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The Petersburg Borough is responding to accusations that it made an illegal search of Karen Ellingstad's Wrangell Avenue home on Jan. 9 and 13, 2014 to seek and retrieve asbestos samples prior to the scheduled demolition that had been upheld by the Superior Court. Furthermore, Ellingstad states that entry to her home by Public Works Director Karl Hagerman violated her right to privacy and required a search warrant based on the Fourth Amendment and Art. 1, Sec. 14 of the Alaska Constitution....
At this week’s Assembly meeting, Community Development director Liz Cabrera presented to the Petersburg Borough Assembly an outline for how to update the borough’s zoning code that hasn’t been brought up to speed since 1986. Cabrera said many parts of the code are contradictory due to small updates in some sections but not in others, that the processes used are cumbersome and slow and that the zoning is restrictive. “A lot of the definitions in the code are nonexistent, blurry, unclear, really difficult to interpret and apply consistently, real...
With the arrival of Carl Tate, 24, the police department is back up to a full contingent of officers. Tate arrived here last month from Fort Bragg, South Carolina, where he served four years with the U.S. Army working in communications. He is currently completing field training with the department and will attend the police academy in August of this year. When not working, Tate says he enjoys spending time with his family. He is married to a local woman, Hailey Lund, who relocated here with her...
Borough-wide trash collection should go more quickly, with the arrival of a 2017 side-loading vehicle, according to Public Works Director Karl Hagerman. The Borough’s oldest trash collection vehicle has been out of service since the start of the year. The 2006 vehicle “has had one problem after another,” so the sanitation department has gotten by with two trucks, collecting both recycle totes as well as trash, according to Hagerman. Hagerman explained that crews often had to pull trash from large totes by hand, since the rear-loading truck...
March 9, 1917 – James H. Wheeler of Wrangell closed a deal the first of the week for the purchase of the stock and fixtures of Dr. Pryer’s drug store and has now taken charge of the business. Mr. Wheeler has been in the drug business in Wrangell for about eighteen years. He will now conduct the stores in both towns, giving his personal attention to keeping up the stocks to meet requirements of the trade. Dr. Pryer plans to leave shortly for the east, to take a post-graduate course at medical college, after which he will return north and resume...
WRANGELL – Residents of Wrangell concerned about the state’s evolving budget proposals joined those from Cordova, Nome and other rural communities in testifying on House Bill 57 over the weekend. Proposed by the House Finance Committee as part of a package of budget cuts, HB 57 proposes cutting state payments to municipalities for school construction debt. Homer Rep. vPaul Seaton (R-District 31) co-chaired the proceedings on March 4, seeking input ahead of an amendment process scheduled for Tuesday. Wrangell is among the communities that would...
The bill giving the green light to an exchange of thousands of acres of land between the Alaska Mental Health Trust and the U.S. Forest Service was introduced in Juneau this week. Rep. Dan Ortiz, I-Ketchikan, filed House Bill 155 on Monday. It authorizes the trust to go ahead with an exchange of more than 17,000 acres of trust land for 20,000 acres of rural Forest Service timber land. In the process, the exchange would eliminate the possibility of logging on trust-owned land on Deer Mountain and above the Mitkof Highway in Petersburg. Those...
Mar. 1 — An abandoned vehicle was reported at 1300 Howkan St. A traffic offense was reported at the Borough Parking lot. Mar. 2 — Lepasi S. Mikaio, 32 was arrested on a charge of Assault 4th Degree and was taken into custody. Police responded to a lockout call on Harbor Way. A Hit and Run was reported at the school parking lot. A Theft was reported at the elementary school involving a juvenile. No charges were filed. Police responded to a parking complaint at Tango and S. Nordic Drive. Mar. 3 — Harassment was reported at a Lumber St. addre...
Alaska’s Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) announced regulations for the king salmon sport fishing season this summer would be on the conservative side. Issued Monday, the order applies to marine waters adjacent to the Stikine River in District 8, near Petersburg and Wrangell. Beginning May 1 and lasting until July 15, the king salmon bag and possession limit for all anglers will be set at one fish, 28 inches or greater in length. Anglers will also have to abide by rod restrictions in place when fishing for king salmon after March 31, 2017, li...
The Lady Vikings finished off its regular season with a win and a loss against Wrangell at Petersburg High School. The crowd was there in full force both evenings, with both a special ceremony to recognize the outgoing senior class on Friday and Homecoming proceedings Saturday. "It was so loud in the gym," said girls coach Dino Brock. The team has three girls graduating this year, Emma Chase, Chandler Strickland and Sydney Guthrie. They were brought front and center along with their parents to...
ANCHORAGE (AP) – Two people were rescued Friday after their small plane made an emergency landing near an Alaska island. The Coast Guard credits local authorities and others from the nearby community of Metlakatla for quickly responding to the scene in Smuggler Cove off Annette Island. The Coast Guard also helped in the response. Petty Officer Lauren Steenson says the people rescued were taken to the Metlakatla clinic for treatment of minor injuries. Officials say that because of icing on the BE18 Beechcraft plane, the pilot had missed the a...
The final chapter of Petersburg Medical Center's strategic plan is likely the most daunting. The first goal of the plan states: "Fix or replace the facility to create a safe environment for patients, staff and community." Decisions need to be made to remodel the current facility at an estimated cost of $16 million or to replace the facility for an estimated $33 million. Both options require outside funding sources. In May 2016 Joann Lott of Jensen Yorba Lott Architects told the PMC board:...
In their last home games for the season, the Petersburg High School boys added two more wins to their standings before heading into regionals. The team hosted Wrangell for its Homecoming weekend. In Friday night's game, the Wolves started ahead, holding Petersburg to a 7-13 tail in the first quarter. "Wrangell started out playing very aggressive on the defensive end," noted Vikings coach Rick Brock. The team picked up a rhythm going into the next eight minutes, but the visitors' defense...
A snag in Sitka that was holding up progress on a state bill to help the Alaska Mental Health Trust with its land exchange — and thereby prevent logging on Deer Mountain — has been resolved, putting the bill on track to be introduced this session. State and federal lawmakers, at the behest of the trust, have been working on legislation that would mandate the U.S. Forest Service exchange more than 20,000 acres of rural timber land for approximately 17,000 acres of trust land located near Ketchikan, Meyers Chuck, Petersburg, Wrangell, Sitka and...
Alaska crabbers are hauling back pots from the Panhandle to the Bering Sea, and reduced catches are resulting in record prices for their efforts. The year’s first red king crab fishery at Norton Sound has yielded 17,000 pounds so far of its nearly 40,000 pound winter quota for more than 50 local fishermen. The crab, which are taken through the ice near Nome, are paying out at a record $7.75 a pound. A summer opener will produce a combined catch of nearly half a million pounds for the region. Red king crab from Bristol Bay also yielded the h...
The spring troll fishery in Southeast Alaska (SEAK) is designed to target Alaska hatchery-produced Chinook salmon. However, with similar migration corridors and return timing, wild stock, SEAK originating Chinook are also harvested. The overall 2016 run to the 11 systems monitored for SEAK wild Chinook salmon is one of the lowest on record in 42 years of documented Chinook escapements. With arguably the poorest overall run on record in 2016, recurrent failures to meet lower bounds of escapement goal ranges in several systems, and with the 2017...
The Petersburg Police Department clarified that the arrest reported in the March 2 edition of Dustin L. Delong, 29 was a non-custody arrest. Charges of Theft in the 4th Degree and Criminal Mischief in the 5th Degree resulted in charges being filed, but Delong was not taken into custody....
WRANGELL — Anan Wildlife Observatory will soon be implementing site improvements for safety and to extend the life of its existing facilities. The work is scheduled to begin March 15, 2017, weather permitting. Rainforest Contracting Inc. of Petersburg, will be making improvements to the trailhead and observatory deck. The work will require periodic closures to portions of the Anan Creek Trail (Trail #448) during construction and closure of the Lower Falls Observation Deck when the work moves to that location in the spring. The contractor w...
