Sorted by date Results 1651 - 1675 of 5553
Installation of the borough's new baler has been completed, and it should be baling garbage sometime this week, according to Public Works Director Chris Cotta. Demolition of the old baler began at the end of September and through the first week of October then the site was prepared for the new baler. Installation of the baler began on Oct. 7 and has been completed, except for some welding that needs to be done, according to Cotta. The new baler will operate much like the old one, but Cotta said...
Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht explained the results of a phase one environmental assessment at an assembly meeting Monday of the Petro 49, Inc. building and property that the borough would receive in a possible land swap, which shows three areas of concern on the east side of the property. The first area of interest is a concrete slab that used to have a petroleum tank on it. There is also an area on the east side of the lot that has a group of 55-gallon oil drums, and an old oil heating...
This year's moose season finished with a final count of 127 animals, which is a new Unit Three record, according to Petersburg Fish & Game. Last week when the season ended on Oct. 15, final preliminary numbers showed 125 moose harvested this year, but hunters had an additional five days from the end of the season to report their kills to fish and game. Since the end of the season, two more moose were reported. The additional moose were shot in the Stikine River area and another mainland...
Twenty poker players were all in on Sunday for the sixth annual Annabelle Baker Poker Tournament, which raised $1,230 for the Beat the Odds organization. The tournament was first established by Jeigh Stanton Gregor to remember the late Annabelle Baker, who was known as a competitive poker player. "This is the first year in a couple years where we had a good time near the end reminiscing about Annabelle and her poker skills," said Stanton Gregor. "I think we all enjoyed that, talking with Pat...
The borough assembly held a discussion at their meeting on Monday on the idea of the borough partnering with the Petersburg Indian Association to take over the maintenance of Greens Camp from the state. Public Works Director Chris Cotta said that the state has paid the borough in the past for the maintenance of Greens Camp, along with Banana Point Boat Dock and Wilson Creek. For the 2019 calendar year, the state cut their funding from $6,200 to $3,000, but the borough still has yet to receive...
Mike Payne, a local resident was part of a hunting trip last Friday when a skiff capsized in Duncan Canal around 1 A.M. that resulted in the death of Doug Larson. Payne said that Larson and Charles King were bringing the rest of their hunting buddies warm pizza when the wind and tide became too strong and pulled the skiff back to shore. Payne couldn't see the duo in the dark, but at one point he heard a yell. "We called out, but through the wind and tide they couldn't hear us or us hear them,"...
The Petersburg School Board passed updates to 17 policies to align with the Association of Alaska School Boards' changes in policy to reflect state laws in its first reading at their meeting on Oct. 8, but a new board policy regarding restrictions on sex offenders on campus was put on hold until the next board meeting. The changes to the 17 board policies were minor language changes that didn't affect the meaning of the policy, according to School Board Vice President Sarah Holmgrain. One board...
The 2019 moose season ended with a preliminary count of 125 animals, setting a new record in unit three. Moose season began on Sept. 15 and ended Tuesday, Oct. 15. As of Wednesday afternoon, the final number of moose brought in by hunters this season was 125. Hunters have until five days after the end of the season to report their kill to fish and game officials. "It's still subject to change," said Fish and Game Area Biologist Frank Robbins. "I don't expect it to change a lot." In 2017,...
Mitkof Middle School will begin requiring seventh and eighth graders to get into the pool one week every three weeks as part of their physical education on Monday. Swimming has been a part of the middle school's P.E. program, but the school hasn't had a third physical education teacher, who is also a certified swim teacher. This year, a third teacher was added, and Daniel Van Swearingen will be the middle school swim instructor. The seventh and eighth graders will be split into three groups....
Rotary District Governor André Layral was in town this week meeting with the Petersburg Rotary Club to discuss how he can support their ongoing projects and members. Layral has been district governor since July 1 and will serve for one year. For the two and a half years before he became district governor, Layral was undergoing training to better understand the volunteer position. Layral said most of his work is done behind the scenes, doing administrative work to keep the district operating,...
Petersburg was without power Sunday after a tree touching a power line at the 4.7 mile mark of Mitkof Highway acted as a conductor, causing Southeast Alaska Power Agency's protective relays on their transmission lines to trip. Before the power went out at approximately 11:30 A.M., the tree that was touching the power line caught on fire, but it eventually put itself out, according to Utility Director Karl Hagerman. The responding power and light line crew was able to restore power within the...
Mark Roberts was on the second hole of the Sea Mountain Golf Course in Sitka last month, and the only one on the green, when the golf ball he just swung at hit a bald eagle while it was flying about 10 yards in front of him. The eagle was still alive as Roberts approached it, but it died while he was on the phone with a 911 dispatcher. "I could not believe what just happened," said Roberts. "Did I panic? Did I cry? Did I get shook up? Yes, I did. Very much so." Roberts said the 911 dispatcher...
Total ballots cast - 1,134 Mayor - one 3-year term Mark Jensen - 591 Jeff Meucci - 530 Assembly - two 3-year terms Aaron R. Hankins - 354 Marc Martinsen - 476 Jeigh Stanton Gregor - 649 Chelsea Tremblay - 539 School board - two 3-year terms Sarah P. Holmgrain - 929 Mara E. Lutomski - 815 Hospital board - three 3-year terms George S. Doyle - 651 Cynthia Lagoudakis - 598 Lisa Nilsen - 263 Joe Stratman - 544 Stacey Thorsen - 456 Jackie Tyson - 266 Planning Commission - two 3-year terms No...
The borough assembly tallied the final votes of the municipal election and certified their results at their regular meeting on Monday. Seven questioned and pending absentee ballots were added to the unofficial results that were released on election night last week, bringing the total amount of ballots cast to 1,134. The seven ballots weren't enough to change any of the outcomes in the election. Mark Jensen received one additional vote and Jeff Meucci received six votes in the mayoral race....
The numbers from the Petersburg Medical Center Foundation two-month long fundraiser are in and, beginning with the Paddle Battle in July through an Alaska Airlines raffle in September, the foundation raised approximately $11,800 for staff education. About 27 participants signed up for the seventh annual Paddle Battle in the Narrows fundraiser, which began at Papke's Landing and ended at Sandy Beach Park with an opportunity to take a break at Scow Bay. Troy Larson was the first to reach Sandy Bea...
The borough assembly accepted a grant totaling $295,000 from the fiscal year 2019 State Homeland Security Program to assist with the purchase and installation of a new E911 system and a joint training exercise between local EMS and law enforcement personnel. In a memo to Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht, Petersburg Police Department Captain Randal Holmgrain said $285,000 from the grant would go specifically towards the new E911 system. Holmgrain said the overall cost of the project is estimated...
The Southeast Alaska Power Agency Board approved $97,750 to replace the backup battery bank at the Tyee Lake hydro facility at a regular board meeting last Thursday. Early last month, Petersburg and Wrangell were providing their own power for about a week while the Tyee Lake Hydro facility was offline for annual maintenance. During the maintenance period, SEAPA conducted a battery capacity discharge test of the hydro project's nickel-cadmium batteries. Three hours into the test, one of the...
Unofficial poll numbers show Mark Jensen returning for another three year term as mayor and incumbent Jeigh Stanton Gregor and Chelsea Tremblay elected to the borough assembly in the municipal election on Tuesday. Jensen had 590 votes and Jeff Meucci, who also sought the mayor’s seat, had 524 votes, according to unofficial results. Stanton Gregor and Tremblay beat Aaron Hankins and Marc Martinsen for the two seats on the assembly. The seats had belonged to Stanton Gregor and Kurt Wohlhueter. W...
The borough's diesel generators began providing power to Petersburg Sunday afternoon after a failure in a Southeast Alaska Power Agency transmission line left the community without electricity for two and a half hours. The power outage occurred around 2 p.m., but it took Petersburg Municipal Power & Light some time to bring the power back on. SEAPA had thought they cleared the problem and instructed Petersburg to close its breakers at the substation in anticipation of restoring power, but the...
This year's moose harvest looks to be above the five- year average with the moose count at 64 just 17 days into the season. Between 2014 and 2018, the average moose count for this time of the season was 58. There was a dip in the moose harvest this time last year, with only 42 being taken. Fish and Game Area Biologist Frank Robbins said the warm weather last fall may have been a factor in the low number of moose being taken. In 2017 and 2016, the moose harvest was 64 about 17 days into the seaso...
The Petersburg Medical Center's Joy Janssen Clinic was awarded the 2019 Golden Stethoscope Award for its medication assisted treatment program for substance abuse by the Alaska State Hospital & Nursing Home Association. "It's just a nice pat on the back," said PMC CEO Phil Hofstetter. "It's a nice acknowledgment amongst all the different facilities in the state. I think it's worthwhile." The yearly award was given to PMC at an ASHNHA conference last week. A team of PMC staff wrote up a...
The water level at Tyee Lake was at 1,344.9 feet on Monday, which is roughly 60 feet higher than it was this time last year. As part of the Southeast Alaska Power Agency, Tyee Lake dedicates its power to Petersburg and Wrangell, while Swan Lake produces power for Ketchikan. While the 1,345 foot water level is lower than the norm for Tyee Lake, it is still higher than the 1,285 foot water level in September 2018, said Utility Director Karl Hagerman. If water were to stop flowing into Tyee Lake...
Despite being the second wettest month out of the year for Petersburg, September was slightly below the normal 13.65 inch rainfall amount at 12.21 inches, according to Dan Hartsock, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service forecast office in Juneau. Petersburg is also below the normal amount of rainfall for the first nine months of the year. There were 59.87 inches of rainfall reported in Petersburg in 2019 so far, but by this time of the year, the city typically has 70.74 inches of...
The Petersburg municipal election is next week, and only one proposition, which would authorize long-term indebtedness for utility capital projects, will be on the ballot. The loans will be through the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and will be paid back over a 20-year period at 1.5 percent interest. The responsibility of the repayment of the loans would fall on water and wastewater rate payers. The wastewater department has five projects planned for a total of $2.6 million,...
Beginning this week, Public Works will not be picking up commingled recyclables for a minimum of six weeks, while the borough's new baler is being installed. The current baler has already been removed from the baler facility, and staff is prepping the floor for the new baler that is set to arrive next week. Commingled recyclables need to be dry and baled before being shipping to the recycling facility, so the borough can't store the material in the baler facility while construction is ongoing;...
