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On Monday the Petersburg Borough Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution opposing a proposal coming before the Board of Fish two months from now which seeks to reduce the production of hatchery chum and hatchery pink salmon in Southeast Alaska by 25 percent. Max Worhatch, a Petersburg commercial salmon fisherman, addressed the assembly at the start of Monday’s meeting “to voice the commercial fishing industry’s support of a resolution to oppose the Board of Fish Proposal 156.” “Hatchery production has long been an important element of the vi...
Petersburg's student-run nonprofit movie theater, the Northern Nights Theater, has run out of reserves and will have to make some changes starting in January. The last few years have been very challenging and expensive for the organization. Sitting unused through the early stages of the pandemic led to major malfunctions with the movie projector, Theater Manager Cyndy Fry told the Pilot. "We basically had to buy the whole computer guts of the system, [and then] because of that change we had to...
Mitkof Highway was closed to through traffic for around eight hours on Sunday, Dec. 1, after a power pole snapped under the weight of snow and ice on the line – leaving power lines on the ground crossing the highway. The pole failure occurred around 2:30 p.m. just past 9-mile and caused an 11 hour 10 minute power outage for the entire circuit from the Scow Bay substation out to Blind Slough. Winds reached 35 mph with sideways rain as the crew from Petersburg Municipal Power and Light worked i...
A Petersburg borough sanding truck slid into another vehicle on an icy hill and then rolled into the muskeg on December 1. The truck was going up a hill to the local dump at around 4:30 p.m. Dave Berg is a spokesperson for the Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department. He said the sand that the truck had just put down was no match for the steep, slick road. "He was heading up the hill," he said. "There was another vehicle following him, and the sander stopped, [it] basically was not getting any...
During the 1940s and 1950s, Petersburg's ski hill was the place to be on a winter's day, and the new exhibit at Clausen Memorial Museum opening on Sunday, Dec. 8 shows why. "The ski hill was a really big part of Petersburg between the years of 1939 and 1959," Clausen Museum curator Anne Lee told the Pilot. "It was up where the rock quarry is now, behind the airport ... they had a ski jump, and ski competitions, the ski hill, cross country races, downhill events, and they eventually had a tow...
Staff at Petersburg Medical Center sprung into action earlier this month when a sudden leak erupted from part of the building's hydronic heating system, spewing dozens of gallons of mixed water in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) room behind the nurse's station on the hospital's second floor. Maintenance staff were able to patch the leak with plumbing parts, but have not been able to find a replacement for the actual piece that was leaking yet. There was not a patient in that particular room at the... Full story
Chris Herren, a former NBA player and renowned addiction recovery speaker is flying in on Wednesday, Dec. 5 to speak with Mitkof Middle School and Petersburg High School students and share his eye-opening journey from success to addiction to recovery. Once a high school basketball star recruited to play in college and then two seasons in the NBA, Herren's promising career was derailed by addiction. His story has been documented in the memoir, "Basketball Junkie" and in "Unguarded," an...
Advisory committees are making recommendations to the state Board of Fish for hundreds of proposals to change certain fishing regulations - a process that happens once every three years for the region. Proposals were submitted by members of the public, organizations, advisory committees and ADFG staff earlier this year. The Petersburg Advisory Committee for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) coordinated with Crystal Lake Hatchery operators Southern Southeast Regional Aquaculture...
Before a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision removed the legal barrier to apply local sales taxes to online purchases, states and municipalities were blocked from collecting sales taxes from sellers that did not have a physical presence in the tax jurisdiction. Most online merchants declined to collect sales taxes on goods shipped into states and cities with a local tax. Residents of Petersburg could purchase tax-free orders from Walmart, Eddie Bauer and other vendors online. After the ruling, to...
The members of the Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department elected Dan Bird this month to replace Jim Stolpe as fire chief. Stolpe served two three-year terms as chief, and he intends to continue his volunteering career with PVFD for as long as he is able - though he plans to let his EMT certification expire in the coming year and will slow down a little when it comes to rushing into burning buildings. "After 45 years of doing it, I figure it's time for that younger generation to pick that ball up...
Earlier this month, the Petersburg Borough Assembly passed an ordinance updating the sales tax chapter of municipal code to clarify exemptions and rules for businesses, modernize definitions and organize information for better transparency - borough officials emphasized that the ordinance does not introduce new taxes or exemptions, nor does it change how sales tax is applied locally. The amendment highlights existing information about sales tax into clear new sections and adds definitions that w...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly adopted a few ordinances on Monday - one of which will increase and establish certain charges for residents of Mountain View Manor Assisted Living Facility, and another that clarifies the process of selling borough-owned tidelands. ORDINANCE #2024-20 Beginning in 2025, new residents moving into the Mountain View Manor Assisted Living Facility will pay a one-time Community Facility Fee of $2,000. Proceeds will go toward maintenance and repair of the facility. If a...
Lifelong gymnast and founder of Fitness Fundamentals Madeleine Valentine is leaping into a new chapter for her business. After three years of operating her gymnastics and fitness school from various rented, temporary spaces around Petersburg, Valentine has secured a permit from the borough to convert a large detached garage on her recently purchased property into a permanent location for her classes. Finding a consistent space to house the program has been a challenge. Valentine explored several...
Over the last two summers, U.S. Forest Service crews have made headway to improve the Petersburg Lake Trail on Kupreanof Island — upgrading the boardwalk, brushing the path and cutting through fallen trees by hand. The 10.5 miles meandering from the dock up to the Petersburg Lake Cabin site is now mostly passable — but a beaver dam complex remains an obstacle, flooding about a mile of the path in the middle of the hike. Petersburg Lake Trail had been largely impassable due to degradation fro...
Folks filling seats in the Northern Lights auditorium next week are in for "a fun, quick-paced show that they'll walk away ... with a smile on their face," said Tiffany Glass, of the Mitkof Mummers theater group. Nearly a year since their last performance, the Mitkof Mummers will return to the stage next Thursday, Friday, and Saturday for their fall performance of "The Snow White Variety Show." On stage, Seven dwarfs, each possessing a distinct personality, will recount their versions of the...
Petersburg residents are buzzing about the intense rumble that swept the area late last Thursday night. The sound —which to some folks seemed like an airplane flying just overhead, or felt like a tree fell into their home— was the roar of thunder resulting from lightning striking near Mitkof Island around 11 p.m. Nov. 7. Grant Smith of the National Weather Service in Juneau told the Pilot that overnight satellite data detected four strikes of lightning near the Petersburg area around the tim...
A fisherman, who also happens to be a member of the Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department, was checking on his boat in Petersburg's South Harbor Wednesday evening, Nov. 13, when he smelled smoke. He investigated and saw flames through a gally window of the FV Carol B — a tender docked a few stalls away from his own boat. He called it in, and the fire department along with harbor crews mounted a fast response. No one was aboard the Carol B and no one was injured in the fire or the response, confir...
An acre of muskeg along Petersburg's busy Haugen Drive has been slowly transforming into a parking lot over the last month. It's owned by Petersburg's tribe, the Petersburg Indian Association, or PIA. Tribal Administrator Jalyn Pomrenke said the end goal isn't just a parking lot at the corner of 12th Street, but there is no specific plan yet for what to build beyond parking. "That would be something for the council and the tribe to decide on eventually," she said. "You know, finding funding is...
A new ordinance being considered by the Petersburg Borough Assembly proposes adding a new section about "inactive vessels" to the municipal harbors section of borough code. Adopting the new language would impose certain requirements —including storage fees, a marine condition survey, and proof of insurance— on vessels that don't leave their moorage stall in the harbor for 12 consecutive months or longer. The ordinance aims to encourage active, regular use of vessels that are moored in bor...
American Cruise Lines —operators of a small cruise ship that frequents Petersburg during the summer— is working with the borough to design and potentially build a dedicated cruise ship docking space at the end of Dock Street. Having a guaranteed place for the cruise line to dock could help the harbor department to better manage vessel congestion in the inner harbor. Splitting the cost with American Cruise Lines (ACL), the borough has hired PND Engineering for conceptual drawings to assess wha...
A borough-owned parcel near Sandy Beach will undergo a rezoning process before it is auctioned for sale. The Petersburg Borough Assembly weighed an application to purchase the vacant 2.3-acre lot at 1020 Sandy Beach Road and, with a contested vote, decided the parcel should be rezoned prior to selling it. Rezoning the lot would make it eligible for developing more single-family homes and align it with the zoning in the surrounding neighborhood along Sandy Beach Road. Now the parcel will be sent...
The U.S. Forest Service Petersburg Ranger District is temporarily moving office operations to Scow Bay while the downtown headquarters is renovated. Work on the downtown office —including a complete renovation of the interior of the building— is estimated to start in January 2025 and could last two years. Until then, the Harris Building —at 123 Scow Bay Loop Road— will be the de facto Petersburg District office location where the public can meet with USFS staff. Work at the downtown office site...
On October 31, a Petersburg jury found a resident guilty of sexually assaulting a woman. The verdict comes down after an investigation that was set back for several years by the pandemic and backlog at the state’s only forensic lab. 31-year-old Kelsey McCay now faces up to 99 years in prison for sexually assaulting a woman at a party in the fall of 2019. Over the course of the two-day trial, the jury heard from the victim and several witnesses. They deliberated for less than half an hour before returning their guilty verdict. The case was p...
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