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Petersburg is set to receive an 87-foot Marine Protector Class coastal patrol vessel that will serve the Inside Passage with search and rescue patrols, fisheries enforcement, drug smuggling interception and other missions. The vessel will be home ported in Petersburg after the 110-ft. Anacapa is removed from service in 2021. Mayor Mark Jensen told the Pilot Wednesday, "It's a done deal." This was discussed in D.C. this winter when he made a personal visit with the Alaska Congressional...
The Borough Assembly deliberated over the first draft of the fiscal year 2019 budget presented Friday afternoon by Finance Director Jody Tow. Tow told the assembly the property tax mill rate decreases this year from 11.6 mills to 11.38 mills. The millage rate is the amount per $1,000 used to calculate taxes on property. Absent voter approved levies for the school, aquatic center, assisted living and library debt, the mill rate is below the required cap (10 mills) at 9.2 mills. Tow said the mill...
Michael P. Heiser, attorney for the Hanson Class, plaintiffs in a lawsuit against Kake Tribal Corporation, is seeking a court order forcing Attorney Fred Triem to render a full accounting of the Hanson Class funds being held in his trust account. In the early 1990s, Triem represented the "Hanson Class" of shareholders who were plaintiffs, bringing suit against Kake Tribal Corporation. The court awarded judgment to the plaintiffs in the amount of $2.7 million, plus costs, attorney fees and...
The Borough’s Enterprise Funds are all solvent and to keep it that way, some rate increases will go into effect this fiscal year. Enterprise operations are carried out by the harbor, water, wastewater, sanitation, elderly housing and assisted living departments, which largely pay their own way from revenue they generate from people using their services. Finance Director Jody Tow noted that the Assisted Living fund is being subsidized by the General Fund for both Bond Debt ($179,606) and Operating Fund transfer ($150,000) this year. That a...
Automated External Defibrillators will be added and old units replaced as a part of the 2018/19 Borough budget. The line item will cost $30,200 for 16 units and 5 training devises used to train EMS providers and lifeguards. The defibrillators cost $1,700 each and are placed in Borough vehicles and public buildings. According to a budget proposal the units will be placed in two ambulances, the PVFD administration vehicle, four in public access buildings, the pool, gym, the PMP&L offices and line truck, in four police patrol vehicles and in the...
The Petersburg Pilot and Wrangell Sentinel each received two awards from the Alaska Press Club for work completed in 2017. Pilot publisher Ron Loesch received two awards. Second place was for a story about local attorney Fred Triem representing his client for months following her demise. The story was published Sept. 7. Judges noted in part: “A grim tale from which the reader reaps great benefit. A fascinating case well worth the front page for complexity and original subject matter…” Placing third was an editorial appearing in the July 6 edi...
SITKA, Alaska (AP) — A Sitka bear sanctuary is getting ready to unveil its new black bear enclosure when it opens for the tourist season. Fortress of the Bear Manager Claire Turner said during a presentation at the Sitka Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday that the new enclosure will add about 10 times the space of its previous habitat, the Daily Sitka Sentinel reported. It expects to open by early May, Turner said. Les and Evy Kinnear opened the fortress in 2002. At the time, they only worked with brown bears. They later added a separate 4...
WRANGELL - Wrangell was last week granted a special economic designation by the state along with 24 other Alaskan communities. The Department of Commerce, Community & Economic Development named the community as one of its new "opportunity zones," part of a federal program designed to drive long-term capital investment to economically distressed communities. According to the federal Treasury Department, Alaska has 60 low-income communities eligible for the designation. With the creation of the...
WRANGELL — Wrangell Public School District learned last week its secondary school principal, Bill Schwan, will be departing after the current academic year ends. His departure is the latest among the district’s top administrators. At Evergreen Elementary, school principal Gail Taylor tendered notice in January. She took off for Oklahoma earlier than expected, departing this week on Tuesday. Faculty member Therese Pempek will helm the school through the year’s end. After a search for Taylor’s replacement, the district announced it will be hiri...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The Alaska Legislature on Monday revised its sexual harassment policy to allow for the use of outside investigators in cases involving legislators under certain circumstances. The Legislature’s human resources manager would have the discretion to decide whether to hire an independent investigator, but the presiding officer or minority leader could also make a request for an outside investigator. The policy, adopted by the Legislative Council, also includes an appeals process and formal and informal reporting pro...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska Airlines has updated its policy on emotional support animals following an increase in incidents involving them on planes and in airports, including some customers and employees suffering bites. Starting May 1, customers flying with psychiatric service animals must provide animal health and behavioral documents and a signed document from a medical professional at least 48 hours prior to departure. The airline also will stop allowing amphibians, goats and animals with hooves, tusks or horns. Alaska Airlines s...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The University of Alaska Center for Economic Development has designed a competition to come up with renewable energy business ideas. The competition’s organizers assigned a different challenge related to renewable energy in Alaska to four teams across the state. They have had five weeks to solve it, Alaska’s Energy Desk reported Wednesday. Organizer Julia Casey said the competition was born from an exercise called a “design sprint,” common in Silicon Valley. Casey said by forcing teams to develop a renewable energy to...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The process of laying off teachers in what’s known as “pink slip season” — May 15 to the last day of school — attracts most of the attention when education loyalists argue for funding. But there’s another category known as “displaced” or involuntarily transferred teachers that also stems from budget cuts. It involves keeping a teacher in the district but putting him or her up for bid to a different school. Teachers selected to be laid off or displaced are identified by school principals and generally are the latest hi...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The Alaska Senate has narrowly approved a formal statement supporting a “free and open” internet that’s equally accessible to all consumers. The so-called Sense of the Senate also calls on Congress to overturn a Federal Communications Commission decision to end net-neutrality protections. It passed 11-7. The FCC in December voted to gut U.S. rules meant to prevent broadband companies from exercising more control over what people watch and see online. Sen. Bill Wielechowski (wil-a-KOW-skee), an Anchorage Democrat who spo...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska state Rep. Justin Parish says he will not seek re-election this year. That means none of the three members of the Legislature representing Juneau plan to run in this year’s elections. Sen. Dennis Egan and Rep. Sam Kito III announced previously that they do not intend to seek re-election. All three are Democrats. Parish announced his intentions in a video posted to his Facebook page, and confirmed them in a phone interview with The Associated Press. The first-term lawmaker said he had maintained that he would see...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) —The penalty is going up for hanging out in a car and not actively loading passengers outside the Juneau International Airport terminal. Juneau radio station KTOO reports the Juneau Assembly voted Monday to quadruple the fine from $25 to $100 for drivers clogging up the loading zone in front of the terminal. Airport Board Chairman David Epstein says too many people idle in the active loading area while waiting for passengers. He says there’s a free cellphone lot where people cars can wait until passengers emerge. Mun...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A small cruise ship company is already offering trips to Alaska as part of an effort to persuade the industry to set sail for the state earlier in the year. UnCruise Adventures has launched cruises in southeast Alaska a few weeks before the first large passenger vessel is due in Juneau at the end of the month, the Juneau Empire reported Friday. “It’s the whole idea of making May the new June and April the new May,” said Dan Blanchard, the company’s CEO. “We can do that in southeast and even a little bit in south centr...
The USCG Auxiliary is offering Free Vessel Safety Checks Sat., May 12 at the South Boat Harbor starting at 9 AM....
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is moving toward oil and gas drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, fulfilling a longtime Republican priority that most Democrats fiercely oppose. A notice being published Friday in the Federal Register starts a 60-day review to sell oil and gas leases in the remote refuge, one of the most pristine areas in the United States and home to polar bears, caribou, migratory birds and other species. President Donald Trump has said he “really didn’t care” about opening a portion of the refug...
A hospital administrator from Nome is slated to become CEO of the Petersburg Medical Center. Philip Hofstetter, who's been vice president of hospital services at the Norton Sound Health Corporation in Nome for about six and a half years, was offered the CEO position at the Petersburg Medical Center. He signed a four-year contract, and his salary will be $185,000 annually. Hofstetter has 25 years of healthcare experience, 20 of which in Nome, with the last five in administration, overseeing a...
A Petersburg Samaritan was clipped by an oncoming car on Sunday as he was tending to a distressed man in the middle of the road, who had just swum halfway across the Wrangell Narrows, police say. Sgt. Jim Kerr with the Petersburg Police Department said Jeremy Johnson was floating halfway -- “or a little more” -- across the Wrangell Narrows on Sunday when the dingy he was in sank. Kerr said Johnson swam back to Mitkof Island, crawled up the bank and went into the roadway to seek help. The good Samaritan, Colin Perry, noticed Johnson on Mit...
This week we distribute the Petersburg Pilot to all post office boxholders. If you’re not a regular reader of this publication, it’s your opportunity to look it over and consider purchasing a discounted subscription as a new subscriber. We do this on a regular basis, as it has proven successful in attracting new readers. We increased our single copy price this month, and a subscription is one way to save several dollars annually as opposed to paying the higher newsstand rate. In addition to local news stories, we also publish special sec...
KODIAK, Alaska (AP) — Thousands of small earthquakes have been recorded in the Kodiak area since a magnitude 7.9 temblor in January hit about 175 miles (281 kilometers) southeast of the city. Nearly 3,000 aftershock quakes of 2.5 or above have hit since the major earthquake on Jan. 23. The vast majority have hit southeast of the island in the same area as the major quake, the Kodiak Daily Mirror reported Thursday. Only 20 were recorded last year over the same time period. Natalia Ruppert, a seismologist at the University of Alaska, said a...
KENAI, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska public health nurse says the state’s recent outbreak of chlamydia and gonorrhea is likely to place it in the top tier of national rankings for the two sexually transmitted diseases. The Peninsula Clarion reports that Susan Jones, manager of the state HIV/STD program, said Alaska will likely place in the first- or second-place spot for both of the diseases, which continues the state’s trend of leading the nation in outbreaks. Jones said that in 2017, preliminary numbers show that there were more than 2,000 cases...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Karl Ward is long dead, but some say the once-revered school superintendent in a small Alaska fishing town was not the benevolent educator worthy of having the high school gym named in his honor. A cellphone video made by a man before he died by suicide last month has given voice to at least five other men, all of whom say they were sexually abused decades ago by Ward, confirming publicly whispers that had long quietly existed. Rick Martin graphically explained on the video what he said Ward had done to him, and now his w...
