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Mayor Cindi Lagoudakis spent her adolescent years in a city, gripped in its pace, from New York to Southern California she lived, without a hint of Petersburg in her future. Until one night in college at 23 she was walking home from studying, when she turned around to see two men running toward her in a frenzy, one holding a knife and the other yelling for her money. Lagoudakis was not aware of the abduction that was about to happen, but it would upend any trust she had for the hot, fast city....
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – The Alaska Legislature remains on pace for a statewide government shutdown as lawmakers renew discussions they hope will bridge the gap between the House and Senate. Gov. Bill Walker said he is confident the Legislature can avert an economically catastrophic shutdown July 1. Officials’ top priority during the special session is the state operating budget. “At this point, I must focus solely on one issue and one issue alone, and that is the operating budget so we do not have a shutdown in this state,” said Walker, who sets...
Five hikers and seven dogs were taking a Father's Day hike up Petersburg Mountain when atop the summit, two dogs playing together apparently fell over an obscured ledge, dropping over 200-feet onto a rock and snow-covered bench on the backside of the mountain. One dog survived the fall with severe lacerations and the second dog died two hours later while enroute back down the mountain. Ola and Brian Richard's dog Roxy suffered deep puncture wounds in her pelvic area. She suffered from severe...
King Salmon King salmon catch rates have been below average thus far in the 2017 season. The number of king salmon returning to the Stikine River at this time indicates that the abundance of Stikine river king salmon will not meet preseason expectations. Due to this new inseason information, new king salmon regulations have been issued for the Petersburg/Wrangell area effective May 25. The area immediately adjacent to the mouth of the Stikine River has been closed to king salmon fishing and reduced bag and possession limits continue to apply in...
WRANGELL – Unionized public employees may soon strike as negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement with the city reaches an impasse. The escalation follows the City and Borough Assembly’s effective rejection on June 8 of a last best offer made by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Works Local #1547, which represents 24 employees of various departments and utilities. The proposal directly to the Assembly was a unique break from traditional collective bargaining negotiations, a provision that had been agreed to when the two p...
Cindi Lagoudakis was the featured artist in Miele Gallery and Framing shop last week, as she displayed about 70 paintings that took a "couple years to finish," she said. Lagoudakis mingled with a group at the opening Friday evening, discussing her contrast with colors, different tactics she uses to draw and the inspiration behind it all: the forest. "I've worked for the Forest Service for 26 years," Lagoudakis said. "Clearly the natural world is something of interest to me." The mayor is a...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – An Alaska lawmaker made one last legal push Tuesday to put about $1,000 back in the hands of nearly every state resident for their share of Alaska’s oil wealth. Sen. Bill Wielechowski argued before the Alaska Supreme Court in Anchorage that Gov. Bill Walker last year exceeded his authority when he reduced the size of the yearly checks by about half. Wielechowski, an Anchorage Democrat, hopes to reverse the governor’s action after losing in superior court in November. He was peppered with questions by justices during his a...
WRANGELL-It was out of the workplace and into the streets for many Wrangell city staff Thursday morning, as two dozen unionized workers began a strike over prolonged contract negotiations. The City and Borough has been negotiating for a new collective bargaining agreement with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1547 since the summer of 2014, when the previous CBA expired. The process has at times been tumultuous, with court proceedings through the fall of 2016 being... Full story
“I didn’t like what was happening with the (department head) restructuring thing. I didn’t have the energy to go through that fight,” two-term mayor Mark Jensen stated in explaining his single sentence resignation from the Petersburg Borough Assembly on May 18. If the department head changes had been proposed earlier, “it could have worked, instead of cramming it down our throats,” Jensen noted of the manager’s plan to realign department heads following the retirement of Power and Light Superintendent Joe Nelson. “The day after the last meetin...
Plans to develop the Scow Bay Boat Haulout have expanded, as the final concept proposed by Principal Civil Engineer Dick Somerville brings depth to the upland area. In a meeting last week, Somerville laid-out the third concept for the renovation, which comes after the second concept was approved publicly but altered a bit to accommodate suggestions. "It's only the earthwork that doubled in size," Somerville said. "Everyone agreed that concept two was good, but there could be improvements." The...
Alaska Sen. Bert Stedman said in an interview Tuesday that his office has started dialogue with Gov. Bill Walker’s office to schedule a trip to Petersburg, during which the governor would sign Senate Bill 28, a landmark proposal that increases the city’s land entitlement to 14,666 acres. “I would be very surprised if it didn’t work into his schedule,” Stedman said. “He enjoys Petersburg and likes the community. I think it would be very well received.” Senate Bill 28 has not been transmitted to the governor, and his deputy spokesman, Jo...
Former Borough Mayor Mark Jensen said he was not aware of the Borough Manager’s decision to move Karl Hagerman into the Electric Superintendent’s position until a May 2 email from Steve Giesbrecht announced the personnel changes. The email began: “Please join me in congratulating several of our peers.” Next Giesbrecht wrote that both Public Works Superintendent Karl Hagerman and Asst. Public Works Superintendent Chris Cotta had accepted the positions of Utilities Director and Public Works Director, respectively. The email stated, “Both Karl and...
As of press-time this week Borough Clerk Debbie Thompson has received four letters of interest for the Assembly seat left vacant after Cindi Lagoudakis assumed the mayorship following the resignation of Mark Jensen on May 18. Jeff Meucci, John Hoag, Paul Anderson and John Havrilek have all expressed interest in the position. All have served on the city council and Meucci served as mayor. The Assembly’s appointment next week will serve until the October Borough election....
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – The state of Alaska expects a reprieve from the federal government as it prepares to comply with national proof-of-identity standards. The Legislature last month approved allowing the state to issue licenses compliant with the federal REAL ID law. State law previously barred agencies from spending money to help implement the law, which some legislators saw as overreaching. Alaska had gotten extensions to comply with the federal law, the most recent of which expired Tuesday. Alaska is seeking an additional extension to a...
In last week’s marijuana growers story, the name of the retail store is “The 420,” not 420. The retail store owner is not presently a grower, but has applied for a marijuana cultivation permit. Gary Morgan, the current on-island grower sells his product for $3,200/lb. not $1,300....
National holidays often pose a reminder to many that being thankful should be constant, not reserved for a few days. So for Father's Day Sunday, The Pilot scoured the Petersburg phonebook in search of people willing to share how they make their dad proud. Here is this year's Father's Day 'every day' edition, as told by five Petersburg sons and daughters. "Well, I have one story that I think will apply to making my dad proud," said Don Nelson, recalling a time he was 12. Nelson, now 86, remembers...
The Harry Kito Bridge on Mitkof Highway attracted a modest crowd of pedestrians on Saturday who appeared befuddled at the sight of a mangled truck sitting next to Falls Creek with no one inside. The white Chevrolet resting there had left a trail of flattened grass behind it that came from the north, indicating the truck veered off the road while travelling south on Mitkof Highway. The Petersburg Police Department weekly report calls the nature of the incident, "assisted other agency." In this...
KETCHIKAN, Alaska (AP) – A report by the U.S. Coast Guard shows that fatal recreational-boating accidents in Alaska have doubled over the last year. There were 14 fatal boating wrecks that killed 19 people in Alaska in 2016, the Ketchikan Daily News reported. That’s seven more boating accidents and 12 more fatalities than reported in the state in 2015. Four of the fatal 2016 accidents took place in southeast Alaska, the Alaska Public Information Office said. The number of recreational-boating accidents has increased nationwide over the pas...
A panel of marine mammal specialists fielded questions last week on how fishermen should interact and deter endangered species like whales and sea lions. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Juneau gave a presentation that included law review under the Marine Mammal Protection Act and different strategies to take when around humpback whales, sperm whales and steller sea lions. The underscored theme of the presentation was to stress that laws created under the MMPA are not to...
The United States Coast Guard change of command ceremony was Thursday at Sandy Beach Park where 26-year-old Lt. Rachel Kent took over the Petersburg-based USCG Cutter ANACAPA. On a damp Thursday morning, Kent, who previously was aboard the USCGC MIDGETT in Seattle, relieved Lt. Cmdr. Pete Vermeer, who was at the helm for two years. Vermeer's accolades include two Coast Guard Commendation medals, the Coast Guard Achievement medal, the Commandant's Letter of Commendation and numerous service,...
Students and faculty from the Petersburg Borough District were surveyed on the quality of school life, and the results were presented during a School Board meeting Tuesday evening. Jenni Lefing, who is the school climate coordinator with the Association of Alaska School Boards, presented results from the 2017 climate and connectedness survey. The survey is intended to measure character in schools, peer and respect climate, and whether students think adults care for them, among other qualities, Lefing said. “These are all things we know are i...
WRANGELL – An updated schedule for next month's Independence Day festivities was put out this week by Wrangell's Chamber of Commerce. The big change in this year's lineup will be the return of boat racing, after a dry spell of nearly three decades. Heading up the organization of that effort were Penny Allen and Clay Hammer, who with Jay Einert and John Waddington figured out what needed to be done to get the event back into the water. Routes have been plotted out, rules drawn up and insurance s...
Petersburg High School students used trigonometry to pinpoint the terminus location of the LeConte Glacier last month during the 34th annual survey. The survey found that the glacier moved about 200 feet back from its average position for the last 10 years, which is not a significant change, said Victor Troutman, who oversees the survey. Seven students trained weekly over their lunch break for a year before they could participate in the survey, which is a data-gathering expedition that started...
The Chilkat Valley News has a new owner, as Tom Morphet passed the torch to reporter Kyle Clayton last week. Morphet has owned the CVN for five years. Before buying the paper, he worked at it 22 years as a reporter, editor and manager. Morphet’s ownership of the newspaper became contentious in August when he began campaigning for a seat on the Haines Borough Assembly. Morphet hired interim editors and started advertising and publicizing the newspaper’s sale. “Obviously, being elected to office made me a motivated seller,” Morphet said. “In ter...
Finance Director Jody Tow is confident education and general taxes in Petersburg will not go above the mill rate cap of 10 in the coming years. In the last decade, the mill rate has fluctuated between 8.5 and 9, but has never reached 10 like it did in 2007, according to Borough documents. In the 2018 fiscal year budget, the education and general tax rate increased slightly to 9 due to the Borough being conservative, Tow said. "We want to stretch out the balance of the secure rural school funds f...
