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The Petersburg Medical Center Board of Directors decided last week it would invite the finalists for the CEO position to town likely in mid-April. After an executive session to discuss which of the four finalists — one is from Petersburg — to bring to town, the board decided to invite all three. Philip Hofstetter is the vice president of hospital services at the Norton Sound Health Corporation in Nome. Hofstetter, a clinical audiologist, has 25 years of experience as a healthcare professional, 19 of which are in rural Alaska at a Level 4 Cri...
Superior Court Judge William Carey ordered Petersburg Attorney Fred Triem to pay $99,159.02 to Alaska Airlines counsel Davis, Wright, Tremaine LLP to settle claims sought by the law firm for costs, attorney fees and a $10,000 sanction for his misconduct in continuing a lawsuit against Alaska Airlines after his client Helen Lingley died. Triem represented Lingley who was fired from her position with Alaska Airlines for taking ear buds from an airline storage area. Lingley died on June 24, 2016 while the Airlines and Triem were actively pursuing...
Baseball is back, despite a thick layer of ice covering the diamonds in Petersburg. The Viking high school tteam has practiced in the gym for about a month and is scheduled to host Ketchikan in less time. “That’s the toughest part,” Coach Jim Engell said practicing inside. “I hate the fact that it’s out of my control.” This year’s group is young, much like last year’s winless team, and could see leadership from one junior and a few sophomores, Engell said. Some dozen kids are out right now, practicing indoors on pitching, hitting, fieldi...
March 29, 1918 Mrs. K.L. Steberg, treasurer of the school board, received this week from the governor’s office a check on the territorial treasury for $1,277.66, this sum being a refund by the territory of 75 per cent of the town money expended for school maintenance during the quarter ending with March 1st. March 26, 1943 Now that our library is rehabilitated, all the books reclassified, and put in their proper order, and a good system of checking them established, we can now turn our attention to obtaining books that belong to the library w...
The outlook for tourism in Petersburg this summer is showing an increase in cruise ship passengers, while the rate of independent travelers is still unclear. Dave Berg, co-founder of Viking Travel Inc., says cruise ships are scheduled to make 133 stops in Petersburg this summer, which is up from 110 last year. "More stops, more passengers," Berg said. That could mean more dollars spent in downtown businesses. "More sales tax," Berg said. "Which basically trickles down to the economy and it's...
The sweeping remodel of the power and light building in Petersburg is on schedule to finish at the start of May, but there were several changes to the plan for the old building with “good bones.” Karl Hagerman, the utility director, says the complete remodel of the Petersburg Municipal Power and Light building, which hasn’t had a dramatic change in at least 30 years, will be done by May 1. The remodel includes full insulation, an entrance that removed the blind spot at the North Nordic and Haugen drive intersection, a reception desk on the f...
You deal poison, you get locked up To the Editor: I would like to congratulate our police chief, his officers and staff and all the agencies that coordinated with the Petersburg Police that assisted in arresting the meth producers and dealers this past week. These arrests are long overdue and very welcome. What a great resignation present for our chief. I wish you were staying. I do have two questions/concerns. The first is why are these people not in jail? They were let out with minimal or no bail. This sends a really bad message to other...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – The Alaska House on Monday voted to pay out a full Alaska Permanent Fund dividend this year, but residents shouldn't start thinking about how they'll spend the big check just yet. The measure now moves to the Senate, where leaders have been lukewarm to funding a full check. Alaskans haven't had a full dividend check since 2015, when nearly every resident pocketed $2,072. The last two years, the check has been cut in about half as the state has eyed potential use of Alaska Permanent Fund earnings to help cover state c...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – The Alaska Department of Fish and Game said it has been overestimating how many Chinook and sockeye salmon make it up the Taku River. Department officials said the statistical bias is being corrected by new state-of-the-art studies, the Juneau Empire reported Sunday. The department said it had been overestimating the salmon numbers by 30 to 40 percent. The estimates were conducted using a decades-old “mark-recapture” system. Department coordinator Ed Jones said seal predation and the old system have caused much of the prob...
March 21 — Officers responded to a disturbance report on North Nordic Drive. There was a loud verbal argument only and no evidence of criminal activity. There was a trespassing report on S. 2nd Street. An officer spoke with the complainant, who did not recognize any of the individuals. The officer was unable to locate anyone matching the description. March 22 — Property was found on Lumber Street and returned to owner. An officer responded to a suspicious activity report on North Nordic. Subjects were gone on arrival. A warning was issued at...
March 1 — Judge Magistrate Burrell allowed the vehicle theft charges against Ronald Wallen to be reduced to attempted vehicle theft. Trial was set for April 7. March 5 — Judge Magistrate Burrell issued a long-term protective order against Joseph Lecoe on behalf of Doris Olsen. The order is effective for one year. Judge Carey issued a long-term protective order against Joshua Blewett. Judge Stephens modified bail requirements for William Christopher Allen to allow him to travel to Juneau to meet with his attorney. March 6 — Magistrate Judge...
A Petersburg man is slated to be named national president of a storied fraternal organization that has about 780,000 members. Mike Luhr is scheduled this July to be installed as national president, or grand exalted ruler, of The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the United States of America. Luhr got his start with the Elks in 1977 at 21 years old. He worked through the ranks, and by 2001 became the president in Petersburg. He moved to the state level in 2004 when he was elected as a...
WRANGELL — The Wrangell Borough Assembly in a special meeting last week adopted a letter outlining its intent to potentially partner up with Southeast Alaska Rural Health Consortium on Wrangell’s hospital. Held on March 22, the early evening meeting covered some of the pros and cons of third party partnership for managing Wrangell Medical Center. The hospital is public asset owned and managed by the borough, one of only a handful in the state still run independently of a larger healthcare service. WMC has been “hemorrhaging money,” assembl...
WRANGELL — Safety was the watchword of last week’s meeting of the Wrangell Public School Board, with parents and staff alike weighing in on security at Wrangell’s public schools. The crux of their concern was an incident involving a high school student on February 12, in which the student was recorded by peers during class discussing the setting off of fireworks or explosives at the school, with the intention of getting expelled. Faculty and the school administration had been alerted to the conversation by concerned students afterward. Super...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – State labor officials say Alaska lost about 2,300 jobs in February compared to the same month last year. Total employment fell an estimated 0.7 percent in February from February 2017. Employment in oil and gas jobs declined 6.8 percent through the loss of 700 jobs. Retail was down 2.3 percent with the loss of 800 jobs. Construction fell 0.8 percent, representing a loss of 100 jobs, a smaller loss than in recent months. All three sectors of government lost jobs. The manufacturing sector and the transportation, w...
Pacific halibut catches for 2018 won’t decline as severely as initially feared, but the fishery faces headwinds from several directions. Federal fishery managers announced just a few days before the March 24 start of the halibut opener that commercial catches for Alaska will be down 10 percent for a total of 17.5 million pounds. The industry was on tenterhooks awaiting the catch information, which typically is announced by the International Pacific Halibut Commission in late January. However, representatives from the U.S. and Canada could n...
WRANGELL — In a special meeting of the City and Borough Assembly on March 15, members finally moved ahead toward replacing Wrangell’s water treatment plant. The outdated plant has had a number of production problems over the years, starting not long after its construction in 1999. Reliant on a combination of ozonation, roughing and slow-sand filtration before disinfection, high sedimentation from its two water reservoirs has made treatment a time consuming, inefficient process. Poor filter performance has subsequently been impacting water qua...
About a dozen people recently spent a day learning about Tlingit culture at Sandy Beach Park, as part of a Girl Scout Gold Award project. Nine students, including Avery Herrman-Sakamoto, who culminated her Gold Award project at the Tlingit Culture Camp on March 15. Herrman-Sakamoto has been a scout since the second grade. She decided in the fifth grade to work toward the Gold Award, the highest honor in the Girl Scouts. And now, a junior, she has worked on this capstone project since September....
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced Thursday the extent of its king salmon sport fishing restrictions this season. Citing a poor preseason forecast, the department has decided to close the majority of marine waters within the Petersburg-Wrangell area, not only in District 8 but also in 6, 7 and 10. (See map) In the waters adjacent to the Stikine River, which include District 8 and a portion of the Back Channel in District 7, the retention of king salmon will be prohibited starting... Full story
