Sorted by date Results 451 - 475 of 717
Construction efforts on the municipal building are right on schedule with the demolition process going smooth so far, according to Karl Hagerman, Public Works director. "Actually, it's going along fairly well," he said. "The contractor is continuing to do demolition, but at the same time they are starting to put in new items." The job is a joint venture between two contractors, and they have already completed some underground plumbing and installation of interior concrete slabs. The phased const...
People driving by the first gravel pit out of town on Frederick Drive are accustomed to seeing small, scattered signs of graffiti. However, the freshly painted markings found by the Petersburg Police Department (PPD) last Friday while on patrol were completely unacceptable. The gravel pit is three to four miles down the twisting dirt road, and offers privacy and quiet scenery. The area is popular for bonfires. People stopping by the location can see a slightly faded "Jimi" on one side of the... Full story
Abatement has begun on the building project. New curb in front of the building has been poured, and Power & Light got the underground conduit put in place prior to the concrete pour. An attempted suicide in the jail was prevented by staff on April 30. Overall statistics in the Police Department are trending slightly higher this year. Total cases FY 16 through Feb were 3235 – total FY 15 through Feb were 2848. Arrests FY16 through Feb were 48 - Arrests FY 15 through Feb were 26. Jail days are down, however, for the same periods, 343 versus 407.5...
Petersburg Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht reported the following during the May 2 Assembly meeting: Un-cruise insurance has paid all but $7,652 of the Middle Harbor repair. Staff has invoiced the remaining balance. Officer Dodson and Dispatcher Huettl resigned on April 18, 2016. A search is underway to fill the positions with one FT dispatcher and one three quarter time dispatcher. This will reduce police coverage and personnel costs slightly. Abatement on the municipal building began May 2. Chief Swihart was appointed to the Alaska Police St...
A local restaurant owner will be expanding her business and plans to open The 420, potentially Petersburg's first retail marijuana business. Susan Burrell has owned and operated the Fisherman's Net Café and Gift Shop on North Nordic Drive since 2013. Within the past year, she began selling pipes and other marijuana smoking products, but said she hadn't planned until recently to open up a retail store. "I had no intention of being a retail store because I figured the competition was going to be...
Karen Hofstad has a collection of a couple hundred or so seafood related cans and labels that would make fishing industry historians salivate. The majority of the collection represents the salmon industry and canneries throughout Alaska, including Kodiak, Petersburg and Wrangell, and they are the inspiration for trash cans worthy of a framed photograph. Last summer Bruce Schactler, a fisherman from Kodiak, contacted Hofstad to ask her to share her labels to create 30 trash cans to help... Full story
The Rasmuson Foundation has chosen a collection of Petersburg artists’ works to put in its newly renovated office space in Anchorage. In its promotion of the arts, the Rasmuson Foundation awards funds through the ‘art acquisition fund’—grants to museums across the state so they can purchase local art to display. Kelsey Potdivan, Rasmuson Foundation program fellow, said about 28 museums across the state are involved in the program and those museums then provide several pieces to Rasmuson to display for 18 months. “The museums that we’ve original...
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is looking for citizen scientists to track bat local bats in an effort to track the development of a deadly fungus affecting bats known as 'white nose syndrome.' ADFG's Fish and Wildlife technician Steve Lewis gave a talk at the Petersburg Public Library Saturday where he provided a bat primer and informed locals on how they can help ADFG better understand local bat populations. Lewis said no one knows where white nose syndrome came from but that it's prese... Full story
March 25, 1916 – The two-deck gasboat Prince of Wales, from Wrangell, was in port yesterday morning, on her way to Juneau, from where she will take the Sitka run of the Georgia while the latter is undergoing repairs. Captain Martin Welstrand arrived Thursday from Seattle with the Halibut schooner Thelma. The boat was taken south last fall and has been overhauled and had three feet added to her length. J. W. Bowman, superintendent of the local cannery, arrived from the south on the Admiral Evans, Thursday. The Evans brought about seven tons o...
Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht reported the following during the March 21 Borough Assembly meeting: A Firefighter 1 Course started on February 13. One person is attending all of the classes and two people are hit and miss. Emergency Trauma Technician Course started on February 28. There are 9 participants (four current firefighters, three new EMS volunteers, and two will not volunteer). EMS Director Sandy Dixson taught two Basic Life Support for Health Care Provider courses (total 12 people), and we had three individuals go through the...
Petersburg Borough Finance Director Jody Tow presented the borough's FY 2017 budget proposal before the Petersburg Borough Assembly and members of the public. On Tuesday, March 1 Tow went over several of the significant changes in expenditures and revenues this fiscal year. "There are three threats that I see affecting the future of the general fund budget," Tow said. "It's the state funding cuts and possible federal funding cuts and the increase in the senior citizen population and how it's...
The parking lot of the municipal building increased by a couple spaces this week after a Public Works crew demolished the old Mitkof Sales and Service garage on Sing Lee Alley. The borough bought the building a couple years ago, and it was being used for dry storage, but the structure was essentially vacant, says Public Works director Karl Hagerman. "It's been there for an awful long time, since the 50s," he says. "You never know what you're going to get into when you do a demo project, but the...
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...
Alaska Power and Telephone (AP&T) began serving Southeast customers in 1957 with the purchase of the telephone company in Skagway. Today, AP&T serves 40 communities spanning from the Arctic Circle to Metlakatla. The company recently released their 2016 telephone directory, but AP&T director of marketing Mark McCready says the days for the phonebook might be numbered due to a decline in landline users. One of the main reasons for the decline is a younger, more technology driven customer base....
Almost 30 people showed up to the library for a book signing and reading event on Monday night, and those in attendance had the pleasure of experiencing two thought-provoking writing styles from very talented authors who are also friends. Ernestine Hayes is the award wining author of "Blonde Indian," a memoir about life struggles and overcoming obstacles like discrimination, poverty and alcoholism. Hayes has a way with words worthy of making the most respected poets envious. Hayes read about a...
State Rep. Jonathan Kreiss Tomkins and Alaska Department of Revenue Director Ken Alper gave a state budget crisis presentation for community members two weeks ago. They used colored blocks of wood representing different revenues and expenditures balanced on a large scale to provide a visual representation of the state's budget deficit and the continued gutting of our state's savings should the legislature not create a more sustainable budget for the state. On the revenue side of the scale sat a... Full story
Joan Sebastian launched her latest effort to get people in Petersburg a little healthier last Saturday with her inaugural “On Track with Joan Sebastian” workshop. The weekly event will run until March 12, it is free and open to the public, and takes place at Parks and Rec. Sebastian's goal with the workshop is to stress the importance of an individual's lifestyle when it comes to weight management. “It's part an informational group and part support group, and it's going to be driven by the people that are in it,” she says. “I will be covering...
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...
Public Works kicked off the start of the week by distributing the long awaited blue recycling carts on Monday, but some Petersburg residents found the cans just flat out huge. The size of the 96-gallon carts were the subject of a social media post on Facebook's "Buy & Sell & Trade PSG AK" page that received almost 70 comments. Many of the comments were humorous and at one point the recycling program was compared to Obamacare, and one person even suggested they might cut windows in the cart and... Full story
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
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
January-June January Petersburg School Superintendent Lisa Stroh resigned from her position citing family medical issues as her reason for leaving although communication between borough staff and student letters indicated turmoil between Stroh and school staff. Two third and fourth grade elementary students published their own class newspapers. Former Petersburg School District Maintenance Director Tye Petersen was sentenced to 12 years in prison for Distribution, Receipt and Possession of... Full story
It's a question Petersburg's Northern Nights Theater manager Anne Tate fields every now and then. "I've been asked, I think, about a million times," Tate said. "I'm not certain I can leave my house without someone asking." It's no surprise people are inquiring. 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' shattered records, including the largest box office record of all time, and will likely continue to eclipse previous big movie box office sales. The movie has already grossed more than $1 billion...
December 11, 1915 – The water committee reported the system completed in the south end of town with the exception of connecting the main with residences; in the north end, two or three days' work for six men; also that a small amount of work is needed on the dam. The water mains, the report stated, are now in good shape to stand weather conditions. The committee also reported that Julius Tollefsen had resigned the position of foreman of the water system. The committee on public works and property reported the power house completed, except f...
