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An aviation accident report on the Guardian King Air 200 medical life flight that lost control en route to pick up a patient in Kake in January 2019 could not definitively identify the cause of the accident due to limited information available. The report was conducted by the National Transportation Safety Board. Investigators were unable to recover the entire wreckage, and the Cockpit Voice Recorder did not contain recordings from the flight, according to the report. Investigators also...
The Borough Assembly updated several local health mandates and an emergency directive at an emergency meeting Tuesday in response to the expiration of the state's emergency declaration. The health mandates had previously contained language that reflected similar health mandates at the state level, but Alaska's health mandates related to COVID-19 expired Feb. 14 along with the emergency declaration. The Assembly updated the language in several of the local health mandates in order to reinstate...
The Petersburg Medical Center has the potential to vaccinate residents who want but have not yet received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine on March 12, but recipients will have to commit to getting the shot, said PMC Infection Prevention and Quality Manager Liz Bacom at the COVID-19 community update on Feb. 19. She asked those who have not put their name on PMC's COVID-19 vaccine waitlist to do so before the vaccine clinic on March 12 where first doses of the vaccine will be...
Two sample sites in the waters around Petersburg tested above the Alaska Water Quality Standard (WQS) for fecal coliform, according to a preliminary marine water quality report on Alaska's ports and shipping lanes by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation. Water samples were taken at six locations in the Wrangell Narrows over the course of 30 days during the summer of 2020. While fecal coliform was identified at all six locations, mean concentrations of the bacteria was above the...
The Borough Assembly awarded a bid to Rainforest Contracting for the repairs to the Motor Pool Shop for an amount not to exceed $1,130,450 at their meeting on Monday. The borough's insurance company will only be covering repairs to the Motor Pool Shop that are related to the Aug. 2019 fire, which comes out to $1,074,800. The remaining $55,650 of the project will be funded by the borough's Property Development Fund and will be used to make repairs to the building that were identified prior to...
The Registration Area A (Southeast Alaska) Tanner crab harvest strategy establishes commercial Tanner crab fishing season length using estimated mature male biomass and the number of registered pots at the start of the fishery. As of 9:00 a.m., Wednesday, February 17, 2021, there are 58 pot vessels and 4,640 pots registered for the 2020/2021 commercial Tanner crab fishery. At the current estimated mature male biomass and effort level of 4,640 registered pots, the harvest strategy provides one...
The commercial Dungeness crab fishery in Registration Area A (Southeast) will close in Districts 1 and 2, and Section 13- B outside of the Sitka Sound Special Use Area by regulation at 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, February 28. All Dungeness crab must be landed within 24 hours of a closure [5 AAC 32.031(d)]. Vessel operators unable to meet this deadline must contact department shellfish staff (Joe Stratman: (907) 772-5238, (907) 518-0755) within the 24 hours following the closure to request...
Greeting, screening and testing services at James A. Johnson Airport will remain in place until June 30 for intrastate, interstate and international visitors under two health mandates passed by the Borough Assembly at a special meeting on Tuesday. "It's a good way to protect the community, and it gives people a free source for the testing most of them want," said Vice Mayor Jeigh Stanton Gregor. Public health mandate #9 had been in effect prior to Tuesday's meeting, but needed to be updated to...
The Borough Assembly awarded an equipment procurement contract for the Blind Slough Hydroelectric project to Gilbert Gilkes and Gordon, Ltd. for a total of $2,002,396 at their meeting Monday. Gilbert Gilkes and Gordon, Ltd., which is based out of the United Kingdom, was one of five companies that responded to Petersburg Municipal Power & Light's Request for Proposals. The company has agreed to defer the start of any work on the equipment until funding has been secured by the Borough. Utility...
The Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department responded to a house fire on Tuesday in the early morning hours, which likely left the building a total loss, said PVFD Assistant Fire Chief Dave Berg. A family of three awoke just before 4:45 A.M. on Feb. 16 when the smoke detectors in their home at Scow Bay Loop Rd. began going off, said Berg. They could also see flames through their living room window. None of the occupants were harmed in the fire, said Berg. The home is built on top of a garage,...
The Canadian government issued an order on Feb. 4 to prohibit cruise ships in all Canadian waters until Feb. 28, 2022, but Dave Berg, cofounder of Viking Travel, said the restriction would only affect one cruise line expected to port in Petersburg this summer. Victory Cruise Lines' foreign-flagged ship Ocean Victory is scheduled to port in Petersburg eight times this season, with the first stop expected on July 17. According to the Jones Act, which regulates maritime commerce in the United...
A local resident who has recently traveled has tested positive for COVID-19, which is the first case reported in at least the last seven days, according to a joint press release issued Wednesday between the Petersburg Borough and Petersburg Medical Center. The individual has been quarantining since their arrival in town while waiting for the results of their COVID-19 test. The individual is currently in isolation, and the Public Health Office has been contacted. The community risk level...
Alaska's disaster declaration, which was used to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, expired on Sunday after the state legislature and Gov. Mike Dunleavy failed to extend the declaration. Petersburg's Emergency Operations Center Incident Commander Karl Hagerman said some local health mandates are unaffected, but other local mandates are suspended until the Borough Assembly can update them on Monday. With the absence of a disaster declaration, Dunleavy issued four health advisories on Feb. 14...
Petersburg Medical Center administered a second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine on Feb. 11 to residents who received their first dose on Jan. 14, said PMC Director of Nursing Jennifer Bryner at the COVID-19 community update on Feb. 12. About 350 residents received their second dose of the vaccine on Feb. 11. An additional 50 doses were also administered to first time receivers during the vaccine clinic, said Bryner. Those that received their first dose on Feb. 11 will get their second shot on...
Dave and Sally Riemer were students at Shaker Heights High School in Ohio when they had their first date in 1952. The two had attended a choir picnic together, but looking back, Sally said the most memorable aspect of that day was the 1931 Ford Model A that Dave picked her up in. "He had to crank it up," said Sally. Dave was a junior in high school when the couple had their first date, and Sally was one year behind him. After graduation, they both attended colleges in different states and their...
The Deck Out Our Deck organizers just raised $5,374 through a raffle fundraiser on Feb. 14, which brings the project closer to the approximately $112,000 needed to build a covered deck at Mountain View Manor. A thousand tickets were sold to raffle off nine handmade quilts. As each ticket was drawn, each winner was able to take their pick of the quilts that had not yet been chosen. Sally Dwyer, the organizer of the fundraiser, said all the funds will go towards the Deck Out Our Deck project. The...
Rae C. Stedman Elementary School will begin offering special education preschool beginning in the 2021-2022 school year, Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter told the Petersburg School Board at their meeting on Feb. 9. The program will be offered to special education students between three and five years old. Their enrollment in the program will be free, but others can join the program for a fee. Kludt-Painter said the fee would ensure the program isn't competing with established preschools in the...
Petersburg COVID-19 case count has risen by six cases since Monday evening for a total of 26 active cases, according to the Emergency Operations Center COVID-19 Dashboard. Twenty-four of the active cases are currently in Petersburg, while the remaining two cases are infected residents who are outside of the community, according to Incident Commander Karl Hagerman at a special Borough Assembly meeting on Tuesday. The EOC issued a CodeRed alert Monday evening to make the community aware of the... Full story
A motion to terminate the local face masking mandate failed at an assembly meeting on Monday after assembly members declined to second the motion. Assembly Taylor Norheim requested the action item be on Monday's agenda and made the motion to terminate Public Health Mandate #8. The motion failed to gain a second, which prevented a discussion and vote on terminating the mask mandate. The mask mandate was put in place by the Borough Assembly in November and will remain in place until the assembly...
The Petersburg School Board approved the academic calendar for the 2021-2022 school year at their meeting on Tuesday that takes a more traditional approach to the school year. Under the approved calendar, school begins on Aug. 31 for students and ends on June 2. Christmas break will be two weeks long, and spring break will continue to be one week long in the middle of March. The Petersburg School District also scheduled in-service days for teachers near other holidays, like Labor Day, to extend...
A pre-hire employee for the 2021 tanner and golden king crab season at OBI Seafoods has tested positive for COVID-19, according to a joint press release from the Petersburg Borough and Petersburg Medical Center on Monday. The individual tested positive during the cannery's asymptomatic testing of all incoming employees, according to a press release from OBI Seafoods. The person is currently asymptomatic and is in isolation. Employees that may have come into contact with the infected individual...
The Borough Assembly unanimously approved an ordinance in its first reading that reestablishes user fees at the Parks and Recreation Center and allows anyone under the age of 18 to use the facility for free. Ordinance #2021-03 groups all users into two categories and establishes three types of fees. Those under the age of 18 are free to use the facility without payment, according to the ordinance. Those over the age of 18 either pay $5 per visit, $300 for an annual pass or $48 for a punch pass...
The Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department responded to a call on Feb. 9 about smoke emitting from a dryer in a home at a location on Scow Bay Loop Rd. A volunteer firefighter who was near the scene was the first to respond to the call and turned off the dryer, said Dave Berg. The smoke immediately began to dissipate. Responding officers with the PVFD called off other responding volunteer firefighters, as there wasn't a threat of fire in the home. The heat was contained within the dryer and didn't...
Mechanical issues on the M/V Matanuska have cancelled the ferry's sailings between Feb. 10 and 23, according to a press release from the Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities. DOT anticipates the M/V Matanuska to resume its scheduled southbound trip to Ketchikan on Feb. 24. Meanwhile, the M/V LeConte will be covering the traffic between Southeast Alaska ports that are affected by the cancellation, including Petersburg....
The Borough Assembly supported a letter to the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities that requests the state install street lights on Papke's Landing Rd. at all locations that serve as a bus stop. Assembly Member Jeff Meuci requested the agenda after residents on Papke's Landing Rd. sought his help in drafting a letter to the state. Meucci said he didn't help write the letter, which is signed by Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht, but showed his support for street lights on...
