Sorted by date Results 101 - 121 of 121
The two have spent 65 years together as a married couple, traveling and taking on new ventures. George and Florabelle Rice are celebrating that anniversary this week, having married on March 25, 1950. The couple met in college in 1949. Florabelle was a junior and George had just begun school on the GI Bill. They married quickly. "In '50, we graduated together from Western Washington, one of five couples," George said. The two stayed in Washington state for several years working as teachers. In 1...
It's a great opportunity to work with scientists and see what peers from other parts of the state are doing: four students from Petersburg High School are heading to the Alaska Statewide High School Science Symposium this weekend. The "fabulous four," as their AP (Advanced Placement) biology teacher Joni Johnson referred to them, have each completed their own experiments and made presentations based upon them. They presented their hypothesis and findings to an audience at the Petersburg Public L...
It may be called the 10,000 Steps Challenge, but the real goal, Assistant Fire Chief Dave Berg said, is for community members to take as many steps as they can during a day. Petersburg’s third challenge began Monday, March 23, and ends Sunday, May 3. Sponsored by the Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department, Petersburg Mental Health Services and the Petersburg School District, the challenge not only offers a chance at better health but a go at prizes provided by major sponsors, such as Piston and Rudder and the Trading Union, and through d...
There are different management challenges with the Petersburg-Wrangell area having more freshwater opportunities, but new Area Manager for Sport Fish Patrick Fowler said the move has "been good." Fowler came to Petersburg in late September after serving as the assistant area biologist in Sitka for about five years. He had worked with his predecessor Doug Fleming before and "always liked Petersburg." "It was a job opportunity to advance," Fowler said. "I thought it would be a challenging career...
Those looking to work at Petersburg’s fish processors will have a good chance to jump onboard with this summer’s pink salmon season predicted to be a big one. “The 2015 harvest forecast of 58 million pink salmon is well above the recent 10-year average harvest of 41 million pink salmon, and a harvest of that magnitude would be in the top ten harvests since 1960,” according to a guide put out by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s Andy Piston, pink and chum salmon project leader in Ketchikan, and Steve Heinl, Ketchikan regional research...
This year’s Tanner crab season saw its largest harvest in 15 years while prices dropped. Preliminary estimates show the 2014-15 Tanner fishery in Registration Area A (Southeast Alaska) is 1.42 million pounds with 84 permit holders, according to Alaska Department of Fish and Game Lead Crab Biologist Joe Stratman. “This harvest exceeded last season’s harvest by 170,000 pounds, and is the largest Tanner harvest in 15 seasons,” he said. “You have to go back to the 1999-2000 season to find a larger harvest of Tanner crab in Southeast Alaska.... Full story
Doug Ward is passionate about the maritime industry and preparing today's youth for work in it. The Director of Shipyard Development for Vigor Alaska Shipyard and Drydock, Inc., Ward spoke at the Chamber of Commerce's Annual Banquet last Saturday. TWI, or training within industry, began in World War II days, "teaching old dogs new tricks" to keep industries going during the war. Now referred to as career technical programs, they're usually expensive and often the first cut. "And yet, for a lot...
Chamber MC Donnie Hayes, left, claps as Chamber of Commerce Board of Director Vice President Dave Kensinger, middle, hands Hammer and Wikan True Value Hardware Store Manager Lee Carrao a plaque for receiving business of the year at the chamber's Annual Banquet on Saturday. The store was nominated by local businesses in Petersburg. "I just want to say thank you very much on behalf of Hammer and Wikan, and the employees. It really is our employees that make it happen day in and day out. You know,... Full story
Former borough worker and Motor Pool Advisory Committee member Ray Pederson, age 71, has been described as a "great guy" who will be missed by many. "He was just a one of a kind, larger than life type of person," his daughter, Camie Rae Pederson said. A memorial service will be held for Ray on Saturday at 3 p.m. in the high school gym with a celebration of life following in the upstairs of the Elks Lodge. Ray was found unresponsive in the sauna at the Community Center on March 11 shortly before... Full story
Contracts and budgets were a big part of discussion during Tuesday evening’s school board meeting. The school board reached an agreement with the Associated Teachers of Petersburg, approving a 1 percent salary increase for teachers in 2015-16. Negotiations for years two and three will continue. Board members also touched on Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter’s contract for 2015-16. It will be a 260-day contract for $120,000. The board approved it after coming out of executive session during a special meeting on Feb. 19. Former Sup... Full story
After nearly 14 years on the school board (with a 20 year break in-between), President Jean Ellis has resigned. Ellis said her term was originally supposed to be up in 2014, but that she “drew the long straw” when Petersburg became a borough. Her term extended to 2016. There’s always something going on in the school district, she added, pointing to issues like the funding ones Petersburg is facing now. Ellis noted that it was just time to step down. “It’s a great community,” she added. She’ll be...
Michael George Patterson's tribe calls him Ghost Walker because he was given five years to live when diagnosed with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). His chances of a lung transplant are shrinking. Time with his family is slipping away. When visitors came to his school and discouraged smoking years ago, he didn't think it was any of their business, that he'd smoke if he wanted and die when old. "I was just like you," he told middle and high school students in Petersburg on Thursday,...
There's a wide variety of animals on Mitkof Island, so you may not think much about the "unsung hero" of the ecosystem, as middle school teacher Jo Ann Day put it. But if you are one of those interested in bats, you'll soon have a chance to become a citizen scientist and help out the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. With only two scientists in the wildlife diversity program monitoring the mammals, ADF&G wants to extend research in Southeast Alaska to Petersburg by having volunteers complete d...
The Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery opened at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday under a cooperative model. Dave Gordon, area management biologist at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, said the decision was made by permit holders to eliminate competition and lower costs to “make it worthwhile to go after the product” as the market is poor. It wasn’t a popular decision among tenders, however. “There’s a lot less boats here,” said Tanner Mackiewicz, president of the Alaska Independent Tendermen’s Association. “A lot of people without jobs.” He said the...
As the 29th Alaska State Legislature reached the halfway point of this year's session last week, Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, House District 25 representative, stopped in Petersburg to talk about legislature issues with a local impact. By far, the budget is the largest issue facing this year's legislature, Kresis-Tomkins said. "I ran into someone yesterday and we were talking really briefly about it and I mentioned I felt like a pallbearer at a funeral because of the budget," he said. "Gloom and doom is kind of the mood." That's because the state... Full story
The Sitka sac roe herring fishery will be done cooperatively this year, with processing completed in Sitka alone, meaning no fish tax for Petersburg. "This is an industry initiated cooperative," Dave Gordon, area management biologist at the Department of Fish and Game, said of the co-op. He added that the sac roe herring market is "very poor right now," and that the decision was made to eliminate competition and risk - to lower costs to "make it worthwhile to go after the product." "The quota this year is quite small," said Patrick Wilson,... Full story
What is the need for a road between Kake and Petersburg? That's the question Petersburg residents wanted most answered during a meeting with the Federal Highway Administration and Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (ADOT&PF) Tuesday evening. The two entities brought along the McDowell Group and Northern Economics, who conducted studies concerning the project. It was the 2012 Alaska Legislature that appropriated $40 million to ADOT&PF to construct about 22 miles of a new,... Full story
The Petersburg Medical Center is in a good position financially right now, but it’s in the next three to five years that it may face some serious challenges. Representatives from the hospital and its board of directors met at a special meeting with the Petersburg Borough Assembly Monday evening. “Your hospital is strong, you have almost no debt,” said Interim Chief Financial Officer Doran Hammett, who brings in an outside perspective as he does financial work for hospitals around the country. He added that Petersburg has a strong balance sheet...
Tonka Seafoods, Inc., announced last year that it was working to bring shrimp fisheries and processing back to Petersburg after a nearly decade-long absence. Well, it's delivered. The fishery is closed for March and April, but Chief Financial Officer Seth Scrimsher said they purchased 250,000 pounds of pink shrimp from fisherman at a price of 40 cents per pound over the winter. A customer contacted Tonka and requested the shrimp after spotting the seafood company as one of 12 finalists for the... Full story
She's got just a few weeks left in the office, but they're going to be busy ones for former Petersburg Borough Clerk Kathy O'Rear as she prepares for retirement. "We've always got a ton of work to do here," she said. Debbie Thompson was sworn in as clerk Monday, and O'Rear's last day will be March 31. Until then, she'll be assisting Thompson in the transition. O'Rear became Petersburg's clerk in August 2000, and was a city clerk in East Jordan, Mich., for 16 years before that. "We had come up he...
Petersburg's Public Works Department has turned to the state for assistance in an accidental spillage of waste. The Wastewater Utility transports and buries piles of solid waste at the borough's landfill. This week, while digging a hole with an excavator, Public Works Director Karl Hagerman said, sludge setting to the side to be buried slid down a hill to a creek that runs to the Sandy Beach Park area. Hagerman said the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has been notified, and that the borough will be working with DEC to...
