Sorted by date Results 2023 - 2047 of 5553
William Christopher Allen was sentenced to 16 years in jail with nine years suspended on Monday before Superior Court Judge Trevor Stephens. Stephens said of the hearing, “It’s a grim day for everybody.” William Christopher Allen’s attorney and the State Prosecutor reached a negotiated agreement in July where the defendant will face a sentence of 16 years in jail with nine suspended, leaving seven years to serve. Allen was facing multiple felony counts following a vehicle crash on July 4, 2016 that killed Molly Parks and Marie Giesbre...
Mayor Mark Jensen proclaimed borough employees will receive a half day holiday on Christmas Eve. “It’s been a tradition to give the employees a half day off on Christmas Eve,” said Jensen at an assembly meeting on Nov. 19 when he made the proclamation. During the first half of the day, borough employees continue work like every other day. It costs the borough approximately $10,000 to continue paying borough employees through the second half of the day that they take off. Although there is no borough wide Christmas party, individual depar...
The theme for the women's invitational art show at the Clausen Memorial Museum on Friday was "Shift", which offers the 13 women artists the opportunity to interpret the theme in their own way. "I think it's just a nice way to support women artists and highlight what they're doing in their individual practice and how they're growing," said Cindi Lagoudakis, one of the event's organizers. Though the event has been hosted irregularly for over ten years, Lagoudakis said she wants to host the event...
The Petersburg Fire Department checked every propane tank in the downtown area for a possible gas leak on Friday following reports of individuals smelling gas. While some said it smelled like propane, others said it smelled like oil burning, said borough manager Stephen Giesbrecht. Checking every known propane tank in the downtown area, the fire department was unable to locate the source of the smell. “[The volunteers] hit downtown really hard and went into every nock and cranny looking for potential leaks and just didn’t find anything,” said...
In a story covering the Brew and Stew Festival in the Nov. 29 issue of the Petersburg Pilot, the four dishes in the fish and game category were described as two having moose meat, one having black bear meat and one having mountain goat meat. The two dishes with moose meat had venison, not moose meat....
KETCHIKAN, Alaska (AP) — Ketchikan city officials are mulling the potential impacts of a federal court decision on the use of cruise ship passenger fees. U.S. District Court Judge H. Russel Holland last week ruled that while Juneau can keep collecting the fees, their use must constitute a service to the ship. The decision restricting use of the fees came in a lawsuit brought against Juneau by the cruise industry. Other communities, such as Ketchikan, have their own passenger fees. There is also a state head tax. Juneau officials have not a...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Another mass of warmer than normal water is slowly re-emerging in the Gulf of Alaska, scientists said. The new “blob” could affect weather and fisheries in southeastern Alaska, but scientists said it doesn’t appear as strong as the first one in 2013, KTOO Public Media in Juneau reported Monday. Washington State Climatologist Nick Bond coined the term “blob” to refer to water mass in the Pacific Northwest. “Without winds to draw heat out of the ocean and to mix up colder water from below, the near-surface waters, again...
Last night, the Sons of Norway hosted their 44th annual pickled herring and smoked seafood contest. About 175 guests turned out to sample the 24 dishes submitted into the pickled herring, pickled seafood, smoked salmon, smoked seafood and people's choice appetizer categories. Contestents dropped off their dishes at 5:30 P.M. and judging began at 6:30 P.M. The doors opened to the public at 7 P.M. Sig Mathisen won the smoked seafood category with his smoked eel. Kurt Kvernvik won the pickled...
The Mitkof Island Dance Troupe performed The Nutcracker last Friday, Saturday and Sunday to a full house at the middle school auditorium. There were a total of 180 dancers in this year's performance, up from December 2016 when The Nutcracker was last performed. This performance included new music and new parts that haven't been included in any performance of The Nutcracker anywhere in the world. "We're really starting to make it our own program," said Kathleen Boggs, a teacher and a...
At a Southeast Alaska Purse Seine Task Force meeting on Nov. 28, members from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game gave a detailed run down of the pink salmon seine harvest from the 2018 season showing a below average year for the Petersburg-Wrangell, Sitka and Ketchikan areas. The Petersburg-Wrangell purse seine areas include Districts 5, 6, 7 and 9. The 2018 harvest shows pink salmon coming in below the average annual harvest consistently throughout the four Districts. Between Kuiu Island...
On Monday, the borough assembly voted against sending a letter drafted by Mayor Mark Jensen to Viking Cruise Lines stating that Petersburg isn't ready for larger cruise ships to come to town. In the letter, Jensen said the town isn't ready to handle more than 250 tourists from ships in any given day, and he is concerned with an increase in traffic flow during the busy, summer months on Nordic Dr. He also writes that he is worried that larger cruise ships could lead to Petersburg becoming a touri...
Although Friday's earthquake in Anchorage was too far away to be felt on Mitkof Island, Petersburg resident John Havrilek and members of the Petersburg Indian Association were in Anchorage when the ground began to shake at about 8:30 A.M. "The shaking was so severe I could barely stand," said Havrilek. He was in Anchorage to visit his daughter Courtney who was hosting an after school conference for troubled youth at the Sheraton Hotel. He was in his room on Friday morning when the earthquake...
The page one story in the November 29 edition of the Pilot incorrectly referred to Molly Giesbrecht as the daughter of the Petersburg Borough Manager. Her name was Marie Giesbrecht.... Full story
In a 4-3 vote, the borough assembly gave permission to the borough manager to begin land exchange negotiations with Petro 49, Inc. At 703 S. Nordic Dr., Petro 49, Inc. owns borough land that includes a small warehouse and covered loading dock and office. Petro 49, Inc. leases borough land at 100 Dock St. and 902 S. Nordic Dr. that includes a warehouse and gas station that is being subleased. Petro 49, Inc. wants to trade their owned land for the borough's land that they lease. "I've been...
On Monday, the borough assembly approved to postpone discussing and voting on the 2020 fiscal year capital projects list and budget policies until the Dec. 17 assembly meeting. Mayor Mark Jensen cited a busy agenda and a desire to have a separate meeting to discuss and vote on the budget. “There is no real urgent deadline for this,” said Jensen. “It would be nice to get it done before the end of December.” The submitted capital project document listed a combined total of over 50 capital project needs in the Harbor Department, Parks and Recreat...
The Juneau Empire and Capital City Weekly have a new general manager. Sound Publishing, Inc. announced Monday that Robert Monteith will be moving to Juneau to oversee the daily newspaper and the weekly arts publication in Alaska's capital city. Terry Ward, vice president of Sound Publishing, Inc. and publisher of the Juneau Empire and Capital City Weekly, made the announcement in person to staff on Monday morning. "I am pleased to put the day-to-day operations of the Juneau Empire and Capital...
The borough assembly appointed Bob Lynn as Petersburg’s voting member on the Southeast Alaska Power Agency board of directors and Robert Larson as the alternate member for 2019 at an assembly meeting on Monday. This will be Lynn’s second year serving as Petersburg voting member on the SEAPA board. In his letter of interest, Lynn said he wanted to continue working on a long-term plan to replace the high-cost structural portions of a grid that has reached the end of its life span, a project that began during his first year on the board. He sta...
On Friday, a camper parked at the 3.8 mile mark of Mitkof Highway was impounded after Wayne Collins, who was in possession of the camper, ignored several warnings from officers to move it. Multiple officers had seen him throwing garbage on the ground surrounding the camper, which he refused to clean up. Collins, 58, was cited for littering over five pounds under title 46, according to Officer Louis Waechter who was the responding officer along with Police Chief Jim Kerr. Collins didn't show up...
At a borough assembly meeting on Monday, Mayor Mark Jensen gave description of some of the information he heard at the Alaska Conference of Mayors (ACOFM) and the Alaska Municipal League annual conference in Anchorage from Nov.14 - 16. The Alaska Conference of Mayors (ACOFM) is the parent organization of the Alaska Municipal League (AML). Both organizations work together to establish a municipal consensus on state and federal issues that affect local governments in Alaska. At the ACOFM, Jensen was elected as the officer for municipalities with...
A joint Regional Planning Team (RPT) meeting was held on Thursday between the Northern Southeast Regional Planning Team (NSERPT) and the Southern Southeast Regional Planning Team (SSERPT) to discuss and vote on items regarding fisheries and salmon eggs in Southeast Alaska. “I want to give you a perspective on how unique and successful this enterprise is,” said an RPT representative at the meeting. One vote that hits close to Petersburg was the approval of Northern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association, Inc.’s (NSRAA) permit alter...
The Alaska DMV is working to reach compliance with the federal REAL ID Act. According to the Department of Homeland Security’s website, the act sets a minimum standard for identifying documents, such as a driver’s license or a passport. Marla Thompson, Director of the Alaska DMV, said that what this means for Alaskans is that the DMV will be offering licenses and state IDs that meet a higher standard of federal requirements. Thompson added that old IDs will remain valid, and the new IDs are not mandatory to have. It is simply an option ava...
The United States Forest Service will be reconstructing two miles of the Raven trail and decommissioning the last mile that leads to the Raven's Roost Cabin. A new Raven's Roost Cabin will be built at the end of the third mile of the trail, just before the decommissioned fourth mile. It will be a brand new design. The second and third mile of the current Raven trail will be reconstructed to address steep, muddy and slippery locations on the trail, according to a decision memo released by the...
The Salvation Army Thrift Store has been receiving donations after hours, but individuals have been taking the donations thinking they are free. “There’s people out here that think because it’s donated outside that it’s free stuff and they can go through it,” said Salvation Army Major Loni Upshaw. After the thrift store has closed for the evenings, people will leave donations outside the building to be processed the next day by staff. However, Upshaw said there are video recordings of people ba...
This week Superior Court Judge Carey scheduled the wrongful death lawsuit against the Petersburg Borough for Jan. 13, 2020. The borough, State of Alaska and Chris Allen are all named as defendants in the suit filed by the Estate of Molly Parks. Parks, 18, and Marie Giesbrecht, 19, died on July 4, 2016 while riding in a parks and recreation van driven by Chris Allen, 23. Allen and another passenger Catherine Cardenas, 19, survived the accident. All were employees of the Petersburg Parks and Recreation Department and were setting up for a 4th of...
On Monday, a budget policy document will be presented to the borough assembly at their first meeting of the month for the 2020 fiscal year. The document is a general outline of the structure that the assembly wants borough department heads to create their budget around, according to borough manager Stephen Giesbrecht. It will be the first step towards creating next year’s budget and give a hint at what decisions the borough assembly is going to make to balancing the budget. “I hate to sound mysterious, but it’s kind of one of those thing...
