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The newest eatery in Petersburg was honored with the 2018 Business of the Year Award on Saturday at the annual chamber of commerce dinner. The Salty Pantry opened for business in early April 2017. Its owner, Mindy Anderson, spent a year on the business plan. She attended a baking institute in San Francisco in 2016 where she learned the science of yeasted breads, croissants and pastry doughs and desserts, Angela Christensen said as she introduced Anderson on Saturday. "The place might be small...
In the months before Kelly Swihart announced he would retire as police chief in mid-2018, the department he leads was besieged by three separate internal investigations. Two looked into possible policy breaches and crimes by current and former employees, and the third scoured bullying allegations against him. Two of the investigations have closed since he announced his retirement in early January: a more than three-month administrative investigation into who leaked confidential information from the police department, and the bullying investigat...
The Mitkof Middle School wrestling team traveled to a regional tournament last weekend in Juneau, a trip coming after the team raised nearly $3,000 to help make travel costs more affordable for parents. Petersburg 6th, 7th and 8th graders wrestled in the Southeast Alaska Middle School Regional Tournament in Juneau last weekend, placing fourth overall. But the price tag for travel expenses was more than planned. Petersburg had to cancel its trip to Ketchikan in January after the local ferry was...
School administrators in Petersburg are using recent student incidents to spark conversations and learn, while confronting the conversations with young students about active shooter scenarios. There were two students charged in early February with fish and game violations after one 17 year old allegedly hit two deer consecutavly with a truck and the other filmed it from its passenger seat. There appears to be laughter as the deer were hit. One of those teens, Jasmine Ohmer, 17, issued a statement on Monday, in which she sought forgiveness and...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Doctors confirmed the presence of mumps in Juneau for the first time in more than two decades. There has been one confirmed case of the disease in Juneau as of Thursday, and three other possible cases, Juneau Public Health Center nurse manager Alison Gaines said. The first case was diagnosed in January, with the most recent suspected case appearing this past week, Gaines said. This is the first confirmed case of mumps in Juneau since 1997, Alaska Division of Public Health Epidemiologist Amanda Tiffany said. Mumps is a cont...
It took police officers less than 10 minutes to locate two vehicles that were allegedly stolen on consecutive days by the same Petersburg man. Ron Wallen Sr., 59, allegedly stole a vehicle on Feb. 9 from 14 Harbor Way. Police received a report at 5:01 a.m. that morning, saying a green pickup truck had been stolen. Derek Thorsen, police officer on the case, located the vehicle by 5:03 a.m., said Kelly Swihart, the police chief. The investigation was over in about 55 minutes, and Wallen was arrested and charged with vehicle theft in the first...
A prosecutor last week dismissed sexual assault charges against a Petersburg man who was accused last spring of raping a woman. On May 11, 2017 a grand jury indicted Kenneth L. Birch, 36, on two counts of sexual assault, one in the first degree and one in the second degree. Birch pleaded not guilty to the charges. The trial in this case was scheduled to start next week. Assistant District Attorney Amanda Browning dismissed the charges on Feb. 14. On Wednesday, a representative from Browning’s office said the district attorney was not a...
The Southeast Alaska Power Agency governing board earlier this month approved moving forward with a remote inspection of the tunnels underlying the Tyee Lake hydroelectric plant. In his report to the board on February 8, SEAPA power systems specialist Ed Schofield explained a remotely operated vehicle would be needed to perform an inspection of the facility’s water conveyance structures. Unlike the dam at Swan Lake, Tyee is a natural lake which is tapped for the facility. Water is conducted to the powerhouse through an intake in the lake i...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- A study of bears and berries has determined that the big animals are the main dispersers of fruit seeds in southeast Alaska. The study by Oregon State University researchers says it’s the first instance of a temperate plant being primarily dispersed by mammals through their excrement rather than by birds. Researcher Taal Levi says seed dispersal is a key component in the understanding of any ecosystem. He says brown and black bears thrive on Alaska’s Panhandle because of abundant salmon but both feed on berries whi...
The Petersburg borough attorney hired a consultant last year to conduct an investigation into allegations of workplace bullying within the police department. The borough attorney paid Russell Consulting LLC, a company based in Soldotna, $7,200 to conduct a four-day investigation into allegations of workplace bullying coming from the police chief. Steve Giesbrecht, the borough manager, said Police Chief Kelly Swihart would not be embarrassed by the outcome of the investigation. “Accusations were not substantiated, I can say that,” Gie...
Alaska Wildlife Troopers filed charges against two Petersburg teens who allegedly hit multiple deer with a truck last week, filmed it, and then uploaded it to social media. The teens, 17-year-old Sebastian R. Davis and 17-year-old Jasmine C. Ohmer, were charged on Monday with harassing game, a class A misdemeanor, according to court documents. Davis was charged with reckless driving as well, which is a special class misdemeanor. The charges stem from a video that emerged last week on Snapchat, a social media app. The video allegedly shows a...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Juneau officials have decided to review ordinances on anchoring boats in an attempt to stop vessels from being left to waste in city waters. The Assembly has taken up the issue in response to a notorious tug boat that’s been anchored near a downtown harbor for years, KTOO Public Media of Juneau reported Saturday. There is currently no time limit for anchoring in city waters of the Gastineau Channel, which falls between federal, state and local jurisdictions. Juneau Harbormaster Dave Borg said that’s a problem becau...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Juneau officials have decided to review ordinances on anchoring boats in an attempt to stop vessels from being left to waste in city waters. The Assembly has taken up the issue in response to a notorious tug boat that’s been anchored near a downtown harbor for years, KTOO Public Media of Juneau reported Saturday. There is currently no time limit for anchoring in city waters of the Gastineau Channel, which falls between federal, state and local jurisdictions. Juneau Harbormaster Dave Borg said that’s a problem becau...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The synthetic opioid fentanyl is an escalating problem in Alaska, and it’s leading to a significant increase in deaths, state authorities said Tuesday. “It is a scary problem,” Alaska State Trooper Capt. Michael Duxbury said at a press briefing on the state’s opioid crisis. “Fentanyl is by far the biggest concern.” Jay Butler, the state’s chief medical officer, said 2017 statistics have not been finalized, but there were at least two dozen fentanyl-related deaths, compared with five or six such deaths the previous year....
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. reported strong returns and a total value of $64 billion in the first half of the 2018 fiscal year. The fund corporation announced the numbers on Monday, highlighting returns of 8.45 percent, the Alaska Journal of Commerce reported . The report was released as domestic markets continued to be down for the second consecutive trading day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed Monday at 24,345, down more than 7 percent from Friday. The public equities portion of the fund’s investments pro...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska Senate leaders on Tuesday urged Gov. Bill Walker to go back to the drawing board in seeking nominees for a vacant Senate seat if he could not support a candidate from the initial slate of finalists. Walker on Friday appointed Randall Kowalke to fill the seat vacated by former Sen. Mike Dunleavy of Wasilla. Dunleavy resigned last month to run for governor. Kowalke, a member of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly, was among 11 applicants for the seat but he was not on the list of three finalists Republicans in t...
The Petersburg Public Library is featuring a photo display made by a local artist who wants to represent humanity to the community. Pia Reilly, a Petersburg artist who usually paints, recently unveiled "We Are One," a photo display at the library with a whole lot of faces, but a single idea, she said. "It's not really anybody," Reilly said. "I just wanted everyone to be represented. It's a matter of all of us." Reilly took the photos from magazines and news articles, new photos and old photos....
Two high school teams from Petersburg competed in Seward last weekend in a state competition focusing on ocean sciences. This year Petersburg has nine students in the National Ocean Science Bowl. They are separated into two teams, with names created based on ocean puns. The freshman Petersburg team was called, simply, “Insert Team Tidal Here,” a boilerplate selection with a twist on the word title. The team included Jaden Perry, Liam Demko, Rose Lane and Taryn Copeland. Demko and Perry were the only members on that team who could attend the com...
The Petersburg borough assembly on Monday was nearly split when it voted in favor of a plan to reorganize the electric utility and public works department. The assembly, voting 4-3 in the first reading each time, moved forward with six ordinances needed to shake up the electric utility and public works department. The reorganization, proposed last May by the borough manager, is to make the current public works director the electric utility director, a plan chosen in favor of hiring a superintendent. The utility director would also oversee...
The Petersburg Chamber of Commerce voted Thursday to cancel this year's salmon derby, saying it would be irresponsible to compete in a time with such depleted salmon stocks. The chamber voted on Thursday to cancel the Memorial Day weekend salmon derby in Petersburg this year. The decision was made after the Alaska Department Fish and Game closed District 8 and part of District 7, a popular derby hole, for May, June and half of July, said Patrick Fowler, a local sport fish area biologist with the...
The Borough assembly at a meeting on Monday heard public comment on an ordinance that would impose a fee on senior sales tax exemption card applicants, after which the council approved it in its second reading. And the marine passenger fee has a new name. John Havrilek was the first to offer support for charging $100 annually to those who apply for a senior sales tax exemption card. Havrilek would prefer the charge be higher, and the whole sales exemption program be phased out. The fee, as...
A Petersburg boat hauler has been recommended by two borough boards for approval to self-fund a ramp at the Scow Bay Turnaround, leaving it up to the clerk and assembly to give final say once again. John Murgas, owner of Island Ventures LLC, is going to the assembly a second time with a request to build a temporary boat ramp at Scow Bay. This time he’s coming with a lease application that’s endorsed by the planning commission and harbor board. The borough clerk will review the application before it can be put before the assembly. In Jan...
The former Petersburg Municipal Power and Light superintendent addressed the assembly on Monday to offer an experienced perspective on the borough’s plan to reorganize the electric utility and public works department, and why he opposes it. Joe Nelson, who was the electrical superintendent in Petersburg for about 14 years until he retired last summer, said he wanted to clarify a few things after a special meeting on Friday. The meeting was to discuss the borough manager’s plan to reorganize the electrical departments -- a plan that has gai...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Marijuana tax revenue in Alaska fell for the second straight month in December, though a state tax auditor says the slide may be short lived. The state says it collected about $784,000 in marijuana tax revenue in December. That compares to about $869,000 in November and about $920,000 in October, which is the most that has been collected in a single month since the collection of marijuana taxes from state-licensed businesses began in October 2016. The tax is imposed when marijuana is sold or transferred from a marijuana c...
WRANGELL — Wrangell appears to be closing in on a solution to its water filtration worries after a workshop held between the City and Borough Assembly, city staff and consultants on Monday. Since its construction in 1999 Wrangell’s water treatment plant has had a number of problems with its production. The plant’s operation involves ozonation of water sourced from two open reservoirs, which then passes through a roughing filter and four slow-sand filtration bays before disinfection. From the start the plant did not work as planned, with sedim...
