Sorted by date Results 151 - 175 of 417
The Petersburg High School cross country teams traveled to Ketchikan last weekend to open the 2016 season. The boys and girls performed remarkably well to kick off the year, with the boys earning a sixth place finish and the girls taking third overall. Head coach Tom Thompson says the finish for the girls team isn't shocking, but he did have some questions about how they would bounce back after losing two impactful runners from last year's squad. Yet, they still had five girls in the top 12... Full story
Jon Pust comes from a family filled with musicians and artists, including a couple of cousins who are "topnotch painters." Pust used to work construction and drove some truck, but after he taught himself how to carve soapstone and alabaster into wildlife it suddenly became his career. After seeing some soapstone carvings with his wife Dawn, she challenged Pust to try his hand at the craft. "At first I thought she was nuts, but she finally talked me into trying it and I made three or four pieces... Full story
LeConte Glacier is a treasure many locals might overlook, but PHS students have been gaining a new respect for the icy giant for over 30 years now, thanks in large part to Paul Bowen. He is not a glaciologist. He is not a certified surveyor. Bowen was simply a science teacher who's been intrigued by glaciers ever since 1952 when he spent three months living on one while conducting fieldwork. In 1962, Bowen's first year teaching at PHS, it only took a week or two before he asked his new students...
Earlier this month the buzz around a monster halibut caught by local commercial fishermen in Thomas Bay went crazy after news of the catch spread through social media sites. Many of the comments expressed amazement for the monster catch, but some talked about sadness because another "breeder" was taken out of the reproduction equation. Multiple people talked about the cruelty of killing such a remarkable fish or simply said, "Should have put it back." No matter what your stance is, there are... Full story
The local Rotary club is known for sending students on its year-long exchange program to study abroad, but this summer a PHS student took part in the club's short-term program. Gillian Wittstock spent four weeks with a family in Germany and the two girls who hosted her there recently traveled to Petersburg to stay with the Wittstocks. Gillian is the first local student to participate in the program. She says getting to know Svea and Vilja Zahnke in Germany really made it easy for everyone to... Full story
Two employees at Petersburg Children's Center (PCC) recently received their child development associate credential. For Rocky Peeler and Theressa Phillips, both mothers of two, the achievement means looking toward the future with fresh training and knowledge to put into practice. "You see them bringing all that training and information into their classroom," says PCC director Brandi Heppe. The certificate included 120 hours of training, taking an exam in Juneau and being observed in a classroom... Full story
The Planning and Zoning Commission met Tuesday for their rescheduled meeting, and talked in length about an application from the Petersburg Borough to vacate a portion of a public easement at 919 Sandy Beach Road. “Now I understand we’ve received a request from an adjoining property owner to postpone this item,” said chairman Chris Fry, to start the public hearing. The property owner could not attend the meeting, because of it being rescheduled. The commission continued with the public hearing, however and the matter was ultimately postp...
When it comes to the low voter turnout of last week's primary election, House District 35, Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tompkins says it might be an all time record. "If so, it's kind of shocking," he says. He believes some of the reasoning is the lack of initiatives on the ballot, while the last cycle had multiple initiatives drawing high interest like marijuana and minimum wage. Kreiss-Tompkins visited Petersburg last week to attend the funeral services of Al Dwyer. Kreiss-Tompkins is seeking...
The Petersburg High School swim team is busy getting ready for the upcoming season, and the numbers are better than normal, according to head coach Andy Carlisle. “We had 14 in the water yesterday,’’ he said on Tuesday. “They look pretty good, we’ve been hitting it hard already and they have been responding pretty well.’’ The team has senior leadership returning and four freshmen new to the squad this year. Although the majority of the events in swimming are individual, team members often end up pushing each other. “We have a lot of good pos... Full story
The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted unanimously to request greater community input on the spraying of pesticides to control vegetation in the borough. The issue is the result of the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) issuing a notice of proposed pollutant discharge. The current permit, issued by the Environmental Protection Agency in 2011, expires at the end of October of this year. “The state has changed their process,’’ said vice mayor Cindi Lagoudakis as she began reading the permit proposal. “It’s for pesticide... Full story
Researchers involved in a four-year collaborative project to study the impact of subglacial discharge at LeConte Glacier were in town this week to conduct fieldwork in LeConte Bay. The study is focused on improving our understanding of how tidewater glaciers interact with the ocean and how the ocean interacts with the glacier. "Basically, the short story is we are looking at how runoff from the glacier affects circulation in the fjord, and then how that circulation then affects melting of the... Full story
The Petersburg Humane Association held a fun event last Friday centered around a family-friendly movie at the Northern Nights Theater. The movie was “The Secret Life of Pets,’’ a newly released animated film from Disney Pixar, and the event created quite a buzz and memorable moments for local youngsters. “We had an excellent turnout, almost a sold out theater,’’ says Laura Wong-Rose, who became an association board member in May and helped coordinate the event. “We had a face painter, and a Dalmatian and a rabbit floating around handing out s...
The question of prohibiting marijuana licenses in the Petersburg Borough will appear on the regular municipal ballot in October. The ordinance passed unanimously in its third and final reading at the assembly's meeting Monday. There was one change made to the ordinance, after it passed its second reading at the assembly's previous meeting, to bring it in compliance with state law. The addition is a clause clarifying that local government may not prohibit the personal use or possession of...
Anjuli Grantham visited Petersburg for the first time this week, and gave a presentation about the Alaska Historic Canneries Initiative (AHCI) at the library. Over 30 people attended the event, which also included a presentation by local resident Karen Hofstad about her salmon label collection. During her visit, Grantham got to sift through Hofstad's unique collection, which she calls "remarkable and quite stunning.'' Grantham will also be spending time working with the Clausen Museum to come...
Port Protection lost a larger than life resident last week when Jack Mason passed away, and the impact will be felt for years to come. Mason, 88, passed away Aug. 11, 2016 at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, Washington. He was known for always being on the go and he worked up until the moment he had to be medevaced off the island last Tuesday. A generator went down in the middle of the night and Mason tripped and fell in his bedroom. He hit his head, causing a brain injury, but Mason...
Brian Mattson and Doug Corl are no strangers to catching fish, the pair have fished together for almost two decades, and last weekend was no exception. Around 10 p.m. on Saturday the local fishermen hooked a monster. They made a quick trip on the F/V Day Spring to Thomas Bay, rather than going south of town, because they drew a NOAA observer. Two sets later they had a nearly 400-pound halibut aboard. They caught the fish "right where everybody goes tanner crabbing," Mattson says. "Normally we... Full story
The pink salmon season is starting to hit its peak, but the numbers are looking below recent averages, according to Troy Thynes, area management biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. “Going into the season our preseason forecast was for a harvest of 34 million, which is below the recent 10 year average of 38 million,” he says. “Currently our harvest estimate is right around 11 million.” Pink salmon are the largest harvest in Southeast, and this year the strongest run is showing up south of Petersburg, with limited opening... Full story
The school board met in the high school library Tuesday night, after taking July off. The board also took a tour of summer improvements with director of maintenance Dan Tate before the meeting. Tate showed off and talked about the school’s new carpet, changes to a few classrooms and projects still in the works. School board members were excited about the improvements done over the summer, especially the new LED lighting installed in the school’s shop. The tour ended at the elementary school with Tate talking about the new rock garden and caf... Full story
Petersburg Parks and Rec. director Chandra Thornburg quickly fell in love with the community after recently moving here from Seattle, Washington. She appreciates the strong work ethic and unwavering civic pride locals showcase on a daily basis. "Petersburg overall is amazing, the amount of community support I've received is incredible," she says. "Everybody is very caring and kind, from the little kids on up." For Thornburg, moving to such a small town has a lot of perks, including the fact...
If you ask Wayne Short what his profession was he'll most likely respond with acute, warm laughter. The Petersburg resident will be turning 90 next week, and his resume includes veteran, carpenter, hunter, trapper, fisherman and author. Short's first book The Cheechakoes, published in 1964, became popular in Europe, and it bought him his first big boat, the F/V Denny M, a 45-footer that allowed him to start making "real money." The story of Short's life strongly follows the footsteps of his...
As he prepares to add another year to his coaching career, PHS cross country coach Tom Thompson is excited for the 2016 season. It seems every year the team loses strong leadership and talent, but it's replaced like clockwork. This season is no exception, he says. "We got some really great returning kids. Our numbers aren't really big, but they are solid, with great, hardworking kids," Thompson says. "We lost very few girls and a couple boys that have been with me for four years." There are...
Harbormaster Glo Wollen addressed the borough assembly at its meeting Monday about an issue South Harbor is facing and what options are available to help maintain a productive harbor. “We’ve had an ongoing, kind of, an increasing issue with boats grounding in the South Harbor. Whether it’s isostatic rebound, glacial rebound or siltation, we’ve realized over probably the last 10 years the bottom of the harbor is getting higher,” Wollen said. “And so, I’m having more and more of our boats going aground on certain stages of the tide.” For Pe... Full story
An accidental discharge of a firearm happened Monday at the Tree’s RV Park general store, but only a couple beer cans were harmed, according to owner Larry Dunham. “Shot a hole in a couple of cans of beer, and then went into the floor, so it was just accidental,” he said. “No terrorists. Nobody was trying to shoot anybody.” Dunham said the Alaska State Troopers were immediately notified and would be dealing with any repercussions of the incident. Dunham didn’t know whether there would even be a citation involved or not. He wasn’t there when the... Full story
The weather might have forced a couple participants to drop out of the postponed 3rd Annual Paddle Battle, but the number of paddlers undertaking the activity continues to increase. Last weekend, 28 paddlers participated in the event, a fundraiser hosted by the Petersburg Medical Center Foundation, beginning at Papke's Landing and ending at Sandy Beach. "We ended up losing five people just because of the date change," said Sarah Holmgrain, community education assistant for PMC. "But I really... Full story
Public Works director Karl Hagerman updated the assembly about the ongoing municipal building renovation project at its meeting Monday. Phase 1 of the project began earlier this spring, and the main focus so far has been demolition. “A lot of demo had to happen in the building,” Hagerman said. “Floor slabs came out. Interior and exterior demo has been going pretty much the whole time. They are almost completed with everything they needed to take out, and they’ve started putting things back in.” Hagerman said contractors have completed some unde...
