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Forty-five years ago, Kathi Hammer was helping Carol Hall at a concession booth downtown, during Little Norway Festival. When, all of a sudden, Hammer got kidnapped by Vikings. Shortly after earning her freedom she was holding her daughter, Cari, when a photographer came up and asked who they were. Hammer thought he was just a tourist, until a few weeks later when she saw a picture of them on the front page of the Southeastern Log, a popular publication in Southeast at the time. Under the image... Full story
The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted 5-2 in favor of the FY23 budget in its second reading Monday with Assembly Members Thomas Fine-Walsh and Jeff Meucci opposed. Three amendments to the budget were approved during the meeting. Assembly Member Bob Lynn made two amendments that were both approved unanimously. The first was a recommendation by Utility Director Karl Hagerman to correct the absence of lineman apprentice wages and benefits in the budget. The second set aside $40,000 in ARPA lost...
Ambler Moss, the Petersburg School District's new secondary school principal, and his wife Thandar Myint visited Petersburg for the first time last week after he was offered the position. During their trip, Moss toured the schools, talked with students and staff, and met with members of the community during a meet and greet Friday evening. "We're psyched, we're excited about it, my wife's very enthusiastic about it," Moss said. Moss has experience teaching K-12 and has served as the head...
The Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department responded to a fire in Middle Harbor on Monday after smoke was spotted coming from a docked boat. The fire was on the Lady Lou, owned by Terry Slafter, and came from the oil stove on board, according to Assistant Fire Chief Dave Berg. Berg said the stove may have had an installation problem that was a result of age and use and it appeared to have fallen down on one side. The area underneath and surrounding the stove was charred. According to Berg, it... Full story
Homer artist Kim McNett taught children and adults in Petersburg how to create a "nature journal" last week, giving them a new perspective on the world around them. McNett's journals feature a collection of sketches, written observations, and places names and dates that illustrate scenes and objects found "in the field." Molly Taiber and the Partners in Education received grant funding through the Alaska State Council on the Arts to bring McNett to the elementary school as part of the Artist in...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted unanimously to appoint 11 people to the Early Childhood Education Task Force during Monday’s meeting. The task force will be made up of Jessica Doril, Hannah Flor, Denise Gubernick, Katie Holmlund, Sharlay Mamoe, Jeff Meucci, Stephanie Payne, Chelsea Tremblay, Becky Turland, Glo Wollen, and Chad Wright. The assembly also voted unanimously to appoint Tremblay as the chair of the task force. The task force was created following multiple public meetings and work sessions which identified problems with r...
Following a successful bid opening, the South Harbor dredge project is gearing up toward an October start date according to Harbormaster Glo Wollen. South Harbor, which was completed by the state in 1984, has faced problems with the bottom of the harbor rising and boats going dry in stalls during certain stages of the tide, making them unusable. Wollen said that since it was completed "we've had issues of the glacial rebound occurring and also with earthquakes and different things we've noticed...
The Petersburg School District has made a contract offer to a new secondary school principal which was approved by the school board during Tuesday's meeting. According to Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter, the district's hiring committee interviewed several candidates for the position in a shorter "streamlined" hiring process and has offered the position to Ambler Moss for the upcoming school year. Kludt-Painter said Moss brings with him over 25 years of experience in education and reported tha...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted in a close 4-3 vote in favor of the borough's proposed FY23 budget in its first reading during the assembly's May 2 meeting. Before the meeting, the assembly held a work session where Finance Director Jody Tow gave a presentation reviewing the budget and department heads spoke on upcoming expenditures. Tow reported that "costs have increased dramatically" throughout the borough, impacting the upcoming year's budget. New contracts with the Petersburg...
As part of the Working Against Violence for Everyone (WAVE) anniversary celebration at the end of last month there was an anonymous art show at the Clausen Museum. This allowed artists to remain unknown, if they preferred, and gave survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence the opportunity to share powerful personal details, if they wanted, alongside their work. At the encouragement of a WAVE staff member, Karin Bagley submitted three pieces: A Step In The Right Direction, Eye Will...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted to write a letter opposing proposed legislation that would transfer federal land to new urban corporations formed by five Alaska Native communities in Southeast under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act during Monday's meeting. The decision came after Sen. Lisa Murkowski requested a hearing before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on the Unrecognized Southeast Alaska Native Communities Recognition and Compensation Act. The bill aims...
Two Sandy Beach Road properties owned by the Petersburg Borough were sold in a public outcry auction at the start of Monday's assembly meeting. Inside the packed assembly chambers, 700 and 1015 Sandy Beach Road were sold in two separate auctions for a combined $407,500, which was $162,000 more than the combined assessed value of the properties. The auction for the 84,942-square-foot property at 700 Sandy Beach was held first. It had an assessed value of $76,900 and the minimum bid to start the...
Ballots for the special primary election were mailed to Alaska voters starting on April 27, beginning the process to fill the late Rep. Don Young's seat for the remainder of the current term. The top four vote getters in the special primary, regardless of their political party affiliations, will move on to the special general election in August which will be the first statewide election that will used ranked choice voting since it was approved by voters in 2020. Jason Grenn, the executive...
Petersburg Medical Center staff are continuing to adjust to the new electronic medical record implemented by Cerner last December and are now seeing some of the advantages the new system has to offer. Kirsten Testoni, the home health manager, said nurses are able to use the system on their tablets when they go out to see patients, allowing for easier access to information. "It's happening in real time as opposed to having to come back, log into the computer, and that kind of thing," Testoni... Full story
When Kate Thompson was small, her father Harold made a perch in the wheelhouse of the St. Lazaria, so she could be atop the console, see out the window and keep him company as he steered. But once she was big enough, she put down her toy radio and began working on boats herself. During the recent Sitka sac roe herring fishery, Thompson, now 15, worked as a deckhand on the St. Lazaria. It was technically her seventeenth season doing herring, if you count the one she spent aboard the St. Lazeria w... Full story
A husband and wife have come back to spend their summer taking care of the Five Finger Lighthouse. John and Pat Jans maintain a "home base" or "nest" high in the mountains of Colorado, but Southeast also takes up special space in their hearts. "We've been here before, so it actually feels like a homecoming," Pat says. "It's really wonderful to be back home. It's very dear to us." When they were the lighthouse keepers in 2017, one of the first things John did upon arrival was figure out how much...
A couple days leading up to the event, Cindy Rodgers began saying, with a hint of concern, "It looks like it may rain Saturday." And she was right, rain it did, but no matter what the weather was doing, Rodgers was going to walk the Circle of Life. Rodgers, 75 and celebrating a birthday soon, moved to Petersburg a decade ago to be closer to her brother, Jim, and sister-in-law, Pia Reilly. Rodgers does tai chi, likes to drink red wine-but only if she has someone to drink with-and she loves...
Petersburg High School and Mitkof Middle School Principal Rick Dormer announced that he will be leaving at the end of the school year to become the principal at Ketchikan High School after 13 years in Petersburg. Dormer said that he has been looking at other opportunities for a couple of years and that now feels like the right time for a change as the district comes out of the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, believing that a leadership change would be healthy for the district. "It's n...
Two Petersburg residents have pleaded guilty to providing false information with the intent of implicating another in an offense after accusing a Petersburg Police Department officer of sexual misconduct in 2020. Julie Ruhle and James Vick claimed that Officer Louis Waechter touched Ruhle, who was under arrest on charges of driving under the influence, inappropriately as she climbed into the back seat of a police car on Sept. 28, 2020. According to the court complaint, body cam footage of the... Full story
The Southeast Alaska Cities Against Drugs Task Force (SEACAD) conducted an operation during the week of April 17 which saw an estimated $177,400 worth of illegal narcotics seized in Petersburg according to Petersburg Police Chief James Kerr. The narcotics seized by SEACAD include crack cocaine, fentanyl, heroin, methamphetamine, and others. The SEACAD Task Force is a collaboration between the police departments in Southeast, the Alaska State Troopers, and federal law enforcement agencies which...
Alaskans for Better Elections will hold a presentation on Alaska’s new ranked choice voting system in the Petersburg Borough Assembly chambers on Thursday at 6 p.m. and via Zoom as the special election to fill the late Rep. Don Young’s seat approaches. Jason Grenn, the executive director of the nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, will discuss how the system works as well as the differences between the primary and general elections. Grenn will also host a public Q&A at Salty Pantry from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. on Friday to answer additional que...
The Petersburg Indian Association is looking to complete two projects next year which would increase public access to parks according to Tribal Administrator Chad Wright. PIA has entered an agreement with the Petersburg Borough to provide design and construction for the replacement of the staircase at Eagle's Roost Park after discussions with Parks and Recreation Director Stephanie Payne. The approximately 60-foot wooden staircase allowed beach access until it was removed because of its poor con...
The Petersburg School Board voted this month to update the district's science curriculum and add new courses at the high school. The update to the science curriculum looks to keep it in line with new standards set by the state of Alaska. School board members had an opportunity to hear about the updates to the curriculum and what the new classes would entail at a work session on April 8. The class order in the science curriculum will see a shift over the next five years to allow for each grade...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted unanimously in favor of two ordinances in their first readings during Monday's meeting, with Assembly Member Bob Lynn excused, which would increase the rates residents pay for water and sewage utilities. According to Utility Director Karl Hagerman, the increases included in Ordinance #2022-05 and Ordinance #2022-06 would be the first rate increases since 2018 and are needed to meet increased costs and expenses. Hagerman included a report in the meeting packe...
