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For Petersburg families wondering what their children will do this summer, Petersburg Medical Center's Youth Programs are offering more activities, more accessibility, and more options than ever before. After a six-month effort to secure critical funding streams, the programs have achieved a milestone that will help ensure more families can participate, regardless of financial circumstances. PMC Youth Program administrators have spent months advocating for access to state child care assistance...
April 3, 1925 – Earnest Kirberger, the merchant at Kake and fur farmer, was in town the forepart of the week with some choice blue fox pelts to be shipped to the New York auction sales. Mr. Kiberger says Kake is unusually lively this season with boats supplying clams from there to Mountain Point Packing Company below Scow Bay, and with three different logging camps operating in that section. He said Charles Knutson of the powerboat Katie and Arthur Johnson of the Woodrow are making regular trips to Mountain Point with clams. Mr. Kirberger s...
The bell jingles as the door to Kinder Komfort opens, and a customer slips in with a hopeful smile. "Did you find it?" he asks Jenny Cisney, who lights up behind the counter. "I did!" she cheers, retrieving a copy of Code Names, a board game the customer had hoped to special order but couldn't quite remember the name of days earlier. Jenny had put together the clues and figured out the name, found the game and even had her visiting mother bring it from Washington with her luggage rather than... Full story
Petersburg's first baby of 2025 arrived on her own schedule, surprising her parents with a slightly early appearance on January 16 at 3:07 a.m. in Anchorage. Haley June Torrez, weighing 8 pounds, 3 ounces and measuring 20 inches long, was born to Petersburg residents Tori Shay and Aidan Torrez, marking a joyous beginning to the new year for this hometown family. The couple are both 2014 Petersburg High School graduates. Tori, a lifelong Petersburg resident, works at SEARHC handling medical...
When Ashley Corl moved to Petersburg, she found herself running alone a lot. "I've been a runner for most of my life, and I've always run with friends or with groups that I was training with for races, mountain runs, marathons. I always had people to run with, and when I moved here, I ran alone a lot, and I saw a lot of people running alone, and I think I just started to really crave more community around running," Corl told the Pilot. "I knew that there were other runners out there. I just...
After 11 straight years with more residents leaving Alaska than arriving, the state for the first time projects a long-term population decline, according to a report released Monday from the state’s demographer. And as Alaskans keep getting older, the number of deaths will rise while births keep falling, adding to the population decline looking out to 2050, according to David Howell, state demographer, writing in the state’s latest Alaska Economic Trends magazine. The projections, if they hold, could have important consequences, he said in an...
Josie Sylvan breaks off a piece of a beached iceberg for baby Cannon to teeth on, as Iris helps herself, amidst the first flurry of snow this season at Sandy Beach — Oct. 22, 2024....
The EMS branch of Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department is trying out a new response system that no longer holds EMS responders to a fixed schedule. Emergency Services Director Aaron Hankins told the Pilot that it was difficult to get volunteers to commit and sign up for consistent 12-hour shifts; he said there was conversation about changing the shift schedule to more than two shifts in a day, but there was not a consensus among the group to agree on a change. Ultimately, Hankins said EMS...
Shig Kaino was born on September 9, 1929, in Vista, California, joining her older brother and sister. She grew up in the San Diego area on vegetable and strawberry farms. Shig had a love affair with the open fields and with the strawberries her family grew. When she was 12 years old, American policy during World War II changed her life. She was taken from the farm and incarcerated in an internment camp, facing a new life behind barbed wire that would keep her separated from her brother for... Full story
At the height of the food stamp backlog last November, pro bono attorneys and other volunteers at Alaska Legal Services got more than 600 requests in one month from Alaskans seeking a fair hearing to get their overdue food benefits. So the 97 requests that came in this July didn’t feel like anything the group couldn’t handle, said Leigh Dickey, the nonprofit’s advocacy director. But the number is still alarming, she said, and it’s double last month’s requests. Dickey said the state’s Division of Public Assistance is still dogged by the same pr... Full story
When Dan Trail took his dogs to play fetch on June 20 at Petroglyph Beach, the last thing he expected was to find himself involved in a statewide baby seal rescue mission. But when he reached for his tennis ball and noticed it lying on the tail of a 1-week-old lost seal pup, he sprang into action. The seal - now called Rocky by her rescue team - was extremely dehydrated when Trail found her. Wedged in between two rocks, high above the receding tide, she was sucking in air on a warm June day....
Petersburg's Rebecca Fisher, a 17-year old competitor in Native Youth Olympics, brought home a gold medal this month from the 2024 Indigenous Summer Games in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada. In addition to winning gold, Fisher also claimed two silver and two bronze medals. To qualify for the Summer Games in Canada, Fisher first competed at the Traditional Games in Juneau, Alaska. When Fisher found out she qualified, she thought she was being pranked. "I was getting ready for my...
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...
While Petersburg residents are hoping to trade rainy days for sun, the public library is encouraging kids and readers of all ages to trade in pages for prizes with their annual summer reading programs. Baby Shrimp - the library's playful parenting program for kids ages 0-3 - and Summer Stream - their flagship program for kids ages 3-12 - have both gone through major restructuring this year, while the Go Wild program is continuing to invite teens and adults to join in on the activities. "There's...
Rodney Lee Anderson was born on el Día de los Muertos, November 2, 1965, in Davenport, Iowa, to Ronald Gene and Victoria Lee (Dawson) Anderson. His lifelong best friend and brother, Ronnie, was 21 months old and with Rodney's birth the family was complete. As a little boy Rodney showed an affinity for all animals, but he especially loved birds. He was mesmerized by them. Perhaps all those quiet hours of observation were the genesis of Rodney's unique sense of time. He was never in a hurry and... Full story
January 18, 1924 – An overheated stove caused a fire early Wednesday forenoon which practically destroyed the residence of Mr. and Mrs. William Stedman. The house was occupied by Miss Grissinger, teacher in the local school, who lost many of her clothes and personal belongings. The fire was caused by the heating stove in the front room and started in the partition back of the stove and quickly burned its way through the ceiling and roof. The alarm was sounded by M.S. Perkins who discovered the flames shortly after they started. The fire d...
Elsie Marie Broschat was born in Sitka on January 5, 2024 at 3:30 a.m. Her parents are Andrew Broschat, a police officer with the Petersburg Police Department, and Elle Broschat, bookkeeper and owner of Southeast Bookkeeping. Being confirmed as the first baby of 2024 born to Petersburg residents, the family are entitled to receive the many gifts from local businesses published in the January 4th edition of the Pilot. The Broschat family moved back to Petersburg from Sitka in November 2023. They...
Dennis Lowell Jones, Sr, died, peacefully, in his sleep on December 7th. He was born June 30, 1945, the 3rd of 4 children to Delmer and Mae (Gilmore) Jones, in Medford, Oregon. Their family lived in Shady Cove where his Dad was a logger. Dennis' family moved to Corning, CA, in northern California, when Dennis was 5. He always liked to work and earn his own money. He started a lawn mowing business when his Dad loaned him money for a lawn mower at age 10. He mowed lawns all over Corning. He had a... Full story
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...
A Man for All Seasons To the Editor: Mr. Paul Bowen was a man for all seasons: the fishing season, the election season, the basketball season, the hunting season, the climbing season, and along with all of these, the high school year. We knew him as our physical science and biology teacher in the 1960s at Petersburg High. His irrepressible optimism and powerful zest for the task at hand made us engage with the subject with uncommon attention. I remember going on a spring field trip to the beach that featured a surprise snowstorm. He led the...
Owen Anderson Who are your parents? Jay and Julie Anderson Number of years in Petersburg schools? 10 Please describe a moment you will fondly remember from your time at PHS. Freshman year when we went home for spring break and school ended due to Covid. What are your plans following graduation? To pursue a second education and use the skills I learned in highschool to do so. What was your favorite class or activity during school and why? Shop, I was able to get certified in welding. What is a favorite book, movie, show, or song that you...
Art Hammer was born on July 7, 1921 to John and Marie Hammer in Petersburg, Alaska. He was born at the family's house on Lumber Street, where he joined siblings Jennie, Agnes, and Norman. His brother James joined the family five years later. As a child Art could be found helping his Dad work on the house they were building on Hammer's Slough, rowing up Petersburg Creek, or fishing with friends. All of Art's educational years were completed in Petersburg. He was a member of the Petersburg High... Full story
Mary Clemens and Bill Moulton have teamed up for the fourth time to share their love of country swing dance and the two-step by teaching a recent class at the Mitkof Dance Troupe's studio. Clemens explains, "Two-step is slow and swing is fast. It's different steps. Bill makes it look easy because he's a good lead. It really makes a difference if the guy knows how to get you to do what they want you to do." Moulton says, "There are five basic moves to learn, then you build on those to learn the...
James Chase Swainson was born on August 27, 1967 in Ellensburg, Washington to Jim Swainson and Susan Goettlicher. James split his time living between both parents – traveling between Alaskan towns to live with his dad Jimmy and stepmom Sparky in Petersburg, with his mother Susan and stepfather Tom Larson in Sitka, and later with his mother and stepfather Mark Goettlicher in Anchorage. After graduating from East High School in Anchorage, James moved to Seattle and lived in the University District... Full story
