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The Petersburg Borough Assembly recognized Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department staff and volunteers during its meeting on Monday for their efforts to fight the fire that ravaged the St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church on July 6. The fire, which was ruled an accident and was the result of maintenance work, raged for 10 hours, covering Petersburg in smoke and warranting response efforts from the PVFD, EMS, Search and Rescue, the Petersburg Police Department, the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S....
The U.S. Coast Guard held a Change of Command Ceremony for the new officer in charge of the USCGC Pike at the Sons of Norway Hall Monday morning. Command of the Pike was transferred from Lt. Jak Loewenstein to Master Chief Boatswain's Mate Kay Jones in a formal reading of orders in front of the crew and Capt. Darwin Jensen, the Commander of Sector Juneau. The ceremony was attended by the crew of the Pike, their families, Coast Guard personnel, Petersburg Borough staff, representatives of Sens....
The Petersburg School Board approved the district's FY24 budget at its last meeting of the school year on Tuesday. The uncertainties surrounding education funding in Alaska as well as rising inflation and utility costs have made the budget's development a long and winding road, but advocacy efforts by school officials on both the local and state level have helped ensure stability in the district for another year. "Honestly this is a much better scenario than what I had...predicted, so I mean...
The day after Petersburg Middle School let out for summer, 7th grader Ari Warmack boarded a plane bound for New York City to perform with his guitar at the invitation of Kids Rock For Kids (KRFK), a Brooklyn-based nonprofit that raises money for kid-related charities by producing rock benefit shows featuring outstanding teen musicians from around the world. In March, Ari received a direct message on Instagram from KRFK inviting him to a zoom interview. He discussed it with his parents, Eliza...
Beulah Eleanor Luhr passed away on Sunday, June 11, 2023, at her home in Petersburg surrounded by her children. Beulah was born in Chester, Montana on October 12, 1934, to Robert T. Reid and Vena (Ward) Reid. Her family moved to Petersburg, Alaska in 1939 and she resided there for the last 84 years. Beulah grew up in Scow Bay, graduated from Petersburg High School and married the love of her life, Donald Luhr, on May 31, 1952. In high school Beulah worked for the telephone company, back in the... Full story
The Petersburg Borough Assembly unanimously passed the borough's budget for the next year in its final reading during Monday's meeting. The final version of the FY24 budget fulfills the Petersburg School District's request to increase local funding to $3 million, up $1 million from last year. The district has been advocating for a bump in funding at the local level and from the state as it faces inflation, higher utility costs, and the implementation of the Alaska Reads Act next school year. "I...
June 1, 1923 – The Petersburg telephone system was cut in on Friday morning and is now working with twenty subscribers already connected up and more to be connected as rapidly as possible. Lilly Larsen is acting as central girl. Service is from eight a.m. to midnight, but within a short time the service will be from 5 in the morning until midnight. May 28, 1948 – A gift to Alaska from Seattle businessmen commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Alaska Gold Rush will sail from Seattle June 10. The gift will be the University of Washington Gle...
The Petersburg High School baseball team played its final series of the regular season in Ketchikan last weekend. Though the Vikings boarded the ferry back without a win, Head Coach Jim Engell said the team played the three games with grit and determination. “It felt like the kind of games we needed to be able to prepare for a state tournament so hopefully we’ll get that nod,” Coach Engell said. Despite Petersburg starting pitcher Jack Engell throwing a no-hitter, the Kings claimed the win Friday night in a 1-0 game. Engell struck out eight...
The budget that legislators approved last week and will send to the governor for his signature into law or veto would provide around $804,000 in one-time additional state funding to the Petersburg school district for the 2023-2024 classroom year. Gov. Mike Dunleavy has not publicly stated whether he will approve the increase in state funding for public education. He did not propose any increase in the budget that he submitted to lawmakers at the start of the session in January, leaving it to legislators to decide an amount. State funding for pu...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly unanimously approved the borough's FY24 budget in its second reading during Monday's meeting with three amendments added. The first amendment, proposed by Assembly Member Jeff Meucci, increased funding for Mountain View food service from $25,000 to $42,800 using general fund reserves. The increase was requested by the program to help meet the rising costs of food, inflation, and an increase in deliveries to five days a week, which started during the COVID-19...
With education funding undecided, Director of Finance Karen Morrison reported to the Petersburg School District Board during its meeting on Tuesday about possible budget scenarios for the next school year. The need for an increase in funding both at the state and local levels has been driven by inflation, rising utility costs, and the implementation of the Alaska Reads Act as well as the end of the district's hold harmless provision and COVID-19 funding going away. Earlier this month, the...
The Petersburg Arts Council recently installed a new wireless sound mixer at the Wright Auditorium that will make productions easier and improve sound quality according to Dave Berg. The upgrade was made possible by a $1,000 grant given by the Petersburg Community Foundation during the Little Norway Festival last year. The Mackie Wireless Mixer will be used for concerts, plays, dance recitals, and other events put on by the Petersburg School District and local organizations. The previous sound s...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted unanimously during Tuesday's meeting to approve the borough's FY24 budget in its first reading. No amendments were made to the budget, though some are expected to be introduced in successive readings. During the meeting, Assembly Member Dave Kensinger proposed an amendment to increase the funding for Mountain View Food Services to $43,000, though it failed in a 3-4 vote with Assembly Members Kensinger, Jeff Meucci, and Scott Newman in support. The proposed...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly held a work session on Monday to review the borough's FY24 draft budget ahead of its first reading. Finance Director Jody Tow walked through the presentation, along with Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht and other borough department heads, which gave assembly members an overview of what next year's budget may look like. Giesbrecht said this upcoming budget was a bit of a challenge to put together due to increased costs of insurance, inflation, uncertainties in...
Mitkof Middle School and Petersburg High School Principal Ambler Moss's contract will not be renewed and he will leave the district at the end of the school year. Moss was hired last summer and signed a one-year contract with the district, which is the standard length for principal contracts. Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter wrote that they mutually agreed that he would not continue in the role after this year. She added, "We wish him all the best in his next adventure and thank him for his...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted unanimously in favor of an ordinance that would amend the charter to open participation on local boards to borough employees in its final reading. The amendment, which will have to be approved by voters later this year, would let borough staff run for boards except for those that directly administer their employment. That would mean a Petersburg Medical Center employee could run for the assembly or the school board but not the hospital board. A Petersburg...
Thanks for going above and beyond To the Editor: I want to take a moment to recognize someone who went above and beyond for the youth of our community. Mike Corl was the driving force behind the newly formed Mitkof Yggdrasil Wrestling Club. Mike, with the help of Levi Entz for the K-2nd grade kids, and Bill Schroepfer and Eldon Walker for the 3rd - 5th grade kids, along with James Valentine filling in while Mike was traveling with the Middle School wrestlers, all gave up their evenings three days a week to teach our children the fundamentals...
On September first Dr. Jennifer (Jen) Hyer will begin an eighteen month sabbatical from the Petersburg Medical Center to sail from San Diego to New Zealand with her family. When she and her husband, Chris Hyer, first started dating twenty-seven years ago, Chris gave Jen the book "Dove," about a boy who sailed around the world, and told her it was a dream of his. She was immediately on board and boats have been a constant in their lives ever since. Their first home together was a 30' Sundowner...
Alaska school districts are scrambling to prepare for the new programs and policies outlined under the Alaska Reads Act that are set to go into effect next school year. The act has little funding attached to it and its implementation comes after three years of education interruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which have left some questioning if districts will be able to meet all that it requires in the short time they have to prepare. Gov. Mike Dunleavy signed the act in June 2022 in an...
The Petersburg School District board held a discussion during its meeting on Tuesday covering where the district currently stands financially and its need for additional revenue to prevent a negative fund balance in FY24. During the discussion, Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter and PSD Director of Finance Karen Morrison gave a presentation detailing how funding has declined in recent years while costs have spiked. According to their presentation, the true value of Alaska's school funding has...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly approved an ordinance in its first reading on Monday that would amend the charter to allow borough employees, including those at the school and the hospital, to serve on certain borough boards. The ordinance proposes allowing borough staff to serve on boards and commissions except for those that directly administer their employment. For instance, under the new ordinance a Petersburg Medical Center employee could run for the borough assembly or the school board...
In a change of plans from just a few weeks ago, the Alaska Marine Highway System reports it lacks enough crew to operate the Kennicott this summer. The loss of the Kennicott from the schedule likely would mean dropping service to Prince Rupert, British Columbia, and the loss of two additional port calls in Petersburg each month, May through September. It also could jeopardize state ferry service to Yakutat on the cross-gulf route, and abandoning plans to run the Kennicott to Bellingham, Washington, once a month to help move the heavy load of su...
COVID-19 cases have dropped at the Petersburg Medical Center's Long-Term Care facility after it faced its biggest outbreak of the pandemic last week. During the PMC Board meeting on Feb. 23, LTC Manager Helen Boggs reported that the facility had seen eight positive cases among residents as well as a few staff members. She also said residents had all been treated prophylactically with either Paxlovid or Remdesivir and were doing fairly well. On Wednesday, Boggs wrote that all of the COVID...
March 2, 1923 – Our small but busy little town is some burg. We own our own water works and light plant. We have one of the largest salmon canneries in Southeastern Alaska. This cannery has for the past five years had an average pack of 100,000 cases. We also have two shrimp canneries, employing six boats and 120 people. We have one crab cannery employing six boats and about 20 people. We have three machine shops and two public docks. The Standard Oil Company has one of its largest stations here with a dock of their own. We have three large m...
The Petersburg School District Board approved the calendar for the 2023-24 school year during its February meeting. Though some draft calendars that had been presented at a previous board meeting saw some significant shakeups in the schedule, the calendar that ultimately passed is generally similar to previous years. The school year will start on Aug. 29 and finish on May 30 and will have 172 student days. Some of the changes to next year's calendar include giving students Nov. 1 off instead of...
