Sorted by date Results 51 - 75 of 143
This week the Pilot bids a bittersweet farewell to our top-notch full-time news reporter Chris Basinger. We wish him well as he leaves on Sunday’s ferry, headed for his old Texas stomping grounds. Sometimes uprooting to Alaska, leaving one’s community of friends and family on the far side of the continent, just ain’t meant to last. We get it. We hope he thinks fondly of us when he isn’t too busy savoring a bucket of chick-fil-a with his dad and brother, cheering for their favorite teams in person finally, rather than on facetime too many ti...
The family of Yenka Faith Ferreira are celebrating her quinceañera this Saturday, and as far as they can recall it will be the first quinceañera celebration ever to take place in Petersburg. "My mom has never seen one in Petersburg...so this will be the first one or definitely the first one to be public like this," says Yenka's mother, Yulett Ferreira. A girl on her fifteenth birthday is known a quinceañera, and her formal ceremony-typically celebrated in Mexico and other Latin American countrie...
Between 2019 and 2021, state and federal law enforcement conducted a lengthy investigation into Petersburg area sport fishing charter lodge Rocky Point Resort, according to charging documents filed with Alaska Trial Courts last month. The investigation has resulted in four sport fishing guides being charged with over 50 counts related to halibut sport fishing violations. Current halibut charter bag limits for Southeast Alaska allow guided charter vessel anglers to catch and retain one halibut...
Starting this week, a new locally-drawn strip will be showing up with the comics here on page 4. Gus Petersen - a Petersburg resident attending The Kubert School, which is an art school in New Jersey that concentrates on cartoon and graphic art - approached the Pilot this fall with an offer to contribute something new. Growing up in Petersburg, Petersen remembers wishing there were comics in the Pilot. In some of the daily papers from around the area he would see the classic comic strips, "Fox...
Small publishers all across the country got some tough news this fall when Postmaster General Louis DeJoy announced a substantial postage rate increase set to arrive in January. While postage is increasing for everybody, the class of postage facing the highest increase is the in-county periodical postage rate newspapers pay to distribute local papers to subscribers through post offices. That rate will jump by 7.6% next month, and the increase is coming hot on the heels of a 7% hike in July of...
"When I first met him, his bumper sticker was, 'Beam me up, Scotty! There's no intelligent life down here,'" laughs Ingrid Murray, remembering her husband Pat Murray. Murray's obituary in the Pilot in February 2021 describes his growing up in Maryland, his service in the Army as a helicopter pilot, and his passion for volunteering in the later years of his life after settling in Petersburg, but it doesn't reveal his passion for science fiction, fantasy, and outer space. "He has watched every...
Thank you — to the Petersburg Police and PVFD first responders who ensured no one was hurt and the scene was safe enough for work to commence, Petersburg Municipal Power and Light who restored power faster than expected which made it possible for so many kids to be out trick or treating on Halloween, Public Works who with Power and Light and Alaska Department of Transportation worked through the night alongside the teams from Rock-n-Road and Reid Brothers to clear the landslide from the highway by Tuesday morning, the emergency line crew f...
Alaska’s midterm general election is underway. Early and absentee voting has begun, and election day is less than two weeks away. There are many important decisions on the ballot, and perhaps most important of all is the ballot measure question: Shall there be a constitutional convention? This question was asked last month of Petersburg’s candidates for assembly, and it was the one and only topic that everyone agreed on. Regardless of political leaning the resounding answer was “No.” Donna M... Full story
One of my favorite unofficial holidays is right around the corner: Petersburg Municipal Election Day. I tell you, it’s downright festive. Colorful decorations are poked into lawns with care. The town is abuzz with anticipation leading up to the big night. It’s exciting! And my heartfelt appreciation goes out to all the candidates for local elected office: every last one of them a neighbor to us all, volunteering their time, ideas and experience, sacrificing at times their privacy and peace of... Full story
"Yes! Finally, I will get to read the paper!" said third-grader Libby Taiber. She and her mom Molly high-fived when I reached out to tell them that, after repeated requests from their family and others, the Pilot is adding comics. For now, we've selected Ritter's River and Tundra. Ritter's River is drawn by Marc Lutz in Wrangell. Lutz works as editor for the Wrangell Sentinel and has been drawing comics for years, starting back in the mid-90s in California with a strip published in the Stockton...
"We were back and forth and back and forth about the wisdom of building," says Sharon Hunter. "It takes a while...it's like childbirth. One must forget what goes into the endeavor." Brad and Sharon Hunter built their first house back in 1990. A fine house where they raised their family. That house, up on Vesta Street, is now owned by their daughter Margaret and her husband Jesse Agner. And when their children had graduated into adulthood and Brad and Sharon reached retirement age, their...
"It started with a free slide we got from our day care," said Alesha Jabusch. The Jabusch family - Jake and Alesha and their two young daughters Devyn and Dawson - had this slide, a bright yellow spiral tube slide in good shape, and they had some room on their property along South Mitkof Highway and a dream of someday making a special playground or a least building a platform to support the slide. What brought the dream to life was a visit to Petersburg earlier this year from Alesha's uncle Ron...
The US Coast Guard Cutter Anacapa invited the community on board for tours on Monday. The occasion was to bid thank you and farewell to Petersburg, which has been home port to the USCGC Anacapa for the entirety of her 32-year career. Commissioned to serve as an Island-class patrol boat on January 13, 1990, the Anacapa has carried out her mission of law enforcement, safety and fisheries law enforcement, search and rescue, and maritime defense with a crew of sixteen on board and their families living in the Petersburg community. Captain Darwin Je...
After closing for the day last Friday, the team at the newspaper gathered around two boxes of pizza and celebrated our first week with yours truly as the new publisher. Despite equipment malfunctions due to super cold temperatures, the team had managed to produce a quality on-time edition, and we were feeling pretty good about it. We were polishing off our slices and discussing everyone’s snow shoveling plans for the coming weekend when a text message came in, then an email notification, and l... Full story
I was nineteen when I first rode the M/V Columbia up to Petersburg, back in 2003, and I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I parked myself on the ferry's starboard side and watched the landscape grow wilder the further north we sailed. The scenery was more spectacular than anything I had ever seen: Mountains plunged into the sea and mist ribboned through forested shores. As we passed through the Wrangell Narrows the trees seemed close enough to reach out and touch. A passenger near me... Full story
A small audience gathered Sunday afternoon, socially distanced in the pews of Petersburg Lutheran Church, to experience the music of concert pianist Roman Rudnytsky. Audience member Susan Erickson gave the concert rave reviews. "It was joy ... rapture ... an awesome 90 minutes of piano," said Erickson. "He is a maestro ... and we are so fortunate in Petersburg that someone of that caliber came to our community." Roman Rudnytsky has spent a lifetime mastering the piano. His parents were...
The visiting Nordhavn yachts treated Petersburg residents to a parade as they departed the Wrangell Narrows on misty Monday morning....
It all started on a bar napkin. After purchasing their corner lot on 14th Street, Kyle Roundtree and Jody Aulbach just started drawing it all out. The plan started with the kitchen. "We knew we wanted something that was very accommodating to having friends over, because we love to entertain and do dinners," said Aulbach. "I love to cook and Kyle does too." And so it began. After the bar napkin came the graph paper. Aulbach started sketching her dream kitchen, complete with islands and bars....
Upon entering Casey Knight's newly built home, visitors are greeted with a flood of natural light entering from a wall of west-facing windows and a sense of spaciousness created by high vaulted ceilings. The design of the space follows and allows for the uninhibited flow of Knight's daily routine, with the master bedroom and bath, kitchen, dining room and laundry all available on the main floor. In an upstairs loft used as a sitting area and library, the same wall of west-facing windows frames...
The lady Vikings started the season strong with two wins at home against the Juneau-Douglas Crimson Bears last weekend. The Vikings topped the Bears 53-30 Friday night and 50-32 on Saturday. Coach Dino Brock said the girls' strong start gave them a momentum that carried them throughout the game. “We just kind of jumped out of the lead to start with in the first quarter and just built on it,” Brock said. The team exhibited strong defense and rebounding, which helped keep them ahead and ultimately secure the lead. “Especially for early in the s...
The boys basketball team played hard in their season opener away against Ketchikan last weekend, but ultimately fell in both games to the 4A team. The Vikings are a young team this year with only three experienced players returning to the variety squad. "We're very young. We really returned three played that had any significant minutes last year," Coach Rick Brock said. "Over half our team wasn't on varsity or even in high school last year." That, in addition to Ketchikan's status as one of the...
This year Scott and Rachel Kandoll and their three children moved into their dream home-a custom built 3,000 square foot, four bedroom, abode with a waterfront view. They bought the Littleton's lot on Frederick Point, those familiar with the area might know it as that cleared lot with the old rock pad and picnic table and amazingly beautiful view of Frederick Sound. The Kandolls started with the search for building plans. Sorting through the endless house plans available online can be a...
Over 200 runners, teams from 15 communities across Southeast, stampeded into Petersburg for last weekend's cross country invitational. They raced in the warm sun before a crowd of enthusiastic supporters. "It was more than just parents and teachers out there. The students were out there with the pep club and all these community members where out supporting," said Vikings Head Coach Tom Thompson. "Donnie Hayes with Parks and Rec. and Jaime Cabral did such great things to put the whole meet... Full story
Vikings volleyball faced some serious competition last week when the very experienced Mt. Egecumbe Braves came to town. Mt. Edgecumbe was 3A state champion in 2011 and 2012, and runner up last year. "They're returning everyone from last year's squad that made the state championship matchup, and four of their six starters were on the championship team prior to that," said Vikings Head Coach Jaime Cabral. It was an opportunity for the young Viking squad, who have no seniors on varsity, to see...
