Sorted by date Results 801 - 825 of 905
Gov. Sean Parnell came to town last Monday and heard from Petersburg School District teachers and administrators about his education reform bill along with other issues in the education arena. Sue Hardin, district teacher, was concerned about Senate Joint Resolution 9-a proposed constitutional amendment that would increase state funding for private and religious schools. "Because in our way of looking at it, all it's doing is taking public money and putting into schools that don't take all... Full story
A borough committee may organize to further investigate the merits of instituting an excise tax on tobacco after it was brought up for discussion during several sales tax ordinance committee meetings. While an excise tax on tobacco doesn’t fall under the purview of the sales tax committee’s mission—which is to review and recommend changes to the sales tax code so the borough can generate an equal or greater amount of revenue—it did unofficially make a recommendation to the borough assembly that it consider a tax on tobacco. Committee member... Full story
February 24, 1914 – The Bill introduced in the House of Representatives by Hon. McKellar, which provides that fish kept in cold storage for more than two months cannot be shipped in interstate commerce is so worded that it would cover frozen and preserved as well as fresh fish. If this cold storage bill should go in its original form, it would be a great calamity to two of the largest industries on the North Pacific Coast-- that of mild-cured and frozen salmon. These products are packed in the main for export to Europe and unless a r...
The Petersburg School District brought home major accolades from Anchorage last weekend after it swept student, teacher and administrator awards at the Alaska Society for Technology in Education (ASTE)-an organization dedicated to promoting access to technology and connectivity to information resources. Petersburg Senior PK Bunyi won Alaska Technology Student of the Year. Teacher and Technology Coordinator Jon Kludt-Painter won Alaska Technology Support Teacher of the Year and PSD... Full story
Stedman Elementary school students are participating in a statewide program aimed at increasing physical activity. The Healthy Futures Challenge encourages students to engage in 30 minutes of physical activity three times a week for four consecutive weeks outside of gym classes. The three-month contest is part of a larger program called the Healthy Living Grant or the Obesity Control and Prevention Grant from Alaska Department of Health and Human Services—a $600,000 grant program that provides funding in installments for four years. A...
Petersburg School District Superintendent Robert Thomason released additional information regarding former school Maintenance Director Tye Petersen’s possession of non-pornographic images of local children. Petersen was arrested last fall and local police and the FBI searched school facilities for signs he had taken images of students. At that time, no evidence of access points had been found. But since then, the FBI has confirmed images of local and visiting students among photos confiscated from Petersen. “Some photos were of visiting stu...
Investigators discovered images of Petersburg children in connection with the pending criminal case against Tye Leif Petersen, former Petersburg School District maintenance director, who was arrested last fall for multiple charges related to possession and distribution of child pornography. Petersburg Police Chief Kelly Swihart said he couldn’t comment on the matter but said investigators have not found any pornographic images of local children. In written release, FBI Special Agent Matthew Judy states, “The FBI has not discovered any chi...
The Petersburg District School Board voted unanimously Tuesday evening to allow students participating in the Alaska Tsunami Ocean Science Bowl to earn half a credit. The Ocean Science Bowl is a regional competition for high schools in Alaska where teams of students study topics related to oceans and present research papers, give oral presentations and participate in a timed quiz competition. Middle and High School Principal Rick Dormer said Petersburg students dedicate a significant amount of time to the project. “The kids are putting in t...
A school board member and the elementary school principal hosted a community meeting to learn what local residents want from the incoming superintendent. The community meeting was part of a comprehensive survey also given to district staff, which aims to assess the most common professional and personal traits desired in a superintendent as well as education issues the district faces. School board member Cheryl File and principal Erica Kludt-Painter wrote down resident’s ideal qualities on a large poster board and after each category was filled...
A local man charged with several counts of possessing and distributing child pornography will see his trial pushed back after a district court judge granted a motion by his attorney last December to declare the case complex. According to U.S. Code, a pretrial or trial can be delayed if a case is “so unusual or so complex, due to the number of defendants, the nature of the prosecution, or the existence of novel questions of fact or law, that it is unreasonable to expect adequate preparation for pretrial proceedings…” But at a January 28 trial...
Long-time Alaskan Roderick G. Bain, 91, died at home in Anchorage on Feb.5, 2014. He was born May 13, 1922, in Portland, Ore. to Roderick M. and Sophie Bain. He was raised in Long Beach, Wash. He was in his freshman year at the University of Washington in Seattle when the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred, and he enlisted the following summer at Fort Lewis, Wash. He volunteered for the 101st Airborne Division, and trained for two years with Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment before... Full story
Ketchikan Gateway Borough officials are again requesting Petersburg’s, along with more than 30 other municipal government’s, assistance with its lawsuit against the state of Alaska. Ketchikan is moving forward with its lawsuit over the ‘mandatory local contribution’ component of the state’s education funding formula that requires municipal districts to provide revenue back into its schools. Regional Educational Attendance Areas—education areas in the Unorganized Borough—aren’t required to make such payments. In a letter from Ketchikan Mayor...
The Petersburg Rotary Club is sponsoring sophomore Kyla Willis' trip to Chile where she will spend her next school year as an exchange student. Willis, Sven Heinrichs, the Rotary exchange student in Petersburg from Dortmund, Germany, as well as other students in Alaska from around the world attended the Rotary District 5010's Winter Orientation in Anchorage earlier this month. Local Rotary Club member Dave Berg said students meet with their peers from Alaska and abroad to help determine where...
Decreased enrollment numbers in Petersburg schools is playing a big role in how district staff prepare next year’s budget. Student enrollment has steadily dropped for more than a decade. During the 2004-2005 school year enrollment was up to 630 students. Next year though, the district’s numbers are approaching a low enough number—424 students—that would change its classification in a state funding equation called the ‘foundation formula’. According to state guidelines, school districts receive funding based on enrollment and the student cou...
Too often elected officials are turning their administrative hiring duties over to corporate head-hunter organizations which advertise and screen candidates to fill positions for city managers, hospital administrators, police chiefs and school superintendents. We applaud the Petersburg school board for breaking the mold, by conducting the hiring process in-house. Their current superintendent Rob Thomason will write and publish the advertisements, screen resumes, post the hiring timeline, schedule telephone and in-person interviews and then...
Rae C. Stedman Elementary School will get a face lift after the school board awarded a $2.3 million exterior wall renovation project to Alaska Community Contractors last week. Daniel Tate, director of maintenance, said the project will better insulate the school’s paper thin walls, a need which is a long time coming. “This building really fluctuates with the weather,” Tate said. “If it’s a sunny day the folks on this side of the building just cook and if it’s gray out it gets cold and the building has a hard time keeping up with that becaus... Full story
Petersburg School District Superintendent Dr. Rob Thomason announced his retirement last week. Thomason began working for the PSD in 2009. Jean Ellis, school board president, said he was instrumental in changing the district for the better. "I've been trying to talk him out of leaving," Ellis joked."When he became the superintendent he was the sixth one in eight years. People were becoming dispirited with superintendent turnover." Ellis credited his people skills and positive attitude as main...
January 10, 1914 – The Co-operative Wharf Company, being desirous of pleasing its many patrons, the management has decided to put in an electric light plant. This plant will be installed in the near future and will light the wharf, scow, slips and approach, making a very convenient landing. Another improvement in which the accommodating wharfinger is quite interested in, is the telephone connection which is to be made with the bank. January 19, 1984 – Alaska Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission members tested local opinion waters Friday to...
Thank you Petersburg Letter to the Editor: The Petersburg School District would like to thank our community for supporting the 10th Annual Little Norway Invitational Basketball Tournament that took place in December. The tournament is a high school basketball invitational tournament in memory of Jerry Dahl, Sr. The committee, composed of the family of Jerry Dahl, Sr., Rick and Dino Brock, Jaime Cabral and Rick Dormer, has worked to bring teams from varying areas to town for three days of competition at the beginning of the HS basketball...
January Petersburg residents contributed a record amount to the Salvation Army Christmas program last year-$15,618.17-more than $9,700 than the year before. Jan. 4, a 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck 58 miles west of Craig and 203 miles south of Juneau prompting a tsunami warning across Southeast. Petersburg Police Chief Jim Agner and Sergeant Heidi Agner announced their intentions to retire. Officer Ben King joined the Petersburg Police Department. The Petersburg Borough Assembly members were... Full story
December 20, 1913 – The town council of Fairbanks recently passed an ordinance prohibiting a one-year old moose from walking on the sidewalks. The moose which was captured when a mere calf by an Indian was purchased by P. Buchholz who was in the habit of leading it around town. In entering stores the moose had broken some planks which caused the complaint. The animal is quite tame and at the stores is fed apples, which he particularly relishes, trying to walk through show windows where apples were exhibited. He likes vegetables and candies, b...
The announcement at Monday’s borough meeting that construction of a new sawmill could begin as early as this spring, was good news. The employment of 35 to 50 employees will bring new people and new dollars to Petersburg. With the departure of Petersburg’s largest sawmill in 1987, which relocated to Haines, Petersburg lost over a million dollar annual payroll. Salmon and crab harvests were so substantial; the town’s economy barely felt the loss of the timber income. Both Stikine River Forest Products owner John Glenn and Forest Service Range...
Petersburg district school enrollment numbers have decreased by 44 percent since 1997—almost double that of Wrangell and Sitka. It’s a number that Petersburg Superintendent Rob Thomason has been concerned about for some time. “It’s been a concern in the back of my mind ever since I’ve been here,” Thomason said. “The whole staff knows we’re always looking at the idea that this year does not preclude what it will look like next year. We always have to rethink that.” The district has seen about a two percent decrease in student enrollment each y...
Long time Petersburg resident and former school district employee Tye Leif Petersen, 45, plead not guilty during an arraignment held in U.S. District Court on three charges involving child pornography. Petersen was arrested late October after federal investigators and local police conducted a search warrant of his home and electronic devices. Investigators found email attachments as well as CDs containing images and videos of young children engaged in sexually explicit behaviors. According to an FBI affidavit, last July an investigator...
Petersburg borough manager Steve Giesbrecht reported the following during its November 25 meeting: Work continues on the new electric system for the North Harbor. Peak usage on the Southeast Alaska Power Agency system is significant with the cold weather. Wrangell now has a system peak equal to Petersburg’s. Chief Swihart will attend the Executive Development Conference December 3-6 in Anchorage. The seminar will include various trainings as well as meetings for Alaska Police Standards Council, Alaska Association of Chiefs of Police. Jenna D...
