Sorted by date Results 1051 - 1075 of 1602
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced the first opening of the Southeast Alaska drift gillnet fishery will begin Monday, May 2, 2016. This opening is directed at returns of Stikine River king salmon and will occur in the following area: District 8: will be open from 8:00 a.m., Monday, May 2 - 8:00 a.m., Tuesday, May 3, with some restrictions at the Stikine River, Beacon Point/Point Frederick Area, Bear Creek and Wrangell Harbor Area. Gillnet Gear Restrictions: The gear allowed will be the standard length and depth (300 fathoms and...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly will begin approving a draft version of a marijuana ordinance at its first meeting in May after Assembly Member Eric Castro suggested they get going with the process. “In order to allow the entrepreneurs in town to give them the time before the state really starts to accept the permits I feel it’s our due diligence to get this ordinance passed however we see fit after the three readings to give the public the amount of time they need to come up with their business models,” Castro said. The assembly has been solic...
March 23 An officer gave a verbal warning for headlight out. A caller reported a small fire on the beach with no supervision. A caller spoke with an officer about civil paperwork. A caller reported a civil issue. A caller brought in a jar containing marijuana found in a parking lot. March 24 A male was wailing, screaming and throwing things. Bryon E. Humphrey, 23, was arrested on charges of probation violation. A caller spoke with an officer about threatening behavior. March 25 A caller reported an intoxicated person leaving a bar. Bartender...
March 16 An officer spoke with a driver concerning driving habits. A driver received a verbal warning for not using headlights. A driver received a warning for not using headlights. A caller reported a boat following too close to a pod of killer whales. A caller reported unsolicited scam phone calls involving $75,000. March 17 A driver received a warning for not maintaining in the correct lane. Sean Johnson, 33, received a citation for failure to stop at a stop sign. A caller reported a person beating a drum. An officer was notified and was una...
Andrew Phoenix realized he wanted to be a performer way back in elementary school while part of a school play about Christmas being canceled because Santa was sick. Phoenix's character was a kid covered in soot and his line was, "So we cleaned the chimneys for nothing?" Phoenix added a little flare after saying his line with an improvisation, and received a loud response of laughter from the audience. All he did was blow his nose with a handkerchief and add a big breath of air to animate the...
Petersburg Indian Association’s tobacco prevention specialist asked the Petersburg Borough Assembly March 7 to ban electronic cigarettes and vapor products from bars and increase the smoke free distance from five feet to 20 feet. PIA’s Katie Yeckley said vapor products may expose non-smokers to harmful chemicals and that the products are not FDA approved. She also said the five-feet distance from building entrances is too short, allowing smoke to still enter public spaces. “As a non-smoker and a mother of young children I find it very diffi...
March 9 A caller reported a confused woman on the front step of a Haugen Drive residence. The caller requested an officer. After responding the officer requested EMS. A caller reported a vehicle speeding on Chief John Lott Street. An officer was on another call, and was unable to locate the vehicle after responding. An officer gave a warning to an individual for not properly displaying their temporary tag. A caller requested assistance with a civil matter. A caller reported possible small caliber gunshots on North Nordic Drive. An officer patro...
Fire sale salmon prices last year and a dim outlook for the upcoming season have caused the value of Alaska fishing permits to plummet. To another extreme – the prices for halibut catch shares have soared to “unheard of levels.” Starting with salmon permits: “A lot of people had disastrous seasons last year, whether it was drift gillnet or seine permits, and the values have declined dramatically,” said Doug Bowen of Alaska Boats and Permits in Homer. At Alaska’s bellwether fishery at Bristol Bay, a base sockeye prices of 50 cents a pound helpe...
A flood of public criticism washed through the Petersburg Borough Assembly chamber Monday afternoon regarding zoning language in the soon to be adopted Borough Comprehensive Plan, but the nature of the comments in some ways highlighted misunderstanding of and the lack of involvement in the public process. Mandated by the state, a comprehensive plan is "a compilation of policy statements, goals, standards and maps for guiding the physical, social and economic development, both private and... Full story
March 2 A caller reported a violation of a protective order. A driver received a warning for a headlight. Multiple callers reported an over turned vehicle on Mitkof Highway. A caller reported individuals spinning brodies in a parking lot. An officer on detail was unable to respond. A caller reported the location of an individual with an outstanding warrant. A driver received a warning for a headlight violation. A vehicle parked off a roadway ran out of gas. March 3 A caller reported someone in California using their social security number. A dr...
March 4, 1916 – The business men of Petersburg have made provisions for a meeting of the fishermen at the Sons of Norway March 18 to discuss the formation of an organization for giving the fishermen an adequate mutual marine insurance and for establishing credit of the members for making loans without the necessity of mortgaging their boats. Marine insurance is today almost prohibitive in rates. No one can pay ten per cent for insurance while the actual cost in a mutual organization would hardly exceed two or three per cent. An advantage of a...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly tabled a discussion regarding the takeover from the state of several dock facilities within the borough. In a January 21 letter, the Assembly wrote the state to request the transfer of state owned facilities Papke’s Landing, Kupreanof and Entrance Island docks to the Petersburg Borough. In a February 11 letter from the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities Commissioner Marc Luiken, the commissioner said he applauds the borough’s willingness to accept responsibility and stewardship for the har... Full story
The Petersburg Borough Assembly advanced the borough’s comprehensive plan Monday evening. The plan outlines and recommends strategies for borough management and the development of transportation, economy, recreation and tourism over the next two decades. The plan is several years in the making. A consulting firm in Anchorage, hired to update the borough’s plan, met with community members during that time, took surveys, interviewed citizens and received public comment. Planning and Zoning (P&Z) member Dave Kensinger attended the ass... Full story
February 10 A caller reported a flash and being out of power. A caller reported possible drug paraphernalia found at Wrangell Narrows beach. A caller reported being threatened by individuals. A caller reported a cat stuck in a tree. The caller spoke with an officer. February 11 A driver received a verbal warning for speeding. A driver received a verbal warning for failure to stop at a stop sign. A caller reported a vehicle crossing the center line on South Nordic Drive. A driver received a verbal warning for speeding. Gregory Birchell, 51,...
One could hear the proverbial crickets chirping after Petersburg Mayor Mark Jensen brought up the assembly’s previous request to have a discussion about the possibility of re-appropriating money from the Kake access road project. During its last Borough Assembly meeting in January, several assembly members were in support of such a reallocation and suggested a bulk of the money go to projects for Kake and Petersburg. State Senator Bert Stedman appropriated the $40 million in 2012 for the project that would build a road and ferry connection from... Full story
Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht gave the following report at Monday’s regular Assembly meeting: There has been increased homeless activity, with squatters in vacant or abandoned buildings. The public is reminded to secure outbuildings. An investigator from the Alcohol Beverage Control Board visited Petersburg last week. The tabletop exercise for the new Emergency Action Plan for our Blind Slough Hydro was held on Thursday of last week Officers Rowley and Preston will be receiving mandatory certification training in Sitka in February. In prepar...
Shame on you To the Editor: I don't understand why environmentalists get so excited about the timber sales the Forest Service is kind enough to make available for logging companies. Why protest? Everybody knows trees are a “renewable resource.” Ketchikan, Wrangell, Sitka, and Petersburg were all built on fishing, and logging mills – both lumber and pulp and some mining. Those towns didn't have to depend on tourism and chartering. If you look back in the 60's, 70's and early 80's these towns were booming, our economy was thriving. We had a lot o...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly will discuss at its next meeting in February a request to the state asking the legislature to reallocate funding from the $40 million Kake Access Road project. Many Petersburg residents have expressed criticism and concerns regarding the road that would connect Kake to northwest Kupreanof Island, where a proposed ferry would increase traffic in between the two communities, and think the project isn’t sustainable and won’t serve its expressed need. The assembly discussed the idea of reallocating the funds dur... Full story
It is illogical that the remodeling of the Borough Municipal Building should go to a vote of the people. If the public voted not to fund the remodeling project, it would leave the local government in the exact predicament they now find themselves. The police department is presently housed in a substandard, non-compliant structure that is a danger to employees, prisoners and local citizens who rely on the department to provide first responder assistance in an emergency. Furthermore, the City of Petersburg and now the Petersburg Borough have...
During the January 19 Petersburg Borough Assembly meeting, Petersburg Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht reported the following: Power & Light has completed the major re-write of our Emergency Action Plan required by FERC for our Blind Slough Hydro. A tabletop exercise to familiarize plan holders with the new document has been scheduled for January 21. The next SEAPA meeting will be held in Wrangell on February 11-12. This will be the first meeting of the new year, so there will be an election of officers. We will be having weekly diesel runs on...
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
ANCHORAGE (AP) — Seabird biologist David Irons drove recently to the Prince William Sound community of Whittier to check on a friend's boat and spotted white blobs along the tide line of the rocky Alaska beach. He thought they were patches of snow. A closer look revealed that the white patches were emaciated common murres, one of North America's most abundant seabirds, washed ashore after apparently starving to death. “It was pretty horrifying,” Irons said. “The live ones standing along the dead ones were even worse.” Murre die-offs have occu...
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
