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In its second reading on Monday, the borough assembly approved Ordinance #2019-02, which would create language in the borough's sales tax code regarding internet sales of goods and services. According to finance director Judy Tow, the borough's current tax code doesn't mention internet sales tax, nor does it forbid it. The ordinance would just broaden the language in the sales tax code to include internet vendors not located in Petersburg or Alaska. One member of the public spoke during a...
The Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department Association elected Jim Stolpe as its new fire chief on Thursday following the retirement of the previous fire chief, Doug Welde. Assistant fire chief Dave Berg took on the responsibilities of fire chief until a new fire chief was elected when Welde retired after 50 years with the department. Both Berg and Stolpe were candidates for fire chief position, but the department ultimately elected Stolpe. Berg has since resumed his position as assistant fire chi...
The Alaska Marine Highway System removed the FVF Fairweather from service and transported the vessel to Ketchikan where it waits to be put up for sale. Last week the FVF Fairweather sailed from Juneau to Ketchikan's Ward Cove where it will be stored. Both the FVF Fairweather and the FVF Chenega, which has also been put in storage, will be put up for sale in the coming months, according to Department of Transportation public information officer Aurah Landau of Juneau. "AMHS has determined it...
This week we distribute the Petersburg Pilot to all post office boxholders. If you're not a regular reader of this publication, it's your opportunity to look it over and consider purchasing a discounted subscription as a new subscriber. We do this on a regular basis, as it has proven successful in attracting new readers. In addition to local news stories, we also publish special sections. This spring we will distribute our Home and Garden feature section, one of the most anticipated sections of...
Rocio Tejera-Elejabeitia will be taking over as financial controller at the Petersburg Medical Center following the exit of the chief financial officer Doran Hammett. After she was hired last month, Tejera-Elejabeitia has been working alongside Hammett and learning the day-to-day controller functions, such as month and quarterly closing. Hammett announced his departure in January after five years with PMC to be closer to his family in Oklahoma. Tejera-Elejabeitia has also been training with...
During Tuesday's Planning Commission meeting, residents gave testimony on the zoning of their property under the borough's new development code, which was passed by the borough assembly late last year, and allowing manufactured homes in residential areas. After hearing public testimony, the Planning Commission instructed borough staff to create a list of all the proposed changes to the development code to allow community members to see each of the amendments and provide further comment. At their...
Fireworks To the Editor: If the borough loosens restrictions on fireworks, three things will happen: Even more dogs, cats, and other animals with whom we share our lives will suffer the terror and panic of what surely sounds to them like the violent end of the world. The wild animals who live around us will similarly suffer. And the odds increase that at least one kid in Petersburg will go through life nicknamed Stumpy. All this damage will be offset by the tremendous benefits of fireworks,...
Judge William Carey sentenced Kanin Robert Grant, 32 to a sentence of 8 years on a consolidated charge of possession of child pornography at a March 26 hearing. In a plea agreement 12 counts were consolidated into a single count, provided the defendant plead guilty to that count. The court noted a significant criminal history and cited warrants in both Florida and Texas that were a part of the presentence report. One case involved cruelty to animals. Others were meth, DUI, theft and larceny....
After nine months of fundraising, 23 enthusiastic students and four intrepid chaperones left Petersburg on March 29 for a once in a lifetime personal experience, Close-Up in Washington D.C. Close-Up's mission is to "Inform, inspire, and empower young people to exercise the rights and accept the responsibilities of citizens in a democracy." Since 1971, over 850,000 participants have participated in the program. Petersburg High School (PHS) has been partaking in the Close-Up programs since at...
Erik Trask, the son of Grant and Lila Trask, is currently working for TAE Technologies, where he hopes his research in nuclear fusion can provide the world with clean energy. "While the amount of time we may have before energy supplies dwindle is impossible to predict, the main point is that an energy source with much greater reserves and lower cost will be a tremendous boon and be necessary for our society to continue on its current path," Trask told Siliconrepublic.com, an online science and...
WRANGELL — The Wrangell Port Commission met last Thursday, April 4, to discuss a plan to alter lease rates at the boat yard. According to Commission Member John Martin, lease rates at the boat yard cover a wide range, from eight cents per square foot to 28 cents per square foot. Under a new formula the commission is planning to use, several businesses at the boat yard will see their rates decrease, while others will see an increase. Martin said that they are trying to bring a sense of equilibrium and fairness to the lease rates. Greg M...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - The Alaska House is set to begin debating next week its version of the state operating budget, which spares areas such as education, the university system, Medicaid and the state ferry system the level of cuts proposed by Gov. Mike Dunleavy. Whatever passes the House will go to the Senate, and differences between the two will need to be hashed out. Top lawmakers have said they want to work with Dunleavy to limit potential vetoes. Dunleavy called for sweeping budget cuts in response to an ongoing deficit currently...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Gov. Mike Dunleavy is proposing a fiscal plan that includes sweeping cuts and providing Alaska residents with a full payout from the oil-wealth fund, and many residents are unhappy about it. The annual check paid to qualified residents was capped the past three years as state leaders struggled to address an ongoing budget deficit now estimated at $1.6 billion. Dunleavy campaigned on wanting to get residents their full payout. Now that he's governor, they're learning what that means. He has proposed cuts to a range of s...
Over 35 people were in attendance at the Petersburg Public Library on Saturday where the Friends of the Petersburg Libraries kicked off National Library Week by recognizing three community members for their dedication to Petersburg's libraries and young readers. "Today we celebrate our libraries and our kids, they are excellent readers," read Friends of Petersburg Libraries vice president Marilyn Menish-Meucci from a statement written by president Sue Paulsen. "It takes a village to raise these...
SITKA, Alaska (AP) — A mechanical problem prevented a rescue helicopter from responding quickly to the scene of a fatal January air ambulance plane crash in Alaska, according to U.S. Coast Guard flight logs. The logs indicate the helicopter that should have flown within 30 minutes of the call from Sitka to the crash site about 22 miles (35 kilometers) west of the small community of Kake. But the helicopter was grounded until the next morning due to an engine malfunction, CoastAlaska reported Tuesday. As a result, no aerial search was c...
The borough assembly appointed the Public Safety Advisory Board to rewrite and craft an updated fireworks ordinance that includes fines and allows fireworks to be set off in service area one during certain dates and times each year. The current fireworks ordinance doesn't have the option to issue fines to residents violating the ordinance; as a result, the Petersburg Police Department has to file criminal charges of disorderly conduct instead. Police Chief Jim Kerr stated in a letter read by bor...
At an assembly meeting on Monday, members of the borough assembly discussed the possibility of instituting a fish box tax on fish charter customers who leave Petersburg with boxes of locally caught fish. The discussion topic was requested by assembly member Jeff Meucci who stated that a fish box tax wouldn't be charged to locals who wanted to take boxes of fish down south with them. "The idea here is to charge a fee for folks who come to town and off load 20 or 30 boxes of fish and take it to...
The borough assembly approved ordinance #2019-02 in its first reading on Monday that would update the borough's sales tax code to include language regarding internet sales of goods and services. Although the current tax code doesn't mention internet sales tax, it doesn't forbid it, according to finance director Judy Tow. The ordinance would just broaden the language in the sales tax code to internet vendors not located in Petersburg or Alaska. According to Tow, until the state has a unified...
Don Jarrett of McMillen Jacobs Associates gave the borough assembly a presentation on the status of the Blind Slough Hydroelectric project and recommended a refurbishment of the powerhouse and penstock. McMillen Jacobs Associates performed a condition assessment of the project and came up with a list of recommendations for the work that needed to be done in order to keep the project operational through the remaining term of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission license, which is up in 2034....
The borough assembly approved an amended letter to Gov. Mike Dunleavy on Monday requesting that he travel to Southeast Alaska to speak on his 2020 fiscal year proposed budget and give an open-forum style meeting without involvement from Americans for Prosperity. On March 18, Dunleavy announced a statewide road show to discuss his FY2020 budget proposal. The locations included Kenai, Anchorage, Nome, Fairbanks and Mat-Su, with dates ranging from March 25 through 29. The road tour was sponsored...
WRANGELL - Robert Rang came on as the Wrangell Medical Center's administrator in October of 2015. The hospital was only the latest step in a three-decade career. Rang said he started his career as a CNA, and he kept on slowly rising up in the business. He was working in Kodiak when he first heard about this job being available in Wrangell, he said. "The opportunity opened up, it was something I was very interested in. Small town life is what my wife and I enjoy, along with all the other...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The owners of an air ambulance that crashed in Alaska have ended a private search for the three employees on board. Officials with Utah-based Guardian Flight say the search ended Wednesday after covering 7 square miles (18 square kilometers) of ocean floor and traversing more than 700 linear miles (1,127 kilometers) by ship. Company spokesman Jim Gregory says searchers will continue to look along the shoreline. Searchers earlier found most of the plane wreckage, including the cockpit voice recorder, over a large d...
HAINES, Alaska (AP) — A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter crew rescued a group of boaters from a sandbar in an Alaska river early Sunday, according to authorities. The helicopter responded to a distress call near the southeast Alaska town of Haines and rescued the group of seven boaters and a dog from the Chilkat River shortly before 1 a.m., the Anchorage Daily News reported Sunday. The group was flown to Haines for medical checks, but no one was injured, police said. The boaters were identified as 30-year-old Gary Hinkle, 29-year-old Sierra H...
WRANGELL - The Pioneers of Alaska is one of the older social organizations in the state. According to the organization's website, the first group of pioneers, or "Igloos," was founded in Nome in 1907. The purpose of the Pioneers of Alaska is twofold, to preserve community history and to serve as a social outlet for members. At first it was a men-only club, but women were allowed in around 1912, according to the Pioneer website. From the first Igloo in Nome, the group spread across the state....
KODIAK, Alaska (AP) —Chinese tariffs are forcing Alaska’s seafood industry to look for markets beyond the Asian giant, according to an industry marketing organization. The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute is exploring how to expand the state’s seafood brand in response to a 25 percent tariff on Pacific Northwest seafood imposed by China in summer 2018, the Kodiak Daily Mirror reported Wednesday. Alaska’s seafood sales are off by more than 20 percent so far this year and could take a big hit in China, said Jeremy Woodrow, the institu...
