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It was standing room only at the Helmi Jenson community room of the public library last Wednesday, where the attractions were practically flying off the shelf. Jake the red-tailed hawk and Owlison the great horned owl were in the house, accompanied by avian director Jenn Cedarleaf and avian care specialist Hannah Blanke from the Alaska Raptor Center in Sitka. Invited as part of the Rainforest Festival, they had visited Petersburg schools for kids from preschool through high school, appeared for...
The Petersburg High School cheer squad took center stage last weekend, winning the 2A Region V Cheer Championship at Thunder Mountain High School during the regional basketball tournament. First-year Coach Andrea Weathers said it took a lot of work over the season to get to where they were at regions and that the competition was a "huge learning opportunity." The nine-member team was made up of Jonas Anderson, Lakell Deinhardt, Kaden Duke, Nya Eby, Becky Fisher, Meghan O'Soup, Lillith Odegaard,...
On Thursday, Alaskans will celebrate Elizabeth Peratrovich Day to honor the Tlingit civil rights advocate who pushed for the nation’s first anti-discrimination law, 19 years before the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964. During her lifelong campaign for Native rights, she fought segregation and a majority white territorial Legislature to establish a foundation of legal protections that have benefitted Alaskans since 1945. Peratrovich was born in segregated Petersburg on July 4, 1911. She was a member of the Tlingit Raven moiety and LukaaX.ádi cl...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly gave approval to the Housing Task Force to continue working on three ideas to potentially expand local housing opportunities during Monday's meeting. With the assembly's support, the task force will continue pursuing the possibilities of creating a Petersburg Land Trust, identifying easily developable lots, and finding a new area in Service Area 1 suitable for manufactured homes. The assembly's decision does not ensure that these ideas are going to come to...
Petersburg High School Cheer Squad's new coach, Andrea Weathers, is on a mission to bring cheer off the sidelines and into the community. Weathers' main goal this year is "...to bridge the gap between the players, the cheerleaders and the spectators - to really create a strong trifecta of community and to strengthen school spirit. I think that it's a great time for that, coming out of a pandemic. I really want to have that full-circle connection." Weathers is finding creative ways to cheer off...
January Petersburg experienced record snowfall on New Year's Day with 17.5 inches of new snow on the day, bringing the total snow depth to 40 inches according to the National Weather Service. The Petersburg Borough Assembly passed a resolution requesting a discussion with the U.S. Postal Service about providing additional services in Petersburg following continued issues with staffing, irregular hours, and long lines. All-purpose vehicles became legal to drive on roads in Alaska, including in...
The Petersburg School District Board unanimously approved a major revision to the FY23 budget during its meeting on Dec. 13, which will see a new projected ending fund balance of $622,672. According to Finance Director Karen Morrison, the proposed budget revision was based on an average daily membership student count of 429.6 students, which was calculated in October and is above the threshold for three school funding. The final student count numbers brought the district's foundation funding up...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly unanimously passed an ordinance adjusting the borough's FY23 budget in its third and final reading during its meeting on Nov. 7. No amendments to Ordinance #2022-15 were made during its final reading. The supplemental budget lists 18 revisions to the budget including accepting $123,158 in state legislative grants for lighting projects at the ballfield and the ice skate pond, rebuilding the EMD-16 Generator and the Caterpillar 398 Generator, and increasing the...
8 Petersburg athletes from the Devil's Thumb Shooters attended the 8th Annual Southeast Fall Shoot at the Juneau Gun Club in late October where they racked up multiple medals. According to Becky Turland, this fall season the club had its highest participation yet, rising from six athletes in 2015 to 32 this year, including nine girls, ranging in age from 8-18 years old. The team placed third overall out of the 11 youth marksmanship clubs who traveled to the event from across Alaska, and one...
A barred owl named Glaucus (for her gray coloring) and a red tailed hawk named Jake (originally from Kake) are traveling from Sitka to Petersburg Thursday with an ambitious three day schedule of presentations. Their visit is part of the on-going Rainforest Festival and is being funded by a grant from the Petersburg Community Foundation and in collaboration with Partners in Education. Avian Director Jennifer Cedarleaf and Avian Care Specialist Hannah Blanke will escort the raptors. Their first pr...
Saturday morning a group of concerned Petersburg residents met at the Wright Auditorium to participate in the second Childcare Community Café to address the childcare crisis affecting the local workforce, businesses, families, and economy. The meeting, hosted by the SHARE (Supporting Health Awareness, Resilience, and Education) Coalition, began with a viewing of a 23-minute video entitled "Voices for a Better Future: Community Impacts of Childcare in Petersburg," followed by a community... Full story
During Monday evening's Petersburg Borough Assembly meeting, Assembly Member Chelsea Tremblay gave a report on the progress of the Early Childhood Education Task Force. The task force, which was established in April and is chaired by Tremblay, is composed of 14 members broken up into three subgroups-Access and Brainstorming, Staff and Administrative Support, and Policy and Details. According to Tremblay's report, the Access and Brainstorming group has identified and discussed barriers for...
Cindi Lagoudakis What is your age? 68 What experience do you have? I have served as Assembly Member and as Mayor, and am a current member of the Hospital Board. Why do you seek public office? I see being involved as a responsibility, and one that I enjoy. Do you support the construction of a new Petersburg Medical Center building? Yes, for multiple reasons. Having seen some of the building issues firsthand, I do support construction of a new hospital building. The staff have been making a good...
Jeigh Stanton Gregor What is your age? 45 What experience do you have? I have 20 years of leadership experience. I was responsible for keeping groups of kids and adults safe year-round in the Montana wilderness. My leadership skills were also used to help strengthen program leadership teams. Currently, I've been on the assembly for 8.5 years, and we've addressed many issues during this time. Two recent issues come to mind that I'd like to highlight: I made an amendment to make community gym...
New housing opportunities may be on the horizon following the Petersburg Borough Assembly's approval of Ordinance #2022-12 in its first reading Tuesday. The new ordinance, which received a 6-0 vote with Vice Mayor Jeigh Stanton Gregor excused, is designed to allow tiny houses, detached accessory dwellings, and multiple buildings on a single lot-all within Service Area 1. Assembly Member Thomas Fine-Walsh, who brought the ordinance forward, summarized its three parts and said he believed the...
Petersburg's Rainforest Festival has two seasons under their belt now working in their new year-round format. Since their start on Earth Day, they've hosted six events, including guided walks, art workshops and a solstice ephemeral art show. "I think it's going pretty well," said festival organizer Sunny Rice. "We've been able to spread out the work a little bit and take advantage of people coming through town that we otherwise would have missed." As they move into the season when the festival w...
Words of advice have been running through Joseph Tagaban's mind ever since meeting his NBA idol Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors. "Take small little steps, test yourself and you'll eventually make it," the five-time NBA All-Star and four-time champion told the 15-year-old boy from Petersburg. The advice takes on new meaning since Tagaban recently found out that his fight with cancer is not over as was previously thought. What started as a routine checkup in Seattle last week... Full story
A press release Wednesday announced that starting this fall, the Kinder Skog Nature Program will be transitioning from a program under the umbrella of the Petersburg Lutheran Church to a program housed under the Petersburg Medical Center Community Wellness Department. Results from a 2021 local childcare needs assessment and Community Café in January 2022 funded by the Petersburg Community Foundation highlighted the systemic industry challenges facing childcare and early childhood education. In...
The Petersburg Medical Center Foundation will host its 8th annual Paddle Battle on Saturday, August 6 with the goal of raising funds to help support education. "I would consider it kind of a revival of the event because the last two years have been pretty quiet as far as the Paddle Battle," said Community Wellness Coordinator Julie Walker. "We've still held the event during the height of the pandemic but it was small and we're really looking to revive the event and encourage more participation...
Volunteers, many from the Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department, spent the week leading up to the Fourth of July preparing the annual fireworks show. They gathered at the ballfields Sunday evening to set up the shells, mortars, and a new wireless firing system. The system is being used this year partially thanks to $1,000 in prize money awarded to Dave Berg by the Petersburg Community Foundation after he was named Petersburg Community Volunteer of the Year. Prior to the show, Berg linked up a...
Two candidates have filed for candidacy in this year's election to fill Rep. Jonathon Kreiss-Tomkins' seat in the Alaska House of Representatives. Kreiss-Tomkins, who first elected to the seat in 2012, announced earlier this year that he will not seek reelection. House District 2, which was newly created by the Alaska Redistricting Board, spans Southeast Alaska from Prince of Wales Island to Yakutat and includes Petersburg, Sitka, Kake, and Craig. The candidates running for the seat are Kenny...
The Devil's Thumb Shooters competed in the 18th Annual AlaskaYESS State Championship in Chugiak last weekend. 11 shooters from Petersburg attended the four day long competition at the Birchwood Shooting Park which saw 115 students from across the state take part. They competed in all seven styles of shooting featured at the competition and also got the chance to socialize with shooters from other communities. "We are continuing to build our program and it is going strong and it shows when we go...
Property Development To the Editor: I would like to encourage the borough to proceed with developing building lots on borough land, much of which happens to already be subdivided and adjacent to borough utility services. The lack of available and affordable building lots is slowing growth through the lack of housing. The community is unable to provide housing for necessary workers for the school and hospital as well as the fishing and fish processing industry. Another aspect of borough involvement in supplying building lots is the fact that,...
The Petersburg Medical Center Hospital Board voted to support a pilot program which could see the hospital offer after-school child care programming as soon as fall 2022 through its Community Wellness department. Julie Walker and Becky Turland, who was recently appointed to the Early Childhood Education Task Force, spoke to the board during last Thursday's meeting about their idea for the program which grew from the results of the child care needs assessment completed by the SHARE Coalition...
The Petersburg Community Foundation, an affiliate of the Alaska Community Foundation, announced on Saturday the 10 organizations receiving grants this year. The event, hosted by Glo Wollen, saw volunteers, politicians, business owners, and other prominent community members gather to support local programs. Before the grant awards, the foundation announced a new annual award-Petersburg Community Volunteer of the Year. Dave Berg was chosen as the award's first recipient which also comes with...
