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The Borough Assembly discussed the Petersburg School District's reopening plan during Monday's meeting. PSD released their moderate risk reopening plan Friday which includes a two week universal mask mandate and quarantine protocols for the upcoming school year. The discussion item was requested by Assembly Member Jeff Meucci who wanted to see what the assembly thought of it. Meucci said that he thought that masking up for the first two weeks was a good plan and that it is important to get the...
Construction on a new cabin along the Raven Trail is currently in progress according to Cabin and Trails Program Manager Paul Olsen. The 16' by 20' cabin is about 1.2 miles closer to the start of the trail than the old cabin and is being built by local contractor Rainforest Contracting. The cabin has a covered deck which faces the small pond below it and an outhouse nearby. "It's more family oriented, you know, it's got a lot of space down low and then it's got sort of a loft area for...
The Petersburg School District released its reopening plan Friday which outlines COVID-19 guidelines for the upcoming school year. The school district formed a moderate risk plan that includes a universal masking policy in school until the next school board meeting on September 14. A local Health Advisory Committee including a representative from the school board, Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter, Principals Heather Conn and Rick Dormer, Activity Director Jaime Cabral, a Public Health nurse,...
August 19, 1921 That the salmon pack of Alaska is almost a failure is indicated by reports being received from all sections. The Petersburg cannery and one cannery in the Ketchikan section are about the only ones reporting any prospect of securing their contemplated pack. At the local cannery of the Mitkof Island Packing Company 75,000 cases had been packed on Thursday night and the fish are still coming strong. The management expects to secure 120,000 cases this season. August 16, 1946 “Hello Thornquist? This is Ed Locken.” And with the exc...
The Petersburg School District has hired seven new teachers for this upcoming school year as the schools seek in person instruction under the new COVID-19 protocols. A few of the new teachers are returning to their roots in Petersburg including Hannah Smith who will be teaching science at Mitkof Middle School. Smith went to Gonzaga University before receiving her masters at Montana State in science education. "I grew up here actually, graduated from Petersburg High School. My parents and my...
Frederick Sound humpback whales were in spectacular form last Saturday. More than 40 humpbacks surrounded the Five Finger Lighthouse waters and provided repeated breeches, pec slapping, lunge feeding and bubble net feeding like this near Cleveland Passage....
Editor's note: The following letter is published as submitted, unedited. We just don't know To the Editor: Seems like a lifetime ago the consensus was to lockdown, shutdown, close schools, business we must stop this horrible virus. My question was, can man stop a virus. Not a great track record with the common cold. Dr. Fuacci, CDC, WHO, were convinced we could. Ok,well good luck with that one. School, sports, little league, jobs, dignity, self worth replaced with alcohol and drug abuse. Depress...
It seems like we've been here before. Mask use is low, positivity rates are low (3.3%), only 3 active cases in town and 55.6 % of us are fully vaccinated. The temptation is to let our guards down as COVID-19 fatigue sets in and makes us forget about masking, social distancing and hand washing protocols. That is all that needs to happen to allow a surge of cases to run amok in Petersburg. To avoid infection, get vaccinated. The much higher transmission rate of the delta variant is one of the...
The Petersburg Medical Center reported three new active cases of COVID-19 Tuesday, all of whom are non-residents. One non-resident case was identified on Sunday and two non-resident cases were identified on Monday according to PMC. A total of 14 non-resident positive cases have been linked to travel since August 1 and PMC is advising everyone who comes to town to get tested both when they arrive and seven days later regardless of vaccination status. Free travel testing is available at the...
August 11 — A sex offender registered. A parking complaint was reported near Harbor Way. A missing canine near Neptune St. was later found by the owner. A noise complaint of a barking dog was reported near Mitkof Highway and was later resolved by the owner. August 12 — A lost phone was found by the owner. An officer responded to a complaint of a disturbance near 2nd St. An over-full alarm was silenced near 2nd St. August 13 — A lost phone was found by owner near Nordic Dr. A lost wallet was returned to the owner A wallet was reported lost...
The Borough Assembly conducted their third and final reading of Ordinance #2021-12 during Monday's meeting. The assembly voted unanimously 7-0 to adopt the ordinance which added the Electric Utility Bond Issuance matter to the ballot for the election on October 5, 2021. There was no discussion by the assembly prior to the vote. "We had a very good explanation at the last meeting from Mr. Hagerman, so I think we're all up to speed on it," Mayor Mark Jensen said. The revenue bonds, not to exceed...
The Borough Assembly voted 4-3 to empower Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht to create a committee to serve as a COVID information response system during Monday's meeting. The discussion of the action item centered on the creation of the committee and the inclusion of a COVID dashboard on the borough's website. The item was requested by Assembly Member Jeff Meucci who said that the assembly needed to have more communication about COVID available to be prepared if the school system or the hospital...
Tongass Botanicals & Soils has started a composting program to reduce the amount of waste in Petersburg that is being shipped to landfills. Carrie Martinsen, who runs the composting operation, began a bucket pickup in June to collect food scraps and other biodegradable waste from the community. "The more I got into it I was like oh this sounds like a really good plan and then talking with the city here they're like we've been wanting somebody to do this for a really long time," Martinsen said....
A squirrel hides out in a tree....
William Moulton gives his second historical walking tour for Viking Travel. "We start at the Sons of Norway. I introduce myself and explain why I am wearing Xtratufs; cause it rains all the time!" Moulton talks about Norwegian history in Petersburg, takes tourists to Buschmann Park, and tells them about raising his sons here. He also takes them to the totem poles, Bruno the bear, and the Elizabeth Peratrovich mural. Moulton discusses rosemaling during the walk towards town and passes paintings...
Bycatch gives Alaska's otherwise stellar fisheries management its biggest black eye. The term refers to unwanted sea creatures taken in trawls, pots, lines and nets when boats are going after other targeted catches. Bycatch is the bane of existence for fishermen, seafood companies and policy makers alike, yet few significant advances have been found to mitigate the problem. A simple fix has recently shed light on a solution. "Ten underwater LED lights can be configured to light up different...
Palmer Haakon Thomassen Sr., 79, of Petersburg, Alaska, passed away suddenly on July 19, 2021 from pneumonia due to COVID-19 in Anchorage, Alaska. Palmer was born in Petersburg to Haakon Thomassen and Eleanor Stahl Thomassen on Aug. 31, 1941 and married Patty Thomassen on Oct. 27, 1961 in Petersburg. He started fishing on his father's boat at the age of 14 and from there worked as a carpenter, logger, owned Little Toot Construction, the F/V Sabra Raean as a troller, and worked for the City of... Full story
The Borough Assembly voted on Ordinance 2021-13 during Monday's meeting, which allows assembly members to be counted for the purposes of determining a quorum if they are communicating via teleconference. The vote was 5-2 during the ordinance's first reading with Mayor Mark Jensen and Assembly Member Bob Lynn voting against. The ordinance revision was requested by Assembly Member Dave Kensinger after the meeting on August 2 was cancelled due to a lack of quorum. With the progress that...
