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The Petersburg High School girl's track team won the conference track meet division wide in Ketchikan last weekend-a feat the Petersburg girl's team hasn't accomplished in more than three decades. Head coach Brad Taylor has been coaching since 1987 and knew this season would be a special one for the program. "I've known for a couple years that this class, this freshman class coming in and with the seniors that we have, and the experience of those kids going to state for so many years, we knew... Full story
Plans to move the Raven's Roost trailhead to Sandy Beach Park are finally moving forward after more than a decade of bureaucratic haggling between the United States Forest Service and other government agencies. The U.S. Forest service decided the trail needed to be moved because of its proximity to the expanding rock quarry. When blasting occurs at the pit, falling rocks have broken holes in trail planks or punched through nearby muskeg. "In the late 90s we realized we needed to move this thing... Full story
The committee responsible for organizing and operating the local farmer’s market is holding a potluck and silent auction this Friday at 6 p.m. at the Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall. Attendees can bring food for the potluck and will have the opportunity to place silent bids on local art, handmade crafts and other goods made and created by local residents. Andrea Weathers heads up the committee and said all proceeds will go towards the operation of the market such as ANB hall rental and promotional activities. “I think the more business we can...
The Petersburg Vikings baseball team kicked off its season with two wins against the Junior Varsity Sitka Wolves last week. Head Coach Jim Engle said the Vikings are a small but balanced team this year with several veteran players and other new but strong athletes added to the ten-player squad. “We have some deep pitching ability,” Engle said. We have a couple guys that can chew up a lot of innings that can give us 100 plus pitches in complete games if we need to.” The number one starter is junior Colby Bell. Engel said Bell has a solid fastbal...
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game released a final update of the Sitka Herring Sac Roe fishery results. Fisherman netted 16,976 tons of herring, down from preliminary projections but still exceeding the guideline harvest by 643 tons. The March 20 season opener saw the most herring coming up in nets at 5,031 tons. The total mature roe was recorded at 12.4 percent. The baseline market price for roe is 10 percent. Processors were offering around $150 per ton this year, down from $780 last year. Fish and Game Area Management Biologist Dave...
Repair work on the Rasmus Enge Memorial Bridge is running ahead of schedule. The anticipated $80,000 repair job began April 1 and was expected to take eight weeks to complete. Assistant Director of Public Works Chris Cotta said an Alaska Department of Transportation (ADOT) bridge inspection report determined that around 75 stringers needed replacement. “We won’t know the exact number until we get done with it,” Cotta said. “We’re going by ADOT inspections and our own observations. I’m guess... Full story
The Petersburg Borough recycling program has saved the borough $8,500 in solid waste disposal costs since the program began in February but the program still needs to see an increase in customers to pay for itself. In order for the recycling program to break even, 40 percent of Petersburg solid waste customers need to be recycling. Public Works Director Karl Hagerman said, although recycling rates fluctuate widely from week to week, the diversion rate is averaging around 27 percent when... Full story
Nine Petersburg High School students are heading to this year’s Art Fest held in Yakutat this weekend. Petersburg school’s art teacher Ashley DuRoss is chaperoning the students and will teach a mask-making workshop. Students will have two, 15-hour workshops to choose from. “It’s really a jumble of art teachers and artists and people in the community that are excited about it,” DuRoss said. We’re all globbed together for one week and it’s a lot of fun. The kids will have 30 hours between the two workshops of intense focus and attention on the su...
Construction is creeping along on Petersburg Medical Center’s (PMC) roof after the contractor Silverbow Construction threatened to stop working last March and asked to be paid for 90 percent completion. PMC CEO Liz Woodyard said the hospital didn’t feel that amount of work had been completed and that more than 30 sheets of Silverbow-installed tin sheets needed to be replaced. According to the contract between PMC and Silverbow, PMC has the ability to withhold payment until it's satisfied. PMC’s architect Joann Lott, from Jensen Yorba Lott...
The Petersburg Police Department may petition the federal government to become designated as a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA). A coalition of law enforcement agencies can petition to become a HIDTA region, however, according to the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), no agencies in Southeast have applied. In a report to the assembly several months ago, Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht announced that Petersburg was being considered for the HIDTA designation. Police Chief Kelly Swihart said that in N... Full story
A defensive tactics instructor taught a group of Petersburg High School students various self-defense tactics Tuesday morning. Marcus Hom taught ten PHS graduating seniors about situational awareness, pre-assault indicators and using verbal commands to de-escalate a situation. "As far as the class goes, we talked quite a bit about the different levels of escalation and situational awareness being the first things to understand and about not going stupid places, and doing stupid things with stupi...
Petersburg’s Beat the Odds Committee is allocating $22,500 to various organizations that provide for cancer treatment travel, training, support and equipment in the community. The bulk of those donations come from Beat the Odds, A Race Against Cancer—an annual 5K put on during Breast Cancer Awareness month in October where local businesses and individuals can donate. Last fall’s race was Petersburg’s 14th event. “For some people it’s a way to remember someone they’ve lost from cancer and it’s also a way to honor survivors,” committee co-chai...
Students Evelyn Anderson and Leiah Kittams and Mrs. Wallace present art projects during last weeks Stedman Elementary Exploratory Night in the Wright Auditorium....
The Petersburg Borough Assembly approved a letter requesting the Southeast Alaska Power Agency (SEAPA) to consider reducing its wholesale power rate to member communities in lieu of issuing annual rebates. According to a letter written by Vice Mayor Cindi Lagoudakis, “While we appreciate the annual wholesale power rebates from SEAPA, it is increasingly difficult to factor them into the budgeting process.” The letter goes on to state that SEAPA has taken no action despite community delegate requests that the rate be lowered. The letter sta... Full story
Petersburg hosted 117 participants in this year's Southeast Region EMS Symposium. EMS Director Sandy Dixon said this is the first year Petersburg has hosted the symposium and that the community support along with a good weekend of weather ensured a smooth event. "I told everybody I sent Mother Nature a limo," Dixon joked. "The weather helped. It was pretty tremendous." Medical workers from emergency medical technicians to physicians attended the symposium where various classes and lectures were... Full story
The Petersburg School Board is seeking to appoint two new school board members to serve until the October elections after board members Dawn Ware and John Bringhurst resigned. Both Bringhurst and Ware are moving away from Petersburg. Bringhurst said he couldn’t think of any profession that has more impact on society than that of a teacher. “For me it’s been a pleasure and a great experience being on the team that helps oversee this effort and work with all of those who stand in support of and in back of and in leadership of those wonde... Full story
Petersburg School District Finance Director Karen Quitslund presented a bare bones draft budget in front of the school board Tuesday evening. Quitslund said next year’s school budget is the most challenging budget she’s worked on in her three years as finance director. Staff had to plan the budget while dealing with several financial unknowns due to changes in education funding in the State legislature. Declining enrollment, which influences a state funding formula known as ‘foundation funding’, in Petersburg school’s also presented a challen...
Petersburg High School graduate Tessa Hasbrouck received the highest undergraduate research award given by the University of Wisconsin's College of Natural Resources (CNR). Hasbrouck received the Clive A. David Memorial Research Scholarship Award for her research accomplishments during her four years at UW. Professor of Wildlife Ecology Eric Anderson said her balance of academic achievement, research ability, service to student organizations and personal integrity solidified her spot as the...
The Petersburg Police Department filed additional charges against Terry Slafter, 56, who fired multiple rounds off his boat the Lady Lou in the Middle Harbor last week. Two counts of Misconduct Involving Weapons in the 4th degree have been filed against Slafter in addition to the one count of Reckless Endangerment already filed against him. Slafter was apprehended last Wednesday morning after police responded to numerous reports of gunshots in the middle harbor. Officers cordoned off the area and found Slafter in his boat. No shots were...
Petersburg AT&T subscribers might be paying too much for their monthly Enhanced 911 surcharges and the money might be going to the wrong place. Ideally, each month when Petersburg cell phone subscribers receive their bill a surcharge of $1 automatically goes into the community’s Enhanced 911 (E911) service fund. Every municipality across Alaska and the nation sets a similar charge, which was designed to pay for the installment, maintenance and any other costs associated with the system. Alaska state law requires the surcharge to be collected b...
Petersburg High School's concert band, jazz band and choir traveled to Ketchikan last weekend to perform in the Southeast Alaska Music Festival. Twelve schools from across Southeast performed in Ketchikan and Music Director Mathew Lenhard said Petersburg students excelled over the weekend. "Our groups had an outstanding performance," Lenhard said. "Two of our groups were singled out as superior performances, kind of the best you can get." The students performed in front of judges as well as...
The Petersburg Community Foundation is doling out funds to Petersburg non-profits and is waiting for more organizations to apply. “We have $10,000 to give away to local non-profits, so we’re encouraging people to apply,” Petersburg Economic Development Director Liz Cabrera said. “It’s an online fairly simple application and we’ll be awarding those in the middle of May.” Those interested in receiving grant funding can visit petersburgcf.org. The PCF relies on private donations and gifts, has an endowment of more than $425,000 and is managed by t...
The Scow Bay ramp will likely remain open while undergoing repairs this summer. Petersburg Economic Development Director Liz Cabrera said the ramp is wide enough for construction to take place in two phases. “We could work on half of it and close half of it,” Cabrera said. “People could still use one side and once that concrete cures we would open that new side and close the other side.” The local resource advisory committee (RAC) secured funding through the Secure Rural Schools Act, which, in part, distributes federal funding to enhance projec...
Community members packed the assembly chambers last Monday to support continued local education funding for the Petersburg School District. District staff and parents responded to across the board budget cuts proposed last week by several assembly members. Sue Paulsen said while she understands difficult discussions will need to take place at some point, now is not the time for generalized budget reductions. “I bow to you,” Paulsen said. “You will be having these discussions. It’s not going to be easy. But a general reduction in services right... Full story
Borough wide property assessment appeals have ended after the Petersburg Borough Assembly acted as a Board of Equalization (BOE)—the board that addressed and finalized the remaining 22 appeals that weren’t settled privately with assessor Mike Renfro. The BOE accepted the assessors adjusted value to each property that came before it. There were around 200 appeals overall, the majority of which were settled outside the BOE. Renfro works for Appraisal Company of Alaska—the company the borough hired to appraise outlying areas. He said his staff... Full story
