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The Petersburg Ranger District is looking for anyone with information regarding a possible arson at Man Made Hole Recreation Area. On June 16, the district's "recreation technician visited the site and found it had been vandalized," said Brad Hunter, recreation and wilderness manager. He added that it had occurred sometime between June 12, the technician's last visit, and June 16. "Somebody torched it," Hunter said. The perpetrator threw fuel down into the vault toilet and left a trail of... Full story
Justices with the Alaska Supreme Court are now mulling over the boundary dispute case between Petersburg and Juneau. If Juneau prevails, Petersburg could be forced to revert back to city status. The City and Borough of Juneau (CBJ) filed an appeal with the Supreme Court over a Superior Court Judge’s ruling in favor of the newly formed Petersburg Borough’s northern boundary line, which Juneau had earlier sought to annex, in March 2014. The Alaska Supreme Court heard both sides’ arguments on June 17 in Anchorage. Juneau attorney Amy Mead said... Full story
Traveling across Alaska to address the problem of domestic violence, Roberta James, domestic abuse specialist with Tribal Family and Youth Services, stopped by Petersburg on Monday. Provided by the Central Council Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, Tribal Family and Youth Services uses a grant to travel to communities and work primarily with natives. “We all know there’s a high rate of domestic violence in Alaska,” James said. “Everyone is trying to do something.” A 2010 University of Alaska Anchorage survey showed that out of every... Full story
Paine & Partners, LLC of San Francisco announced Friday that it’s entered into agreements to sell Icicle Seafoods to two groups. According to the press release, Convergence Holdings, Inc. will acquire Icicle’s land-based wild seafood processing and farmed salmon activities while Dominion Catchers, LLC will acquire the company’s harvesting and processing vessels, as well as associated fishing rights. Paine & Partners bought Icicle in 2007. The seafood company began in 1965 when a group of employees and fishermen in Petersburg bought the Pacif...
June 26, 1915 – The council met in regular session Monday evening. President: Mayor Pryer; Councilmen Brennan, Hogue, Jorgensen, Bruce, Duryea. On motion, the clerk was instructed to write to the district attorney regarding the matter of delinquent cannery taxes. The clerk was also instructed to order another fire hydrant, to be placed between the Jack Allen and Hogue and Tveten buildings; also two shut-off nozzles for the fire hose. Dr. Pryer and S. L. Hogue, while in Wrangell on Friday of last week, inspected the dam of that town's water s...
With recent state budget cuts, the 1st Judicial District in Juneau now has more courts in its district than lawyers to cover them. Juneau District Attorney James Scott will be covering Petersburg’s criminal cases until a long-term plan is ironed out. The office had to cut Assistant District Attorney Nick Polasky loose and lost half its staff. “That was unfortunate, and we’re sorry to lose him,” Scott said. Statewide, the Department of Law lost 15 positions, three of which were attorneys, according to spokeswoman Cori Mills. The positio...
The Petersburg School District doesn’t “anticipate any large fluctuations” with the budget the state passed June 11, Finance Director Karen Quitslund said. The school board passed the district’s budget just two days before, on June 9, in order to meet a state deadline. But what the legislature passed “is what the school district projected for our operating budget,” Quitslund said. As planned, the district is losing $150,000 in HB278 and $30,000 in food grants. The Healthy Living grant that was a concern is being partially funded, though the...
Known as "Alaska" on his team of nine, Stewart Conn, 16, represented Petersburg well as his 16U USA basketball team went on to win gold at the United World Games. Conn, a student and basketball player at Petersburg High School, was invited to join the team and traveled to Munich, then Klagenfurt, Austria to play in the tournament. "I was really scared," his mother, Heather, said of him traveling. "I didn't want him to go, but I also knew it was a once in lifetime opportunity so I had to let him...
June 18 A caller requested extra patrol with trespassers on Cornelius. A minor vehicle accident was reported on Nordic Drive and Fram Street. A caller reported a vehicle parked by a stop sign on Chief John Lott. An officer contacted the owner of a vehicle blocking a driveway on Skylark Way. A noise compliant was reported regarding an air compressor at a work site on Birch Street. June 19 A warning was given for a headlight violation. A caller reported a disabled vehicle. An officer found a leaky propane tank on Frederick Point Drive. A caller...
Alaska State Wildlife Trooper Cody Lister is investigating a vehicle fire from the weekend, the second suspicious one in about a week's time. The first occurred sometime between June 12 and June 16 at Man Made Hole Recreation Area, where a vault toilet was torched, Recreation and Wilderness Manager Brad Hunter said. It's being investigated by the Petersburg Park Ranger District. The second fire, also "suspicious in nature," Assistant Fire Chief Dave Berg said, occurred Sunday night, around 11:30...
June 22 Jacob Sturgeon appeared before Superior Court Judge William Carey and pled not guilty to a misdemeanor charge of concealment of merchandise and a charge of unlawful contact. Sturgeon was also charged with misconduct involving a controlled substance. He received a $500 cash bond, must appear for all hearings, not depart Southeast without permission, stay away from the Salvation Army store and have no contact with his alleged victims. Taylor Homer was a no show to a court appearance before Superior Court Judge William Carey. The district...
WRANGELL — The Red Chris mine in neighboring British Columbia passed its final bureaucratic hurdle, after the province’s Ministry of Energy and Mines issued a Mines Act permit amendment last Friday. The mine’s owning company, Imperial Metals, had earlier been granted its Environmental Management Act Permit on June 15, allowing Red Chris to begin discharging tailings into its tailings storage facility. From there, water can be discharged subject to provincial water quality guidelines. The Red Chris property is located in the province’s northwe...
WRANGELL — The United States Forest Service this month released a new fact sheet regarding wild salmon populations in the Tongass National Forest, available online and at the agency’s various offices. “It’s to demonstrate to the public just how important salmon are,” explained Martin Hutten, a supervisory biologist with the Wrangell Ranger District. The facts speak pretty clearly for themselves. The waters of the Tongass National Forest produce more wild salmon than all other national forests combined. Supporting these populations, TNF biologis...
WRANGELL — Wrangell Medical Center interim CEO Marla Sanger last week announced her intention to conclude her contract on October 30. In a letter addressed to friends and colleagues, she explained the decision was a difficult one, but Sanger will be returning to Vancouver, Wash., to be with family. Sanger had initially been brought aboard in November 2012 as part of PeaceHealth’s leadership contract with Wrangell’s hospital. Initially the contract was to have lasted only a year, but Sanger stayed on as the hospital transitioned past a troub...
JUNEAU (AP) — Congress is picking up a bill that would create corporations for residents of five southeast Alaska communities left out of a landmark land settlement decades ago. The bill authored by U.S. Rep. Don Young went before the House Subcommittee on Indian and Alaska Native Affairs Wednesday, the southeast Alaska radio network CoastAlaska reported. The Alaska Republican chaired the hearing. Earlier this year, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, introduced similar legislation. Haines, Petersburg, Wrangell, Ketchikan and Tenakee were e...
JUNEAU (AP) — Thousands of Alaskans will have to find a new insurer after a shake-up in the state's health insurance market. Aetna and State Farm plan to pull out of the individual plan market in Alaska, and Assurant Health plans to leave the health insurance market altogether, state Division of Insurance Director Lori Wing-Heier said Monday. At the end of 2014, the companies covered fewer than 6,000 policyholders, she said. Two major insurers remain for individual policies, Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield and Moda Health. Wing-Heier said the d...
The first ever National HIV Testing Week for the U.S. will be observed June 21 – 27. During this week, community partners throughout Alaska are encouraging people to become aware of their HIV status. Free, confidential, rapid testing is available at many sites, including the offices of the Alaskan AIDS Assistance Association (Four A’s) in Anchorage and Juneau. National HIV Testing Week is sponsored by a broad coalition of national organizations. It leads up to and includes June 27, which has long been recognized as National HIV Testing Day...
As Alaska’s salmon season heads into high gear, a few bright spots are surfacing in an otherwise bleak global sales market. Sales and prices for all salmon (especially sockeye) have been in a slump all year. And amidst an overall glut of wild and farmed fish, Alaska is poised for another huge salmon haul, with the largest run of sockeye salmon in 20 years predicted along with a mega-pack of pinks. Meanwhile, the single toughest thing stacked against Alaska’s sales to traditional overseas customers is the strong US dollar. “Overall, the dolla...
SITKA, Alaska (AP) — A Sitka company is paying $75,000 for improperly disposing fish waste in the Valdez harbor. KCAW reports a 2014 dive survey showed a Silver Bay Seafoods pipe was discharging waste at a depth of three feet, above the 60-foot requirement. Department of Environmental Conservation compliance manager Mike Solter says waste released in shallow water can pile up and smother the sea floor. Silver Bay CEO Rich Riggs said in statement that the company takes responsibility for the incident and has taken steps to prevent future o...
Frank Earl Sarber, 81, was born at the Alaska Railroad Hospital in Anchorage on October 18, 1935 while his father was in Dillingham aiding in the search for famed humorist Will Rogers. His life ended at home with family on April 27, 2015 in Los Lunas, N.M. Frank grew up in Petersburg, Alaska where he graduated from Petersburg High School in 1954. He met his wife Maggie Bradley and they moved to Ketchikan in 1968. They were married July 12, 1969 aboard the MV Wickersham while docked in Petersburg... Full story
University of Alaska Southeast Krissa Davis has been named to the Chancellor's List for Spring Semester 2015 at the University of Alaska Southeast....
Their adventures were always meant to be educational in addition to fun, but two stuffed animals ended up teaching a different sort of lesson after taking an unplanned trip on a state ferry. Eight-year-old Kate Thompson was thrilled to be reunited last week with her traveling companion, Piglet, and her friend's sea turtle, Aurora, after a post her mother made about losing the stuffed animals went viral on social media. "I wanted to teach her when you make a mistake, you admit to it and do the...
