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JUNEAU - The gray, two-story home with white trim toppled and slid, crashing into the river below as rushing waters carried off a bobbing chunk of its roof. Next door, a condo building teetered on the edge of the bank, its foundation already having fallen away as erosion undercut it. The destruction came over the weekend as a glacial dam burst in Alaska's capital, swelling the levels of the Mendenhall River to an unprecedented degree. The bursting of such snow-and-ice dams is a phenomenon...
The Blind Slough Hydroelectric Refurbishment is in full swing as crews prepare the powerhouse for the installation of the new turbine and generator. Blind Slough has produced local hydro power out of Crystal Lake for almost 100 years and provides approximately 25% of Petersburg's power. The project looks to replace the 1955 Pelton wheel turbine and other powerhouse equipment to keep the facility operational and possibly increase power generation. Utility Director Karl Hagerman said a lot has...
The Petersburg Medical Center Board will begin holding their regular meetings in the Petersburg Borough Assembly chambers starting later this month. PMC CEO Phil Hofstetter made the announcement during his report to the Petersburg Borough Assembly on Monday, saying “I think it’s an exciting opportunity to provide a little more availability for the community to hear our meetings.” The hospital board, which previously met in the Dorothy Ingle Conference Room, discussed making the move in an effort to make their meetings more visible and accessibl...
August 10, 1923 – Henry McCloskey, 20 year old native boy, was shot through the index finger of his right hand this week at Allen Bay when a 25-35 rifle was accidentally discharged. The young man was fishing and had stuck his rifle butt in the mud. He reached for the gun and in pulling it toward him the piece was accidentally discharged, the bullet striking McCloskey in the finger. He was brought to town and the member was amputated by Dr. Jones who also injected tetanus antitoxin as a preventative of lockjaw. August 6, 1948 – New fac...
Petersburg residents will have one ballot proposition to decide on when they go to vote in this year's municipal election on Oct. 3. Proposition #1 will ask if the borough charter should be amended to allow borough employees to serve on boards or commissions, except for those that directly administer their employment. The change, for instance, would allow a Petersburg School District employee to run for borough assembly or the hospital board but not the school board. The proposed amendment was...
The Petersburg Office of Children's Services (OCS) has hired a new Protective Service Specialist (PSS), OCS caseworker Jennifer Ridgeway told the Pilot at the OCS Petersburg office Aug. 7. Ridgeway was there to help "set up" the new hire, who was three hours into her first day on the job. Once trained, the new PSS will be Petersburg's local caseworker. "She is the PSS," said Ridgeway. "So she is the OCS caseworker." When the OCS Wrangell office reopened in Feb. 2022, the OCS caseworker who had...
Let’s think long-term about the Petersburg emergency services To the Editor: Let’s think long-term about the Petersburg emergency services. Structure fires grow larger before PVFD can assemble enough trained firefighters to deal with the danger. Likewise, frequently the ambulance must wait to respond until a full crew of EMTs can assemble to answer the patient’s distress. These delays are absolutely not the fault of our volunteer fire and EMS department. The trained volunteers who do respond must work the emergencies short-staffed. Peter...
This week the Pilot bids a bittersweet farewell to our top-notch full-time news reporter Chris Basinger. We wish him well as he leaves on Sunday’s ferry, headed for his old Texas stomping grounds. Sometimes uprooting to Alaska, leaving one’s community of friends and family on the far side of the continent, just ain’t meant to last. We get it. We hope he thinks fondly of us when he isn’t too busy savoring a bucket of chick-fil-a with his dad and brother, cheering for their favorite teams in person finally, rather than on facetime too many ti...
Nine years ago on Aug. 4, the mine waste dam at Mount Polley mine in British Columbia’s Fraser River watershed failed, releasing 6.6 billion gallons of wastewater into a once-famed sockeye salmon nursery just as the salmon were returning. It scared me. Nine years later, Fraser River sockeye runs have tanked. The mine has re-opened and has been allowed for years now to spew its wastewater directly into one of the Fraser River’s key sockeye salmon nurseries, Quesnel Lake. And British Columbia corporations have doubled down on digging up and lay... Full story
August 2 – An officer conducted extra foot patrols downtown. Petersburg Police Department (PPD) received a report of an interaction with an aggressive dog on the Hungry Point Trail. PPD received a report of vehicles impeding traffic at a construction site on Mitkof Highway at King’s Row. An officer responded, spoke with the drivers and provided traffic control to remedy the issue. PPD received a report of a bear wandering the Dolphin Street area. The Alaska Wildlife Trooper (AWT) and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) were not...
Kinder Skog kids encountered a significant amount of bear scattered garbage in the woods around the nature boardwalk near the Elementary school on Wednesday. The skoggies spent the morning with gloves and trash picker tools gathering four large bags of rubbish which appeared to originate from the school cafeteria’s cans....
At the end of July Megan Smith loaded her car, a U-Haul truck, her nine and twelve year old daughters, and Charles Puddles Kittenworth, a.k.a. Charlie the cat, onto the ferry in Metlakatla for the move to Petersburg where she'll be teaching Pre-algebra, Algebra I, Geometry and Statistics at Petersburg High School. Smith earned her bachelor's degree from Montana State University, Bozeman, in English, with a teaching emphasis. She took her first job on the Kenai Peninsula in Nanwalek, Alaska, in...
Gus Pennington will return to Stedman Elementary School this fall as the new fifth grade teacher. However, Pennington is no stranger to the Petersburg School District. His new teaching role comes on the heels of experience in the district as a substitute and student teacher - and as a pupil in Petersburg, himself. Pennington graduated from Petersburg High School with the class of 2019 and left for college at University of Alaska Southeast. He returned to town later that fall - just before...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted to appeal an Alaska Department of Natural Resources decision rejecting the conveyance of 523.44 acres to the borough during its meeting on Monday. The final finding and decision recently issued by ADNR rejected the conveyance of two parcels chosen by the borough as part of its municipal land selections-Prolewy Point, measuring 513.41 acres, and Hood Point, measuring 10.03 acres. Conversely, the decision also approved the conveyance of approximately 2,736.69...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted in favor of an ordinance during Monday’s meeting that would raise the minimum value required for borough personal property and equipment to be sold through public competitive bidding and allow the borough to sell items in online auctions. The assembly voted 4-0 in support of Ordinance #2023-12 in its first reading with Mayor Mark Jensen, Vice Mayor Bob Lynn, and Assembly Member Scott Newman excused. Borough Clerk Debbie Thompson called it a “housekeeping” ordinance as it would update the former city code...
Alaskans can now use larger and heavier recreational off-road vehicles on most state land without a specialty permit, a move intended to accommodate the growth of side-by-side off-road vehicles. In late July, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources issued new general permissions that allow vehicles up to 80 inches wide and up to 2,500 pounds on land managed by the DNR Division of Mining, Land and Water. Old restrictions, based on the size and weight of a 6×6 Argo, allowed vehicles of up to 1,500 pounds, DNR staff said in an explanation of... Full story
Salmon: Coho salmon are now dominating the harvest in saltwater. Trolling for them in Frederick Sound around Beacon Point or Frederick Point might offer a good opportunity to both catch a coho and spot a whale. Sumner Strait has seen increasing catches with Baht Harbor, Vank Island, or the Elephant’s Nose all being good options. Coho marine catch rates will continue to improve over the next few weeks as the coho increase in weight and prepare to enter the streams to spawn. Coho are also being seen in the freshwater systems and it appears t...
Paul Bowen was born in Spokane, Washington in 1932 and grew up living in Montana, Nebraska and California. He attended Palo Alto High School where he excelled at track as a top miler in northern California. In the early 1950s he became a smoke jumper, traveling from his Montana base around the region and parachuting into sometimes-dangerous terrain to contain and combat wildfires. He took part in a U.S. Geological Survey project in Lituya Bay in 1952 and took the opportunity to participate in th... Full story
William Colyn Lyons was born December 11, 1933 to George and Mary Lyons in Petersburg, Alaska. He joined a large family consisting of nine brothers and two sisters. He spent part of his childhood on his family's fox farm. Bill married Ann Arness in 1956 and soon after was drafted into the army where he served in Anchorage from 1956 until 1958. While in Anchorage he worked in the motor pool and drove a military taxi. During his service his first child was born, Debra Ann. He received an... Full story
