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WRANGELL — The United States Forest Service is developing a new initiative for the Wrangell and Petersburg districts, encompassing state and private lands in addition to those managed federally. Tongass National Forest supervisor Earl Stewart last month issued a call for participation to the general public, seeking input on the Central Tongass Landscape Level Analysis. The announcement explains the purpose of the CTLLA will be to in a single analysis and decision plan a spatially large project for both districts, at the same time increasing t...
WRANGELL — On its regional meeting’s concluding day last week the Board of Fisheries agreed to draft a letter to federal authorities, encouraging them to support efforts to curb seafood predation by marine mammals. During its 13-day meeting in Sitka, the board reviewed regulatory proposals for both finfish and shellfish for Southeast Alaska and Yakutat. Starting with shellfish on January 11, 155 different items relating to the region’s crab, shrimp and dive fisheries saw comment from both Department of Fish and Game managers and user group...
A magnitude 7.9 earthquake in the Gulf of Alaska Tuesday spurred an early morning tsunami warning in Petersburg, scrambling a borough response team and causing some residents to evacuate. A tsunami warning had been issued to the entire Gulf of Alaska at about 12:32 a.m. Tuesday after a magnitude 7.9 earthquake registered about 170 miles southeast of Kodiak. "It's unlikely that we're gonna get a large wave or something that's gonna destroy downtown," said Sandy Dixson, emergency manager for the...
The Petersburg School District is in the midst of drafting its calendar for the 2018-2019 year, and the superintendent at a recent school board meeting discussed the difficulties of settling on a resolution that a majority would support. “Twenty six years of doing calendars,” said Erica Kludt-Painter, superintendent of schools, addressing the school board at a recent meeting. “... If you put out three calendars, you’re going to get a third, third, third of the people who like them. If you put out two, you’re gonna get 50-50. I’m just saying...
The borough manager hosted a second public meeting last Thursday to hear ideas on how to decrease costs and increase revenue for Petersburg. The manager, Steve Giesbrecht, recommends the assembly take the public's suggestions, review them, and make a list of the top five or 10, he said. "The Assembly could then instruct us which ideas they want implemented," Giesbrecht said. "Using this process, the Assembly could work through the entire list." At the meeting, people filtered in for two hours...
Due to a reporting error, Assembly member Jeigh Stanton Gregor was misquoted in last week’s story. The mistake gave Stanton Gregor reason to believe his position was distorted. Last week, a majority of the assembly supported hiring Karl Hagerman as Utility Director, coming after six months of being interim superintendent. Here is last week’s published comment on Hagerman from Stanton Gregor, who supported the electrical department reorganization. “We’ve got somebody in some situation where we’re like, ‘oh well he’s here this will work,” Stanto... Full story
On January 10 the Department of Law reported a Prince of Wales fisherman had been sentenced for a number of misdemeanor counts related to fishing violations. Commercial salmon seine captain Curtis Demmert was sentenced to multiple misdemeanor counts, including commercial fishing in closed waters, fishing too close to a salmon spawning stream and falsifying his commercial fish ticket. On September 13, 2017 Alaska Wildlife Troopers had received a report that the F/V Tlingit Lady, a 58-foot commercial seine vessel captained by Demmert, had been...
The Alaska Marine Safety Education Association (AMSEA) will offer a Fishing Vessel Drill Conductor Refresher workshop in Petersburg Mon, Feb. 5 from 8 am - 6 pm at the Tides Inn, 307 1st Street. Instructor Neil Nickerson will cover emergency procedures drills; EPIRBs, signal flares, and mayday calls; man-overboard recovery and firefighting; flooding, damage control, and dewatering pumps; immersion suits and PFDs; helicopter rescue, life rafts, abandon ship procedures, and cold-water survival skills. AMSEA’s Drill Conductor workshops meet the U...
WRANGELL — Following a clean bill of health from contaminants testing of dredge material at Shoemaker Bay, the harbor restoration project looks to be continuing on schedule. Department of Transportation and Public Facilities match grant funding in the amount of $5,000,000 was approved for the project in this year’s budget, enabling replacement of the harbor’s aging float network. The wooden float structure is in a deteriorated state, with one of its five finger piers currently unusable. Wrangell Harbor Department’s plan will be to replace...
USCG commercial fishing vessel examiners will be conducting free dockside exams in Petersburg Feb. 2-9. They take about an hour. The examiners will make a scale available at the crane dock to weigh your crab pots. During similar crab pot weighing operations our data has shown weight discrepancies between old and replacement crab pots. Please check out our new vessel specific checklist generator located at www.fishsafewest.info. This tool will allow you to print out a list of safety requirements for your vessel prior to your exam. Mandatory...
Sunday, January 14, was the warmest day on record in Petersburg for the month of January, with temperatures reaching 63 degrees, according to the National Weather Service in Juneau. What's more, the state of Alaska hit a record high on Annette Island, where it was 66 degrees, said Jake Byrd, a forecaster with the weather service. The winter heat comes after temperatures dropped well below freezing last week. "When we go from extreme cold to extreme warm like this," Byrd said, "basically what...
In April 2017, about eight months before Angel Worhatch would resign from the Petersburg Police Department, a female inmate was attempting suicide, and the nearly 20-year chief dispatcher had never stepped inside a jail cell alone. In late October, two months before she would resign, it happened again. Another apparent suicide attempt, this time by a male inmate, asking her to watch. The first attempted suicide took place on a day Worhatch was training a new dispatcher. They were going over...
Superior Court Judge William Carey said Petersburg Attorney Fred Triem, “has been repeatedly untruthful with the court and opposing counsel,” and that he, “engaged in a game of subterfuge and deceit,” in pursuing legal action over his client’s firing from Alaska Airlines. On Tuesday, Carey ruled on multiple motions in his order and ultimately dismissed the case against Alaska Airlines. Helen Lingley was terminated from her position with the airlines and in 2012 Triem filed a wrongful termination claim with the company on her behalf. Triem tol...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – The Alaska Legislature opens a new session Tuesday amid lingering fallout from the resignation of a House member accused of inappropriate behavior toward female aides. A new member is expected to be appointed to the House this month to replace Dean Westlake, the freshman Democrat who resigned. Lawmakers have vowed to rewrite an 18-year-old policy against sexual and other harassment that critics say leaves room for interpretation. And legislators will be required to attend harassment and discrimination prevention t...
The borough’s highest electrical job once again could go to Karl Hagerman, who had pulled his name from consideration in October following the election and scrutiny of his qualifications. One assembly member and an empty search for someone else made him reconsider. In a meeting on Monday, the assembly voted 5-2 in support of making Mr. Hagerman utility director of power and light, a title comparable to electrical superintendent. The move revisits Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht’s idea to reorganize power and light and public works, which he...
Superior Court Judge William Carey denied a request by Plaintiffs Danny Robert Thompson and Greg Richeson to have their case heard as a class action by stating the case does not meet the class action prerequisites required by state law. Carey heard oral arguments on the case in December of last year, and issued his order for Class Certification on Jan. 16. The order explains that two plaintiffs seek injunctive and declaratory relief, the return of property and general, special punitive and exemp...
The Peterburg assembly narrowly struck down a resolution to repeal a federal ruling that limits development on national forest land, a decision it made after hearing public testimony from seven people on Monday. The resolution Monday supported an end to the 2001 Roadless Rule, which protects social and ecological value and characteristics of roadless areas from construction and reconstruction, along with certain timber harvest activities, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. The borough said this resolution was brought to...
Police say a Petersburg woman was arrested on Saturday for fleeing a scene under the influence after driving a vehicle into two pedestrians in the 1100 block of South Nordic Drive. Shirlene Olson, 54, was arrested on two counts of assault in the third degree, leaving the scene of an accident and driving under the influence. Olson appeared in District Court before Magistrate Judge Desiree Burrell on Tuesday afternoon. Olson did not enter a plea and was released under conditions with $1,000 bail....
The Petersburg Police Department recently purchased a pick-up truck for about $47,000, the chief said. The borough used $47,311 of its motor pool fund in early December 2017 to purchase an officer patrol truck. The truck will be used to haul the department's portable dispatch center, along with getting access to areas outside of service area one, especially in poor weather conditions, said Police Chief Kelly Swihart. "It is capable of pulling the communications trailer in various conditions if...
After deliberation on Saturday the Alaska Board of Fisheries rejected a proposal to scrap the Southeast Alaska management plan for Dungeness crab fisheries. The BoF is currently convened in Sitka for its meeting on the region’s shellfish and finfish regulation change proposals. It meets every three years, the last one being held in Wrangell in January 2015. Starting its shellfish meeting on January 11, members took testimony for 155 different proposals related to crab, shrimp and other miscellaneous shellfish. A late comer to this year’s sla...
DOUGLAS, Alaska (AP) – An Alaska man says his dog came nose-to-nose with a wolf while they were walking at a Douglas park. The incident happened last Saturday while Peter Fellman and his wife, Jane Pierson, were walking their two dogs in Savikko Park, also referred to as Sandy Beach. Neither Fellman, his wife nor their dogs were harmed in the encounter, the Juneau Empire reported . Fellman said his dog Bingo’s benign nature allowed the group to remain unharmed. The couple was on their way to a dinner at a friend’s house when they decided to st...
WRANGELL – Radio station KSTK is now awaiting decision by the Federal Communications Commission on whether to approve a proposed acquisition by CoastAlaska, a regional service headquartered in Juneau. Applications to transfer the station's four licenses were filed with the FCC in early December, with a public comment period ending last week. If approved, Wrangell Radio Group, whose board administers the local station, would transfer KSTK's physical assets along with its licensed channels to C...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Alaska's population declined for the first time in 29 years as the state's oil-driven recession continued through 2017. State figures released on Wednesday listed the state's population at 737,080, the Juneau Empire reported . That's down 2,629 from 2016 and is the first decrease since 1988. The number of people moving out was only partially balanced by the number of new births. The state also had a record high in number of deaths this past year, at 4,530. ``The r...
WRANGELL- A sizable rock slide along Zimovia Highway Thursday evening temporarily blocked off access to traffic. The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities was notified of the slide at 7:30 a.m. Friday morning, and arranged with local contractors to remove the debris. One lane was opened to traffic by 9 a.m., with workers on the scene coordinating with traffic to allow movement through the area. Drivers passing through the temporary chokepoint should be prepared for a slight...
A recently proposed revision to the borough's zoning code is slated to introduce a new form of affordable housing, an expansion of the historic and industrial district, and the end of a requirement on businesses to include parking downtown, officials say. The Petersburg Borough is rolling out a fresh development code that it hopes will streamline zoning approval processes and sure-up any vague and "blurry" language that exists now. There are significant changes that, if approved, could be in...
