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ANCHORAGE (AP) — Crews plan to search through a debris area Wednesday for three men believed killed when a landslide described as a sea of logs and mud swept through part of an Alaska coastal town. A Sitka fire official said late Tuesday that the men are presumed dead and the search will be a “body recovery effort.” The avalanche occurred Tuesday morning but a search was hampered by unstable terrain. Sitka fire department spokeswoman Sara Peterson told The Associated Press that operations were suspended Tuesday night, until a geologist asses...
KETCHIKAN (AP) — The Ketchikan Gateway Borough Assembly has voted to indefinitely postpone a proposed tobacco tax. The Ketchikan Daily News reports that the Assembly voted 4-3 Monday against the proposed ordinance, which would have levied a $3-per-pack tax on cigarettes and a 75-percent wholesale tax on other tobacco products including e-cigarettes. The Assembly introduced the tax Aug. 3 with a 4-3 vote in favor, adding a requirement for a popular vote on the tax during the October local election. Opponents of the tax had argued that it t...
SITKA (AP) — Officials estimate that about 2,500 gallons of diesel fuel leaked into Sitka Sound following the discovery of a leak at the city's power plant. The Daily Sitka Sentinel reports 30,000 gallons of diesel spilled from a storage tank into a backup containment area. However, city administrator Mark Gorman says some of that was accidentally released into the city's storm water system when a release valve failed. Officials said they recovered 23,000 gallons. They said it was unlikely that all of the remaining 7,000 gallons went into t...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) _ A committee of House and Senate lawmakers voted Tuesday to sue Gov. Bill Walker over his effort to expand Medicaid in Alaska, with Republican legislative leaders calling it a separation-of-powers issue. The Legislative Council vote followed a closed-door executive session in Anchorage. The vote was 10-1, with Rep. Sam Kito III, D-Juneau, dissenting. Walker called the council's actions disappointing and said he is not wavering in his position. Walker moved to expand Medicaid coverage to people ages 19 to 64 who are not...
Earlier this month, the small incorporated city of Kupreanof, across the Wrangell Narrows from Petersburg celebrated its 40th Anniversary. The official celebration will take place in May, giving the City Council time to prepare a proper celebration, and take advantage of active tourism during warm weather. Kupreanof pride will be on full display, and they hope to have teeshirts, hats and hoodies, printed with the city logo available for purchase during the celebration. The city’s rich history of community includes 13 mayors. Nine of those m...
Police arrested Mark Diega, 50, of Chula Vista, Calif., on a Class C felony charge of Terroristic Threatening in the 2nd Degree on Friday after he allegedly threatened to kill PFI staff and went shopping at the Trading Union (TU) Hardware store for a gun and ammunition. Prior to the incident, Diega was employed as a seasonal worker for PFI. According to a probable cause statement submitted by Sergeant James Kerr to the court, Diega was looking at a .22 caliber assault-style rifle and 1,000 rounds of ammunition, before leaving the store, saying... Full story
The Petersburg Children’s Center (PCC) is one step closer to adding an additional classroom, and capacity for a dozen more students, after a variance was approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission earlier this week. The proposed expansion includes a 20 foot addition to the building, which will expand an existing classroom and house a new one for toddlers and pre-schoolers, as well as a ramp extension and separate entrance for the room. PCC Director Brandi Heppe said that more space is needed to be able to accept some of the more than 40 chi... Full story
The School Board met again after a one-month summer break on Tuesday evening, but they picked back up where they left off in June, talking about the budget. “I feel like that’s all I’ve talked about for six months, since I walked into this thing, is money, money, money,” Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter said at the start of her report to the board. She and Finance Director Karen Quitslund had mostly good news to report regarding some loose ends that had been tied up by the legislature during the board’s June break. In particular, the legis... Full story
The Petersburg School Board unanimously approved a list of capital projects for the district at their Tuesday evening meeting. Maintenance Director Dan Tate helped prepare and prioritize the list, which outlines the district’s needed capital projects for the coming six years and is required for submittal to the legislature for possible grant funding. Rather than being a straightforward list of priorities, projects are ranked strategically to garner points from legislators who prepare an overall ranked list for funding for new capital p...
While students have been enjoying a summer away from school, Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter and other staff have been working behind the scenes preparing for the upcoming year. At Tuesday’s regular School Board meeting, the superintendent also apprised the board of a new evaluation tool that the district will begin using to assess teachers, librarians, counselors and principals this year. The evaluation is required by the state and Kludt-Painter said she and her staff have been working to implement a state-approved evaluation tool that w...
WRANGELL — Area golfers teed off for cancer treatment last weekend, during Wrangell Medical Center's tenth annual Rally For Cancer Care Tournament at Muskeg Meadows. The yearly tournaments raise funds for the WMC Foundation's cancer care program, which assists patients with travel and lodging expenses as they seek treatment for various forms of cancer. Fifty-nine women took part in Saturday's tournament, which featured noncompetitive, fun challenges on the course. Twenty-one of the participants came from Petersburg, and tournament organizer O...
Vice Mayor Cindi Lagoudakis attended an invitation-only meeting in Juneau to discuss transboundary mines last week. The meeting was organized by Lieutenant Governor Byron Mallott, tasked by Governor Bill Walker to lead a work group on the issue, ahead of a scheduled Juneau visit Aug. 22-24 by B.C. Mines Minister Bill Bennett. In addition to mayors from Southeast municipalities, there were also industry, fishing and Native group representatives in attendance, as well as state representatives from...
The Humpy 500 go-cart race, a 20-year Petersburg tradition that saw local kids and families teaming up to build and decorate carts for racing down PFI hill, will come to end this year. The event has been held annually in October to celebrate the end of the canning and summer fishing seasons, but in recent years the number of participants has dwindled, said PFI Manager Patrick Wilson. “Trying to energize the town, community and families to do it doesn’t seem to be working well,” he said. “So we’re gonna call it quits for now.” Wilson said... Full story
An ordinance to allow voters to determine whether or not local public officials should be exempt from state financial disclosure requirements was passed on second reading by the Assembly at Monday’s regular meeting. By Alaska State law, certain public officials are required to report their income sources and other assets in an effort to ensure private interests do not conflict with their public service. Municipalities reserve the right to exempt their local public officials from the requirement, and locally there has been concern that not d... Full story
Corey Wall from MRV Architects in Juneau presented the latest plans for the municipal building remodel to Borough staff in late July. The plans are currently at the 45 percent mark and Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht said the plans may hit the 95 percent benchmark by late summer at which time the Assembly will vote on whether or not to send the project out to bid. The bulk of the funds for the estimated $9.8 million remodel—some $6.4 million—are already secured through a combination of state legislative grants ($5.2 million) and money all... Full story
In the article "Study of harbor financials yields 11 percent rate increase recommendation" of the July 30 issue of the Pilot, it was erroneously stated that the Northern Economics consulting firm is based out of Seattle, Wash. The firm is based out of Anchorage, Alaska....
The Assembly and Borough staff discussed public safety issues at Monday’s Assembly meeting. While Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht delivered the news that decreased staff at the Juneau prosecutor’s office may lead to more case dismissals, Assembly member John Havrilek proposed instituting a dual Neighborhood Watch and Crime Stoppers program to help reduce crime in Petersburg. Giesbrecht said the prosecutor’s office sent an email saying that decreased staffing may lead to more case dismissals for Petersburg based on the “disp...
ANCHORAGE (AP) — New voluntary guidelines for cruise ships and other tour boats aimed at protecting harbor seals, especially vulnerable nursing pups, in Alaska’s glacial fjords were announced Wednesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Previous voluntary guidelines called for vessels to stay at least 100 yards away from seals on ice floes. After determining that seals are 25 times more likely to flush into cold fjord water at that distance, the agency came up with a new voluntary guideline of 500 yards, a buffer of more th...
The Alaska Board of Fisheries last week released its 2015-2016 Proposal Book for review. Some 215 proposals were accepted for review during the board’s regulatory meetings. Regulations potentially to be affected include Pacific cod and finfish in the Alaska Peninsula, Chignik and Bering Sea-Aleutian Island areas; Bristol Bay finfish; Arctic, Yukon and Kuskokwim finfish; and statewide finfish. Proposals may be downloaded off the board’s website in sections, as well as for full meetings, at www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=f...
Deer hunting season began for Alaska residents and nonresidents in much of the Unit 3 management area last Saturday, lasting through Nov. 30. Bow hunting on Mitkof Island and the Petersburg Management Area, hunting on the remainder of the Mitkof, Woewodski and Butterworth islands, and residential hunting on the Lindenberg Peninsula portion of Kupreanof Island all begin on Oct. 15, and are subject to other limitations. Outlooks for this year’s season for Sitka black-tailed deer are much the same as last year, with smaller harvests expected t...
A public comment period is currently underway for two draft documents released as part of the Comprehensive Plan process-a land use map and a document outlining the financial state of the Borough's harbor facilities. Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht explained that the latter document details the financial component of the Waterfront Development Plan, which is being drafted alongside the Comprehensive Plan and will guide future decisions about Petersburg's harbors. In addition to examining the... Full story
Staffing changes at the Petersburg Police Department (PPD) have led to a new scheduling model that will have police officers filling in on dispatch shifts as part of their weekly duties. Police Chief Kelly Swihart said that the idea for the new schedule came after receiving notice that two dispatchers would be leaving the department, including head dispatcher Doc Lopez who’s retiring after 21 years with the department. Instead of replacing those positions with dispatchers, Swihart said they’ll be recruiting sworn officers who will serve in bot... Full story
The US Forest Service and Korpela Construction crews have broken ground on a new half-mile portion of the Raven's Roost Trail. Construction began July 17 on the section which will connect the new trailhead that was built last year-beginning across from the Sandy Beach parking lot-to the existing trail that winds through the muskeg behind the airport up into the Tongass National Forest. The new portion of trail will be similar to the half-mile portion of easy-grade, gravel trail built last year.... Full story
School enrollment will be a little bit easier for parents and staff this year as the Petersburg Medical Center (PMC) was selected to pilot a program that will transmit vaccine records, sports physicals and other pertinent medical information directly to the school. “We’ve been asked to pilot a program through AeHN (Alaska eHealth Network), which is a state-affiliated program,” said PMC Informatics Director Jill Dormer at last Thursday’s hospital board meeting. “They are going to pay us…to set up an interface connection with the school dist...
WRANGELL — The jury in the trial of Greg Salard found the former family physician guilty of two child pornography charges, for receipt and distribution. A lesser, third count was not deliberated by jurors. Judge Anthony Burgess presided over the proceedings, which lasted seven days. Jury selection began last week, and the trial included five days of testimony. Prosecutors finally rested their case on Monday, after the court heard from a federal investigator, arresting officers and a computer specialist. Evidence shown during the trial i...
