Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 301
Overall, Petersburg doesn't look like a town in distress. We've seen what happens in "down" years, and there is no resemblance. Charitable giving is generally up and local businesses appear to be doing well with only a few exceptions. As we mentioned last week, the city's distribution of $3.9 million in CARES funding was a part of it. (See breakout above) The biggest factor however appears to be from 539 local businesses and boats applying for and receiving over $15.08 million in SBA's Economic...
It's clear that the actions of Petersburg's Emergency Operations Center, the Petersburg Medical Center staff and the State Public Health Nurse have played a huge part in keeping the Covid-19 virus at bay on Mitkof Island. The actions of these officials have been questioned, marginalized, and outright rejected in some cases. Public health leaders are constantly attempting to balance the impact of their decisions against the health consequences of inaction. It has nothing to do with restricting...
I'm a newspaper addict. I can't help myself. I love reading newspapers, printed on newsprint, in color or in black and white. Smaller community newspapers, like the Petersburg Pilot are of more interest to me. On family vacations, I buy every newspaper I can find in convenience stores or gas stations. Sometimes co-publisher Anne drives while I take in the news from the towns we drive through. I have this theory that stories in every community newspaper are much the same, just with different...
Petersburg joined Wrangell and other Alaskan communities by imposing a mask mandate. As Covid-19 cases skyrocket across the state, Governor Dunleavy left it up to communities statewide to take action to reduce infections, due to his refusal to impose a mask mandate. For Petersburg, with a limited health care infrastructure, it's important that virus spread be controlled because once community spread transmissions begin our hospital and health care providers could easily be overwhelmed. More...
Alaskan natives, particularly the Alaska Natives Without Land, have every right to petition the federal government for additional lands, but it's imperative that history is accurately portrayed in the process. Those lobbying for additional land allocations say in writing, "It has been proven there's no apparent reason the communities of Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg, Haines and Tenakee Springs were left out," of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) that was passed 48 years ago. Ther...
We’re glad the borough assembly cut through drawn out discussions and approved the continuation of work on the Sandy Beach Park playground project. The park improvement proposal received plenty of publicity over the past two years, so the work should have come as no surprise to anyone paying even remote attention to the news. If the parks and recreation board had their way, the debate over the plans would have delayed the project for at least another summer. That would have been unacceptable. Rock-n-Road is volunteering their labor and had t...
“Don’t forget to sign-up for the National Newspaper Convention,” my wife and co-publisher said. “It’s being held in Jacksonville, Florida this year,” she added. If there was ever a year to leave Petersburg for a Florida destination, this was it. I anxiously clicked on the NNA website and discovered that due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the meeting was being held virtually this year. “How in the world can you hold a newspaper convention on Zoom? This will be interesting,” I muttered to myself. I signed up for the convention, went to Viking...
A new 20-ft. x 40-ft. tent has been erected at the Petersburg airport to provide shelter for hospital employees providing COVID testing services for passengers arriving at the airport each day. Emergency operations center director Karl Hagerman said the new tent encompasses the same size footprint as the three tents and trailer that were in place this summer. "The tent survived the wind test this weekend," according to Hagerman. The airport experienced wind gusts up to 40 mph and sustained...
The Aspen Daily News in Aspen, Colorado runs a statement every day on their front page Flag that states: “If you don’t want it printed, don’t let it happen.” It’s a bit brash for our taste, but the words apply to this newspaper when it comes to public record reporting that appears on our pages. Recently we’ve had three persons request that we remove police and court reports that pertain to cases they were involved in. They cite invasion of privacy concerns and correctly state that the information will jeopardize future hiring opportuniti...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly acted with both courage and compassion on Monday night when they passed Ordinance 2020-19 that updated the borough's civil emergency plan. The easy decision would have been to cave to the public comments opposing the revised ordinance, but the assembly and borough officials did an excellent job of explaining how the ordinance was drafted and that wording from three other community ordinances were used to compose the Petersburg document. There was no nefarious...
Borough staff presented appropriate justification for the borough assembly to approve an ordinance that will update and expand how officials respond to local emergencies at last Thursday's public forum on the topic. In a nutshell, Ordinance #2020-19 will transfer civil emergency provisions from the City of Petersburg code to Petersburg Borough code while adding language to help local officials respond to an emergency. Karl Hagerman explained, "...the responsibility to keep the population safe...
We have no desire to critique the public radio station's work but last week we had several people ask what we thought of station intern Corinne Smith's story that aired on KFSK. The story highlighted seafood workers' summer employment experiences in Petersburg under the state's Covid-19 mandates. The piece fell far below the level of excellence usually attained by the station's news department. More work was needed to add balance to a story that could have highlighted the achievements of both... Full story
We’ve had phone calls from a handful of people about our use of the photo and page one coverage of last week’s fatal Mitkof Highway crash. It saddens us to have to report on such a tragedy that impacts the lives of so many in both Wrangell and Petersburg. We don’t take pleasure in covering such stories. It wasn’t covered to sell newspapers. We covered the story because it is our job to provide information about a tragic event that struck close to home. We placed it on page one because it was the most important story of the week. The acciden...
2,132 Alaskans are reported infected with the Covid-19 virus along with 487 non-residents as of July 21. Petersburg has had zero active cases of COVID-19 since Thursday, July 17 according to Borough Incident Commander Karl Hagerman. We count ourselves among the lucky simply because we live on this isolated island. If we counted on elected officials for a long overdue permanent emergency ordinance, we'd be disappointed. The borough assembly by a vote of 4-3 decided to delay the final passage of...
We love public comments. So do public officials, in both elected and administrative positions. It's a part of the public process and the resulting discussions are critical to maintaining the democratic process that holds communities together. At Wednesday's assembly meeting, some were critical of a proposed ordinance that amended the provisions of the Borough Code on civil emergencies. Some comments were civil in their presentation but one writer felt the need to threaten elected officials with...
The following editorial was posted to the newspaper website on Monday, July 13. My goodness. Doesn't anyone pay attention to the details? Short-term mandates proposed by the Petersburg Emergency Operations Center are necessary to prevent the spread of the Corona virus and resulting Covid-19 infections. Some mandates are voluntary. Some are short-term. Some are longer term. The borough assembly establishes termination dates for all legislation they enact. The EOC is granted its authority by the...
While the Petersburg Covid-19 infection count remains at 4, the statewide count continues to increase. Alaskan resident cases increased by 38 yesterday, a new daily high. Statewide the cumulative count to-date is 978. While Petersburg residents continue to grumble about Petersburg's mandates and the power the Petersburg Borough Assembly confers to the Emergency Operations Center officials, our infection rate remains flat. To us it means we are lucky. It also means that enough of us are...
Congratulations to the PHS Class of 2020! Despite the onset of a global wide Coronavirus pandemic that up-ended traditional end-of-year high school events and activities, the class of 2020 has persevered. Thanks to the generosity of parents, teachers and school administrators, the class will still receive a celebratory send-off that will be both memorable and meaningful. What graduating class has ever had individual photos displayed on giant banners lining main street? Way to go parents. To top...
A modern, custom built home designed and built by Andy Grauel, located along the Farragut River inside of Farragut Bay, was given away for free last year and recently was barged to Petersburg by Charles Davis. In 2002, Grauel listed the house for sale with realtor Leif Stenfjord with an asking price of $129,500. Since the house had to be relocated from the property, no sale ever transpired and Grauel ended up giving the home to a Juneau resident who intended to tear the house apart and haul the...
Before residents cheer the expiration of Petersburg's face masking mandate, they need to remember that the reopening of many local businesses rely on the use of face masks by both employees and patrons according to state health mandate #16. According to the Borough's Incident Commander Karl Hagerman, "There is very, very strong language in the state's reopening plan regarding face coverings. The Emergency Operations Center will continue to emphasize face coverings as being an important factor...
Frustration was a key theme running throughout Wednesday's assembly meeting. Having to wait on the governor's slow to arrive mandates on opening businesses across the state is vexing. Just like in Petersburg, everyone has a different idea on how Alaskan businesses can resume operations safely. Not surprising, some feel it's too soon to begin restoring business functions at all. Why risk a second wave of illnesses resulting from community spread of the virus when stores re-open? While...
Petersburg's sense of humor is coming through during these trying times. Bearing witness to this is the above photo showing the likeness of Bojer Wikan, wearing his protective mask as his statue towers above the memorial park next to the Sons of Norway Hall. Or the hardware clerk's reply when asked if the plastic sneeze guards at the checkout counter made her feel more protected. The reply: "Only until Darby (Mattingly) shows up." Darby stands 80-inches tall and the barrier tops out at his...
While we applaud the work of Wrangell's health care providers as they prepare for the uncertain times before us, it's important to remember that they need us as much as we need them. Every citizen has a part to play in flattening the curve so small hospitals like Wrangell's aren't overwhelmed with stricken patients from COVID-19 infections. Key to flattening the curve is testing symptomatic patients, proper hand washing and social distancing or isolation. Presently SEARHC does not release... Full story
Longtime Petersburg resident Delbert (Pete) Erickson, 77, died on March 16 in Federal Way, Washington. His is the first recorded death caused by the COVID-19 virus in the State of Alaska. Even though he died in Washington, his death is recorded in Alaska, his place of residency. According to his family, Erickson was being treated for congestive heart failure, COPD and poor kidney function at a hospital in Everett, Washington. His son Pete wrote in an email, "If he had not contracted the virus, w...
