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Martina Nellie Maria Dundas, lovingly known as Tina, was born in Sitka, Alaska, on May 15, 1976, at SEARHC Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital to Martin Dundas Senior and Lisa Mae Dundas. She was raised in Metlakatla and graduated from Metlakatla High School. A talented musician, she played multiple instruments and sang in the choir. She was also an athlete and a student of the late master Tsimshian carver Jack Hudson, embracing the rich artistic traditions of her heritage. A free spirit at heart, Tina... Full story
A Petersburg-based fishing commercial vessel caught fire Thursday near Point Gardner in Chatham Strait where it had been participating in the golden king crab fishery. The fire prompted a coordinated response from nearby Samaritan vessels, the Wrangell Volunteer Fire Department, and the U.S. Coast Guard. The U.S. Coast Guard received a distress call at 1:49 p.m. reporting that the F/V Spicy Lady, a 58-foot steel vessel, was on fire and crew members were preparing to abandon ship into a life...
A Petersburg-based fishing commercial vessel caught fire Thursday near Point Gardner in Chatham Strait where it had been participating in the golden king crab fishery. The fire prompted a coordinated response from nearby Samaritan vessels, the Wrangell Volunteer Fire Department, and the U.S. Coast Guard. The U.S. Coast Guard received a distress call at 1:49 p.m. reporting that the F/V Spicy Lady, a 58-foot steel vessel, was on fire and crew members were preparing to abandon ship into a life... Full story
Petersburg's first baby of 2025 arrived on her own schedule, surprising her parents with a slightly early appearance on January 16 at 3:07 a.m. in Anchorage. Haley June Torrez, weighing 8 pounds, 3 ounces and measuring 20 inches long, was born to Petersburg residents Tori Shay and Aidan Torrez, marking a joyous beginning to the new year for this hometown family. The couple are both 2014 Petersburg High School graduates. Tori, a lifelong Petersburg resident, works at SEARHC handling medical...
Petersburg's tribal members picked a new council president on Monday, January 6. Voters elected Carol Martinez president of the Petersburg Indian Association Tribal Council, ending Debra O'Gara's term in the role after just one year. Brenda Norheim also ran for council president as a write-in candidate. Three two-year terms were open on the tribal council. The two incumbents running, Brandon Ware and Jaclyn Eide, both kept their seats. Adam Ware won the third seat. Marc Martinsen and Cina...
It has been a very busy year filled with lots of successes. I hope all have had great and joy filled holidays, and I wish for you each a very happy and safe celebration as we welcome in the new year. Below is a brief summary of many of the accomplishments achieved in 2024 and a few things I am looking forward to working on in 2025. January started off with huge transitions after a record-breaking voter turnout and a resignation resulted in five, out of seven, new Council members being seated. The Council has been filled with seven citizens...
WRANGELL – The borough wants a data center to plug into Wrangell. Better yet, it could even move into the unused formal hospital property. Data centers are large hosting sites for multiple servers that provide computing power and storage for cloud-based service providers. While at Southeast Conference, held in Ketchikan last month, borough representatives spoke with Sam Enoka, founder and CEO of Greensparc — a San Francisco-based technology company that specializes in setting up modular, small-scale data centers for cloud computing. Enoka gre...
State health officials have recorded 234 cases this year of whooping cough — also known as pertussis — through Sept. 9, more than were reported over the past seven years combined. About three-quarters of this year’s cases came in the past three months. Of the statewide total, SEARHC reports 11 in Southeast from June through early September, Lyndsey Y. Schaefer, communications director for the health care provider, said in an emailed statement Sept. 12. Privacy rules prevent SEARHC from disclosing the communities with whooping cough cases...
With repair of the GCI fiberoptic cable expected sometime in the next two weeks, Sitkans are using the Starlink at the library and “getting a crash course in Networking 101 today” from the Central Council of Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. Sitka lost internet sometime around 11:30 a.m. last Thursday when an undersea cable broke. GCI provided a statement to the Sentinel today: “A subsea fiber break occurred August 29, impacting all GCI services in Sitka. Our teams have successfully restored basic mobile voice and text services using...
On May 29, a 39-foot canoe of Wrangell paddlers will start the week-long, 150-nautical-mile journey to Juneau for Celebration, the biennial Native culture festival. This year marks the first time Wrangell will have its own canoe making the journey since 2014, signifying a return of enthusiasm for canoe culture in town. Canoes from other communities will make the journey alongside Wrangell, including Juneau, Kasaan, Metlakatla and a veterans' canoe - all beginning in Wrangell. Up to seven other...
"...Don't say the C word..." Cris Morrison remembers telling her husband "...It's a blockage..." It was 2018, and she had been dealing with severe constipation for the second month in a row. "I didn't know that it had to do with cancer. I just became constipated..." Her symptoms escalated to incredible pain, and after an overnight stay at Petersburg Medical Center, Morrison was medivaced to Anchorage for emergency surgery to install a colostomy bag for the bowels to empty into and take a sample...
Everett Bennett is set to serve as the new tribal administrator for the Petersburg Indian Association. PIA announced earlier this week that Bennett was officially hired for the job and will start on May 20. "The council is extremely excited to have them started as the new tribal administrator," PIA Council President Debra O'Gara told the Pilot. "They come with a lot of experience ... I could go on and on..." Born and raised in Petersburg, Bennett is a tribal citizen who has served the community...
WRANGELL — A Georgia-based developer who has taken a liking to Wrangell has offered the borough $200,000 for the former hospital property, with plans to tear down the building and construct as many as 48 new housing units. Wayne Johnson’s offer on the 2-acre property is contingent on striking a deal to purchase six smaller borough-owned lots behind the hospital building, adding an additional 1.3 acres to the development site. The purchase price for the hospital property, which has been vacant since SEARHC moved into its new Wrangell Medical Cen...
The seventh annual Project Connect Resource Fair was held in Petersburg on Jan. 30. Organized under the umbrella of nonprofit Humanity In Progress (HIP), the event provided access to free basic necessities and local resources for people in Petersburg who are experiencing housing insecurity - and was an opportunity to survey attendees about their present housing situation for a Point-In-Time count that records the status of homelessness and housing insecurity in Petersburg. When the doors to...
WRANGELL - Multiple resources are responding Tuesday to help people affected by the massive landslide at 11-Mile on Monday night that killed at least three, with three others still missing. The growing list includes food, temporary shelter, or just a warm place to spend the day with family and friends. Angela Stires, an evacuee and a nurse at Wrangell Medical Center, said she and her family were provided rooms at the Stikine Inn, which has been offering shelter to people displaced by the...
Clear Answers to our Petersburg Medical Center, Part 1 To the Editor: Like many in Petersburg, I didn’t understand specifically why we needed a new facility and how it would be paid for. I addressed the facility problems in the previous two letters. Apparently the decision to build a new facility was made over twelve years ago. Our CEO, Phil Hofstetter, was hired almost six years ago to rebuild by the hospital board. The 2015 architectural report (8 years old) cites $43 million to repair the systems. This is not possible with patients there a...
WRANGELL - A seal-processing workshop hosted by the Wrangell Cooperative Association brought knowledge about traditional subsistence practices to the community. During a series of classes on Oct. 6, 7 and 8, students helped harvest the meat, fat, skin, oil and intestines from two seals and learned how each byproduct could be prepared or stored. Instructor Paul Marks II learned how to harvest and process seals from his family in Kake, particularly his grandmother. "I would bring in fish, crab,...
Alaska Seaplanes has decided to shut down its Wrangell and Petersburg operations, citing poor economics. Its last flights to the communities are scheduled for Oct. 31. "Unfortunately, it wasn't financially sustainable with the ridership," Carl Ramseth, general manager, said Thursday, Oct. 5. "It hurts to pull out of those two communities." Alaska Seaplanes started scheduled service into Petersburg in spring 2021, with daily flights from Juneau, and added a Sitka-Petersburg-Wrangell-Sitka flight...
Do we really need a new hospital? To the Editor: When I first heard about the hospital project, like many of you, I had a lot of questions. Do we really need a new hospital? The clinic, which is the part I mainly visit, looks great. And, how in the world would we pay for an $85 million facility? Phil Hostetter and the hospital board informed me on both questions. First, they started with a study of the current hospital. The original hospital, where Long Term Care is located, dates to the 1950s and is failing rapidly due to poor plumbing and...
Jerod Cook What is your age? I am 54 years old Why have you chosen to run for Hospital Board at this time? I have been on the hospital board for a number of years, and because we are in the middle of the process of getting a new facility built, I feel I need to help finish the project I was involved with starting. I feel it is important to make sure the future health care needs of the community are met and continue at the level they are, or better, going into the future. What experience do you... Full story
The Petersburg Medical Center Board discussed holding future board meetings in the Petersburg Borough Assembly chambers last week in an effort to make their meetings more accessible to the public as the new facility project progresses. The board typically holds its meetings on the last Thursday of each month at 5 p.m. in the Dorothy Ingle Conference Room, located on the first floor of the hospital. Though hospital board meetings are open to the public, both in person and over Zoom, they are not broadcast by KFSK like the assembly and school...
WRANGELL — Want to golf for a good cause? The WMC Foundation and SEARHC are offering the women of the community an opportunity to do just that at the Rally for Cancer Care fundraiser at Muskeg Meadows on Aug. 5. The event will feature a luncheon, beverages, prizes, a silent auction and a “fun and frolic” golf tournament — a non-scored, no-skills-necessary take on the game. The tournament is ladies only, but organizer Patty Gilbert said she “wouldn’t mind men attending” the lunch, games and auction. The fundraiser will support the WMC Foundatio...
A solution to a problem To the Editor: This is a message to the retiring tradesmen. Please help our next generation learn your trade. You have the talent, equipment and the time to teach a few people the basics and maybe a bit more. I hear complaints every day about how few technical tradesmen and other skilled laborers that we have in this town. I would gladly have my kids participate in a workshop to learn some of your skills. Who is going to do fabrication work on the boats, diesel mechanics and shipwrights? How many licensed contr...
January Petersburg experienced record snowfall on New Year's Day with 17.5 inches of new snow on the day, bringing the total snow depth to 40 inches according to the National Weather Service. The Petersburg Borough Assembly passed a resolution requesting a discussion with the U.S. Postal Service about providing additional services in Petersburg following continued issues with staffing, irregular hours, and long lines. All-purpose vehicles became legal to drive on roads in Alaska, including in...
The Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska announced last Thursday that it has been awarded a nearly $50 million grant to expand broadband deployment in the region. The grant is one of 18 awarded recently awarded to tribal entities in 11 states as part of the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program (TBCP)-a nearly $3 billion grant program, funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, and part of the Biden-Harris...
