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In a joint work session Tuesday aimed at discussing the future of Thomas Bay Power Authority, the dialogue between Petersburg and Wrangell borough assembly members missed the mark. The joint meeting was sparked after the Petersburg assembly voted not to fund its share of a portion of the TBPA budget labeled non-net billable — funding the two municipalities have traditionally split that goes towards administrative costs of TBPA’s commission. The lack of funding left Wrangell shelling out its $55,000 share, enough to keep the commission run... Full story
Petersburg Medical Center staff, from a variety of departments, received training last Thursday that aims to change the way staff solves problems to improve service quality. Called Lean training, aspects of the method have been around since the early 1900s but it was popularized and made famous by the Toyota Motor Company. It isn’t as much a how-to guide as it is a continual problem solving process unique to the respective organization that implements it. Lean principles have been successfully transitioned into health care. Anners W... Full story
Responders out of Juneau were able to free a portion of gear off the humpback whale that was entangled in a gill net August 23 in Frederick Sound. Petersburg volunteers were the first to reach the snared whale but were unsuccessful in removing the net. They did manage to attach a satellite buoy to track the humpback, helping the Petersburg team and other officials including those from National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration monitor the animal as it moved north towards Juneau. NOAA fisheries... Full story
Tlingit carver and wood conservator Tommy Joseph and his son Joe Joseph are cleaning debris off and weather-guarding the pair of totem poles in town. Tommy, who crafted the totems 14 years ago, and Joe are in Petersburg from Sitka. They’ve been strapped onto scaffolding and scrubbing off algae, moss and lichen that’s been accumulating on the 35-foot totem poles for nearly 14 years. Tommy credits his son for much of the work. “Heights are really not my thing,” Tommy said. “I’ve never been on a f...
A laundry list of charges were filed against Brandon Estes, 20, and Joshua Franklin, 26, during their arraignment August 29. The men are being accused of breaking into multiple Petersburg businesses last week along with the theft of cash and items at those locations. Franklin received eleven felony and four misdemeanor charges including burglary, theft and criminal mischief. Estes racked up 13 felony and four misdemeanor charges of the same nature. Police received reports of break-ins and... Full story
The Petersburg Borough Assembly is combining the police station and jail facility project with its municipal building rehab project after voting to allow MRV Architects to come up with a document listing the next steps and costs associated with a remodel. Those items are on the borough’s capital projects list that prioritizes projects community wide in hopes the state legislature provides funding for them. The police and jail facility have been at the top of that list for two years. The Municipal Building Rehabilitation was ranked 17 on the l... Full story
Rae C. Stedman Elementary is welcoming two of its previous students back as staff as the new school year kicks off. Kerri Curtiss will be teaching reading to third through fifth grade students as well as teaching a high school physical education class. Curtiss grew up in Petersburg before graduating from Central Washington University in 2005. She taught second graders in Washington for two years and decided to move back to Petersburg to be closer to family. “It’s pretty cool to walk around and...
The borough assembly is planning to let the utility and motor pool advisory boards dissolve after no member made a motion to keep either one at its September 3 meeting. This after several assembly members questioned the efficiency and viability of advisory boards and committees in August. The borough sent out an evaluation form to be filled out by advisory boards department wide as it considers whether or not to keep them. Questions on the form includes how many times it has met in the past year, what issues had been addressed and why and what...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly will likely travel to Wrangell September 10 to discuss with its assembly the viability of Thomas Bay Power Authority. According to a memo sent out by Wrangell Interim Borough Manager Jeff Jabusch, the two municipalities created TBPA to jointly maintain and operate the Tyee Hyrdoelctric power plant. Southeast Alaska Power Agency, SEAPA, owns the facility and pays for its operations and maintenance. But there’s an additional expense associated with TBPA budget that the two boroughs traditionally split. It’s cal...
Jace Cunningham, 30, who was found guilty in May of multiple counts of assault after he fired shots in Petersburg and aimed a rifle at a PPD officer, was sentenced to more than six years in jail and five years of probation Tuesday afternoon. Superior Court Judge William Carey presided over the three hour long sentencing hearing in Ketchikan where Cunningham has been held since his trial. The State asked that Cunningham be sentenced to the maximum possible punishment for the most serious offense, which in this case was 10 years due to the 3rd...
Petersburg School District Superintendent Dr. Rob Thomason was awarded a Superintendent of the Year Award last week. Bruce Johnson, Executive Director for the Association of Alaskan Superintendents, presented the award to Thomason PSD staff during a welcome back school board meeting. “It is my great honor to announce that your superintendent, Dr. Rob Thomason, is Alaska’s 2014 Superintendent of the year,” Johnson said to an applauding crowd. Johnson said a selection committee sought nomin...
An entangled humpback whale continues to remain snared in a gill net despite a two day effort last weekend to free the animal. Don Holmes with the Marine Mammal Center in Petersburg received a call Friday morning about the snared whale in Frederick Sound. He and other volunteers were granted permission from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Association to assess the situation. “We found that the whale was completely wrapped on the flukes with the lead line draping across the back of the animal,... Full story
Petersburg police arrested Joshua Franklin and Brandon Estes on charges of 2nd Degree Burglary yesterday. Chief Kelly Swihart said his department began receiving multiple reports of break-ins around town the morning of August 28. “We came up with five commercial burglaries and one attempted burglary,” Swihart said. Wikan Enterprises, the Hammer and Wikan Grocery, AP&T, Petersburg Motors and Petersburg Parks and Recreation were all burglarized. There were also attempts to break into a trailer in the parking lot of the H&W Grocery. Swihart sai... Full story
Borough Assembly and Petersburg Medical Center hospital board members discussed the financial state of the hospital and funding assistance for capital projects from the borough last Thursday morning. The discussion was also directed at how the public will perceive a potential tax levy to help fund a hospital that has remained financially independent of the city, now the borough, throughout its existence. “The public has a healthy skepticism on the borough’s spending habits,” assembly membe... Full story
A sales tax ordinance review committee meeting turned into a larger discussion about the demographic status of the borough and its fiscal future. The borough tasked the committee to review its sales tax ordinance, specifically looking at the senior exemption and tax rates. Jody Tow, Borough Finance Director, outlined tax types, rates and revenues across Alaska’s communities. Petersburg’s sales tax is 6 percent—above the state average. Tow also outlined the status of Petersburg’s Senior Exemptions. There are 462 active senior cards across the bo...
After the warm weather that contributed to the death of more than 1000 King Salmon in Blind Slough earlier this summer, Crystal Lake Hatchery hasn’t incubated as many eggs as it would have liked. Kevin Chase, Crystal Lake Hatchery Manager, said it finished its third and final round of egg takes from its King Salmon return yesterday morning. “Our goal is a million and a half eggs,” Chase said. “Now we’re at 600,000 to 700,000.” Crystal Lake will receive eggs from other hatcheries, including o...
A group of eight preschoolers from the Children’s Center became versed in the craft of log cabin building at Sandy Beach Park Tuesday morning. Dave Nauman, self-described Petersburg Parks and Rec “Maintenance Dude”, has been working since July to reconstruct shelter one at the park. He taught the kids about various tools used in cabin building such as a draw-knife—a double handled blade that cuts away the outer strips of a log. After cutting away shavings, Nauman passed out the “Curly Q’s” to th...
The Petersburg Police Department and other law enforcement officials took down a commercial marijuana grow operation last month. An official from PPD said investigators had been receiving complaints regarding drug activity around the 100 and 200 block of South Nordic Dr. After an investigation of an unspecified amount of time, police entered the structure the night of July 26 where they found growing materials, live plants and more than five pounds of marijuana worth a street value of $35,000-$40,000. Charges are still pending and the... Full story
Petersburg District Schools are ranked in the top 10 across the state and in the top 7 in Southeast Alaska after the Alaska Department of Education’s implementation of new performance standards last June. The new regulations come after the US Department of Education approved a waiver permitting the state to develop regulations that are, according to PSD Superintendent Robert Thomason “more rigorous” than the Common Core standards used by most of the states in the lower 48. “It’s still a measurement but it’s not as cut and dry, Draconian o... Full story
The Petersbug Borough Assembly approved a sales tax-free day scheduled for Saturday, October 5. Assembly member Susan Flint said sales tax revenues are ahead of budget this year and the time period would be good for residents. “October is a month where it’s pretty much residents living in Petersburg, or shopping in Petersburg,” Flint said. “I think it would be a better time to have it than when it was in May when we’re full of visitors.” The Chamber of Commerce Retail Committee proposed a sales tax-free day last May but the assembly re... Full story
The Petersburg Borough continues to deal with an aggressive sea lion that’s been bothering people in the harbors all summer. Mayor Mark Jensen wrote a letter August 9 in response to the National Marine Fisheries Service’s lack of assistance in the matter. “We find it unfortunate that the National Marine Fisheries Service is unwilling to take any active role in removing this threat to our children, citizens, economic base and our quality of life,” Jensen wrote in the letter. Harbormaster Glorian...
The Petersburg Planning Commission is writing a letter urging Richard Burrell to remove commercial and storage items from his residential property. During its August 13 meeting, the commission discussed how to handle Burrell’s zoning violation—an issue that hasn’t been resolved for more than a year. Joe Bertagnoli, Community Development Maintenance Foreman, said one day several things will move out and then a month later several more things move in to take their place. “It’s just kind of a holding pen for rotating stock. I want a firm plan...
As Petersburg continues to iron out its borough formation, the assembly will decide which committees and boards to dissolve or keep active. Boards to be considered for removal are; Transient Room Tax, Public Safety, Utility Advisory, Motor Pool, Parks and Recreation and Public Library. Those boards act as advisors to the borough and its corresponding departments. Although, they’re all on the chopping block, Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht said several will likely stay such as the Harbor Advisory Board and the Library Board. During T...
U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski intervened on behalf a Wrangell daycare operator after a US Forest Service officer issued her a citation in July for picnicking with her daycare children at Middle Ridge in the Tongass National Forest. US Forest Service Law enforcement officer Doug Ault fined Marilyn Mork $375 for operating a business on federal land without a permit. Mork said former U.S. Senator Frank Murkowski caught wind of the situation, made a copy of the citation and sent it to his daughter, Senator Murkowski. Murkowski happened to be meeting...
Three crewmembers of the 75-foot tender Pacific Queen are safe after they abandoned ship when the vessel began experiencing uncontrollable flooding early Wednesday morning near Lung Island. John Klingenberg, U.S. Coast Guard Public Affairs Specialist, said the crew issued an Urgent Marine Information Broadcast, or UMIB, which is a location signal that makes mariners in the area aware of the situation. The crew then loaded aboard a life raft. Another vessel eventually arrived at the scene. Klingenberg said the Windham Bay rescued the Pacific... Full story
