubber boots sloshed through 135.22 inches of rain so far this year, putting 2015 on track as the second rainiest year on record—biting at the heels of 1991’s title as rainiest year with its 136.88 inches of precipitation. January and April of 2015 both broke precipitation records with January receiving 21.05 inches beating the 1985 previous record of 20.89 inches. Rain poured last April with a total 12.31 inches beating 1952’s previous record of 11.1 inches. Last July came in secon...
The Salvation Army’s largest fundraiser the ‘Red Kettle’ campaign provides assistance to those in need throughout the year in the form of utility and rental assistance, food boxes, heating oil, emergency lodging and transportation. The year 2015 saw a large increase for those needing rental and utility assistance and food boxes compared to 2014. In 2014, the local Salvation Army provided rental assistance to six people in two households in the amount of $265. That number leapt up to 17 people in 10 households in the amount of $9,004 durin...
Icicle Seafoods' The Gordon Jensen struck rocks on Saturday and the U.S. Coast Guard had to escort the damaged vessel to Ketchikan for repairs. Coast Guard public relations Petty Officer Meredith Manning said Tuesday the cause of the incident is still under investigation and no injuries were reported. Manning said the vessel ran aground near Bella Bella, 172 miles southeast of Prince Rupert. The Canadian Coast Guard responded to the incident and the U.S. Coast Guard was later involved. Manning... Full story
The public has a final opportunity to review and comment on Petersburg Borough long-term planning objectives after the Borough Assembly approved a hearing schedule for the comprehensive and waterfront plans. The plans outline and recommend strategies for borough management, land use and the environment, transportation, economic development, recreation and tourism and waterfront development over the next 20 years. The comprehensive and waterfront master plan is the result of Agnew::Beck Consulting, an Anchorage firm the borough hired in the fall... Full story
Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins is visiting Petersburg over the next few days and is petitioning for signatures for the PFD Voter Registration initiative. The initiative would give Alaska residents the opportunity to vote for a ballot measure that would let residents apply for their PFD Dividend and register to vote at the same time. "Basically it gets all the paperwork for voter registration out of the way since people are already filling out their address and legal name and all the other... Full story
An external auditing firm representative reported positive financial health for Petersburg Borough finances. The Petersburg Borough Assembly heard from BDO Auditor Michelle Drew at its December 21 meeting. “We did issue an unmodified opinion and that’s basically a clean audit report, which is kind of the highest report card you can get from an external auditor,” Drew said. “Everything we asked for was made available to us. We received excellent cooperation from everyone at the borough in getting ready for the audit.” The auditors looked at...
Marijuana dispensaries can't set up shop in downtown Peterburg based on Alaska's Alcohol Beverage Control Board's (ABC's) recent adopted marijuana license restrictions. According to the adopted regulations, the ABC Board won't issue a marijuana establishment license "if the licensed premises will be located within 500 feet of a school grounds, a recreation youth center, a building in which religious services are regularly conducted, or a correctional facility." Those restrictions eliminate... Full story
Andy Kittams, 43, plead guilty in October to driving salmon from closed waters while commercial seining. According to Alaska State Troopers, Kittams was seining at the Hidden Falls Hatcher Area when his crew was documented using explosives to drive salmon from a closed area into an active seine net. The incident occurred in 2013. Kittams appeared in Sitka for his court hearing where he was fined $3,000 and ordered to pay $12,375 in restitution to the state of Alaska. An additional charge of using explosives to drive salmon was dismissed as...
Commercial sea cucumber divers harvested more than 1.4 million pounds of sea cucumbers this fall, according to Alaska Department of Fish and Game preliminary harvest estimates. With an average price of $3.50 per pound, that's $5.1 million worth of sea cucumbers. Snow Pass yielded the most harvest weight with 327,454 pounds of cucumbers coming out of the waters and saw 58 divers fish the area on October 26, the most out of any area time this season. The cucumber dive fishery is a rotational...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly will delay voting for funding the municipal building remodel project, after construction costs came in higher than estimated. Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht learned last Friday the anticipated $9.8 million project is now totaling $10.2 million, according to MRV Architects, the firm hired to complete the remodel design. The Borough Assembly was scheduled to vote December 7 on funding the project, but that date will likely be pushed back to January. Giesbrecht said he’s asked MRV architect Corey Wall to i... Full story
