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WRANGELL — Anyone who wants to get a pizza midweek at the Marine Bar or a steak or burger at the Elks Lodge knows that worker shortages have forced employers to reduce their days and cut back on offerings. “This worker shortage is real, and it’s not going away anytime soon,” Dan Robinson, research chief at the Alaska Department of Labor, told legislators last month. “For nine years in a row, more people have left the state than have come here,” he told the Senate Finance Committee. The population has been stable as births have outpaced de...
April 21, 1922 A reef of gold bearing ore several hundred feet in width and over five miles in length, which runs from four to twelve dollars in values on the surface, has been discovered at Muddy River by Martin Dahl and John Loseth. The ledge lays along the water and extends from Horn Cliff in a northerly direction. The discovery was made accidentally by Martin Dahl last fall and samples were sent to Juneau for assay. The returns showed the good values could be secured and active prospecting was continued throughout the winter. The ledge has...
The state budget plan adopted by the House earlier this month includes an additional $263,000 in one-time funding for the Petersburg School District, an almost 5% boost from a state aid formula that has not increased since 2017. The one-time appropriation for a total of $57 million may be the political compromise to help Alaska's 54 school districts this next year as lawmakers continue to debate a change to the formula in state statute. Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter discussed House Bill...
March 10, 1922 The pupils of the first and second grades received a vacation on Friday owing to the illness of Miss Edna Miller, teacher in that room. While Miss Miller is not seriously ill, her indisposition worked for the benefit of the kids and they enjoyed the day to the utmost. March 14, 1947 Authority has been received by Colonel L.H. Hewitt, district engineer, Seattle district, Corps of Engineers, to commence work on The Wrangell Narrows, Alaska. The Wrangell Narrows project consists of dredging approximately 16,000 cubic yards of ledge...
WRANGELL – The kids gathered atop the sledding hill across from Evergreen Elementary, next to a small fire in which they burned face masks. They carried signs reading "Unmask Wrangell Youth!!" and "Unmask our children! Let them be kids!" They chanted, "Burn the masks!" It was part of a walkout in which children and parents frustrated over wearing masks during school hours voiced their opposition to the districtwide rule. About 14 elementary and middle school students left the grounds at 10:30 a...
Southeast Alaska was covered in a fresh layer of snow last weekend followed by rainfall which caused frozen roads, flooding, and damage to buildings across the region. The NWS issued a winter storm warning in anticipation of last weekend's weather with the expectation of total snow accumulations of 3 to 13 inches and wind gusts up to 45 mph for cities in Southeast including Petersburg, Wrangell, and Ketchikan. Petersburg recorded 7.5 inches of snowfall on Saturday which brought the total snow de... Full story
January The assembly approved of a COVID-19 dashboard which tracked cases in the community. Local businesses received a total of $15.08 million in aid in the first round of COVID-19 aid released through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. PMC vaccinated approximately 350 residents aged 65 or older at a vaccine drive in the community gym. PMC was given permission by the borough to apply for a second PPP loan totaling $1.8 million. PMC applied and received a loan of...
Beginning Friday, Alaska Wildlife Troopers, with the help of many organizations in Petersburg, distributed approximately 1,400 pounds of meat from sublegal moose through the burger bank program. 1,960 pounds of meat from seven moose harvested during this year's hunt were put into the Community Cold Storage earlier this year and will be given to people in need according to Sergeant Cody Litster. According to Litster, antler restrictions allow everyone to participate in the hunt as opposed to a...
December 9, 1921 The Sons of Norway appointed a committee of three to have charge of their hall and to see that a dance is given there every Saturday night during the season. The first of the series was given last Saturday night and was enjoyed by all those present. The Petersburg Orchestra has been secured to furnish the music for the dances. December 13, 1946 LET IT SNOW! LET IT SNOW! It begins to look as though this will be remembered as the “winter of the big snow.” Total fall to 10 o’clock this morning is 65.1 inches, and that makes well...
The Borough Assembly walked through each of the six maps being considered by the Alaska Redistricting Board during Tuesday's meeting and discussed each map's affects on Petersburg. The districts are redrawn every decade based off data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau. Each of the 40 districts must be socioeconomically integrated, reasonably compact, contiguous, and have an approximately equal number of people. This year that number is 18,335 per district. Members from the Alaska...
WRANGELL - Ann Hilburn began learning American Sign Language for an elective course in college, thinking it would benefit her aspirations of becoming a nurse. That class led her to change her career field entirely. “I had just fallen in love with sign language,” she said. She’s passing that love on to a dozen Wrangell High School students taking her class for their foreign language requirement. Hilburn is new to the district this year. It is a language unto itself, 17-year-old senior Caleb Garcia-Rangel observed, which people unfamiliar with...
WRANGELL — Social distancing and masking requirements will continue to stay in place at Wrangell public schools. At the school board meeting on Monday night, Superintendent Bill Burr updated board members on a change in some language in the district’s COVID-19 mitigation plan, but students and staff will still be required to wear masks and stay apart. The board in August agreed to review the mitigation plan and masking requirement monthly. “There were a few additions we had to [the mitigation plan],” Burr said Monday, which will ease the tes...
It took freedom of information requests, weeks of queries to administrators and more than three months past a legal deadline for Governor Dunleavy to finally release his choice for a Board of Fisheries seat. Dunleavy announced last Friday his appointment of INDY Walton of Soldotna to fill the vacant seat on the seven-member Board that directs management of subsistence, personal use, sport and commercial fisheries in state waters out to three miles. The vacancy came 115 days after the Alaska Legislature on May 11 rejected his choice of Abe...
The Anchorage Assembly voted last Friday to immediately revoke the city’s mask mandate. On the same day, legislative leaders voted to make mask-wearing optional at the state Capitol — and then shed their own face coverings after the vote. The decision by the Legislative Council followed new guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. The new legislative policy recommends weekly testing for those who are not fully vaccinated and for those with COVID-19 symptoms or who...
Just two weeks into the season, the Petersburg High School wrestling team has already competed in their first tournament this past weekend and will be competing in another tournament this weekend. The team took sixth place in the Brandon Pilot Invitational at Thunder Mountain High School, scoring 26 points over the course of the tournament. PHS wrestled against Mt. Edgecumbe, Ketchikan, Sitka, Wrangell and Thunder Mountain, who took first place in the tournament. The standouts for the Vikings...
January The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration proposed establishing critical habitat areas for humpback whales in three distinct population segments located off Mexico, Central American and the Western Pacific. The Petersburg Borough sent a letter of disapproval to the National Marine Fisheries Service regarding the proposed critical habitat for humpback whales after residents spoke out against the proposal. The Petersburg Borough authorized the hire of Josh Rathmann to fill the...
December 9— Authorities responded to a report of theft at the Petersburg School District. A parking complaint at a location on Mitkof Highway brought a police response. Extra patrols were conducted on Charles W St. December 10— Authorities assisted with a probation reporting compliance report at a location on S. Nordic Dr. Disturbances were reported at South Boat Harbor and a location on N. 2nd St. December 11— A suspicious vehicle belonging to a patient at a Ketchikan hospital was reported at a location on Fram St. Authorities responded to a...
The Petersburg School Board issued an administrative directive on Monday requesting school officials extend Alaska's state travel mandate to students and staff traveling throughout the state. State health mandate #10 requires incoming travelers to test for COVID-19 prior or upon entering Alaska and strictly social distance themselves for five days; however, the health mandate doesn't address Alaska residents who are traveling in the state. Students and staff at Petersburg School District will...
The Wrangell School Board held a special meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 9, to continue their discussion of a formal reprimand and improvement plan for the superintendent. Late last August, Superintendent Debbe Lancaster and several district staff members went on a trip to Juneau to purchase supplies to prepare the district for the upcoming school year. This was in violation of a district travel ban during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as done without board approval. The planned use of CARES Act funding for some of the purchases was also...
WRANGELL - The Wrangell School Board held a special meeting Monday, Aug. 24, to discuss recent travel and purchases made by the superintendent and school staff. Last week, Superintendent Debbe Lancaster and three other members of the school district traveled to Juneau for a shopping trip. This was to acquire some key items related to reopening the schools and COVID-19 mitigation, she said. There were several reasons this was a topic of discussion for the board, among them being a lack of...
WRANGELL - Last week, four people died in a car wreck in Petersburg. Among them were two Wrangellites, Siguard and Helen Decker, 21-years-old and 19-years-old. Their deaths shook the community, which has come together in a variety of ways to express their grief and support for the Decker family. A GoFundMe page was put together by the United Fishermen of Alaska, to raise money in their memory. As of Tuesday morning, Aug. 4, $161,273 has been raised. "The initial $10,000 in funds raised will go...
June 11, 1920 The Petersburg Hospital Association has secured the services of two trained nurses and they are both now on duty at the local institution. Miss Nellie Thomas of Ketchikan and Mrs. Flower of Wrangell are the two who are on duty. Miss Thomas has spent several years in Ketchikan and has recently completed her course of training in the Swedish Hospital training school at Seattle. She comes highly recommended by all of the doctors in Ketchikan. Mrs. Flower is well known here having been in charge of the hospital during the time Dr....
An updated version of Gov. Dunleavy's state health mandate #10 took effect early Saturday morning and set new guidelines for residents and visitors who are entering Alaska from the lower 48 or another country. According to the revised mandate, travelers into the state will have to meet one of four requirements upon arrival to avoid having to self quarantine for 14 days. They can be tested for COVID-19 before traveling, or they can be tested in Alaska when they arrive. If the individual has...
The shutdown of ferry service in Southeast Alaska has impacted many aspects of day-to-day life in communities across the region. In previous reporting by the Wrangell Sentinel and Petersburg Pilot, peoples' travel plans have been disrupted, businesses have been impacted, and cultural events like Celebration 2020 could potentially see decreased turnout. Another aspect of Southeast communities that is facing disruption from the lack of ferries are school districts. The schools of Wrangell and...
With the M/V Matanuska going out of service last week, ferry service via the Alaska Marine Highway has completely shut down. According to a press release from the Alaska Department of Transportation, new issues have been found with the ferry's reduction gear system. The Matanuska, at the time of writing, is being towed to Ketchikan for repairs. "AMHS is aware of travel needs for upcoming school and community tournaments in March and is exploring options for alternative service in the event...
