Sorted by date Results 1635 - 1659 of 5553
After officials from the United States Forest Service presented their six alternatives to the Roadless Rule at a public meeting last week and stated the agency preferred a full exemption of the rule in the Tongass National Forest, community members in the audience overwhelmingly spoke out against the exemption. Alternative six, the preferred alternative, would exempt all 9.2 million acres of the Tongass National Forest from the 2001 Roadless Rule that set out to protect and preserve inventoried...
Stan Eilenberger had just finished a week's worth of finals at Colorado State University in December 1960 when he met a United States Marine Corps recruiter. A few days later, he was a Marine. "Monday morning, I was sitting in San Diego," said Eilenberger. "I said, 'Did I make a mistake?' Out of the few mistakes I made, it was a good one." Eilenberger was studying electrical engineering in college, so after he finished boot camp, the Marine Corps began training him to be a radio relay technician...
A Petersburg Pilot editorial that was printed in July 2018 earned an Honorable Mention award in the National Newspaper Association Better Newspaper Editorial Contest. Pilot co-publisher Ron Loesch accepted the award at the NNA annual meeting in Milwaukee, Wisconsin last month. The editorial was written in response to a letter to the editor that criticized the police chief who took his sons on a successful bear hunting trip. Both shot their first bears, photos of which appeared in the Petersburg...
Representatives from the United State Forest Service presented a draft environmental impact statement at a public meeting last week that listed a full exemption of the Roadless Rule in the Tongass National Forest as the preferred alternative. In Jan. 2018, then Gov. Bill Walker submitted a petition to Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue requesting that Alaska be exempted from 2001 Roadless Rule, according to Dave Schmid, regional forester for the Alaska region. Perdue instead asked the USFS...
The Petersburg Elks Lodge and Emblem Club and the Petersburg Moose Lodge and Women of the Moose hosted the annual Veteran's Day Dinner, which has been held for over 40 years for veterans and their spouses, widows of veterans, active duty military and the National Guard. It was the first time the four organizations co-hosted the event. Veteran's Day, once known as Armistice Day, is celebrated yearly to mark the end of World War I on Nov. 11, 1918. "It is your service and sacrifice that has kept...
The borough assembly approved a letter to the National Marine Fisheries Service on Monday that requests the organization hold a public hearing in Petersburg to allow community members to express their concerns or support of a recently proposed critical habitat designation. NMFS published a proposed rule to designate critical habitat for Mexico, Central America and Western North Pacific district population segments of humpback whales under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, according Angela...
Results from a mold sample test from the Petro 49, Inc. building that the borough would receive in a possible land swap were presented to the borough assembly Monday that showed three types of mold present in the building. The testing of the mold samples was conducted by Advance Look Building Inspections & Environmental Testing, which is based out of Wasilla. In the warehouse, the results showed one type of mold in the wall insulation. The testing also determined the air quality in the...
Fire and EMS Director Sandy Dixson was authorized to advertise and fill the EMS coordinator position by the borough assembly at the meeting on Monday. The EMS coordinator will train volunteers, respond to calls, assist with the fire program and help with the day-to-day operations of the fire department, according to Dixson. The previous EMS coordinator position turned into the department head in the mid-2000s, but an additional staff member was never hired, according to Dixson The department...
The Petersburg Police Department will begin the process of seeking and hiring a police sergeant after the borough assembly on Monday gave Police Chief Jim Kerr authorization to fill the position. In the years that the police department has been short a sergeant, the borough has had to spend a considerable amount of money on overtime, according to Kerr at an assembly meeting in July. In the 2018 fiscal year, Kerr said the borough spent $155,214 in overtime. The police sergeant position, which...
At board meeting last month, Petersburg Medical Center CEO Phil Hofstetter updated the board of directors on the master plan proposal for the possible renovation of the current hospital or building of a new facility. He also brought them up to date on the remodel of the part of the pharmacy where the drugs for chemotherapy are prepared. NAC Architecture was awarded the request for proposal by the PMC board of directors in May for the creation of a master plan proposal not to exceed $220,000. As...
The borough assembly approved an ordinance in its first reading last week that would transfer $194,695 from the wastewater fund to the Scow Bay Pump Station One project to offset the remaining cost not covered by a $550,000 loan from the state. The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation approved the borough's loan for $550,000 to be applied to the project, but that amount wasn't enough to cover the entire cost of the project, according to Utility Director Karl Hagerman. The lowest bid...
The Petersburg Borough has collect roughly $38,000 in marine passenger fees, with a possible $11,000 still to be collected, said Finance Director Jody Tow at an assembly meeting last week. The assembly approved the marine passenger fee in February of last year, which collects a $5 fee from cruise ship passengers that visit the borough. It came into effect in 2019, and all but one cruise ship has submitted their marine passenger fees, which total to about $38,000. The borough had originally...
Petersburg Medical Center Controller Rocio Tereja reported to the board of directors last week that although the hospital was up by four percent in net operating revenue, total operating expenses were 10 percent above budget. "During the month of September, we did not achieve our budget," said Tereja. PMC had anticipated bringing in $1,391,250 in revenue last month, but a busy inpatient department brought the net operating revenue to $1,456,192. The increase in operating revenue for the month...
The Petersburg Rotary Club is leading fundraising efforts to replace the playground at Sandy Beach Park with a larger, more modern playground that would appeal to children of all ages. The goal is to raise about half of the money for the playground, and then apply for grants to cover the rest of the costs, said Glo Wollen, one of three women who are spearheading the fundraising. The project has an estimated cost of about $120,000 and so far, they have raised $28,200 in less than two months. The...
This year's salmon harvest came in below expectations in Southeast Alaska with a particularly bad chum salmon run, but the Dungeness crab fishery kept cannery crews and fishermen busy. "It was a below average harvest for all species of salmon," said Troy Thynes, regional management coordinator for commercial fisheries with Alaska Fish and Game. The coho salmon harvest came in at 1,673,000 in Southeast Alaska, while districts six and eight, the two districts around Mitkof Island and north of...
Damon Bell-Holter, formerly of the Boston Celtics, was in Petersburg last week to empower the students in the Petersburg District by promoting leadership and communication. Bell-Holter spent three days meeting with students during their physical education classes and lunch periods. On Oct. 25, Bell-Holter held an assembly for the students in fifth through eighth grade. He spoke about a need for the students to reach out to each other to understand what the other is going through and why they do...
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....
