Sorted by date Results 176 - 200 of 280
Two Petersburg-based businesses have been chosen as semi-finalist in the annual Path to Prosperity (P2P) contest put on by a partnership between the Haa Aani Community Development Fund, Inc. and The Nature Conservancy. The annual contest is in its third year and aims to support businesses in Southeast with "innovative sustainability solutions" that will also benefit the local economy and community, according to Paul Hackenmueller, economic coordinator with Haa Aani. Two winners will be chosen... Full story
At least a portion of the Hungry Point Trail extension will be elevated boardwalk, similar to that of Blind River Rapids Trailhead. The Petersburg Indian Association board decided on June 1 to construct the boardwalk trail from 14th Street up to the ball field section of the trail. The decision was a combination of economics, zoning and environmental regulation concerns, Transportation Director Susan Harai said. The Petersburg Planning and Zoning Commission will likely discuss the lower route at its August meeting. It’s in an unplatted s...
The New Old Time Chautauqua (NOTC) group will be parading into Petersburg later this month. The 55 person group includes members from ages one to 74 who volunteer their talents as performers, musicians and educators to bring entertainment to rural communities. Locally, the Petersburg Indian Association (PIA) and Petersburg Parks and Recreation have been helping coordinate the group's three-day visit, June 28-30. The opening event is a collaborative potlatch and potluck put on by PIA and NOTC on...
Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht gave the following report at Monday’s Assembly meeting: -On May 12, the Harbor Department had their annual surprise visit from the US Coast Guard Homeland Security unit to review the Borough’s Harbor Homeland Security Plan. They passed with no deficiencies. On May 26, Eddy Tagaban and Officer Jim Kerr attended the annual meeting in Wrangell with the Captain of the Port to discuss homeland security and other Coast Guard issues. -Public Works waited until after Memorial Day to begin work on the Columbarium foundat...
May 20 An individual reported a suspicious campsite. Petersburg Indian Association staff requested that a vehicle be moved for road maintenance. A caller reported that an individual had taken hospital property. A civil matter was discussed with police. A welfare check was requested. May 21 Police issued citations to Michael File, 16, for Speeding and Violation of Provisional Restriction. A caller requested officer assistance in getting property from a residence. An individual reported a vehicle that was parked on the sidewalk on Fram St....
Petersburg High School is examining the possibility of altering requirements for valedictorian status, among other potential changes for next year. Principal Rick Dormer presented a “very draft” version of grade and graduation proposals during the school board’s meeting Tuesday evening in assembly chambers. The process began last fall with former superintendent Lisa Stroh. Dormer said he’s received some parent feedback, but no student input yet. The goal is to have changes in place for the new school year. Right now, the school takes academi...
Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht gave the following report at Monday’s regular Assembly meeting: • PFI manager Patrick Wilson has been chosen as the Grand Marshal for the 4th of July festivities. This year’s theme is “Freedom, FROZEN in time.” • Public Works staff helped expand the running track at the school. While not a full-distance track, it will be better for the kids to have some straightaways to practice on. • Crews will take advantage of dry weather to paint crosswalks and curbs downtown in the coming days before Mayfest. • Public Works...
Looking to start up a business or expand one? Have ideas that are full of planet, people and profit possibilities? There’s a contest going on right now that could benefit someone just like that. For the third year, the Haa Aani Community Development Fund, Inc. and Nature Conservancy are holding the Southeast Alaska Path to Prosperity (P2P) contest. Haa Aani Office Administrator Shawn Blumenshine said they work with both existing small businesses and new startups during the entrepreneurial competition. Two winners receive $40,000 each to go t...
Michael George Patterson's tribe calls him Ghost Walker because he was given five years to live when diagnosed with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). His chances of a lung transplant are shrinking. Time with his family is slipping away. When visitors came to his school and discouraged smoking years ago, he didn't think it was any of their business, that he'd smoke if he wanted and die when old. "I was just like you," he told middle and high school students in Petersburg on Thursday,...
Raymond Arnold Pederson, 71, left us suddenly on March 11, 2015. He was born on January 11, 1944 in Petersburg, Alaska to Palmer and June (Nygaard) Pederson. In 1959, Ray and his sister Joanne, moved with their mother and stepdad, George Pete Peterson, to Sierrra Vista, Ariz. They lived on base at Fort Huachuca. Ray finished the 11th grade and then enlisted in the Navy in 1961. He served for three years in the Naval Service on the USS Hancock and the USS Midway. He was honorably discharged in... Full story
Petersburg Indian Association started their week off without a tribal administrator on staff. Bobbi Scherrer was hired into the position this January and left at her own hand after creating an operational budget and seeing the funds weren’t there for fiscal year 2015 for the organization to employ an administrator. “I’m very sad to be leaving. It’s not what I thought would happen and certainly not this soon,” Scherrer said. “I knew we weren’t out of the woods yet, but I was hoping when I put together the operational budget to find a little... Full story
Petersburg Indian Association (PIA) announced the departure of Tribal Administrator Bobbi Scherrer in a press release yesterday. Scherrer’s position and two part-time positions will be eliminated from PIA due to a budget deficit. “My first act as Tribal Administrator was to formalize an operating budget for PIA,” Scherrer said in the release. “The 2015 finalized budget identified a deficit that required serious cuts.” Scherrer has been serving as the tribal administrator for about one month. In a February interview, she told the Pilot she... Full story
Bobbi Scherrer began her work as the Petersburg Indian Association's (PIA) tribal administrator late last month. Scherrer is returning home to Petersburg after working for Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC) in Juneau for the last three years. Her background is in healthcare where she's worked for 16 years managing revenue cycles for hospitals. In addition to her financial background, Scherrer said she also has experience in human resources. She said the transition from SEARHC... Full story
The Petersburg Indian Association held elections Jan. 12 to elect five Tribal Council positions. Barry Morrison was elected to serve as board president, a one-year term. Barbara King beat out Brenda Louise to serve a two-year term on the board. King served on the board last year after being appointed to a one-year term. New to the board is Brandi Heppe who will serve a one-year term alongside Rita Byrer who was re-elected to the position. The council will appoint someone to fill a vacant one-year term which saw no candidate...
A new phytoplankton monitoring program being done by Petersburg Indian Association (PIA) will help alert recreational and subsistence shellfishers to harmful algal blooms in the area more quickly. "There are types of phytoplankton that, in the spring or summertime or when the water starts to warm up, they start to come out of hibernation. And in some cases so much so that they form a bloom," said PIA Tribal Resource Director Marco Banda who heads the monitoring program and administers the...
Elections for five positions on the Petersburg Indian Association’s (PIA) Tribal Council will be held Monday at the ANB/ANS hall from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Eligible tribal members who are interested in declaring their candidacy or nominating a candidate must do so by 3:30 p.m. today at the PIA offices. “This time we have three 1-year terms, we also have one 2-year term and every year the board chair’s open so there’s a one year board person chair open,” said Tribal Resource Director Marco Banda. Banda said that so far five individuals have decl... Full story
January More than 600 Petersburg residents signed up for the borough's recycling program. The Petersburg Land Selection Committee requested the borough pursue legislative action regarding the State's calculation of land entitlement for the Petersburg Borough after the committee's determination that the State's selection of land was inadequate. The Petersburg School Board approved a $2.3 million exterior wall renovation project for the Rae C. Stedman Elementary School. Petersburg School District... Full story
Borough Assembly members moved speedily through the agenda at Monday’s regular meeting, approving a resolution to dedicate $950,730 of Property Development fund money to the Municipal Building renovation project. At the last meeting, Assembly members approved moving the monies – which are the surplus from the 2014 fiscal year’s General Fund – into the Property Development fund, so the Borough can have more financial options for funding local projects in anticipation of receiving fewer State funds this year. The renovation is the top priority on...
A Petersburg resident will be stepping up to statewide duties, following an October election where volunteer members of District 17 Coast Guard Auxiliary tapped Bruce Jones to take the helm. Initially, he said he had approached the volunteer group as a means to stay occupied during retirement, but quickly found himself again caught up in his work. "I've been working my way up the ranks, from the bottom to the very top," Jones said. "I served a year or so as a flotilla commander, two years as a... Full story
Petersburg Indian Association recapped nearly a decade of work on roads and trails across Mitkof Island at the Nov. 3 assembly meeting, with Transportation Director Susan Harai presenting a video detailing the tribe’s works. Since 2006, PIA has received more than $10.2 million for the tribal transportation program, working along a master guideline scoped 20 years ahead and more specifically revised for the next five in a Tribal Transportation Improvement Plan. Money is granted through federal transportation allocations divided amongst the t...
City Creek trail will be getting a significant facelift over the building season of 2015, and perhaps on into the next few years, in an effort to make the increasingly popular coastal rainforest sojourn more accessible to residents and visitors of all ages and fitness ― at least on the first leg. The project, funded by a $60,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture and Forest Service grant the borough accepted at its last assembly meeting, won't actually go very far in terms of miles. All told, the p... Full story
Petersburg’s Alaska Native Sisterhood and Alaska Native Brotherhood Camp 16 will play host to the 102nd annual Grand Camp Oct. 8-11, returning after 43 years of convening elsewhere around Alaska. “Each year the camp itself in each community works to address the needs in the community,’’ said Brenda Louise, ANS 2nd Grand Vice President and member of Petersburg’s Camp 16. “Each community, depending on how big or active the camp is and what issues they see as needing addressing in their environment, would write resolutions and bring them to Gra... Full story
Petersburg Public Library just finished the grant phase of a project to digitally preserve local Tlingit and borough history, according to Taralee Alcock, Library Director. The grant, obtained from the Institute for Museum and Library services and administered by the Alaska State Library, was for $16,940, which gave the library a "foot in the door'' to begin adding the wealth of local history available to a much greater electronic catalogue than is available at home. "We added 200 photographs...
Study finds youth who have used e-cigarettes are likely to smoke conventional cigarettes To the Editor: More than a quarter of a million youth who had never smoked a cigarette used electronic cigarettes in 2013, according to a CDC study published in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research. This number reflects a three-fold increase, from about 79,000 in 2011, to more than 263,000 in 2013. The increasing number of young people who use e-cigarettes should be a concern for parents and the public health community, especially since youth e-cigaret...
