Sorted by date Results 1 - 17 of 17
The Petersburg Borough Assembly met on Thursday, Aug. 20, instead of their regularly Monday meeting, and took on a light agenda. An ordinance to create a local exemption to the state’s financial disclosure requirement for some public officials passed unanimously on its third and final reading, which will leave voters to make the final decision on the matter in the Oct. 6 Municipal Election. The financial disclosure requirement was put in place by the state to ensure that individuals do not use public service for personal financial gain. For man... Full story
Of an estimated 58 million pink salmon harvest for 2015, so far seiners have netted less than half that, some 26 million by the end of last week. "We are not even coming close (to projections)," explained Dan Gray, Alaska Department of Fish and Game management coordinator for Southeast fisheries in Sitka. He estimated that the season will end with a harvest of 30 to 35 million pinks, and recent weekly catch trends indicate that the season is past its peak. "It's dying fast," an industry expert... Full story
Sixteen local residents have declared candidacy for local boards and commissions. Six seats remain open. The only contested seat is on the Harbor Board where three candidates have filed to fill two three-year terms. John Murgas and incumbents Bob Martin and Jim Stromdahl will face off for the two seats. Both three-year terms on the Borough Assembly garnered candidates. Incumbent Nancy Strand will run for her seat again, and newcomer Eric Castro has filed for a term as well. Current Assembly... Full story
Student registration is well underway for the Petersburg School District, and so far the number of students signing up is encouraging for the Aug. 31 start of classes. "We've registered 18 new kids in the elementary that we weren't necessarily counting on," said Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter. "Upwards of 15 or 16 in high school, so that's great, it's great for the schools and the community." For Kludt-Painter, it marks her first year full year as Superintendent, and having 15 years of...
For Jaime Cabral, pulling double duty as the Petersburg High School and Middle School activities director means being more involved with students and community. But dealing with budget cuts handed down from the State Legislature can make overseeing 21 activities interesting. “We’re spending smarter, working smarter on how we schedule things due to the reduction in activities funding,” he says. “Right now we are not anticipating adding anything, but we haven’t had to cut anything.” Contributions raised from annual fundraisers like the volleyball...
Officer John Dodson, 26, is the newest member of the Petersburg Police Department, having recently moved here from Kansas. He has experience working for the National Parks Service and began his law enforcement career five years ago in Colorado before moving to St. Paul Island, in the Bering Sea. Dodson also worked for the police department in Hoonah, then briefly returned to the lower 48, but he admits he missed living with mountains. "I missed the scenery and the small town atmosphere," he...
The Rainforest Islands Ferry is now taking reservations and service is scheduled to begin on Friday, Aug. 28, according to Kent Miller, manager of the North End Ferry Authority. The ferry passed Coast Guard inspection late last week, and operated dry runs from Coffman Cove to Wrangell and South Mitkof Island, earlier this week. Once the ferry is fully operating, passengers will be offered passage on Friday, Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday. “It’s an accomplishment for sure, I wish it were May instead of August,” Miller says. “The ferry is running...
August 19 Public urination was reported. Police received multiple complaints of a noise disturbance coming from a group on the benches near North Harbor. An officer responded to a report of a fight in progress. All participants were intoxicated and said they were just rough housing. An individual reported someone who was selling and smoking marijuana on private property downtown. A caller reported damaged wet cement at a construction site. A motor vehicle accident was reported and an ambulance requested. Police arrested Patrick D. Gray, 31, on...
August 19 Brittany Holten appeared before Magistrate Judge Desiree Burrell for a Felony First proceeding. Holten is charged with Misconduct Involving a Controlled Substance in the 4th Degree. A public defender agency was appointed and the conditions of release modified as follows: $500 performance bond, violate no laws, appear for all hearings, be evaluated and provide weekly status updates from a mental health agency and do not possess, control or consume any controlled substances except legal and current prescriptions. August 20 Anthony...
August 25 Christopher Haerling, 23, of Petersburg, was cited by the Alaska Wildlife Troopers for taking deer in a closed season. Haerling was contacted after he harvested two buck deer on the Lindenberg Peninsula of Kupreanof Island, where the season does not open until Oct. 15. Arraignment is set for Sept. 29 in the Petersburg District Court, and the deer meat was donated to a local charity....
While the pink salmon harvest is coming in below expectations for price and quantity, the commercial halibut fishery is going strong for Area 2C, which includes Petersburg and other Southeast communities. A quota share update from the International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) released Aug. 19 showed that almost 2.8 million pounds of halibut have been landed in the district. That’s three-quarters of the quota for the district— just under 3.7 million pounds—and almost the equivalent of the total 2013 catch limit. Local longliners have...
Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht gave the following report at Thursday’s Assembly meeting: - The next regular SEAPA meeting will be held in Petersburg, Sept. 23-24. It is a public meeting. - The annual FERC inspection of Blind Slough Hydro has been scheduled for Sept. 23. It will include a table-top exercise of the Emergency Action Plan (EAP). - The aquatic center has had some water issues over the past week. Brian Haley was called in to come take a look. The hot water has been intermittent over the end of last week, but a part has been o...
KETCHIKAN (AP) — Due to a lower estimate of the number of wolves in southeast Alaska, state and federal managers have reduced the combined limit for the federal subsistence and state general hunts to nine wolves in the area. In Game Management 2, the area that include Prince of Wales Island and its adjacent islands, the state wolf hunting season will run for just 10 days, if at all, according to The Ketchikan Daily News If all nine wolves are killed during subsistence hunting and trapping seasons, which begin in September and November, the s...
FAIRBANKS (AP) — Despite a below-average overall run, the Yukon River king salmon population had the highest number of Chinooks make it across the border toward their Canadian spawning grounds in 10 years. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports that about 83,000 fish went across the border this year. An international treaty mandates that at least 42,500 Chinooks must get to Canada, but Alaska fishery managers have only managed that goal in two of the past four years. Between 118,000 and 140,000 Chinooks were projected to enter the Yukon this y...
Steven Missouri, 28, has worked in Alaska for a couple seasons. This was his first year with PFI and he leaves Thursday to return to a job doing freezer plates on a Dutch Harbor vessel. He got in trouble in Phoenix where he lost his driver's license, so working on boats suits his current lifestyle. His family lives in Reno, Nev., but he has lived in 11 different states. Missouri aims to make friends wherever he goes while drifting from place to place and job to job. "I just like to be friendly,...
One of the casualties of this year’s budget cuts was funds for a program aimed at discovering why Alaska’s Chinook salmon stocks have been declining since 2007. A five year, $30 million Chinook Salmon Research Initiative launched in 2013 included more than 100 researchers focused on three dozen projects in 12 major river systems from Southeast to the Yukon. Now the ambitious effort has been cut to just over one dozen projects. “When we saw we weren’t going to get a third appropriation this fiscal year, we had to step back and narrow the focus,...
Early Saturday morning, police dispatch received a call from a home owner reporting a garage on fire at a private residence south of Sandy Beach on Frederick Drive. The Fire Department responded immediately, sending two engines and a work truck. Fire hydrants near the home allowed fire fighters to minimize damage to the property. “The garage structure was pretty much destroyed, and the wind was blowing toward the house and vehicles,” said Fire spokesperson Dave Berg. “The vehicles weren’t fully engulfed, but they were smoking and we ended u...
