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Petersburg’s street sweeper is back on the job after a weeks-long breakdown, as the borough and the Alaska Department of Transportation race to clear months of accumulated safety sand from local roads ahead of Little Norway Festival week — and ahead of the annual repainting of lines on the state’s highways. The heavy sand load is evidence of the region’s punishing winter. Relentless snowfall through the season required repeated applications of sand and grit to keep roads safe, leaving more material on the ground than a typical year. Getting...
WRANGELL - They had lived in the same house at 8.5-Mile Zimovia Highway since 2019, with Tim and Shei Gillen renting the downstairs apartment from homeowner Bruce Levine. All three lost their home and just about everything they owned in a fire Monday afternoon, April 27. Levine also lost his two dogs, and the Gillens lost two cats in the fire but were able to save their three dogs. They buried the cats last week. Levine suffered burns on his hands and face and was hospitalized a couple of days;...
Construction has begun on the expansion of the Tlingit and Haida Airport Subdivision near Mountain View Manor, and the first visible sign of that work - the removal of roughly 300 feet of the area's popular boardwalk trail - has prompted some dismay from residents who say they were caught off guard by the closure. The boardwalk trail section that runs through the muskeg from the Mountain View Manor area toward the Hungry Point Loop trail will remain closed to the public for the duration of...
18 – There are no issues in the archive until May 19, 1926. Thank you for your patience. April 27, 1951 – In November we may berate the weather. In January we may say, “I’ve had enough of this damn country.” In January more than one man came home to announce, “Yep, I’ve given up fishing.” But as May 1 rolls round Alaska is a thrilling and a good place to be. The fleet’s going out and most of those men who quit fishing are going down the dock with a bedroll on their shoulder, ready to take their chances with their brother fishermen. Here’s...
The Friends of Petersburg Libraries marked their 25th anniversary Tuesday with a celebration at the Petersburg Public Library that doubled as a community tribute to two figures who have shaped the library and the town's cultural life for decades: revered Petersburg historian Don Nelson and retiring library staff member Chris Weiss, who served the library for nearly 40 years. The event drew community members, library staff, borough officials and representatives from the Clausen Museum to share...
Dear Readers, it's a pleasure to announce that your local newspaper, the Petersburg Pilot has been named Alaska's Best Weekly Newspaper for 2025. The Pilot staff works hard to bring you a top notch local paper each week, and it is a much appreciated affirmation of the effort and all the community support that makes that effort possible. Whether you pick up a copy each week at one of the dozen business vendors around town, or are a subscriber, or are one of the local advertisers who, through...
April 8 – There was a report of a deceased deer in a yard on Wrangell Avenue. An illegally parked vehicle abandoned on S 2nd St. was impounded. An alarm activated at Pump Station #4. Water Wastewater (W/WW) was notified and responded. An ATV driver on Sing Lee Alley was issued warnings for driving the wrong way on a one-way street and an expired registration and told not to drive the ATV on the streets until properly licensed. An officer responded to a non-criminal disturbance on S 3rd St. An officer responded to a reported disturbance on S 3...
More harm than good To the Editor: The “SAVE” Act was intentionally given that name to infer that somehow we need to “save the voting system in America.” It’s a trick used by politicians to make uniformed voters believe they are supporting a just cause. I say it’s a trick because the United States has one of the most secure election systems in the world. No amount of unproved claims of voter fraud change that fact. A closer look shows it is a solution in search of a problem – and one that risks doing more harm than good. Voter fraud in the...
Stephanie Pfundt has spent the better part of a decade building a career in classical music far from Petersburg - graduate school in Boston, performing across the East Coast, a produced opera in Massachusetts, a growing network of colleagues at some of the country's top music institutions. And now the award-winning Petersburg-born soprano is bringing a long-dreamed-of project to life and bringing chamber music home to Alaska. "This has been a project I've dreamt of for six years," Pfundt said....
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Begich visited Petersburg last week, holding a community meet and greet and sitting down afterward with the Pilot and the KFSK radio station. Begich, a former state senator from Anchorage, is running for governor on a platform centered on education funding, affordable energy, fiscal accountability, and a governing style he says is defined by dialogue rather than division. The meet and greet drew a roomful of Petersburg residents and discussion touched on...
Every day the Petersburg wastewater plant handles between 300,000 gallons to 1.8 million gallons during heavy rain, but there have been some changes in how they do that in an attempt to meet new EPA requirements. While the wastewater staff have been able to greatly improve the water quality discharged by the plant, it's going to take more equipment to fully meet the disinfection requirements. That's going to mean either chlorination and dechlorination equipment (as discharge of both bacteria...
18 – There are no issues in the archive until May 19, 1926. Thank you for your patience. March 16, 1951 – It’s nothing but the best for the Glen Reid family when something happens to one of their little folk. On Thursday morning Sandy Reid, small son of Mr. and Mrs. Glen Reid, was trying to help his brother grind up some clams for the family lunch. But he tried too hard and poked his tiny finger too far into the chopper, taking it off at the first joint. The family frantically rushed him to the hospital where they learned that three prominent...
March 18 – An officer responded to a parking complaint on S 2nd St. An officer conducted a welfare check on Sing Lee Alley. An officer responded to a two-car accident at Nordic Dr. and Surf St. There was a report of suspicious activity on Sing Lee Alley. An officer responded to a dog complaint on S Nordic Dr. Papers were served on S 3rd St. A driver on S Nordic Dr. was issued a warning for tail light requirements. An officer assisted with a civil issue on Skylark Way. March 19 – An officer assisted a citizen with a stuck wheelchair on N 2nd...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted unanimously Monday to extend the borough’s municipal solid waste transportation and disposal contract with Republic Services for one more year, buying time while a regional study examines longer-term alternatives for Southeast Alaska communities. Petersburg’s garbage is baled at the local baler facility and shipped via container to the Roosevelt Regional Landfill in Washington state, with Republic Services handling transportation and disposal. The contract extension runs from September 1, 2026 through the e...
February 26, 1926 – There will not be an issue of the Herald next week, nor can we say at this writing whether or not there will be another issue. Henry Phillips, who has had charge of the mechanical end of this office is leaving for Skagway where he will dismantle the Skagway Daily Alaskan plant and ship it here. The Daily Alaskan, which was purchased by the Alaskan Native Brotherhood, will be set up and operated here in March giving news and job service to the local and outside business. Mr. Sidney Charles has assigned his interest in the H...
WRANGELL - With just four weeks left before the deadline, Wrangell borough is pressing ahead to complete its application for a $50 million federal grant to help pay for several projects to boost the town's economic future. "We all know we've been economically depressed" since the timber industry collapsed more than a generation ago, Kate Thomas, the borough's economic development director, told the assembly at a work session on Jan. 27. The federal grant, through the Economic Development...
January 21 - A welfare check was conducted. Suspicious noises were reported on S 4th Street. Officer was unable to locate the source of the noise/disturbance. An individual requested a civil standby. A citizen was upset that another person had called him a name. A fraud was reported. A warning was issued for headlight requirements. January 22 - An extra patrol was conducted on Haugen Drive. A water leak was reported. A warning was issued for expired registration. A dangerous dog was reported on Excel Street. Smoke was reported in the Mill Road...
An ordinance introduced at Tuesday’s Petersburg Borough Assembly meeting proposes a 10 percent increase in harbor moorage and use fees. Petersburg Harbormaster Glo Wollen told the assembly the increase is needed to keep harbor revenues in line with rising expenses. Wollen said the harbor department has absorbed cost increases for four years since the last fee adjustment in April 2022. Rising utility rates, material costs and employee compensation are driving the need for additional revenue, she said. The largest expense in the harbor budget i...
Special Meeting January 23rd: Planning Commission Drafting Zoning Code re: Towers To the Editor: We the Planning Commission are drafting a zoning code update to propose to the Borough Assembly to regulate communication towers locally. Our current code was written before cell phones and so does not contemplate tower locations. We are hoping to remedy this. Drafting this code is difficult and complicated because of binding FCC regulations — if we draft conflicting or illegal code, it can and will be struck down by the courts and then we'll be b...
January 2025 The Petersburg Borough Assembly agreed to transfer seven parcels of borough-owned land in the Airport Addition Subdivision to Tlingit Haida Regional Housing Authority (THRHA) in exchange for the developing road and utilities for 11 residential lots. The snowpack at the Raven's Ridge snow survey site at 1,650 ft elevation measured zero inches. One of only two years on record without snowpack in January. Rock-N-Road Construction was awarded the contract for the borough's Pump Station...
People who have been shoveling snow in central Southeast Alaska might feel a bit like Sisyphus, rolling his boulder uphill. But the heavy snowfall that buried many panhandle communities this past week is no myth. Over 40 inches of snow has fallen on Petersburg since Monday, Dec. 8. Edward Liske, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Juneau, said that's already more than the town got all of last winter. Sixteen inches of snow fell in Petersburg on Sunday, Dec. 14, breaking the... Full story
Marc Taylor will be sworn into the Petersburg school board next month, filling a seat that has been vacant for nearly two months. Taylor has lived in Petersburg since 2022 and works for Trident Seafoods. He said he applied for the board’s remaining empty seat because he wanted to give back to Petersburg. “I just kind of want to do my part for our community,” Taylor said. He said education has been a big part of his family, which also contributed to his desire to serve on the board. “My whole family, outside of me, were teachers or worked... Full story
December 4, 1925 – Governor George A. Parks, who passed through on the Watson from Ketchikan to Juneau, told Petersburg residents that one of the very largest government dredges would be employed in the work of dredging the Narrows here. It will be of the self-dumping type and will scoop up the gravel and sand and then empty it in deep water. Colonel Steese is now in Washington D.C. to look after the appropriation. Major L.E. Oliver is now in Seattle to arrange for the dredge. Work will start in the spring. Delegate Dan Sutherland, who a...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly unanimously approved the hiring of Steve Harbour as the borough's next utility director at their early November meeting. Harbour, currently an electrician-operator at the borough's power plant, will begin his new role on December 30, 2025, at an annual salary of $160,000. Current Utility Director Karl Hagerman will remain in the position until July 2026, providing a six-month overlap period that borough officials praised. "This doesn't happen very often where we...
A derelict, unmanned vessel is no longer drifting in the waters of the Wrangell Narrows. The Petersburg Borough's harbor department monitored the Valkyrie, a 34-foot fiberglass troller, for months as it drifted around a bay south of town. But Harbormaster Glorianne Wollen said it came too close for comfort in the town's Middle Harbor on Monday morning, after traveling a few miles overnight. "At that point, we decided we better address it," Wollen said. "It's just going to continue to be a... Full story
