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They say 'To dare is to do,' and Scott May, 59, did just that when he successfully completed the first known open-water swim across Frederick Sound. May, aided by his wife Bridget Wittstock and Tom Thompson in a boat alongside him, completed the 4-mile swim on Wednesday in about four hours, starting from Horn Cliffs on the mainland and making landfall at Frederick Point. "I didn't think I'd really actually do it and I really didn't tell anybody, but when I said it to a few people then I was...
WRANGELL – From a "beary" pie contest to a cub-o-war, art workshops, live music and a usually sold-out dinner, BearFest is returning for its 14th year. The activities start July 26. The popular educational and cultural event celebrates bears and the surrounding environment. Along with the activities, educational opportunities and symposiums and a bear safety session are planned. One of the more popular features of BearFest is the dinner and fundraising auction held at the Stikine Inn and Restaurant, which will begin at 6 p.m. July 28. T...
Following an executive session during Monday’s Petersburg Borough Assembly meeting, the assembly voted 6-0, with Mayor Mark Jensen excused, to approve the new collective bargaining agreement between the borough and the Petersburg Municipal Employees Association. The new CBA will run from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2026. The biggest change from their last agreement is the introduction of a new wage matrix, which eliminates step increases and replaces them with a longevity pay system. According to the agreement, employees will receive a p...
The National Weather Service in Juneau issued a special weather statement on Wednesday warning of near record high temperatures across Southeast Alaska this week. According to the statement, the high temperatures are expected to occur starting Thursday and continuing through Sunday. Communities in the southern Southeast and those located farther from coastal waters are expected to see the warmest temperatures. The NWS in Juneau is forecasting sunny weather in Petersburg with temperatures rising...
Petersburg will go without any southbound ferry service in alternating weeks from Oct. 1 to mid-November under the Alaska Marine Highway System's draft fall/winter schedule. The town is on the schedule for its usual weekly northbound stop during that period. The rest of the winter schedule shows once-a-week service to town in each direction, with the bonus of two stops in each direction the second week of each month from mid-November through February when the Kennicott will shorten its...
Culvert repairs at 10.8 Mile Mitkof Highway in Petersburg are planned to come to a close this Saturday. Rock-N-Road Construction—the project’s primary contractor—started the project during the last week of May, completely replacing the five-foot culvert which had been damaged by age, erosion, and corrosion. “We went in and replaced it with a seven-foot aluminum culvert, where the previous one was galvanized steel,” said project superintendent Roger Hammer. “[Galvanized steel] tends to have a c...
Millions of people across the United States spend the Fourth of July visiting family and friends, but few who make a holiday homecoming can say they landed at an airport named after them. Jim Johnson, an Alaskan aviation legend who grew up in Petersburg, returned home on Alaska Airlines Flight 64 on Monday. He was greeted at the gate by his family along with a banner from Alaska Airlines. "We came over for the Fourth of July parade and to see all our friends and we're looking forward to it,"...
The St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church caught fire Thursday afternoon, leaving much of the building in ruins and covering Petersburg in smoke. There were no serious injuries reported and the fire did not spread to the surrounding buildings, however smoke from the blaze caused the Petersburg Medical Center and multiple businesses downtown to close. According to Fr. Jose Thomas, the parish priest at St. Catherine of Siena, a few people were attending a prayer service in the chapel when they... Full story
Petersburg's Crystal Lake Hatchery is set to receive $2.6 million in funding as part of the appropriations made in the State of Alaska's FY24 operating budget, which was approved by Gov. Mike Dunleavy on June 19. The appropriation will fund much needed repairs and upgrades for the hatchery's salmon raceways, a set of concrete canals which house hundreds of thousands of growing salmon and serve as their final home before being released. But before the hatchery staff can fill the raceways with...
The U.S. Coast Guard held a Change of Command Ceremony for the new officer in charge of the USCGC Pike at the Sons of Norway Hall Monday morning. Command of the Pike was transferred from Lt. Jak Loewenstein to Master Chief Boatswain's Mate Kay Jones in a formal reading of orders in front of the crew and Capt. Darwin Jensen, the Commander of Sector Juneau. The ceremony was attended by the crew of the Pike, their families, Coast Guard personnel, Petersburg Borough staff, representatives of Sens....
The family of Yenka Faith Ferreira are celebrating her quinceañera this Saturday, and as far as they can recall it will be the first quinceañera celebration ever to take place in Petersburg. "My mom has never seen one in Petersburg...so this will be the first one or definitely the first one to be public like this," says Yenka's mother, Yulett Ferreira. A girl on her fifteenth birthday is known a quinceañera, and her formal ceremony-typically celebrated in Mexico and other Latin American countrie...
Alaska State Rep. Rebecca Himschoot visited Petersburg last week to meet with constituents as part of a tour around the Southeast communities she represents in the Alaska House of Representatives. Himschoot, a career educator and former member of the Sitka Assembly, finished her first legislative session in May after being elected to the House last year. She represents House District 2, which spans from Prince of Wales Island to Yakutat and includes Petersburg, Sitka, Kake, and Craig. "It was...
The sun is shining, the days are longer, and bands of people wearing identical jackets are wandering around main street. "Petersburg can expect an uptick in tourism for...this 2023 summer season," said James Valentine, the co-owner of Viking Travel and a cruise line agency representative. "Alaska in general just seems to be a really hot spot for cruise ship tourism and tourism in general." According to the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development, an estimated 2.5 million people...
WRANGELL – Wrangell’s borough-owned hospital property on Bennett Street has been vacant since March 2021 and on the market for about a year. Though the borough has received one development proposal for the land, it is contracting with a realtor to attract more buyers and expand its options. At its June 13 meeting, the Wrangell assembly approved a contract with Petersburg-based real estate agent Anchor Properties to try selling the 30,000-square-foot building and 1.94 acres of land. Assembly Member Jim DeBord was the only opposing vote. The app...
The state ferry Columbia, after a week in the shop to repair leaky pipes and its bow thrusters, was expected back at work starting Wednesday, June 28, with its regularly scheduled run from Ketchikan to Bellingham, Washington. The vessel was pulled from service on June 20, missing two southbound stops and one northbound stop in Wrangell. The 50-year-old Columbia left Haines that day — without any passengers — and headed straight for the Vigor shipyard in Ketchikan for repairs, canceling all stops along the way. “There’s a manifold down in the...
The Alaska Marine Highway System, which five months ago embarked on improving its hiring process to address chronic crew shortages, is unable to say how many new employees it has hired since then. The push started after a consultant’s report in January determined the state had hired just four out of 250 job applicants the over prior 12 months. The crew shortage forced the state to pull the Kennicott, the second-largest operable ship in the fleet, off this summer’s schedule and keep it tied up at the dock in Ketchikan. Asked how many new emp...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly approved an ordinance in its first reading that would rezone 43 undeveloped lots located at the planned site of the new hospital during its meeting on Monday. The assembly voted 5-1 in favor with Assembly Member Donna Marsh opposed and Mayor Mark Jensen excused from the meeting. The 43 lots are currently zoned as single-family residential, multi-family residential, commercial, and open space-recreational, but would have to be rezoned to public use ahead of the...
The Petersburg School Board approved the district's FY24 budget at its last meeting of the school year on Tuesday. The uncertainties surrounding education funding in Alaska as well as rising inflation and utility costs have made the budget's development a long and winding road, but advocacy efforts by school officials on both the local and state level have helped ensure stability in the district for another year. "Honestly this is a much better scenario than what I had...predicted, so I mean...
In the article titled “‘Let Freedom Ring’ named July 4 parade theme” in the June 15, 2023 edition of the Petersburg Pilot, it was reported that Rock-N-Road Construction will be sponsoring trophies and prizes for the top three floats in this year’s Fourth of July parade. The correct amount of winnings is $200 for first place, $100 for second place, and $50 for third place....
A Kake resident was reported missing Friday night after failing to return from a fishing trip, prompting a search over the weekend, according to Petersburg Fire/EMS/SAR Director Aaron Hankins. A U.S. Coast Guard press release identified the missing man as Timothy Wilson Jr., 70, last seen Friday morning departing aboard a 15-foot Lund near Pup Island. Coast Guard Sector Juneau received a relayed report from the Alaska State Troopers at 8:30 p.m., Friday, of an overdue boater. Using a cell phone...
The Columbia state ferry has cancelled its sailings for at least a week due to a mechanical issue, affecting stops at ports between Haines and Bellingham, Washington, according to a service notice by the Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS). The primary interruption to service is a seven-day period starting Wednesday, with a sailing from Ketchikan to Bellingham and back through Southeast Alaska cancelled, the AMHS notice issued Monday notes. The decision is due to a "mechanical issue with the ves...
Gov. Mike Dunleavy signed Alaska’s $6 billion state budget into law Monday after vetoing more than $200 million from the document approved in mid-May by the Alaska Legislature. The governor’s biggest single cut was half of a $175 million one-time funding boost for K-12 public schools. Lawmakers intended the addition to partially compensate for inflation-driven cost increases. Because school districts have already had to set their budgets for the coming year, Dunleavy’s veto leaves some of them facing additional budget cuts or the prosp...
The day after Petersburg Middle School let out for summer, 7th grader Ari Warmack boarded a plane bound for New York City to perform with his guitar at the invitation of Kids Rock For Kids (KRFK), a Brooklyn-based nonprofit that raises money for kid-related charities by producing rock benefit shows featuring outstanding teen musicians from around the world. In March, Ari received a direct message on Instagram from KRFK inviting him to a zoom interview. He discussed it with his parents, Eliza...
Petersburg's American Legion Edward Locken Post 14 held a ceremony at Sandy Beach on June 14 to honor and properly destroy faded and worn flags. Members of the American Legion, Active Duty Coast Guard Service Members, and others in the community were present to see over 150 American, Alaskan, Canadian, British, and POW/MIA flags retired. The Ceremony for Disposal for Unserviceable Flags, typically held on Flag Day, was adopted by the American Legion "to encourage proper respect for the Flag of...
For many, classical music evokes images of evening gowns, baroque concert halls and impassioned, white-gloved conductors. Its mood is reverent, its audiences are serious and ever-so-slightly snobbish. But concert pianist Roman Rudnytsky has set out to buck classical piano's black-tie reputation. The music, he argues, is not only for a knowledgeable few - its beauty can be appreciated by everyone, regardless of whether they know a "madrigal" from a "minuet." Rudnytsky, a professional musician...
