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The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted to write a letter opposing proposed legislation that would transfer federal land to new urban corporations formed by five Alaska Native communities in Southeast under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act during Monday's meeting. The decision came after Sen. Lisa Murkowski requested a hearing before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on the Unrecognized Southeast Alaska Native Communities Recognition and Compensation Act. The bill aims...
Two Sandy Beach Road properties owned by the Petersburg Borough were sold in a public outcry auction at the start of Monday's assembly meeting. Inside the packed assembly chambers, 700 and 1015 Sandy Beach Road were sold in two separate auctions for a combined $407,500, which was $162,000 more than the combined assessed value of the properties. The auction for the 84,942-square-foot property at 700 Sandy Beach was held first. It had an assessed value of $76,900 and the minimum bid to start the...
Ballots for the special primary election were mailed to Alaska voters starting on April 27, beginning the process to fill the late Rep. Don Young's seat for the remainder of the current term. The top four vote getters in the special primary, regardless of their political party affiliations, will move on to the special general election in August which will be the first statewide election that will used ranked choice voting since it was approved by voters in 2020. Jason Grenn, the executive...
Update on Landless Efforts To the Editor: Hello folks, this is a quick update on the efforts of the Landless group for the benefit of Petersburg. Who are the Landless? They are 5 communities that got left out of ANCSA in 1971 and should have gotten land under that legislation 50 years ago: Petersburg, Wrangell, Ketchikan, Haines and Tenakee Springs. Together we are Alaska Natives Without Land. Our goal is to amend ANCSA to reunite our five SE Alaska Native communities with their lands, to grow and succeed with their rightful land base as their...
Petersburg Medical Center staff are continuing to adjust to the new electronic medical record implemented by Cerner last December and are now seeing some of the advantages the new system has to offer. Kirsten Testoni, the home health manager, said nurses are able to use the system on their tablets when they go out to see patients, allowing for easier access to information. "It's happening in real time as opposed to having to come back, log into the computer, and that kind of thing," Testoni... Full story
When Kate Thompson was small, her father Harold made a perch in the wheelhouse of the St. Lazaria, so she could be atop the console, see out the window and keep him company as he steered. But once she was big enough, she put down her toy radio and began working on boats herself. During the recent Sitka sac roe herring fishery, Thompson, now 15, worked as a deckhand on the St. Lazaria. It was technically her seventeenth season doing herring, if you count the one she spent aboard the St. Lazeria w... Full story
A husband and wife have come back to spend their summer taking care of the Five Finger Lighthouse. John and Pat Jans maintain a "home base" or "nest" high in the mountains of Colorado, but Southeast also takes up special space in their hearts. "We've been here before, so it actually feels like a homecoming," Pat says. "It's really wonderful to be back home. It's very dear to us." When they were the lighthouse keepers in 2017, one of the first things John did upon arrival was figure out how much...
The Petersburg High School baseball team opened its first home series of the season with a commanding 13-2 win over Thunder Mountain last Thursday, but costly mistakes led to losses in both games of Friday's double header for the Vikings. Thursday's dominant showing was the first time that Petersburg has ever won by mercy rule according to Head Coach Jim Engell. Lathum Johnson led the team from the mound with a strong pitching performance, striking out nine batters in 4.2 innings. "I was real...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska lawmakers are considering a request by Gov. Mike Dunleavy's administration that the state take over part of a federal environmental permitting program, though some members of the Senate's budget-writing committee have expressed concerns with the potential costs. Administration officials have said the idea behind the proposal is to speed the construction of roads, bridges, mines and drilling projects, the Anchorage Daily News reported. While the state would have to follow federal standards, critics of the proposal sa...
Legislation to restore and increase the state licensing fee on sportfishing guides and operators ran into problems in the Senate Finance Committee last week, as lawmakers questioned why out-of-state boat owners who bring up guests are not required to get a license and pay the fee. “My district has got to be one of the top guided areas in the state,” said Committee Co-Chair Sen. Bert Stedman, whose district stretches from Sitka to Prince of Wales Island, including Petersburg. And while that means a lot of non-residents pay local operators for...
On May 4 the Alaska Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development (DCCED) announced an updated deadline for the Alaska Seafood Processors Pandemic Response Relief Program. DCCED is extending the deadline to apply to Friday, May 20 at 5:00 pm. All other program criteria remain the same. The Alaska Seafood Processors Pandemic Response Relief Program is a grant program to distribute $30.6 million to Alaska’s seafood and shellfish processing sector. The State of Alaska was allocated this funding under the U.S. Department of A...
Laurel Ann Greseth passed away peacefully at her winter home in Thousand Palms, California with her family by her side after a months long battle with cancer. She had been treated by the Eisenhower Medical Center and was at home under care of Reliance Hospice. A lifelong Alaska resident, Laurel was born to Norman and Evangeline "Vange" Tate on September 15, 1947 in Ketchikan, Alaska. She graduated from Petersburg High School in 1965. On June 4, 1972 Laurel gave birth to twins Guy Clifford... Full story
After hearing from local marine biologist Stephanie Hayes, the Pilot wants to make a correction to the headline that ran with last week's orca photos. That pod of resident killer whales was, in fact, not a "superpod." While a pod of 25 whales is unusual to see in the Wrangell Narrows, it falls short of being classified as a superpod. According to Hayes, in August of 2019 there was what could accurately be called a superpod in Frederick Sound, and that congregation of orcas numbered in the...
Gifts come to the Clausen Museum from any number of places. These baby moccasins were made in 1983 by Tlingit Elder Mary Reyes, who was an avid beader. Mary made moccasins for all the new babies in her family. As a friend of the Berger family, she also made a pair when Gayle Berger’s son Benjamin was born. The family no longer lives in Alaska, but treasured the gift and wanted to make sure Mary’s legacy was preserved. They were donated to us recently as an illustration of her beautiful work and...
