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On July 12, the cruise ship Safari Quest discharged their wastewater into Petersburg Harbor due to a malfunctioning fan. The fan impeded the normal processing of wastewater and a small amount of poorly processed material was released into the harbor before the mistake was noticed and the valve was shut off, according to Dan Blanchard, CEO of UnCruise Adventures, in a prepared statement. "We sincerely regret the incident and want to assure the community this is not our usual practice," said...
Last week, Petersburg Medical Center Controller Rocio Tereja presented the board of directors with a review of the hospitals financial standing at the end of the 2019 fiscal year that ended on June 30. PMC was ahead in operating revenue and total operating expenses by five and seven percent respectively, and has seven more days of operating cash on hand than at the start of the 2019 fiscal year. Additionally, PMC's total cash increased to $8,047,677 from $6,992,066 since the start of the year....
A group of about 10 individuals have banded together to secure funding for an outdoor covered deck at Mountain View Manor so its residents have a place to sit outside in the sun. While there is a deck on the backside of the manor, that area can get too cold for the residents since the sun doesn't shine there during the day. Residents have begun sitting in front of the building by one of the entrances in an effort to enjoy some fresh air in the sunlight, but there is not a designated sitting...
The Petersburg Medical Center Board of Directors approved the hospital's 2020 fiscal year capital budget for a total of $769,785 last week. The most expensive capital item in the budget is a $387,000 new drug room for the pharmacy, followed by $139,980 in upgrades in the information technology department. The rest of the departments have a combined total of $142,805 in capital items. When the budget was first presented to the board of directors in June, PMC Controller Rocio Tereja said the...
Adam Pack, a professor and marine mammal scientist with the University of Hawaii Hilo, gave a presentation at the Petersburg Library on Tuesday on the data he has collected on humpback whales this summer and over the course of his research. Humpback whales are season breeders with separate feeding and breeding grounds. The humpback whales that can be seen throughout Southeast Alaska during the summer are feeding in the region before returning back to their breeding grounds in Hawaii, near Maui....
The State and the Inland Boatmens Union have reached a tentative agreement. AMHS is resuming service, to see the new schedule click link below: https://www.dot.state.ak.us/oars/reservations/CalendarFM.amhsf?selectMonth=August+2019&selectPort=Petersburg&selectVessel=All+Vessels&action=Get+Schedule Call 1-800-642-0066 with questions. Due to the high volume of calls, it may take time to connect with a customer service representative. AMHS staff will never request credit card information from... Full story
An investigation by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation revealed that the Le Soléal did not dump sewage into Frederick Sound near Le Conte Bay earlier this month after a report of "brown sludge" being seen near the cruise ship's anchorage. The DEC conducted an onboard inspection, reviewed the electronic monitoring records for the ship's pumps, observed samples taken of the ship's treated water and talked to crew members of the Le Soléal, said Ed White of the commercial p...
The borough assembly denied Police Chief Jim Kerr's request to advertise and fill a vacant police sergeant position at an assembly meeting last week. While the borough's 2020 operating budget does allocate funds for the position, assembly members decided not to fill the position, citing uncertainty in the ability to continue funding the $127,224 position in the future. The assembly increased the millage rate in service area one to 12.3 mills earlier this month as a response to Gov. Mike...
The borough assembly voted against filling a vacant EMS coordinator position last week that would free up Fire/EMS Director Sandy Dixson's time to apply for grants, while designating an individual that could train more EMS volunteers. "If people don't think that this is a big deal, you will come this winter or some late night when something is going haywire out at your house or there's a car accident and you don't have enough people, then people are going to get really upset at why we don't have...
From Oct. 31, 2018 through July 6, the United States Coast Guard Cutter ELDERBERRY, home ported in Petersburg, was dry docked in Ketchikan for routine maintenance. Coast Guard civilian employees performed most of the work, which included a complete overhaul the ship's engines and the replacement of the fire main piping and potable water piping, according to Andrew Tetrault, executive petty officer of the ELDERBERRY. A large portion of the ship's steel and deck was also replaced. The ELDERBERRY...
Southeast Alaska is currently going through its second year of increased hemlock sawfly activity, but an entomologist with the United States Forest Service said the trees that the insects feed off of should make a full recovery after the ecosystem regulates itself. "We have experienced these kinds of outbreaks in the past," said Elizabeth Graham, an entomologist with the State & Private Forestry, which is a branch of the USFS that focuses on forest health protection. "Usually we have a big...
Sea otters are protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act, a federal law that prohibits the harvesting of marine mammals. However, this law does allow for some exceptions. Under section 101 of the act, on page 16, it reads that "... the provisions of this Act shall not apply with respect to the taking of any marine mammal by any Indian, Aleut, or Eskimo who resides in Alaska and who dwells on the coast of the North Pacific Ocean or the Arctic Ocean if such taking-(1) is for subsistence...
The borough assembly approved an ordinance last week in its first reading that would give voters the opportunity to decide whether or not to allow the water and wastewater departments to take out loans not to exceed a total of $8 million for capital improvement projects. The responsibility of the repayment of the loans would fall on water and wastewater rate payers. The loans will be through the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and will be paid back over a 20-year period at 1.5...
A fisherman reported raw sewage had been dumped into Frederick Sound near Le Conte Bay on the morning of July 10, but the cruise ship Le Soléal's captain, Erwan Le Rouzic, said any sewage found in the bay could not have been from them. "This cannot be us," wrote Le Rouzic in a statement to Dave Berg of Viking Travel. "It is impossible. We are strictly following the most stringent rules in Alaska waters." Berg first contacted Le Rouzic after some fishermen noticed a presence of "long brown...
Sea otters are considered by many people to be an adorable animal, an important part of the ecosystem, and also a nuisance that is threatening other marine life populations in Southeast Alaska. In Wrangell, many people have talked about the need for better population control when it comes to otters. The Wrangell Borough Assembly talked about loosening restrictions on hunting the creatures last September with Sebastian O'Kelly, a federal lobbyist. Back in May, fifth-grade student Brody Knecht...
The authority and accountability of the United States Coast Guard Cutter ANACAPA transferred from Lt. Rachel Kent to Lt. Curtis Gookin in a change of command ceremony last Friday. Capt. Stephen White, USCG commander for sector Juneau, was in attendance and conducted the relief of command. In his remarks, White spoke of the hardships of sailing in Southeast Alaska. From 2001-2003, White serviced on the USCGC ANACAPA and knows the importance of the vessel's presence in Petersburg and throughout...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly will hold their second meeting of July this evening, July 18, at 6 P.M. and will discuss the vacant police sergeant and EMS coordinator positions, as well as two ordinances. The borough's 2020 fiscal year operating budget funds both the police sergeant and EMS coordinator position, but an amendment was made to the budget to not fill either of the positions until the borough was sure it had the funding. Police Chief Jim Kerr will request authorization to advertise...
The Petersburg Fire Department responded to a house fire on the 800 block of Wrangell Ave. on Tuesday that was quickly extinguished thanks to the quick thinking of a neighbor who happened to be passing by. Sergeant Derek Thorsen, of the Petersburg Police Department, was walking down Wrangell Ave. around 10 A.M. on Tuesday while off duty when he saw smoke coming out of the kitchen window of the home. He called 911 and went to investigate the source of the smoke. He saw flames coming out of the...
On Aug. 11, Abigail Anderson will be leaving Petersburg to study in Celle, Germany for her sophomore year of high school. Anderson said she was first inspired to study abroad after listening to one of her classmates give a presentation on his time spent studying in France. "That sounds cool to do," said Anderson. "Go off to another country and learn their language and learn their culture." She applied for a student exchange program through the Alaska District Rotary Club, which sends about 24...
Petersburg Medical Center CEO Phil Hofstetter has been in town for just over a year, and said he has accomplished everything he had set out to achieve during his first year on the job. He came to PMC from the Norton Sound Health Corporation in Nome where he was vice president of hospital services for about six and half years, but he had been working in the Nome area for almost 20 years. Hofstetter was one of four finalists who applied for the position last year, but he was ultimately offered...
An investigation by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation revealed that the Le Soléal did not dump sewage into Frederick Sound near Le Conte Bay earlier this month after a report of "long brown sludge" seen near the cruise ship's anchorage. The DEC conducted an onboard inspection, reviewed the electronic monitoring records for the ship's pumps, observed samples taken of the ship's treated water and talked to crew members of the Le Soléal, said Ed White of the commercial p... Full story
The borough assembly approved a resolution on Friday increasing the millage rate in service area one to 12.3 mills in response to Gov. Mike Dunleavy's decision to veto 50 percent of the School Bond Debt Reimbursement funding. The millage rate is the amount per $1,000 of a property's assessed value that is used to calculate taxes within the borough. Resolution 2019-11 increases the previous millage rate of 11.45 mills by .85 mills for property owners for in service area one. Residents outside of...
Cars were driving by honking and rock 'n' roll music was playing as nearly 100 residents gathered in front of the Petersburg Courthouse on Tuesday at 12 P.M. to protest Gov. Mike Dunleavy's 182 vetoes. Protestors were carrying signs that read "override," and "save our state." They were also signing their names on a piece of canvass that had the letters S.O.S. on it. One of the organizers, Chelsea Tremblay, said that the canvass will be sent to legislators to show that they have the support of...
For this season, about 532,000 salmon have been commercially harvested in the Southeast Alaska region, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game Blue Sheet that is updated daily. Chum salmon make up a major portion of that number at 205,000 harvested. About 163,000 pink salmon have been harvested so far, with 80,000 Chinook salmon harvested. Coho and sockeye salmon have the lowest numbers at 31,000 and 53,000 harvested this season respectively. The gillnet fisheries began opening up...
The warm and dry period that began in the latter half of June and continued into July has been unusually long and broke two high temperature records, according to Tom Ainsworth, meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service forecast office in Juneau. The average temperatures for the month of June in Petersburg were two degrees above normal, according to Ainsworth. The normal average temperature for June is 54.1 degrees, but last month the average temperature was 56.1 degrees. June 27...
