Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 381
July 4, 1924 – The Herald fully agrees with Pat O’Cotter in an article in the Alaska Weekly in which he says, among other things: “Captain Lathrop and George Edward Lewis made a real Alaskan picture, ‘The Chechacoes.’ It was financed and also filmed in Alaska, and nine-tenths of the cast were real Alaskans. It was the first picture ever made in Alaska and when the big producers in the East saw it, they grabbed it and they are giving it the biggest kick-off that a picture ever got in America, and it’s all because it’s a genuine Alaska picture. I...
In the middle of her voyage from Sitka to Pelican, Alaska State Rep. Rebecca Himschoot called into the Pilot from West Chichagof Island to talk about her first term and her upcoming repeat bid where she is running unopposed. With the weight of the campaign off her shoulders, while the legislature is out of session, Himschoot is boating through the district – visiting each of the 21 communities she represents in the State House including Petersburg – with fresh eyes, as she reflects on the hig...
June 20, 1924 – Earl Ohmer has received from Delegate Sutherland a copy of the treaty and law for the closed halibut season. The following is underlined by the Delegate for special consideration: “The Nationals and inhabitants are the fishing vessels and the boats of the United States and the Dominion of Canada, and respectively are hereby prohibited from fishing for halibut, both in the Territorial waters and in the high seas of the western coasts of the United States, including the Bering Sea, and the Dominion of Canada, from the 16th day...
June 13, 1924 – With the Reverend John Flint absent, Sunday broke clear and beautiful and the long deferred picnic of the Lutheran Church Sunday School was held at Sandy Beach. Several power boats, one of them a tow, were taxed to their capacity to take and bring home the crowd. The day was ideal. The older folks lunched and watched the youngsters play games. Several braved the waters and enjoyed bathing and swimming. Sandy Beach is all its name implies. It is a beautiful crescent-shaped cove about three miles from Petersburg, where a lodge b...
May 30, 1924 – A Good Suggestion. Dear Editor: Will you kindly pass this suggestion along to the ladies of your city while it will do the most good? Whilst we know conditions in hotel accommodations are not conducive to stop-overs for tourists, I would like to respectfully suggest that you form a Tourist Welcome Committee to meet all steamships, to welcome and meet all visitors and people coming to Petersburg. I know such a committee would be valuable to your town, aiding your businessmen by giving the visitor a cordial handshake, a friendly g...
The Alaska state ferry Columbia - which has been out of service since late November for its annual overhaul and repairs but was supposed to go back to work this summer - will be laid up until the end of the year. Extensive corrosion in the 51-year-old ship's fire suppression system is the reason for the extra time in the shipyard, Department of Transportation spokesman Sam Dapcevich said Friday, May 17. During the Columbia's extended absence, the Alaska Marine Highway System has diverted the...
May 9, 1924 – Petersburg needs more houses for rent. It needs more rooms and apartments. It needs more hotel accommodations, especially for the summer months. Carl Rogers of the Arctic Hotel is fully awake to the need of looking after transients, as well as the economic benefits to be derived by the townsmen generally, by making it attractive for tourists to stop off here. He is planning on an addition to his present quarters. Alaska is becoming more and more of a tourist resort. Men with the money to spend are beginning to seek out the n...
Dear Friends and Neighbors: The House Finance Committee wrapped up debate on amendments to the operating budget Thursday evening and moved the budget out of subcommittee on Friday. Amendments to the budget are being considered on the House floor this week. After we consider over 100 amendments the budget will be debated and voted on. If there is support, the budget will pass the House and then be considered by the Senate. Usually, the differences between the House and Senate versions of the operating budget are worked out in a conference...
The state ferry system carried 181,000 passengers in 2023, still short of the pre-COVID numbers in 2019 and down substantially from almost 340,000 in 2012 and more than 420,000 in 1992. Overall vehicle traffic also is down, from more than 115,000 in 2012 to 63,000 last year. Much of the decline corresponds to a reduction in the number of vessels in operation, according to statistics presented to a state Senate budget subcommittee on March 19. The fleet provided almost 400 “operating weeks” in 2012, with each week a ship is at sea counting as an...
The Alaska Marine Highway System’s ongoing crew shortage has eased up for entry-level steward positions but remains a significant problem in the wheelhouse and for engineers, likely keeping the Kennicott out of service again this summer. As of March 8, the state ferry system was short almost 50 crew of what it would need to put its full operational fleet to sea this summer, which means keeping the Kennicott tied to the dock, Craig Tornga, the system’s marine director, reported to a state Senate budget subcommittee on March 19. That is abo...
March 21, 1924 – Since Petersburg has been having such splendid weather and all of the snow has gone, and the frost is out of the ground, considerable building, improving of land and clearing of lots have started. Chris Wick has enlarged his house and built a splendid basement. Hans Zahl has been assisting Mr. Wick. Jack Matison and Billy Worth have built new houses and are now finishing the interiors. Anton Noried is clearing his lot and laying the foundation for his house. Mr. Noried’s lot is beside the lots of Thomas Lando and Louie Sev...
March 7, 1924 – Of the many neglected products of our salt waters, none compare with the sea mussel in abundance, nutritiousness and palatability, according to “Fish Cookery,” by expert Dean John N. Cobb of the University of Washington college of cookery, published by Little Brown & Company. This book states that the mussel has a wide distribution, the Atlantic species extending down the eastern coast while a closely related species extends down the west coast to San Francisco on the Pacific coast, and is extremely abundant everywhere withi...
Crew shortages continue to plague the Alaska Marine Highway, the ferry system’s director told a gathering of Southeast officials last week. “Our biggest shortage is in the engineering department,” where the 54 ship engineers on the payroll as of Jan. 26 were far short of the 81 needed for full staffing, Craig Tornga told a gathering of community, business and government leaders at the Southeast Conference on Feb. 7 in Juneau. “We’re short in the wheelhouse,” he added, down eight from a full contingent of 79 in the master, chief mate, secon...
Dear Friends and Neighbors: Last week was a bucket-filler: I was able to connect with constituents from across the district through the school administrators' fly-in and Southeast Conference. On Friday I was thrilled to be able to attend a workshop on how to fund schools to provide the opportunities we all want for our students. While I'm sure there's a lot going on behind the scenes on the bill to raise the BSA, it has not yet been scheduled for a floor vote. The part of the bill that funds...
It seems the governor’s office must like country music. Can’t argue with that choice. The lyrics speak of American dreams and heartbreaks. What makes the songs so popular is that they tell stories, believable or not, such as the famous line: “That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.” Sadly, that same line is essentially all the public is getting from the governor’s office to explain his decisions behind a dozen executive orders that will take effect unless rejected by the Legislature before mid-March. While some of the orders are not controver...
Dear Friends and Neighbors: It was an eventful first week of session. Using every parliamentary tool available to us, the House Coalition was able to compel the House to invite the Senate into a joint session. This is the first step in the process to consider a veto override of the governor’s cut to half of last year’s one time education funding. I was honored to make the motion to call for a joint session. I believe the Legislature was correct in responding to the needs of our public schools since the vetoed funds are sitting in an account an...
Unless the Legislature decides otherwise by mid-March, Gov. Mike Dunleavy will take over appointment of the entire nine-member Alaska Marine Highway Operations Board. State law reserves four of the seats for appointment by legislative leaders, but Dunleavy on the first day of the legislative session Jan. 16 introduced an executive order that changes the law so that the governor would control all of the appointments. The change will take effect 60 days after the order was issued — unless a majority of the 60 legislators vote in a joint s...
In January The Petersburg Borough Assembly unanimously voted to award the construction contract for the Blind Slough Hydroelectric refurbishment project to McG/Dawson Joint Venture for an amount not to exceed $5,744,000. The Petersburg Borough Assembly unanimously approved an ordinance in its first reading that would rezone a lot located at 10 N. 12th Street for commercial use. The rezoning was requested by the Petersburg Indian Association ahead of their prospective purchase of the lot, which h...
The director of the state agency that manages the food stamp program for tens of thousands of Alaskans says the staff is again overwhelmed with work, delaying benefits for thousands of households by months. That’s months without the food assistance they need and that most are entitled to receive — all because the state has failed at its job for more than a year. That’s months relying on friends, family, food banks, or just going without adequate nutrition. It’s not because they did anything wrong. It’s that the state failed to maintain...
With the rusty Matanuska out of service pending repairs, the Kennicott scheduled for tie-up due to lack of crew and the Tazlina in the shipyard to add crew quarters, the state ferry system’s draft summer 2024 schedule is limited by the number of vessels in service and looks about the same as this past summer. The Columbia would make a weekly northbound stop in Petersburg on Sundays and a weekly southbound visit on Wednesdays on its run between Bellingham, Washington, and Southeast Alaska. The marine highway system released its draft schedule D...
WRANGELL - Response to the deadly landslide continues, with extensive clearing work to remove debris from along the highway to increase safety and with fundraising for families affected by the disaster, particularly the Heller and Florschutz families that lost loved ones. More than $43,000 from 342 donations had been raised in a GoFundMe campaign for the two families as of Monday, Dec. 4. Almost $20,000 had been raised in another account to help families who were displaced or whose lives were...
WRANGELL - State officials have released the names of the four people killed and two others still missing from the Nov. 20 landslide that hit just past 11-Mile Zimovia Highway. As of Monday, Nov. 27, searchers had found the bodies of Timothy Heller, 44, his wife, Beth Heller, 36, and their daughters, Mara, 16, and Kara, 11. Mara was a high school junior and Kara was in fifth grade. Searchers found Mara's body the night of the slide, during the initial search operations by first responders able...
Thank you To the Editor: Thank you to Hammer & Wikan for re-establishing the footpath from the grocery store to the post office. Right now, the path is better than it ever was. Good job!, Sam Bunge Change the ferry LeConte’s name To the Editor: Do you believe in equality? Do you believe in human rights? Please sign the petition in the link below asking the Alaska Marine Highway System to change the name of the ferry LeConte. Joseph Leconte was a slave owning Georgian who believed in racial superiority and never once stepped foot in the state of...
October 18 – An alarm accidentally activated on South 2nd Street. A protective order was served. An officer was unable to locate a dog reported to be wandering around the North 2nd Street area. An officer responded to a report of a fawn having been struck by a motor vehicle on South Nordic Drive, but upon arrival was informed the fawn had left the area with a doe. An officer conducted a welfare check on South 2nd Street. An officer searched and secured a business on Fram Street after finding an unlocked door. An officer conducted a welfare c...
During a virtual public open house last Tuesday evening, Alaska Marine Highway System Marine Director Craig Tornga gave a brief update on the status of the agency's capital improvements as well as its operating challenges. Operating challenges "Crewing is still a big struggle for us," Tornga said. The system operated six ferries all summer, though it had hoped it would be able to recruit enough crew to run the Kennicott as a seventh vessel. But "we have crews for about five and a half (ferries). There is a large shortage across the national...
