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The borough assembly approved an amended fiscal year 2020 budget policy and community service grant application. A decision on the fiscal year 2020 capital projects list was postponed until January and the manager’s addendum to the budget policy, a document with suggestions on how to balance the budget, was also postponed until a time to be determined. Assembly member Bob Lynn made two amendments to the budget policy, which is a document that outlines how each department head will put their budgets together. One was a request for the a...

The theme for the women's invitational art show at the Clausen Memorial Museum on Friday was "Shift", which offers the 13 women artists the opportunity to interpret the theme in their own way. "I think it's just a nice way to support women artists and highlight what they're doing in their individual practice and how they're growing," said Cindi Lagoudakis, one of the event's organizers. Though the event has been hosted irregularly for over ten years, Lagoudakis said she wants to host the event...

Although Friday's earthquake in Anchorage was too far away to be felt on Mitkof Island, Petersburg resident John Havrilek and members of the Petersburg Indian Association were in Anchorage when the ground began to shake at about 8:30 A.M. "The shaking was so severe I could barely stand," said Havrilek. He was in Anchorage to visit his daughter Courtney who was hosting an after school conference for troubled youth at the Sheraton Hotel. He was in his room on Friday morning when the earthquake...

Although this morning's earthquake in Anchorage was too far away to be felt in Petersburg, members of the Petersburg Indian Association were getting ready to leave Anchorage after attending a Bureau of Indian Affairs conference when the ground began to shake at about 8:30 A.M. "Oh my gosh, it was just really scary because it just kept going," said Jeanette Ness, a social worker with PIA who was in the airport waiting for the number 64 jet when the earthquake started. Ness said that ceiling... Full story

Sealaska and Petersburg Indian Association are holding a sea otter skin sewing class from Oct. 31 through Nov. 3 to give native Alaskans the opportunity to become closer to their roots. "Alaskan natives have been working with marine mammal fur since time immemorial," said Marcus Gho, a contractor with Sealaska who will be teaching the class. "It's a good opportunity to learn a little more and strengthen our identity." Participants in the class will work with the pelts to sew items like hats and...

After mercury leaked out of a package at the Petersburg Post Office and closed the facility for just over a week, the post office reopened last Friday. "[Post office staff] handled it great and they adapted to the changes as necessary to make sure that we could keep serving our customers," said Postmaster Mark Eppihimer. Environmental contractors and regulators were flown into Petersburg to clean the facility of the mercury, though the amount that was exposed wasn't harmful, according to a...

Knowledge, bonding and storytelling are the words used by the organizers to describe the First Annual Fall Adult Culture Festival that took place at Sandy Beach Park Sept. 7-9 in conjunction with the Rainforest Festival. Marsha Cook, Kayla Perry and Christina Sargent, the key organizers for the event, were inspired by their own time foraging for berries, mushrooms and other edibles. Cook had sent four years living in Kake and participating in the annual youth culture camps held there. They...

United States Postal Service officials now estimate the Petersburg Post Office will reopen on Friday, after a package leaked mercury inside of the facility last week, according to a statement issued by the USPS. Officials had previously expected the post office to resume normal retail and PO box operations by this past weekend. “The Postal Service apologizes for the inconvenience and appreciates its customers’ patience,” according to the statement. Petersburg residents can continue to pick... Full story
Clarification To the Editor: Thank you to the Petersburg Pilot for the coverage of the 1st annual Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Walk/Run. I would like to clarify that while my granddaughter Amalia was correctly identified as Alaska Native, I am not. I am however a proud member of the Seetka Kwann Dance group, founded in 1990 and led by Jeanette Ness. Many thanks to SEARHC, WAVE, PIA and Petersburg Parks and Rec for coordinating this event and to all who participated. Karin McCullough Senior exemption thorny issue To the Editor: The...

The Petersburg Indian Association's Tribal Transportation Program plans on building a board walk to allow residents of Mountain View Manor to connect to the trail system. "It's nice for people to get out," said Sue Harai, director of the TTP. The raised boardwalk will be 1345 feet long and six feet wide. It will connect 13th Street to the Hungry Point Trail. Funding for the project comes from a federal highway bill called the Fast Act. It sets aside money to provide safe and adequate...


Richard Peterson, Central Council Tlingit and Haida President gave an analogy Monday night that all Alaska Natives should be in the same canoe, and if they aren't, they are working against one another. Since Petersburg Indian Association made the final drop from the compact of Tlingit and Haida three years ago and became a self-determining tribal government, their relationship with T&H has been bumpy. The dinner along with a meeting earlier in the day with the PIA Board was one of the steps in s...

A 15-year-old, fading mural in Petersburg is getting about four coats of paint added by volunteers in town. The Our Town mural, which hung above the parking lot across the street from the Wells Fargo bank since 2003, currently sits on the second floor of the Petersburg Indian Association Hallingstad-Peratrovich building. The 40-foot painting is broken into 11 plywood panels, and about 15 volunteers have been working in groups of three or four since January to layer heavy duty paint. Pia...
February 14 — An officer gave a courtesy transport to a citizen walking in the cold from Frederick Point. An officer received a report of a vehicle failing to stop at a stop sign. The vehicle owner was issued a warning. An officer responded to a 911 call of a report of dogs killing chickens. The officer arrived to the scene and found two dogs outside the chicken coop. The owner was cited for dangerous dog. A complainant reported several items stolen from a boat. An officer assisted state troopers in a domestic violence investigation on K...

The Petersburg Public Library is featuring a photo display made by a local artist who wants to represent humanity to the community. Pia Reilly, a Petersburg artist who usually paints, recently unveiled "We Are One," a photo display at the library with a whole lot of faces, but a single idea, she said. "It's not really anybody," Reilly said. "I just wanted everyone to be represented. It's a matter of all of us." Reilly took the photos from magazines and news articles, new photos and old photos....
We better watch out, pipes leak on the floor The hospital plumbing’s worn out at the core Hope Santa Claus will bring us some more! Better not eat that king salmon you froze Next year there won’t be many of those 7,000 in the Stikine It’s time for Merry Christmas, we’ll dance around the tree With fluoride in our cocktails, we won’t go home on our ATV! Municipal building sparkling and new The tree has been lit for me and for you Thanks PIA for trails around the town! Legislature is stuck, they just won’t face facts We can’t balance the b...

Pia Reilly, left, is an artist from Petersburg who had a joint gallery show on Friday with Kerstin McKee of Issaquah, Washington. Both born in Sweden, McKee said she gravitates toward sensual details of nature in her acrylic paintings. She also featured hand-made pottery, which she favors equally with drawing. Reilly, whose large photo hangs behind, said living Petersburg brought out the color in her work, adding that despite being asked all the time, it is difficult to quantify how long it...

The Petersburg Indian Association is more than two-thirds finished with construction of a boardwalk that starts at Sandy Beach Park stretching nearly 1,900 feet along the shoreline ending at City Creek. The trail revamp is likely to finish months ahead of schedule, said Todd Young, who is the foreman. He has six crewmembers working to wrap-up the last third section of the project. The boardwalk is equipped with a bridge at the entrance, a handicap pathway with ample room, and hundreds of feet...

The Petersburg High School Class of 2017 ended their K through 12 tenures at a commencement ceremony Tuesday evening. Petersburg gave diplomas to 29 students. Of those, 24 will attend, or plan to attend, a university, community college or trade school. Four others intend to seek a career in photography, aquaculture, engineering, heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration and travel. One more, Alan McCay, plans to enlist in the United States Coast Guard. Forty-five scholarships...

Petersburg Indian Association received a letter of support for the possible development of a trail from the Seversen Subdivision to Haugen Drive adjacent to the Fire Hall. The Borough Assembly approved the request in a 5-0 vote on Monday. According to Susan Harai, PIA Engineer, the letter allows the organization to begin negotiations with the State of Alaska for either a right-of-way or easement across State Airport property located outside the fenced area of the runway. In April, following a...

A small cadre of volunteers picked up cigarette butts for two hours last Saturday. The collection effort brought in 3.5 lbs. of cigarette waste and filled 6-plastic containers. Sponsored by Petersburg Indian Association's Quit Tobacco program, the clean up areas started at the Park & Rec facility and continued to Nordic Drive, Sing Lee Alley, 1st and 2nd streets to the library and around Petersburg Medical Center. Areas that were heavily soiled with cigarette litter were around the Harbor Bar...
March 22 — David Janzen was arraigned on a second charge of DUI over the weekend. Magistrate Judge Burrell accepted a not guilty plea to the charge and the defendant was released OR with conditions. March 23 — Dustin DeLong appeared before Judge Magistrate Burrell on charges of Theft in the 4th Degree and Criminal Mischief in the 5th Degree. The defendant entered a not guilty plea to both charges and was released OR with conditions including that the defendant not go on PIA premises. March 30 — Magistrate Judge Burrell signed an order for B...
City Manager Steve Giesbrecht presented the following information to the Borough Assembly at Monday’s meeting. We have been getting a false alarm indication at the Main Street Sub transformer. We plan to replace the faulty switch during the scheduled maintenance shutdown of the transformer. The top of this unit often needs cleaning (branches, leaves, moss, etc.) because of the size and close proximity to the grove of trees. Joe Nelson’s been working with Parks and Rec to address lighting issues in their back parking lot. We are hoping to com...

Petersburg Indian Association board member candidate Will Ware who submitted a challenge letter following the PIA election, withdrew as a candidate and clarified that the intent of the challenge was not to challenge the results but to bring attention to concerns about the process....