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The borough has until the end of the year to accept the Alaska Department of Transportation (ADOT) proposal to take over three float facilities currently under state control. The assembly continued talking about the subject at the Monday meeting. Vice mayor Cindi Lagoudakis gave figures she had tracked down regarding what it would cost for annual maintenance and improvements for the three facilities. Harbormaster Glo Wollen had worked up some numbers and Lagoudakis read them to the assembly. The Kupreanof float would cost an estimated $216,000...
Working Against Violence for Everyone or WAVE moved from the Sing Lee Alley location last month and welcomed a new employee the next day. WAVE director Annette Wooton said the increased office space and newly hired advocate Rikki McKay are showing an immediate positive impact. "We can see two people at once, where at the other office we were limited to seeing one person at a time," Wooton says. She says making do is part of being a non-profit organization, and the old space could have worked wit...
Buddy Stelmach, Ethan File and Nathaniel Lenhard represented PHS wrestling for the final time last weekend at the state tournament in Anchorage. Stelmach earned a second place finish, and File and Lenhard both fought their way to fifth. The three seniors also helped bring home the 2016 State 2A team title and the Sportsmanship Award. For Stelmach, it may not have been the ideal outcome. But after battling a knee injury all season the standout, 4-time Region Champ, showed why he's been such a fie...
JUNEAU – Gov. Bill Walker has proposed cutting hundreds more state jobs as part of a budget plan that includes the use of earnings from Alaska’s oil-wealth nest egg and ultimately tripling state motor fuels taxes. Walker’s budget office said the governor’s overall budget plan, if implemented, still would leave a budget deficit of nearly $900 million that would need to be closed with lawmakers’ help. In a statement Thursday, Walker said the state has already slashed its budget and will look for more ways to reduce costs. But he said Alaska ca...
The assembly discussed a proposed program aiming to give residents the opportunity to pave the street of their neighborhood at their own expense on Monday. The proposal, brought forth by public works director Karl Hagerman, would save the borough money on maintaining the streets in the future and increase the quality of life in various areas of town. The program, referred to as a local improvement district or LID would offer street paving to a select number of neighborhoods before SECON pulls their asphalt plant out next year. In order for the...
The Petersburg High School junior varsity girls' team had two victories in home games last weekend during the JV Little Norway tournament in town. The team lost to Juneau-Douglas the first night, but came back to win the final two of the tournament against Thorne Bay and then Sitka on Saturday night. Head coach Dino Brock's been dealing with participation numbers so far this season, because of a lower than normal turnout of players. The varsity will have seniors returning from last year's state...
The PHS boys basketball team had enough players last weekend to have two squads participate in the JV Little Norway tournament held in Petersburg. Assistant coach Jeb Phillips has been helping coach locally for three years because he enjoys working with different groups of kids. And this year's group of freshmen is impressing their coach so far with their play and presence. "Most of these kids are little dribblers throughout their careers so, it's pretty fun," he said. "And we have more freshmen...
Joe Viechnicki just celebrated 20 years of living in Petersburg. He moved here the first week in July of 1996, and he worked as a reporter covering the Fourth of July festivities that year. The tragic event of July 4 this year, when a one-car accident that took the lives of Molly Parks and Marie Giesbrecht, hit Viechnicki hard and he's hoping to help the community he cherishes with all his heart and himself heal through his artwork. "That event that night really touched something in me that I...
The Lady Vikings took second place at the 2A state volleyball tournament last weekend in Anchorage, losing the title match against the Craig Lady Panthers. Craig has proven the only constant nemesis for Petersburg since coming down from 3A. In the championship game, the Lady Panthers took down the Lady Vikings in four games, with Petersburg winning the first. However, Craig won the remaining games in order 26-24, 25-19 and 25-21. Cabral says it would have been great to win the championship but the team finished the season playing with maximum e...
The school board ended the 2016 year with a brief meeting about transitioning to a paperless board and an update about the changes to the high school dress code. Board president Sarah Holmgrain said she was excited about the move to have board members utilizing district-issued devices rather than relying on paper. “The hope is that it’s less work and time, as well as effort for Irene, because it is a lot to Xerox and copy everything,” Holmgrain said. “And also, just using less paper. It’s as expensive as ever.” She also reminded anyone that the...
Patrick McGrath, the owner of property at 895 Mitkof Highway displayed the ongoing construction work at his home and challenged a reporter to find raw sewage on his property. The homeowner was accused by letter, of having septic waste on his land by a disgruntled individual. Copies of the letter were sent to neighboring property owners, the newspaper, Borough administrators and the Alaska Dept. of Environmental Conservation. Candice Bressler, Public Information Officer with the ADEC told the...
It may be math teacher Joyce Metsa's first year in Petersburg, but she's already found a way to make a positive impact on a handful of students by establishing a middle school Robotics Club. Metsa is teaming up with Cyndy Fry and the two are bringing competitive robotics to youngsters in town. The club traveled to Juneau last weekend with five students to compete in their first ever FIRST LEGO League event. The team got a late start on the season, and the club ended up coming in 17th out of 26 t...
PHS wrestlers were successful at the regional tournament in Sitka last weekend however they came up short in their goal to win the 2A team title. Petersburg came in second place to the Wrangell Wolves by less than six team points. "Fortunately, we wrestled well and gained a lot of respect from opposing wrestlers and coaches," says head coach Robert Schwartz. "Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to beat Wrangell for the title." Buddy Stelmach and Teagan Schwartz won individual region five...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly’s counter offer to the Alaska Department of Transportation’s initial offer for taking over ownership of state-owned docks haas been denied. The assembly received a letter saying the state could not accommodate the borough’s request to only transfer ownership of two of three proposed docks, and receive increased funding to maintain the sites. The state’s original offer included Petersburg taking over the Papke’s Landing float, Kupreanof float and Entrance Island float with a one-time payment of just over $732...
The Mitkof Dance Troupe will be performing the local favorite Nutcracker ballet this weekend at the Wright Auditorium. It’s put on every other year, and MDT board president Carin Christensen knows the importance of the event for both kids and parents in the community. “I can’t say enough about parents and everything they do,” she said. “They get their dancers to practice and recitals on time, and sew costumes and make desserts for the Friday night reception. They do a lot.” The production is put together in a little over three months, and...
The borough assembly held a short meeting, lasting less than an hour, but covered multiple topics on Monday. The assembly passed an ordinance in its third and final reading to rezone a parcel located at 919 Sandy Beach Road. “It’s to be rezoned from public use to single-family residential,” Mayor Mark Jensen said as he finished reading the ordinance. There was no discussion on the matter, and assembly member Nancy Strand made a motion to adopt the resolution and Bob Lynn offered a second. The assembly passed the resolution 6-1, with vice mayor...
The Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department (PVFD) responded to a structure fire on North Nordic Drive early Tuesday morning and successfully extinguished the blaze, according to PVFD spokesperson Dave Berg. The call came in around 8:30 a.m. and about 15 fire fighters were on scene at 1312 North Nordic within minutes. The structure, an unoccupied single-family residence off of Wrangell Avenue, was engulfed in flames when PVFD arrived. It took PVFD crew members less than 20 minutes to have the...
YWCA Alaska presented Petersburg resident Kris Norosz with a statewide award last month for her dedication to supporting the organization's mission of eliminating racism and empowering women. She is one of 10 women statewide receiving the 27th Annual Women of Achievement award. Norosz began working for Alaska Department of Fish and Game in 1979 and a decade later she found herself the executive director of the Petersburg Vessel Owner's Association. Her career and experiences took off from there...
The PHS wrestling team took the short trip to Wrangell last weekend to participate in the Tom Sims Invitational. According to coach Dan van Swearingen, the Vikings left a couple wrestlers home and some teams failed to show. "It was a small tournament because the weather was terrible," he said. "We didn't have half the teams, but it was still a good weekend." Seven teams participated in a round robin on Friday and bracket tournament the following day. On Saturday, Nathaniel Lenhard was seeded...
The Lady Vikings earned a return trip to the state tournament with a second place finish at the region five 2A tournament last weekend in Craig. The team went 10-2 in conference this season and held a 14-2 record overall, heading into regions. The girls quickly advanced on day one, beating Klawock and Skagway in three games apiece setting the stage for a big game with the Craig Lady Panthers on Friday. The contest meant a ticket to the region championship match and an automatic berth at state. The Lady Vikings won the first game somewhat easily...
The PMC board of directors held a brief meeting last Thursday night, before going into an executive session. Doran Hammett, CFO of PMC, said some services are down locally, but others are making up the difference. “The areas of in-patient and long term care being down was made up for by ancillary services, lab, radiology. Those kinds of things, more than made up for that shortfall,” Hammett said. “If you can eventually get long term care back up to capacity, we should see those numbers look much better.” On the expense side, the facilit...
Alaska Department of Fish and Game held its fall regional planning team (RPT) meeting in Juneau on Wednesday and unanimously supported releasing 40 million stock chum salmon in Thomas Bay north of Petersburg. The chum would come from Hidden Falls hatchery, and the request is coming from the Northern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association (NSRAA). The issue was tabled last year in early-December so NSRAA could partner with ADF&G to complete a small study this summer. The study looked into investigating feeder king bycatch among other...
Construction of the newest improvement to the Petersburg's harbor facilities is complete ahead of schedule. The bulkhead addition project also came in under budget, according to harbormaster Glo Wollen. "It looks like it cost the borough, when it was all said and done, under $200,000," she said. "We thought it would be a little over that figure." The total for the bulkhead was almost $1.4 million. Luckily, the borough had $1.23 million left over from the first phase and was able to apply that...
The Wright Auditorium recently received a few upgrades as part of an ongoing effort to improve the facility so many community members use. Dave Berg, Compass Theater board member, said the improvements to the stage's rigging were taken to increase safety. The rigger, who traveled here from the Pacific Northwest to assist with replacing the rigging and inspect the theater, told Berg it was good to see Wright Auditorium gets so much use. "It was time to get the facility inspected by someone who...
The Salvation Army successfully distributed 90 food boxes for families in need during Thanksgiving last month. The number grew slightly from last year's total of 72 distributed turkey dinners. Last year for Christmas, the organization helped just under 80 families with food boxes. But the local Salvation Army already has 97 families signed up this year, according to Lieutenant Mysti Birks. "What it really comes down to is that everybody needs help at some point in their life," she says. "Just...
