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ANCHORAGE (AP) — Federal scientists may have found a link between the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill and a decline of herring and pink salmon populations in Prince William Sound. In a study published Tuesday in the online journal Scientific Reports, researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found that embryonic salmon and herring exposed to even very low levels of crude oil can develop heart defects. Herring and pink salmon juveniles that were exposed to crude oil as embryos grew slower and swam slower, making them v...
Visitors to the Blind River Rapids Trail, just south of Petersburg, can now take advantage of a new covered shelter and picnic area that recently finished construction. The addition to the trail was originally proposed in 2010, says Brad Hunter, recreation and wilderness staff officer on the Petersburg Ranger District. Hunter says getting approval for the project and finalizing the design of the structure took time. And the process included landscape architecture and engineering to create a...
In last week’s issue of the Pilot, it was stated Petersburg Medical Center Board of Directors voted to update the telephone system in the Joy Janssen Clinic, but the telephone system for the entire hospital will be replaced. The Pilot regrets the error.... Full story
The 8th Annual Rainforest Festival kicks off next week and those attending the festival are going to be offered diverse opportunities, including watching an impactful documentary about a basket weaver, a field trip to listen for bats and wine-making with local ingredients followed by wine tasting. Things get started on Labor Day with the 2nd Annual Rainforest Run Half Marathon. Participants will be faced with the task of completing the 13.1 mile long course. Organizers are hoping to increase... Full story
Former PFI worker Mark Diega, 50, of Chula Vista, Calif., pled guilty to an amended, misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct on Aug. 28 at a proceeding before Superior Court Judge William Carey. He was sentenced to serve 10 days in jail and one year of probation. He is also banned from the PFI property and may not possess a firearm while in Petersburg, should he return. Diega initially faced a felony charge of Terroristic Threatening for an Aug. 8 incident where the former PFI worker attempted... Full story
Heavy rains last Friday and Saturday, August 28 and 29, broke precipitation records for those respective days, according to National Weather Service data. Residents braved a rainy Friday which saw 2.61 inches fall. Downpours on Saturday, however, brought that day's rain total to 3.55 inches. Those measurements are taken at the airport. Local resident Doug Welde also records rain measurements from his downtown home where he recorded just over 5 inches of rain on Saturday. The total rainfall for... Full story
Construction on a new tub and shower room in the Long Term Care unit at Petersburg Medical Center will begin this month. “We’ve had our contractor and architect look at the project,” said Director of Nursing Jennifer Bryner. “We’re ordering the tile and hoping to get started in the next week or so.” The LTC unit is in the oldest wing of the hospital building and has seen wear and tear from years of daily use by residents. The project was bumped to the top of PMC’s capital projects list after the Division of Health Care Services, part of the A...
Hammer and Wikan is in the process of replacing Larry Martin as general manager after 17 years of service. The transition began in mid-July and will continue through May, allowing Martin to attend trade shows and share his years of experience with new general manager, John Mason. "John's going to do a great job for us," Martin says. "I am really looking forward to it. He is fitting in extremely well." Martin says thoughts about leaving the company started to develop a couple years ago, but he...
On Friday a new inter-island ferry began making runs, lowering its ramp at Banana Point. Rainforest Islands Ferry will be a three-stop service between Wrangell, Mitkof and Prince of Wales islands, running four times each week from spring through autumn. During the winter it will run on a reduced schedule. Based in Coffman Cove, the service is managed by the North End Ferry Authority (NEFA). The ferry service makes use of a 65-foot repurposed landing craft, the Rainforest Islander, which had init...
Petersburg Medical Center (PMC) Board of Directors unanimously voted to approve spending just under $80,000 to replace the outdated telephone system currently used in the Joy Janssen Clinic after it recently crashed, sending the clinic into crisis mode. PMC lost sixteen extensions on Aug. 17, leaving only a couple active lines throughout the entire clinic. Callers had the ability to leave voice messages on the system, but clinic personnel had no way to access and check the incoming messages. “We were having people call our main switch board w...
Delores Churchill will turn 86 years old in October, but the memory of her mother and the spirit of a special relative, keep her going. To say she is a very busy lady, is like saying people in Southeast like to fish. "My mother was 95, when she died and she was teaching right up until six months before she died," she says. "I really don't think about age." Churchill has the innate ability to talk about death, but light up the room and warm your heart. She says she always thinks about one...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly met on Thursday, Aug. 20, instead of their regularly Monday meeting, and took on a light agenda. An ordinance to create a local exemption to the state’s financial disclosure requirement for some public officials passed unanimously on its third and final reading, which will leave voters to make the final decision on the matter in the Oct. 6 Municipal Election. The financial disclosure requirement was put in place by the state to ensure that individuals do not use public service for personal financial gain. For man... Full story
Of an estimated 58 million pink salmon harvest for 2015, so far seiners have netted less than half that, some 26 million by the end of last week. "We are not even coming close (to projections)," explained Dan Gray, Alaska Department of Fish and Game management coordinator for Southeast fisheries in Sitka. He estimated that the season will end with a harvest of 30 to 35 million pinks, and recent weekly catch trends indicate that the season is past its peak. "It's dying fast," an industry expert... Full story
Sixteen local residents have declared candidacy for local boards and commissions. Six seats remain open. The only contested seat is on the Harbor Board where three candidates have filed to fill two three-year terms. John Murgas and incumbents Bob Martin and Jim Stromdahl will face off for the two seats. Both three-year terms on the Borough Assembly garnered candidates. Incumbent Nancy Strand will run for her seat again, and newcomer Eric Castro has filed for a term as well. Current Assembly... Full story
Student registration is well underway for the Petersburg School District, and so far the number of students signing up is encouraging for the Aug. 31 start of classes. "We've registered 18 new kids in the elementary that we weren't necessarily counting on," said Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter. "Upwards of 15 or 16 in high school, so that's great, it's great for the schools and the community." For Kludt-Painter, it marks her first year full year as Superintendent, and having 15 years of...
For Jaime Cabral, pulling double duty as the Petersburg High School and Middle School activities director means being more involved with students and community. But dealing with budget cuts handed down from the State Legislature can make overseeing 21 activities interesting. “We’re spending smarter, working smarter on how we schedule things due to the reduction in activities funding,” he says. “Right now we are not anticipating adding anything, but we haven’t had to cut anything.” Contributions raised from annual fundraisers like the volleyball...
Officer John Dodson, 26, is the newest member of the Petersburg Police Department, having recently moved here from Kansas. He has experience working for the National Parks Service and began his law enforcement career five years ago in Colorado before moving to St. Paul Island, in the Bering Sea. Dodson also worked for the police department in Hoonah, then briefly returned to the lower 48, but he admits he missed living with mountains. "I missed the scenery and the small town atmosphere," he...
The Rainforest Islands Ferry is now taking reservations and service is scheduled to begin on Friday, Aug. 28, according to Kent Miller, manager of the North End Ferry Authority. The ferry passed Coast Guard inspection late last week, and operated dry runs from Coffman Cove to Wrangell and South Mitkof Island, earlier this week. Once the ferry is fully operating, passengers will be offered passage on Friday, Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday. “It’s an accomplishment for sure, I wish it were May instead of August,” Miller says. “The ferry is running...
KETCHIKAN (AP) — Due to a lower estimate of the number of wolves in southeast Alaska, state and federal managers have reduced the combined limit for the federal subsistence and state general hunts to nine wolves in the area. In Game Management 2, the area that include Prince of Wales Island and its adjacent islands, the state wolf hunting season will run for just 10 days, if at all, according to The Ketchikan Daily News If all nine wolves are killed during subsistence hunting and trapping seasons, which begin in September and November, the s...
Steven Missouri, 28, has worked in Alaska for a couple seasons. This was his first year with PFI and he leaves Thursday to return to a job doing freezer plates on a Dutch Harbor vessel. He got in trouble in Phoenix where he lost his driver's license, so working on boats suits his current lifestyle. His family lives in Reno, Nev., but he has lived in 11 different states. Missouri aims to make friends wherever he goes while drifting from place to place and job to job. "I just like to be friendly,...
Early Saturday morning, police dispatch received a call from a home owner reporting a garage on fire at a private residence south of Sandy Beach on Frederick Drive. The Fire Department responded immediately, sending two engines and a work truck. Fire hydrants near the home allowed fire fighters to minimize damage to the property. “The garage structure was pretty much destroyed, and the wind was blowing toward the house and vehicles,” said Fire spokesperson Dave Berg. “The vehicles weren’t fully engulfed, but they were smoking and we ended u...
Longtime Petersburg resident Mark Weaver, 60, was sentenced to five years probation and given a $10,000 fine in US District Court in Juneau on Monday for detonating an unregistered destructive device at the rock quarry in July 2014. His sentencing also includes continued mandatory mental health counseling and a ban on traveling to Petersburg during his probation. Weaver was indicted by a Grand Jury on two counts of possession of an unregistered destructive device last August after officials... Full story
After this week, the Police Department will no longer provide DMV services for the Borough, a move that will allow dispatchers to focus on their primary responsibility. DMV services will transition to Petersburg Vehicle Title and Registration (PVTR), which means extended hours of availability for people needing to take driving exams or looking for an ID card. The privately-owned business already issues titles and registrations, and Doc Lopez says the move makes sense for both parties. “It'll be... Full story
Just six residents have filed paperwork with the Borough clerk to run as candidates in the October municipal election. There are 21 vacancies on seven local boards and commissions up for election, including two 3-year terms on the Petersburg Borough Assembly. The Planning and Zoning Commission has garnered three candidates—Tom Stearns, Mike Bangs, and Otis Marsh—each of whom holds a current seat on the commission. When vacancies were first posted, there were five open seats for the commission, but in the interim commissioner James Demko ten... Full story
Humpback whales swimming the northeast region of Fredrick Sound during summer months do their best to attract spectators, but a recent grant is helping researchers add streaming whale songs to the tourism experience. Thanks to a Scenic Byway grant allotted to the Juneau Lighthouse Association, whale-watchers visiting the Five Finger Lighthouse now have the option to listen live underwater. A hydrophone connected to a swinging mooring is outfitted with a converted whitewater kayak, which...
