Sorted by date Results 2586 - 2610 of 5553
WRANGELL — Late last week the Alaska Department of Fish and Game issued a group announcement regarding expected changes for sport fishermen in Southeast this year. In the Petersburg and Wrangell areas, the marine waters of District 8 are going to be closed to the retention of King Salmon between May 1 and July 15. An exception will be made for the area immediately adjacent to Petersburg’s City Creek, which will be open to King Salmon fishing from June 1 to July 31 to target 300 hatchery salmon expected to return to the area. The closure is bei...
For the first time in a decade, the PHS Jazz Band traveled out of state for a festival, where the 18-person ensemble placed second in its category. The Viking jazz group had 20 minutes to impress judges at Clark College in Vancouver, Washington last weekend. There were about 40 schools and 1,300 musicians at the festival. Petersburg was placed in the Single A category, which is designated by schools with 600 students or fewer in the 10th, 11th and 12th grade. Petersburg doesn't even have 600...
Eight current Petersburg Municipal Power and Light employees are in opposition of the borough’s plan to reorganize the public works and electric utility departments, according to a letter given to the Pilot. In a letter addressed to members of the borough assembly, dated January 27, eight power and light employees ask that the borough continues to search for an electric superintendent that has experience in the industry. Advertising for the position was canceled after the assembly recently voted in favor of the borough manager’s plan to reo...
The end of 2017 saw more confirmed flu cases in Petersburg than any year since at least 2007, according to medical center lab records. The medical center lab released statistics on the flu season in Petersburg so far. The results, mostly from those tested in the lab from November and December, showed that 62 people were positive for the flu. Liz Bacom, laboratory director and infection control manager for the Petersburg Medical Center, uses a metaphor in responding to those who ask why they...
In the search for a new CEO, the Petersburg Medical Center has received more than 70 applications from across the country, leaving it up to the hiring committee to narrow it down to less than 10. As of Tuesday, 74 people have applied to replace Liz Woodyard, the CEO of the medical center, who plans to retire at the end of June. “We have some highly qualified candidates,” said Doran Hammett, the chief financial officer with the medical center. “I don’t think we’ll have any trouble coming up with some good finalists.” The cutoff to apply was W...
In the last month, borough officials hosted three open houses for the public to offer cost saving or money making ideas, prompting a question that some folks would ask before submitting their suggestion: What’s the problem? If the borough is asking for input from the community on how to make money, in what areas is the borough in trouble financially? Finance Director Jody Tow offered some revenue areas that are in flux, starting with state funding. “In 2015 the State began to make cuts to Petersburg’s funding,” Tow said. “They started w...
A special assembly meeting is scheduled Friday at 5 p.m. in Assembly Chambers to discuss the borough manager's proposed reorganization of the electric utility and public works departments. In its last meeting, the assembly voted in favor of the proposed reorganization, which would move Karl Hagerman, public works director, to electric utility director, while promoting Chris Cotta to Hagerman's current position. Scott Newman, acting superintendent of power and light, would return as foreman. The...
Four Petersburg young men were awarded the Eagle Scout honor at a ceremony on Monday, coming after more than a decade of scouting each, about 325 requirements and at least 21 badges. The Eagle Scouts, Van Abbott, Britton Erickson, Charles Christensen and Anders Christensen were honored in front of about 100 people at the House Cross House, a ceremony that included congratulatory remarks from their dads. "It's really amazing that four people would come through the same troop and get their eagles...
WRANGELL — The United States Forest Service is developing a new initiative for the Wrangell and Petersburg districts, encompassing state and private lands in addition to those managed federally. Tongass National Forest supervisor Earl Stewart last month issued a call for participation to the general public, seeking input on the Central Tongass Landscape Level Analysis. The announcement explains the purpose of the CTLLA will be to in a single analysis and decision plan a spatially large project for both districts, at the same time increasing t...
WRANGELL — On its regional meeting’s concluding day last week the Board of Fisheries agreed to draft a letter to federal authorities, encouraging them to support efforts to curb seafood predation by marine mammals. During its 13-day meeting in Sitka, the board reviewed regulatory proposals for both finfish and shellfish for Southeast Alaska and Yakutat. Starting with shellfish on January 11, 155 different items relating to the region’s crab, shrimp and dive fisheries saw comment from both Department of Fish and Game managers and user group...
A magnitude 7.9 earthquake in the Gulf of Alaska Tuesday spurred an early morning tsunami warning in Petersburg, scrambling a borough response team and causing some residents to evacuate. A tsunami warning had been issued to the entire Gulf of Alaska at about 12:32 a.m. Tuesday after a magnitude 7.9 earthquake registered about 170 miles southeast of Kodiak. "It's unlikely that we're gonna get a large wave or something that's gonna destroy downtown," said Sandy Dixson, emergency manager for the...
The Petersburg School District is in the midst of drafting its calendar for the 2018-2019 year, and the superintendent at a recent school board meeting discussed the difficulties of settling on a resolution that a majority would support. “Twenty six years of doing calendars,” said Erica Kludt-Painter, superintendent of schools, addressing the school board at a recent meeting. “... If you put out three calendars, you’re going to get a third, third, third of the people who like them. If you put out two, you’re gonna get 50-50. I’m just saying...
The borough manager hosted a second public meeting last Thursday to hear ideas on how to decrease costs and increase revenue for Petersburg. The manager, Steve Giesbrecht, recommends the assembly take the public's suggestions, review them, and make a list of the top five or 10, he said. "The Assembly could then instruct us which ideas they want implemented," Giesbrecht said. "Using this process, the Assembly could work through the entire list." At the meeting, people filtered in for two hours...
Due to a reporting error, Assembly member Jeigh Stanton Gregor was misquoted in last week’s story. The mistake gave Stanton Gregor reason to believe his position was distorted. Last week, a majority of the assembly supported hiring Karl Hagerman as Utility Director, coming after six months of being interim superintendent. Here is last week’s published comment on Hagerman from Stanton Gregor, who supported the electrical department reorganization. “We’ve got somebody in some situation where we’re like, ‘oh well he’s here this will work,” Stanto... Full story
On January 10 the Department of Law reported a Prince of Wales fisherman had been sentenced for a number of misdemeanor counts related to fishing violations. Commercial salmon seine captain Curtis Demmert was sentenced to multiple misdemeanor counts, including commercial fishing in closed waters, fishing too close to a salmon spawning stream and falsifying his commercial fish ticket. On September 13, 2017 Alaska Wildlife Troopers had received a report that the F/V Tlingit Lady, a 58-foot commercial seine vessel captained by Demmert, had been...
The Alaska Marine Safety Education Association (AMSEA) will offer a Fishing Vessel Drill Conductor Refresher workshop in Petersburg Mon, Feb. 5 from 8 am - 6 pm at the Tides Inn, 307 1st Street. Instructor Neil Nickerson will cover emergency procedures drills; EPIRBs, signal flares, and mayday calls; man-overboard recovery and firefighting; flooding, damage control, and dewatering pumps; immersion suits and PFDs; helicopter rescue, life rafts, abandon ship procedures, and cold-water survival skills. AMSEA’s Drill Conductor workshops meet the U...
WRANGELL — Following a clean bill of health from contaminants testing of dredge material at Shoemaker Bay, the harbor restoration project looks to be continuing on schedule. Department of Transportation and Public Facilities match grant funding in the amount of $5,000,000 was approved for the project in this year’s budget, enabling replacement of the harbor’s aging float network. The wooden float structure is in a deteriorated state, with one of its five finger piers currently unusable. Wrangell Harbor Department’s plan will be to replace...
USCG commercial fishing vessel examiners will be conducting free dockside exams in Petersburg Feb. 2-9. They take about an hour. The examiners will make a scale available at the crane dock to weigh your crab pots. During similar crab pot weighing operations our data has shown weight discrepancies between old and replacement crab pots. Please check out our new vessel specific checklist generator located at www.fishsafewest.info. This tool will allow you to print out a list of safety requirements for your vessel prior to your exam. Mandatory...
Sunday, January 14, was the warmest day on record in Petersburg for the month of January, with temperatures reaching 63 degrees, according to the National Weather Service in Juneau. What's more, the state of Alaska hit a record high on Annette Island, where it was 66 degrees, said Jake Byrd, a forecaster with the weather service. The winter heat comes after temperatures dropped well below freezing last week. "When we go from extreme cold to extreme warm like this," Byrd said, "basically what...
In April 2017, about eight months before Angel Worhatch would resign from the Petersburg Police Department, a female inmate was attempting suicide, and the nearly 20-year chief dispatcher had never stepped inside a jail cell alone. In late October, two months before she would resign, it happened again. Another apparent suicide attempt, this time by a male inmate, asking her to watch. The first attempted suicide took place on a day Worhatch was training a new dispatcher. They were going over...
Superior Court Judge William Carey said Petersburg Attorney Fred Triem, “has been repeatedly untruthful with the court and opposing counsel,” and that he, “engaged in a game of subterfuge and deceit,” in pursuing legal action over his client’s firing from Alaska Airlines. On Tuesday, Carey ruled on multiple motions in his order and ultimately dismissed the case against Alaska Airlines. Helen Lingley was terminated from her position with the airlines and in 2012 Triem filed a wrongful termination claim with the company on her behalf. Triem tol...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – The Alaska Legislature opens a new session Tuesday amid lingering fallout from the resignation of a House member accused of inappropriate behavior toward female aides. A new member is expected to be appointed to the House this month to replace Dean Westlake, the freshman Democrat who resigned. Lawmakers have vowed to rewrite an 18-year-old policy against sexual and other harassment that critics say leaves room for interpretation. And legislators will be required to attend harassment and discrimination prevention t...
The borough’s highest electrical job once again could go to Karl Hagerman, who had pulled his name from consideration in October following the election and scrutiny of his qualifications. One assembly member and an empty search for someone else made him reconsider. In a meeting on Monday, the assembly voted 5-2 in support of making Mr. Hagerman utility director of power and light, a title comparable to electrical superintendent. The move revisits Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht’s idea to reorganize power and light and public works, which he...
Superior Court Judge William Carey denied a request by Plaintiffs Danny Robert Thompson and Greg Richeson to have their case heard as a class action by stating the case does not meet the class action prerequisites required by state law. Carey heard oral arguments on the case in December of last year, and issued his order for Class Certification on Jan. 16. The order explains that two plaintiffs seek injunctive and declaratory relief, the return of property and general, special punitive and exemp...
The Peterburg assembly narrowly struck down a resolution to repeal a federal ruling that limits development on national forest land, a decision it made after hearing public testimony from seven people on Monday. The resolution Monday supported an end to the 2001 Roadless Rule, which protects social and ecological value and characteristics of roadless areas from construction and reconstruction, along with certain timber harvest activities, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. The borough said this resolution was brought to...
