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The Petersburg Borough Assembly will hold a special meeting on Nov. 11 to decide if it will appoint the law firm of Jermain, Dunnagan, & Owens to serve as the special legal counsel in a lawsuit brought against the borough and Borough Clerk Debbie Thompson in her official capacity. During its meeting on Monday, the assembly discussed the appointment of the law firm which had been recommended by Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht and Borough Attorney Sara Heideman. After a lengthy discussion, the...
The Petersburg and Wrangell Ranger Districts are seeking comments for nine proposed cabins as the U.S. Forest Service looks to construct new cabins in areas that are closer to communities and accessible by road or saltwater. According to the project's scoping letter, the Forest Service plans to redistribute the cabin system on the Tongass National Forest to meet increasing demand and to make cabins easier to travel to and easier to maintain. The four proposed cabins in the Petersburg area...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted against a resolution during Monday's meeting that would have set 6 p.m. as the start time for all assembly meetings. Resolution #2022-17 narrowly failed by a 3-4 vote with Assembly Members Thomas Fine-Walsh, Dave Kensinger, Bob Lynn, and Jeff Meucci opposing the time change. The resolution came after Jim Floyd presented the assembly with a petition with over 70 signatures at its last meeting, which alleged that holding assembly meetings at noon makes them...
Bob Lynn was elected vice mayor by the Petersburg Borough Assembly during its meeting on Monday in a 5-2 vote with Mayor Mark Jensen and Assembly Member Scott Newman opposed. Newman made a motion to elect Assembly Member Donna Marsh as vice mayor, which was seconded by Assembly Member Dave Kensinger for the sake of discussion. Kensinger said that he was not opposed to Marsh becoming vice mayor but thought that it would be prudent to elect someone who had been on the assembly for at least a...
After two years of navigating supply chain issues and the demands of his other responsibilities working for the Petersburg Indian Association(PIA), Jack Galaktionoff put the final touches on the Mountain View Manor Trail and its official opening was celebrated with a ribbon cutting ceremony held on Monday, November 7th. The trail, which begins behind the Manor at the corner of 13th and Gjoa Streets, is just short of 1400 feet long and connects to the existing Hungry Point Boardwalk, creating a f...
The Anchorage School District, which is considering the closure of six elementary schools amid a projected $68 million budget shortfall, isn’t the only district facing a major fiscal problem. At the end of the last school year, Fairbanks closed three schools. In Juneau, the school board is considering whether to fire specialists intended to help students recover reading skills lost during the COVID-19 pandemic. In rural Alaska, districts are trying to balance their books while dealing with high transportation and heating costs. Local and s... Full story
Three Petersburg High School students traveled to Haines with their music teacher, Chelsea Corrao, to perform in the October 23-25, 2022 Southeast Alaska Honor Music Festival. After a classic southeast travel experience complete with flight delays and an early morning ferry, the students met the other musicians and began rehearsals in preparation for a Tuesday evening live performance. The process for selection for Honor Music began back in September. Chelsea Corrao, the new Petersburg High...
After a recent fire put the Ketchikan harbor department at risk of a lawsuit for not requiring boat owners to carry insurance, the Wrangell Port and Harbors Department is considering issuing an insurance requirement for vessels, though the decision-making process is still in the early stages. At the Ketchikan harbor, the owner of a boat damaged in the fire aboard a nearby vessel has threatened legal action against the city for losses. According to Wrangell Port Director Steve Miller, the borough harbor department is weighing its funding needs...
WRANGELL — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that its updated permit for the Wrangell wastewater treatment plant will contain stricter limits on the amounts of bacteria the facility can discharge into Zimovia Strait. Wrangell will need to update its treatment operation to include disinfection of discharged wastewater, which will decrease fecal coliform and enterococcus bacteria counts. The borough will have five years to comply with new requirements. Disinfection will be “a major project for us,” said Borough Manager Jeff Good....
WRANGELL — The coronavirus led to many business closures in 2020. Of those that were able to adapt and weather the financial storm caused by the pandemic, many are still struggling to recover. To that end, the Central Council Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska has reopened its federally funded small business relief grant program to help small businesses owned by tribal citizens. The council also has introduced a grant program for 2022 start-ups. The relief grants have been awarded since 2021, with $200,000 total being awarded to 40 b...
On a night where ghosts and goblins roam the streets, Petersburg residents had a bigger problem to worry about. A landslide occurred near 5.5 Mile Mitkof Highway on Monday around 4:30 p.m., damaging power lines and taking down trees to completely block the road. The slide left Petersburg without power and a row of cars waiting along Mitkof Highway to see if they could get home for the evening. According to Fire Chief Jim Stolpe, firefighters searched the area around the landslide and there were...
Members of the newly formed Housing Task Force held their first meeting in the assembly chambers on Oct. 26 to begin discussing ways the borough could address local housing challenges. "The main thing that we're trying to do is to come up with a set of recommendations that we can give to the assembly and then they can decide what they want to do," said Dave Kensinger, the facilitator of the task force and a member of the Petersburg Borough Assembly. The task force features a group of Petersburg...
The Petersburg Medical Center Board will hold a work session on Nov. 10 to discuss the hospital's strategic plan for the next five years. Recommendations for the plan were formulated at a managers retreat on Oct. 19 and PMC CEO Phil Hofstetter said he would present his notes from the retreat at the upcoming work session. The recommended focuses for the plan include community engagement, financial stability, staffing, and patient healthcare among others. During the PMC Board meeting last...
Since 2018, an ongoing insect outbreak has been killing the foliage of hemlock and Stika spruce in the Tongass. The Wrangell area is among the most affected. Though residents have expressed concern at the island's gray and red-spotted hillsides, state entomologist Elizabeth Graham shared reassuring news with the Wrangell and Petersburg communities at an online forum last Wednesday. The hemlock sawfly and western blackheaded budworm populations have likely reached their peak, and though the...
Restoration of Inter-Island Ferry Authority service from Coffman Cove on Prince of Wales Island to Wrangell and Petersburg would take money. The service ended in 2008, and the two communities will talk about what it would take to bring back the run, how much it would cost and who would pay. The Petersburg borough assembly last month voted unanimously to send a letter to the Wrangell assembly to start talks on possibly restoring the route. Wrangell assembly members at their Oct. 25 meeting directed Borough Manager Jeff Good to talk with his...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Backers of a proposed copper and gold mine in southwest Alaska “tried to trick regulators by pretending to pursue a smaller project with the intention of expanding” after the project was approved, a report released Friday by a U.S. House panel says. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the report ahead of its release. The report makes several recommendations, including environmental review process changes to “ensure holistic review of cumulative impacts of projects.’’ Mike Heatwole, a spokesperson for the Pebble Limi...
Petersburg Search and Rescue found a missing hiker on Sunday off of a U.S. Forest Service road near the South Ferry Terminal after a two-day search according to Fire/EMS/SAR Director Aaron Hankins. Hankins reported that the Alaska State Troopers received a call about the missing man, who is in his early thirties, around 5 p.m. on Saturday after he did not return from his hike on time, at which point Search and Rescue was activated through SAR Captain Patrick Fowler. SAR members were debriefed...
The RM038 moose hunt ended on Oct. 15 with 116 harvested during the season according to Hilary Wood of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Of the 116 harvest this year, 104 were legal while 12 were deemed illegal. The overall number of moose harvested is down 16 from the record 132 harvested in the 2021 season and is just under the previous five-year average of 119.6. This year Kupreanof Island was again the most successful area for hunters by far with 41 legal moose harvested, though it...
The sixth annual Pumpkin Patch at 9-mile has been open each weekend since the start of October, welcoming all and supporting local nonprofits. Up the driveway marked with a bale of straw and a pile of pumpkins there is music, a cauldron of apple cider hanging over a roaring fire, face painting, and toys. Mariah Colton recently visited with her two toddlers, "It was a beautiful sunny day and there were lots of kids in the bouncy castle. It was so much fun to see all the kids playing together in...
Early in-person voting for the 2022 state general election opened on Monday. Petersburg residents can vote ahead of election day in the community center activity room Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. through Nov. 7. The election will use ranked choice voting where voters will be able to rank the candidates in each race based on their preference. After the polls close, each voter's first choice vote will be counted. If no candidate receives a majority of the votes, the candidate who...
There are three not-so-new medical providers seeing patients at Petersburg Medical Center. Dr. Alice Hulebak is back, and her husband Erik Hulebak is now a Physician's Assistant (PA). Also, Angela Menish has completed her education and is now working as a nurse practitioner. Dr. Alice Hulebak has worked at Petersburg Medical Center before, from 2010-2013, but moved back to Albequerque, New Mexico for her husband to attend PA school. Most recently they worked in Kalispell, Montana but had been... Full story
A barge is now partially submerged in the Wrangell Narrows near 4 Mile Mitkof Highway after taking on water. The barge, owned by Charles Davis, initially began sinking on the morning of Oct. 15, causing the creosote pilings, beams, and dock sections on the barge to roll off into the water. Davis said they are not sure what caused it to start sinking but that after it began they moved the barge to the beach and spent the day working to contain the mess by keeping what was on the barge from...
With the mission of getting kids moving and creating life-long healthy habits, the Petersburg Indian Association is inviting tribal members to apply for financial assistance for the costs of their children's extracurricular activities through the SEARHC program Healthy is Here. Members may receive a reimbursement of up to $100 dollars for elementary, $250 for middle, and $300 for highschool students. Elementary School Principal Heather Conn says, "For elementary school students, eligible fees...
A barred owl named Glaucus (for her gray coloring) and a red tailed hawk named Jake (originally from Kake) are traveling from Sitka to Petersburg Thursday with an ambitious three day schedule of presentations. Their visit is part of the on-going Rainforest Festival and is being funded by a grant from the Petersburg Community Foundation and in collaboration with Partners in Education. Avian Director Jennifer Cedarleaf and Avian Care Specialist Hannah Blanke will escort the raptors. Their first pr...
On a night where ghosts and goblins roam the streets, Petersburg residents had a bigger problem to worry about. A landslide occurred near 5.5 Mile Mitkof Highway on Monday around 4:30 p.m., damaging power lines and taking down trees to completely block the road. The slide left downtown Petersburg without power and a row of cars waiting along Mitkof Highway to see if they could get home for the evening. According to Fire Chief Jim Stolpe, firefighters searched the area around the landslide and... Full story
