Sorted by date Results 376 - 400 of 911
He was my hero To the Editor: I was saddened to hear about the passing of Jonas Hollingstad and wanted to tell his family that he was the most important person in my life. In 1945 when I was seven years old I fell off the float in Scow Bay. Could not swim, no life preserver and current was taking me down and out into the Narrows. Had not Jonas been walking by at that moment there is no question that I would have drowned. He got me out of the water and up on the dock where he told me years later the first thing I said was, “Don’t tell my Dad...
Today (Feb. 11) will be a significant day for hundreds of Petersburg residents who head to the community gym for the second dose of Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine. Yet others received their first dose of the vaccine last week. Petersburg is taking yet another step towards a more normal life which we expect could bring an end to mandates, masks and the endless arguments being made in opposition to the health mandates that have clearly enabled Petersburg to minimize infections that have largely been...
The governor had a chance to talk honestly about taxes when he announced his 10-year budget plan last month. He had a second chance Jan. 28 with his State of the State speech. Sadly, he failed both times. The governor's 10-year fiscal plan acknowledges there will be a $1.2 billion hole in the state budget 18 months from now. That's equal to more than 20% of public services and Permanent Fund dividends the next year. And that's after spending down the state's savings for much of the past 30...
Show support for Ted To the Editor: I am surprised and disappointed in the response your community has shown to a go fund me page put up for Ted Smith. My son Dan wanted to start the Go Fund Me page to allow people to show Ted support and a way of saying thanks for all he has done over the years for your community and State. There are countless times when he had AK Fuel that he opened the dock after hours, weekends and holidays to fuel boats. He never left you without heating oil even if you...
On Jan 29 the EOC used the CodeRED system to encourage residents who are interested in receiving the COVID-19 vaccine to sign up on the Petersburg Medical Center's waiting list. "Coordinating the vaccine implementation is one of the most important things we can do to beat the virus and getting the word out to make this happen is critical," according to the Borough's website statement. The use of the CodeRed system in this case, was wrong. Use of this emergency notification tool last Friday was...
Petersburg comes through To the Editor: When we learned that our 13 year old son Joseph Tagaban was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML) a rare form of leukemia in children, a blanket of darkness and despair covered our family of being alone to fight this disease that dares to take our child away from us. As word spread of our news, people began reaching out to us offering help in getting us to where we needed to be and receive the best help we can get for our child. Help offered in...
Rollercoaster of emotions To the Editor: Last week was one of many different emotions for me. First was the excitement I felt after a phone call where I was directed to show up at 11:50 for a vaccine which I thought was at least several more weeks away. But "don't come before 11:45." Hmmm, okay. Upon arriving and seeing the very full parking lot I defaulted to my skeptical self, "This should be fun." Bam, was I surprised. I was transported back to scenes from boot camp but without the yelling an...
We applaud the work of the entire Petersburg Medical Center staff and everyone that worked with them to get over 350 COVID vaccinations into the arms of residents last Thursday. The vaccination effort was a seamless, speedy and efficient undertaking that should be copied by any community providing mass vaccination clinics for their citizens. No doubt the process will become even more streamlined as additional vaccine doses are delivered and administered in the coming months. This is proof once...
Thank you To the Editor: Thanks to you my wonderful friends and family of Petersburg for being there throughout this last month of 2020. Words cannot describe the feelings that I am going through and I can't call out the names of everyone but may God continue to bless you always for being wonderful people. Thank you again from our hearts and much love always. Happy new year. Marina Leblanc and family Message of hate not right tone To the Editor: Someone left a book at the Post Office near the...
Predictability and dependability. More than anything else, that's what the communities served by the Alaska Marine Highway System need. The communities need to know the schedules further in advance so that they can plan school sports, scholastic and musical events, regional festivals, and confidently market to tourists in a post-COVID world. Residents need the dependability of ferry service for medical appointments, commerce and shopping, vehicle repair appointments at dealers, and of course...
Thank you Petersburg To the Editor: Thank you, Petersburg, for helping us all get through the 2020 salmon season safely and nearly COVID-19-free! Now it is winter, our selling season, and with every piece of fish we sell or eat, we are grateful for the changes you made to ensure the summer was a success. Although countless people helped make our gillnet season successful, there were many we didn't see so wish to acknowledge: OBI and Trident Seafoods with thoughtful, unwavering protocols; Karl...
Overall, Petersburg doesn't look like a town in distress. We've seen what happens in "down" years, and there is no resemblance. Charitable giving is generally up and local businesses appear to be doing well with only a few exceptions. As we mentioned last week, the city's distribution of $3.9 million in CARES funding was a part of it. (See breakout above) The biggest factor however appears to be from 539 local businesses and boats applying for and receiving over $15.08 million in SBA's Economic...
It's clear that the actions of Petersburg's Emergency Operations Center, the Petersburg Medical Center staff and the State Public Health Nurse have played a huge part in keeping the Covid-19 virus at bay on Mitkof Island. The actions of these officials have been questioned, marginalized, and outright rejected in some cases. Public health leaders are constantly attempting to balance the impact of their decisions against the health consequences of inaction. It has nothing to do with restricting...
Maybe the reality of math has changed To the Editor: I just read a recent opinion that reality is what you see and not what you think you see. I thought to myself, "I see." But I guess I think I see because there was a real head scratcher in your December 17 edition. On the back page in a column titled "Elections office: Audit affirms AK initiative passage," paragraph 4 reports that the certified results passed with 174,032 'yes' votes and 170,251 'no' votes. It further stated that the audit sho...
Cite reports and references To the Editor: After reading Marc's letter, I have some questions. First, "... 99% of which are most likely over Age 75+ with serious other health problems." Please cite your reference for this statistic. Do you realize that when folks use a percentage in an argument, 97.3% of the time it was just made up? Second, "You can find just as many experts that will tell you masks, social distancing and this upcoming vaccine is wishful thinking." I cannot find them. Please ci...
PIA met need To the Editor: Mt. View Food Services would like to generously thank Petersburg Indian Association for applying for the CDC Grant which was geared to keeping senior citizens fed a nutritious meal during the pandemic. PIA knew of the need MVFS had for a new vehicle and the several attempts they applied for a grant before the pandemic happened to replace their unreliable vehicle. The grant was written specifically for PIA to assist MVFS in the purchase of a newer vehicle and pay for...
I'm a newspaper addict. I can't help myself. I love reading newspapers, printed on newsprint, in color or in black and white. Smaller community newspapers, like the Petersburg Pilot are of more interest to me. On family vacations, I buy every newspaper I can find in convenience stores or gas stations. Sometimes co-publisher Anne drives while I take in the news from the towns we drive through. I have this theory that stories in every community newspaper are much the same, just with different...
Concerns not resolved To the Editor: Dear Senator Murkowski, You may recall my question at your rally at the Sons of Norway hall in Petersburg some time ago. I questioned the wisdom of drafting legislation that would transfer ownership of large tracts of land divided along racial and ethnic lines without consultation with professionals who have studied these matters in depth. As we see throughout the world, dividing lands such as this bill proposes to do, is inherently prone to lasting...
I feel blessed To the Editor: Thank you to so many of you for being a part of making my birthday so special. It's been an amazing life...in my 95 trips "around the sun." Since 1925, in those many years before interstate highways, international airports, and social security, before taxes, TV, cell phones and frozen peas, I've seen a lot of things change in how we live. Whether it's how large our families tend to be, how we travel, how we dress, how much we have, what we eat, how we keep in touch... Full story
Schools doing extraordinary things To the Editor: I want to publicly thank the teachers and staff at Stedman Elementary for all they did to contain the Covid exposure earlier this month. My son was in the impacted class and we were all thrilled when the virus did not appear to spread. The fact that it was contained is a testament to the leadership of Heather Conn and the hard work of the teachers and staff, namely Brittany Potrzuski. This year, we have asked the schools to do extraordinary...
Petersburg joined Wrangell and other Alaskan communities by imposing a mask mandate. As Covid-19 cases skyrocket across the state, Governor Dunleavy left it up to communities statewide to take action to reduce infections, due to his refusal to impose a mask mandate. For Petersburg, with a limited health care infrastructure, it's important that virus spread be controlled because once community spread transmissions begin our hospital and health care providers could easily be overwhelmed. More...
Alaskan natives, particularly the Alaska Natives Without Land, have every right to petition the federal government for additional lands, but it's imperative that history is accurately portrayed in the process. Those lobbying for additional land allocations say in writing, "It has been proven there's no apparent reason the communities of Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg, Haines and Tenakee Springs were left out," of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) that was passed 48 years ago. Ther...
We’re glad the borough assembly cut through drawn out discussions and approved the continuation of work on the Sandy Beach Park playground project. The park improvement proposal received plenty of publicity over the past two years, so the work should have come as no surprise to anyone paying even remote attention to the news. If the parks and recreation board had their way, the debate over the plans would have delayed the project for at least another summer. That would have been unacceptable. Rock-n-Road is volunteering their labor and had t...
Last week, the Alaska Marine Highway Reshaping Group released a report it had been working on for several months throughout the pandemic. Even though this group has finished it’s task, I will continue to work to find ways to increase ferry service and reliability throughout Southeast Alaska and the rest of our state, at a level that is sustainable, functional, safe, and efficient. The Reshaping Group made several recommendations, many of which focused on the need for the ferry system and the ferry budget to focus on long-term service goals, r...
