Sorted by date Results 1 - 22 of 22
After beating the Sitka Wolves in Juneau last Wednesday, the Lady Vikings fell to Sitka and Mt. Edgecumbe in the double elimination tournament. Head Coach Dino Brock said Thursday's contest against Mt. Edgecumbe started out sluggishly on the offensive side. The Lady Vikings were down 6-13 at the end of the half. Brock said his team picked up the pace, though, during the second half. "Offenses were flowing and people were running down the court," Brock said. "There was a lot more action." The... Full story
Director of the University of Alaska's Institute for Social and Economic Research Dr. Gunnar Knapp encouraged community members that doing more with less will be a central theme in the coming decade for fishing communities such as Petersburg and others across Alaska. Knapp was the guest speaker for the Petersburg Chamber of Commerce banquet last weekend. After touting Petersburg as one of the most successful fishing communities he's encountered, he encouraged the community to adapt in changing t... Full story
March 14, 1914 – Dr. Maud L. Dunn, a noted American lecturer now in London, in one of her lectures said that some women are always complaining, always frowning, and always telling their neighbors that they are full of aches. You may take it that their troubles are due to corsets. They are the kind of women whose husbands seek the aid of the divorce tribunals. Corsets, she says, should be put on when lying down, as then the organs are in their natural position. Corsets should be three inches less than the waist measurement. March 13, 1974 C...
In an effort to balance next year’s budget, the Petersburg Medical Center Board voted Tuesday to increase patient fees and reduce employee raise mechanisms. Inpatient and long-term care patients will see a 3 percent cost increase and outpatients will pay 5 percent more. Most PMC employees are typically given yearly 2 percent wage increases, similar to a cost of living increase, and an annual ‘step’ raise of 2.7 percent. The board-approved budget reduces the wage increase to 1 percent and eliminates raises. Employee salaries, wages and benefits... Full story
The topic of PERS and the strain it puts on State and local funding continues to crop up as news stories develop. The Public Employee Retirement System (PERS) and Teacher Retirement System (TRS) are the State’s public employee pension and healthcare plans. The State has underfunded and, in the past, not funded at all these benefit systems which has resulted in a more than $11 billion “unfunded liability”—the difference between the expected availability of money for retirees and the anticipated costs for the many years of upcoming State retirem...
An early morning fire destroyed the incubation room and other infrastructure at the Crystal Lake Hatchery last week. The structural loss was valued at an estimated $3 million by the facility manager, Loren Thompson. The fish stock losses were pegged at over a million dollars in value to both the commercial and sport fisheries, which benefit from the annual releases from the hatchery. The State of Alaska self-insures its loss and rebuilding the incubation facility is not a given in these tight budget times for the state. However, it doesn’t t...
The Seas Masons—Petersburg High School’s Alaska Tsunami Science Bowl team—placed 4th out of the 18 teams from across Alaska that competed in the science bowl in Seward two weeks ago. The competition consisted of three categories: a research paper, a presentation and a quiz bowl. In those categories, the Petersburg team placed 9th in the research paper, 2nd in the presentation and 3rd in the quiz bowl. The Sea Mason’s spent the past seven months researching the effects of ocean freshening through the air-sea interface. Sea Mason’s team capt...
March 5 A caller reported a safety hazard from an individual feeding birds in the roadway. March 6 A caller spoke with an officer concerning assault. A caller reported a noise complaint. Officers responded to several reports of a possible domestic disturbance. March 7 An officer responded to a noise complaint. A caller reported an individual refusing to leave property. A caller reported theft from a fuel tank. An officer received a report of an upsetting phone contact. A caller requested extra patrols. March 8 Police received two reports of a...
Petersburg Mental Health Services (PMHS) is looking for volunteers to sign up for its bystander training class that will be held next week as part of it’s community wide ‘Green Dot Campaign.’ The campaign, launched in early February, is part of a larger PMHS state grant and the outcome of a community wide assessment survey on alcohol related risks, which cited domestic violence as the number one perceived problem caused by alcohol abuse in Petersburg. Green Dot, etc. is an organization that aims to measurably and systematically reduce power-bas...
Gov. Sean Parnell visited Petersburg last week and spoke with Petersburg Pilot staff about regional issues as well as the future of Alaska’s economy. Parnell said, because of oil tax changes, oil companies are increasing investment in production. “What that means in real life is that money is going into wells where there is known oil which means new state revenue which means not only jobs for Alaskans but more revenue for communities that depend on that revenue,” Parnell said. But it will take time for the revenue to become real. A slim state...
The Petersburg Vikings lost twice to Mt. Edgecumbe at the regional tournament games last week. Vikings Head Coach Rick Brock said his team needed to regroup after it lost to Mt. Edgecumbe on Wednesday morning. "Mt. Edgecumbe played with a sense of urgency and it was tournament time so I felt we needed to match their intensity level," Brock said. The Vikings started off strong in the first quarter as the two teams went back and forth. The Petersburg squad led by a point at the start of the...
WRANGELL — Two prominent local taverns will join the ranks of the smoke-free in the coming weeks. Totem Bar & Liquor Store will go smoke-free tomorrow, according to signs posted inside the bar over the weekend. Elks Lodge members also voted this week to go smoke-free, though Elks leadership has not yet set a date for the transition. Both bars follow in the footsteps of Rayme’s Bar, which went smoke-free in January. The bar owner cited changing demographics among his clientele as the primary reason for the change. The moves by the Elks and the...
WRANGELL — A highly contagious and potentially fatal canine virus has been reported in Wrangell. Two cases of Parvovirus, symptoms of which include lethargy, severe vomiting, loss of appetite and bloody diarrhea, have been reported in Wrangell, said Judge Conniff, a local vet. “I had two cases, both of them doing very well, both of them discharged,” he said. Several dog deaths earlier in the year could be tied to this outbreak, but there’s no way to know for sure, Conniff said. “No way to know the answer to that question for sure,” he said. “W...
This year’s Tanner Crab season saw the highest harvest since the 2000/2001 season. Alaska Department of Fish and Game Lead Crab Biologist Joe Stratman said Tanner Crab prices and the overall harvest value were also up from last year. This season’s total harvest value was $3.1 million, with an average of $2.53 per pound compared to last year’s $2.8 million harvest value and $2.28 per pound. Preliminary estimates show this season’s Tanner fishery in Registration Area A is 1.25 million pounds with 80 permit holders. “This harvest just slightly...
Last Wednesday marked the start of Lent, a time of fasting, soul searching and repentance for hundreds of millions of Christians around the world. And what the burst in the holiday sales season from Thanksgiving to Christmas means to retailers, Lent means the same to the seafood industry. The 40-day Lenten season, which this year runs from March 5th to Easter Sunday on April 20th, dates back to the 4th century, and it has been customary to forego meat ever since. While nearly all seafood enjoys a surge of interest during Lent, the most...
Western Marine Construction was the solitary bidder for the Crane Dock approach-widening project. The construction company bid the construction costs at $611,500—more than $50,000 under the engineer’s estimates. The bid includes an additive to the project that will remove old access ladders and add new ones. Harbor Master Glo Wollen said the project is set to begin mid-September in order to allow the fleet to transition from Salmon to other fisheries. “We should be done and back in action about the 25th of January,” Wollen said. “We purposely...
Bruce Hershel Jones was born in Petersburg, Alaska in 1935, and went to be with the Lord on March 6, 2014, just ten days short of celebrating his 79th birthday. During his youth he held a paper route from the town to the graveyard; washed dishes at both the Pastime Café and Winnie's Café and took tickets at the theater. He drove a delivery truck for Wasvick & Torwick and seined with Adolph Mathisen on the F/V Harmony for four seasons. Bruce graduated Petersburg High School in 1953, and went o... Full story
Randal and Sarah Holmgrain of Petersburg announce the engagement of their daughter, Amanda Renee Pawuk Holmgrain, to Jesse Edward Birchell, son of Ed and Marsha Birchell of Juneau. Amanda is a 2011 graduate and Jesse a 2005 graduate of Petersburg High School. The couple is planning a June 8, 2014 wedding....
