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The Petersburg Borough Assembly heard more than an hour of public comment regarding Assembly member Kurt Wohlhueter’s plan to propose a retail marijuana opt out measure on October’s ballot. The Borough Assembly is in the process of adopting a marijuana ordinance that sets guidelines for retail marijuana businesses that largely mirrors the borough’s alcohol ordinance. There was a mixed response of those for and against an opt out, and others who just didn’t want to see a retail marijuana store downtown. Gary Morgan recently applied for a limit... Full story
Yesterday’s News May 20, 1916 – A request was received from the Petersburg Packing Company that water be turned on at the cannery June 1 and that the council fix the price for water service for the season. After considerable discussion and motions to make the price $2.50 per day, $50 per month for four months, and $300 for the season of four months, the rate was finally set at $75 per month for not less than four months. May 23, 1941 – The 42-foot C. G. R. Primrose II arrived in port Tuesday night to make her headquarters in Petersburg. Aboar...
Kåre R. Aas, the Norwegian ambassador to the United States, is in town for Mayfest, and he cannot wait to meet and speak with locals. "I'm looking to really getting to know the Norwegian-Americans and Norwegian's living here and who have been living here for many, many years," he said. "I've wanted to come here for a very, very long time." Aas is well-aware of Petersburg's history and how influential so many Norwegian families were in creating the small, Southeast fishing town. And people in... Full story
An interisland ferry service startup has stopped again, after reporting trouble with its landing craft. After discovering water in the stern of the Rainforest Islander, operator Rainforest Islands Ferry contacted its customers last week to cancel reservations for the foreseeable future. On May 11, the ferry’s crew discovered water inside the hull. Closer inspection identified stress cracks on welds to the hull plating. Baker explained the engine’s shaft is slightly out of alignment, leading to the vibrations which may have caused the pla... Full story
Fundraiser success To the Editor: The Petersburg Children’s Center Board of Directors would like to thank those that helped our recent fundraiser for the building expansion project; including individuals that donated chairs for the project, artists that applied their extensive time and amazing talent for the chair auction, PCC parents that donated mouth-watering desserts for the dessert auction, the Petersburg Elks Lodge and Emblem Club for donating delicious food and volunteering their time, Lee’s Clothing for helping us sell tickets and displ...
As the Legislature nears the end of the constitutional 120-day session, I am gravely concerned about the possible outcome. Our state is in a difficult fiscal position. Due mainly to world oil prices and our over-dependence on oil, we have only about one-fifth of the revenue we need to balance the budget. And that’s after several years of budget cuts and almost no capital investment. That’s why I kicked off a series of statewide conversations last spring. Using input from hundreds of Alaskans, we developed the New Sustainable Alaska Plan, whi...
May 12 Dustin DeLong appeared before Magistrate Judge Burrell for a charge of violating a protective order. The court issued a $250 appearance bond and a $250 performance bond among other conditions of release including no contact with alleged victim....
May 11 Dustin L.W. Delong, 29, was arrested on charges of protective order violation. A caller reported a disabled vehicle. A caller reported a phone scam offering millions of dollars and a Mercedes-Benz. A caller reported he was standing on the side of a roadway and a driver intentionally swerved towards him. A caller reported a borough vehicle’s alarm going off with no one around. A caller reported a white truck driving too fast through a Kiseno Street neighborhood. May 12 A caller reported seeing a flare or fireworks. An officer r...
The Alaska National Guard (ANG) armories in Petersburg and Wrangell are set to be repurposed. Steps are already being taken to achieve the repurposing effort in Wrangell and the process is slated to start next year in Petersburg, according to Kalei Rupp, director of communications for the Alaska Department of Military & Veterans’ Affairs (DMVA). “Repurposing is the transfer of sites the Alaska Army National Guard no longer needs to other qualifying entities, such as municipal governments,” Rupp...
Abatement has begun on the building project. New curb in front of the building has been poured, and Power & Light got the underground conduit put in place prior to the concrete pour. An attempted suicide in the jail was prevented by staff on April 30. Overall statistics in the Police Department are trending slightly higher this year. Total cases FY 16 through Feb were 3235 – total FY 15 through Feb were 2848. Arrests FY16 through Feb were 48 - Arrests FY 15 through Feb were 26. Jail days are down, however, for the same periods, 343 versus 407.5...
Bob Dolan loves to travel and will go on vacation just about anywhere, but wherever he goes, it's all about the music. He loves going to Mexico, especially Xalapa the capital city of the Mexican state of Veracruz. Thirteen years ago, when he visited the city he was in his hotel deciding what musical event he would attend later that day. While looking though the newspaper, he came across a listing for a harp recital. The venue was about the size of the Wright Auditorium, with people packed in...
Ten new Petersburg High School National Honor Society students were inducted this year and the school held a ceremony in the Wright Auditorium Tuesday morning. Van Abbott, Katie Brock, Abbey Hardie, Ethan Kludt-Painter, Helen Martin, Julia Murph, Alice Neidiffer, Marissa Nilsen, Madisyn Parker and Erin Pfundt were among the newest inductees. NHS student Chauncy Sandhofer provided the audience with a background of the program. "The National Honor Society was established to recognize students who...
The Petersburg Borough held a community meet and greet for two Parks and Recreation director applicants at the community gym Tuesday evening. Chandra Thornburg from Seattle, Wash. and Melanie McElroy from Atlanta, Ga. were the two finalists. Petersburg Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht toured the two around town Tuesday and conducted interviews Wednesday afternoon. The position was ultimately offered to Thornburg and she accepted. Thornburg, 35, works for a city in Washington and has been...
The weather finally cooperated with sunny conditions for the track and field teams last weekend in Ketchikan. PHS took over 30 athletes and 20 middle schoolers also made the trip to compete. Team scores were not available, but the teams performed well, according to PHS head coach Brad Taylor. "The kids did really well, I was really happy with our performances," he says. "We had lots of first place finishes." Casey Bell had first place finishes in the 110 hurdles and 300 hurdles, he came close...
A mock car crash staged in the parking lot behind the community gym kept local emergency crews and students busy for a good part of the morning last Thursday. Students from the eighth grade up to seniors in high school witnessed a drunk driver, played by Kyle Clayton, getting arrested after causing an accident. Clayton's fictional disregard for the law and safety of others injured two occupants of the vehicle he hit, and killed one. The carnage required the top of the car he hit to be removed...
Alaska’s salmon season has gotten underway with lots of optimism, a far cry from the bleak feelings of a year ago. Last year’s fishery was blown asunder by a perfect storm of depressed currencies, salmon backlogs and global markets awash with farmed fish. Prices to fishermen fell by nearly 41 percent between 2013 and 2015, years which produced the two largest Alaska salmon harvest volumes on record. But in the past six months, those trends have turned around. “Based on current market conditions and harvest expectations, it appears proba...
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced last week limits for the year’s lingcod sport fishing season, which for Southeast Alaska began on Monday. Running through to Nov. 30, licensed residents will be limited to bagging one lingcod a day, with two in possession, and no size limitation. During the season nonresident anglers will likewise have a bag limit of one per day, though with only one in possession. In addition, nonresidents may only keep lingcod which are between 30 and 45 inches or else are 55 inches or greater in length. N...
Dan Wesley Crane, 75, died on March 15, 2016. He was born on December 2, 1941 and raised in Denver, Colo., to a third generation railroading family. He began his love affair with Alaska as a nine year old boy. He would read through a large stack of "Alaska Sportsman" magazines while his folks played a weekly game of pinochle at the neighbor's house. Articles and pictures about trapping, hunting, fishing, and building log cabins fueled his imagination. He planned to move to Alaska, be self-suffic... Full story
Drew (Tom) Stearns, 78, passed into glory on May 7, 2016 after a short illness. Tom was born in Boston, Mass. on Nov. 8, 1937 and adopted at birth by Drew and Illa Stearns. He grew up in a very athletic family starting to ski at age three. He later in life went on to be part of the US Olympic team and competed extensively. Tom served in the US Army for two years actively and in reserves for five years. He went to the University of Maine and enrolled in construction engineering later obtaining... Full story
