Sorted by date Results 301 - 323 of 323
Mayor Cindi Lagoudakis spent her adolescent years in a city, gripped in its pace, from New York to Southern California she lived, without a hint of Petersburg in her future. Until one night in college at 23 she was walking home from studying, when she turned around to see two men running toward her in a frenzy, one holding a knife and the other yelling for her money. Lagoudakis was not aware of the abduction that was about to happen, but it would upend any trust she had for the hot, fast city....
Cindi Lagoudakis was the featured artist in Miele Gallery and Framing shop last week, as she displayed about 70 paintings that took a "couple years to finish," she said. Lagoudakis mingled with a group at the opening Friday evening, discussing her contrast with colors, different tactics she uses to draw and the inspiration behind it all: the forest. "I've worked for the Forest Service for 26 years," Lagoudakis said. "Clearly the natural world is something of interest to me." The mayor is a...
Plans to develop the Scow Bay Boat Haulout have expanded, as the final concept proposed by Principal Civil Engineer Dick Somerville brings depth to the upland area. In a meeting last week, Somerville laid-out the third concept for the renovation, which comes after the second concept was approved publicly but altered a bit to accommodate suggestions. "It's only the earthwork that doubled in size," Somerville said. "Everyone agreed that concept two was good, but there could be improvements." The...
Alaska Sen. Bert Stedman said in an interview Tuesday that his office has started dialogue with Gov. Bill Walker’s office to schedule a trip to Petersburg, during which the governor would sign Senate Bill 28, a landmark proposal that increases the city’s land entitlement to 14,666 acres. “I would be very surprised if it didn’t work into his schedule,” Stedman said. “He enjoys Petersburg and likes the community. I think it would be very well received.” Senate Bill 28 has not been transmitted to the governor, and his deputy spokesman, Jo...
National holidays often pose a reminder to many that being thankful should be constant, not reserved for a few days. So for Father's Day Sunday, The Pilot scoured the Petersburg phonebook in search of people willing to share how they make their dad proud. Here is this year's Father's Day 'every day' edition, as told by five Petersburg sons and daughters. "Well, I have one story that I think will apply to making my dad proud," said Don Nelson, recalling a time he was 12. Nelson, now 86, remembers...
The Harry Kito Bridge on Mitkof Highway attracted a modest crowd of pedestrians on Saturday who appeared befuddled at the sight of a mangled truck sitting next to Falls Creek with no one inside. The white Chevrolet resting there had left a trail of flattened grass behind it that came from the north, indicating the truck veered off the road while travelling south on Mitkof Highway. The Petersburg Police Department weekly report calls the nature of the incident, "assisted other agency." In this...
A panel of marine mammal specialists fielded questions last week on how fishermen should interact and deter endangered species like whales and sea lions. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Juneau gave a presentation that included law review under the Marine Mammal Protection Act and different strategies to take when around humpback whales, sperm whales and steller sea lions. The underscored theme of the presentation was to stress that laws created under the MMPA are not to...
The United States Coast Guard change of command ceremony was Thursday at Sandy Beach Park where 26-year-old Lt. Rachel Kent took over the Petersburg-based USCG Cutter ANACAPA. On a damp Thursday morning, Kent, who previously was aboard the USCGC MIDGETT in Seattle, relieved Lt. Cmdr. Pete Vermeer, who was at the helm for two years. Vermeer's accolades include two Coast Guard Commendation medals, the Coast Guard Achievement medal, the Commandant's Letter of Commendation and numerous service,...
Students and faculty from the Petersburg Borough District were surveyed on the quality of school life, and the results were presented during a School Board meeting Tuesday evening. Jenni Lefing, who is the school climate coordinator with the Association of Alaska School Boards, presented results from the 2017 climate and connectedness survey. The survey is intended to measure character in schools, peer and respect climate, and whether students think adults care for them, among other qualities, Lefing said. “These are all things we know are i...
Petersburg High School students used trigonometry to pinpoint the terminus location of the LeConte Glacier last month during the 34th annual survey. The survey found that the glacier moved about 200 feet back from its average position for the last 10 years, which is not a significant change, said Victor Troutman, who oversees the survey. Seven students trained weekly over their lunch break for a year before they could participate in the survey, which is a data-gathering expedition that started...
Finance Director Jody Tow is confident education and general taxes in Petersburg will not go above the mill rate cap of 10 in the coming years. In the last decade, the mill rate has fluctuated between 8.5 and 9, but has never reached 10 like it did in 2007, according to Borough documents. In the 2018 fiscal year budget, the education and general tax rate increased slightly to 9 due to the Borough being conservative, Tow said. "We want to stretch out the balance of the secure rural school funds f...
Over a year ago, Topi Karikorpi made a list of four countries he would perhaps like to spend a year in. Foreign exchange program officials decided the rest for him --- Country: United States; State: Alaska; City: Petersburg. Karikorpi came to Petersburg in August 2016 as part of the Rotary Club's foreign exchange program. He is from a town in south Finland populated with 1,100 people, so he was relieved to find out Petersburg was going to be his temporary home. "I hoped to go to a small place,"...
The Petersburg Assembly unanimously approved its budget last week for the upcoming year that starts July 1 and runs through June 2018. Over three meetings and three readings of the proposed budget, the Assembly grappled with a change worth about $160,000. A vote to delete a fourth lineman position from the Power & Light budget ultimately passed unanimously on the third reading. "[The Assembly] went back and forth on this," said Petersburg Borough Manager Stephen Giesbrecht. "I can't speak for...
The Petersburg Borough is a signature away from increasing its state land grant from 1,400 acres to more than 14,600, as legislation was passed on the last day of session in May, said Liz Cabrera, who is the Petersburg community development director. "This is a really big deal for Petersburg," Cabrera said. "If the bill didn't get passed on that day, we would have to wait until next January to take it up again. It was kind of on the 11th hour." The bill passed through the House and Senate...
On an ailing hip and no experience in long-distance races, 49-year-old Jo Ann Day took first place in the 18th annual Prince of Wales Marathon last month. “That was my first marathon,” said Day, who lives in Petersburg. “I was just running with hopes to finish. I had no expectations whatsoever.” Those small expectations took hold after Day injured her hip three weeks before the race. She was all but sidelined as the race loomed. “My hip would tighten up and it was too painful,” Day said. “In those three weeks, the longest I ran was five mile...
The two marijuana growers in Petersburg are apparently not in competition, as one wants to grow for her own retail shop and the other plans to export his product to Ketchikan. Susan Burrell has been licensed to sell weed in Petersburg for months. But now she is in the process of becoming licensed to harvest it as well, despite a grower already being on the island. The move is to dodge high Alaska weed costs, Burrell said. Further, she couldn't make a sufficient deal with the current weed grower...
The Petersburg municipal building project is slated to be done mid June and is currently $700,000 under its $10 million projected cost, said Petersburg Borough Manager Stephen Giesbrecht. The project, which has cost $9.3 million so far, is a week behind its scheduled finish of June 1, but Giesbrecht said that was expected and agreed upon. "In a sense, it's done," Giesbrecht said. "We're probably only talking $30,000 to $40,000 more. It's really tiny, but I don't want to misrepresent." The city...
The Petersburg Community Foundation gave $14,000 in grants to nine local nonprofit organizations during the 2017 Mayfest weekend, said Holli Flint, who is the program manager. Specific dollar amounts given to each organization is not disclosed, as the community foundation does not want to take away from the funding sources that contributed, Flint said. "A lot of projects are not entirely made possible through the Petersburg Community Foundation," Flint said. "Each project is really interesting....
Hundreds of people gathered at the Petersburg Elks Lodge Friday evening to honor Rob Schwartz, who is retiring after 26 years of being a teacher and wrestling coach. "Coaching and teaching is often a thankless activity," said Eldon Walker, who spoke about Schwartz to the crowd. "The fact that you juggled as much as you did for as long as you have is a testament to the kind of person that you are. While you are an amazing coach and a teacher, you are a mentor and a friend as well." Schwartz's dau...
The Petersburg High School Class of 2017 ended their K through 12 tenures at a commencement ceremony Tuesday evening. Petersburg gave diplomas to 29 students. Of those, 24 will attend, or plan to attend, a university, community college or trade school. Four others intend to seek a career in photography, aquaculture, engineering, heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration and travel. One more, Alan McCay, plans to enlist in the United States Coast Guard. Forty-five scholarships...
A seemingly routine 2017 salmon derby shifted to shock and thrill Monday after Karrie Byrer caught a 34.3 pound king salmon just minutes before the derby closed. Byrer and her fiancé, Chris Malcom, idled their boat into the dock at about 4:50 p.m., 10 minutes before deadline. Malcolm hopped off and rushed a burly king salmon to the weigh station, grinning fervently, with Byrer close behind. "I knew it was decent size," Malcom said. "Once I netted it and put it on the boat, I said, 'holy...
The airport might add more parking to accommodate increased demand for spaces and to anticipate potential restrictions on current long-term parking, said Richard Burke, who is a Planning and Zoning Committee representative. "It's more for the need for additional spaces," Burke said. "I've talked to a number of folks who almost missed their flights due to lack of parking." Burke went before the Petersburg Borough Tuesday and asked the assembly to lease property across the street from the...
About 50 people gathered at the Petersburg Memorial Cemetery Monday to remember friends and loved ones who died while serving in the military. The Memorial Day ceremony lasted under 30 minutes and included speakers from the Petersburg Ministerial Association who led prayer, read Bible passages and asked for a moment of silence. Preceding the moment of silence was a time for the crowd to shout out names of the people they knew who died in the military. "There is a lot of military history here...
