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Trident Seafoods issued a press release on Tuesday, Dec. 12 announcing a “comprehensive restructuring initiative” that will put the seafood giant “on a path toward streamlining its Alaska operations.” They announced plans to seek buyers for their shoreside processing plants in four locations: Petersburg, Ketchikan, False Pass, and Kodiak. “Our Kodiak operations are integral to the Gulf of Alaska fisheries,” said Jeff Welbourn, Senior Vice President of Alaska Operations at Trident Seafoods in the company’s press release. “They are highly effi...
Between April 2019 and December 2021, State and Federal Investigators conducted a lengthy investigation of Rocky Point Resort and its fishing guides and owners after receiving a complaint alleging that Rocky Point owners and guides committed a number of sport fishing violations including not reporting halibut under the Guided Angler Fish (GAF) program, and taking over limits of fish, according to charging documents filed by the Alaska Attorney General’s office at the Petersburg District Court on November 14, 2023. This investigation resulted i...
An arrest has been made for the recent string of burglaries of downtown Petersburg businesses. Zachary Bray, 27, was taken into custody by Petersburg Police Department (PPD) on Nov. 22. According to charging documents filed with the court by PPD, an initial warrant to search a package was issued after USPS Postal Inspectors received a report from the Petersburg Post Office of multiple suspicious contacts with Bray seeking to collect a suspicious package, followed by a break-in at the post office. PPD Officer Jared Popp executed that search...
After helping her friend Kerry Kirkpatrick set up a solo exhibition at Juneau Douglas City Museum last year, Suzanne Fuqua realized the time has arrived to introduce herself to her community as an artist. Clausen Memorial Museum will host Fuqua's first ever solo exhibition from Dec. 1 through Dec. 14. The art show titled "Before, After, and In Between" will showcase a collection of around 50 paintings in a range of styles and mediums produced by Fuqua over the past five years. There will be...
In the past three weeks, four downtown Petersburg businesses have reported burglaries. The Petersburg Police Department confirmed all four incidents are the subject of active investigations. The Blomster Hus flower shop was the most recent incident, with staff arriving Monday morning this week to find the cash register had been pried open by a burglar over the weekend. A week earlier, security cameras captured footage of a burglar searching for cash after breaking into the Petersburg Moose Lodge. “Security camera footage from the Moose Lodge h...
Petersburg will be one of four Alaska cities to host a performance by Lyric and Spirit, a performance ensemble comprised of three extraordinary vocalists from around the world who have joined together for an inaugural North American tour. They will take the stage in Wright Auditorium on Wednesday evening, Nov. 1. Lenna Bahule is a multidisciplinary artist raised and educated in Mapouto, Mozambique, now based in São Paulo, Brazil. As an educator and performer, she explores indigenous vocal...
After serving 44 years as plant manager, Dave Ohmer retired last Friday. Dave's grandfather, Earl Ohmer, co-founded Alaskan Glacier Seafood Co. in 1916. When Earl died in 1955 Dave's father, Dave P. Ohmer, continued the business, and in 1979 when his father passed away, the responsibility fell to Dave. Though it turned out to be his destiny, it hadn't been his plan. "I wanted to be a teacher," said Dave, when he sat down with the Pilot the day after his retirement. "My dad always wanted me to...
Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department is dangerously understaffed. Last week the department pushed to get the word out about how and why to join the volunteers. They screened a film at the movie theater titled "Odd Hours, No Pay, Cool Hat" and hosted an open house at the fire hall, where veteran volunteers and newcomers spoke about what motivates them to volunteer. The recent fire disaster at the Catholic Church highlighted staffing issues. The firefighters who were on hand valiantly battled the...
Inside Mary Ellen Anderson's greenhouse, a sea of green leaves ripples in the breeze of a fan. Pigeons coo nearby, and the radio, almost always on, plays quietly on a shelf. The air is made fragrant by tomato vines laden with fruit, cucumber blossoms, greens and flowers, and even peppers. "Every night," Mary Ellen says, "we have a good salad." The greenhouse is situated on a hill overlooking the Wrangell Narrows. Its walls are windows that showcase the handsome timber of the post and beam... Full story
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...
