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Jeigh Stanton Gregor What is your age? 45 What experience do you have? I have 20 years of leadership experience. I was responsible for keeping groups of kids and adults safe year-round in the Montana wilderness. My leadership skills were also used to help strengthen program leadership teams. Currently, I've been on the assembly for 8.5 years, and we've addressed many issues during this time. Two recent issues come to mind that I'd like to highlight: I made an amendment to make community gym...
Bob Lynn What is your age? 76 What experience do you have? I've had 8 year's experience on the Petersburg Assembly. I have been fortunate to serve as Petersburg Assembly Board representative to Southeast Alaska Power Authority (SEAPA.) In that role I have served as Board Chair and voting member to replace submarine cable serving Petersburg. I have also served 6 years as the Assembly representative to the Hospital Board. Having been an EMT years ago has provided me much needed background to serve...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted on two resolutions seeking to allocate funds received from the American Rescue Plan Act during last week's meeting. Resolution #2022-12, allocating up to $27,000 for a digital fingerprint scanning system, was approved in a 5-1 vote with Assembly Member Thomas Fine-Walsh opposed. Resolution #2022-13, seeking to spend $62,641.50 of the funds on Axon vehicle camera systems for the Petersburg Police Department, failed in a 1-5 vote with only Mayor Mark Jensen...
New housing opportunities may be on the horizon following the Petersburg Borough Assembly's approval of Ordinance #2022-12 in its first reading Tuesday. The new ordinance, which received a 6-0 vote with Vice Mayor Jeigh Stanton Gregor excused, is designed to allow tiny houses, detached accessory dwellings, and multiple buildings on a single lot-all within Service Area 1. Assembly Member Thomas Fine-Walsh, who brought the ordinance forward, summarized its three parts and said he believed the...
When Arsen Tatizian arrived in Petersburg earlier this year he did not think he would be staying in Alaska beyond the end of his contract with OBI-much less with his wife and his daughter at his side. The Ukrainian first stepped foot in Little Norway on February 6. It was his second year working for OBI, though he spent his first summer at their plants near Wood River and Larsen Bay. He was only here for two weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine. While he continued with work, his mind was on the... Full story
The Mitkof Mummers will be holding a casting call on Tuesday as they mount a return to the stage after over two years without a show. In most years the Mummers would hold a fall show and a spring show during Mayfest, but they have been unable to do so since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Though there were some ideas of what could be done during the pandemic including radio plays, it was just too hard to put together, said Irene Littleton, the Mummer's director. But now that they are able...
Tom Laurent's EMS career began in the mid-70s when he was 16 and joined the Juneau Ski Patrol. He came from a ski-bum family and fit right in at the Eaglecrest Ski Area where his job was to take "people that injured themselves off the hill." Since then, he has spent a total of 46 years involved with EMS and 32 of those were dedicated to volunteering in Petersburg. Unfortunately, during that span volunteerism itself has been falling off, not just locally, but across the entire United States and...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted unanimously to pass Ordinance #2022-11 in its third and final reading during Tuesday’s meeting, allowing for increases to the purchasing authorization limits of borough officials. The ordinance now gives the borough manager the authority to set the spending limits for individual department heads. It also increases the borough manager’s purchasing authorization limit, allowing the borough manager to authorize purchases costing more than a department head’s limit but less than $75,000. Previously depar...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly hosted a work session Monday evening to get a better understanding of the challenges faced when developing or purchasing homes in Petersburg and to help give direction to the newly formed Housing Task Force. The work session saw assembly members meet with representatives with varying experience of the local housing issue. Attendees included WAVE Executive Director Annette Bennett, local contractor Kevin Hagan, local builders Gary Aulbach and Joshua Adams, PIA...
Two months after former Fire/EMS/SAR Director Sandy Dixson retired, the Petersburg Borough is restarting its push to hire a new director. The borough held panel interviews on Wednesday and Thursday for the six candidates up for the position—including four current Petersburg residents. Following the interviews the candidate pool will be narrowed down to two who will progress to another round of interviews and a possible meet and greet with community members. Candidates include Daniel Bird, Aaron Hankins, Alan Malone, and Joshua Rathmann of P...
For over two decades Joe Viechnicki's voice on the local radio station has been an ever-present staple of the community. He has been an up-beat, dedicated newsman, and, more than that, a dedicated community member, spending hours upon hours volunteering locally to help make Petersburg a better place. "The best advice I can give to someone coming into the world of journalism is to be involved in the community and look for those opportunities where you're not a journalist," Viechnicki says....
At the beginning of the year when the governor allowed rural communities like Petersburg the opportunity for legal drivers to utilize their all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) on roads in town it was an easy decision for Victoria Moore to register her family's four-wheeler. During stretches of beautiful weather in June and July, Victoria and her son, Alex, 16, utilized it a lot. She says, the four-wheeler can be "used as a good tool" for Alex, who is autistic. Riding on the four-wheeler can help with se...
Some new and some returning faces have joined the ranks of the Petersburg School District staff in preparation for the upcoming school year. Elsa Wintersteen will teach English language arts and a drama class at Petersburg High School. She completed her undergraduate studies at Montana State University, earning a literature degree and an interdisciplinary degree, and for a short time studied theater at the University of Montana. Wintersteen is originally from Montana, but her mother's family is...
The period to file for candidacy in this year's municipal election ended on Tuesday, signaling the start of campaign season. The election will feature contested races for mayor, Petersburg Borough Assembly, the Petersburg Medical Center Hospital Board, and the Harbor and Ports Advisory Board. Mayor Mark Jensen will run for reelection against two sitting assembly members-Bob Lynn and Jeff Meucci. Meucci ran against Jensen in the 2019 mayoral election, coming up short by 61 votes. Assembly...
The Clausen Museum has been getting some much needed restoration work done over the summer to help keep the building standing. Building Maintenance Techs Jim Holder and Sam Jackson have been working since June, replacing rotting wood, putting on a fresh coat of paint, and adding safety equipment as part of the work. "They really have been going to town," Museum Director Cindi Lagoudakis said. The museum, built in 1967 and expanded in 1976 with the Heritage of the Sea wing, needed some serious...
Petersburg's Rainforest Festival has two seasons under their belt now working in their new year-round format. Since their start on Earth Day, they've hosted six events, including guided walks, art workshops and a solstice ephemeral art show. "I think it's going pretty well," said festival organizer Sunny Rice. "We've been able to spread out the work a little bit and take advantage of people coming through town that we otherwise would have missed." As they move into the season when the festival w...
Some new and some returning faces have joined the ranks of the Petersburg School District staff in preparation for the upcoming school year. Erin Hofacre will be starting her first year of teaching in one of Stedman Elementary School's two first grade classrooms. She earned her bachelor's degree at Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington where she received endorsements for elementary, reading, and special education. "I was able to go to a great program with lots of practical work so I feel l...
The Petersburg School Board updated its COVID-19 mitigation plan for the upcoming school year during its meeting last week. The school district is required to update its plan by the Alaska Department of Education and under the American Rescue Plan funding. The new guidelines resemble those the district had at the end of the previous school year but with a couple of changes. Masking will remain optional for students, staff, and visitors and there will be no trigger for universal masking or...
Bear sightings are continuing to rise as they frequent the streets of Petersburg in search of garbage. In response, Petersburg Police Department Chief Jim Kerr spoke during Monday's Petersburg Borough Assembly meeting on the threat bears pose and actions the police department has taken to reduce their presence. "To try and get the bear issue to drop before school starts we started issuing citations enforcing the new garbage ordinance," Kerr said. The ordinance, which was approved by the...
The popular custom benches began years ago, when Karen Hofstad and Sue Paulson approached Josef Quitslund with the idea of creating something that could be at the center of Cannery Park. The women both had an interest in establishing the space to showcase the local history of the town and pay tribute to their loved ones that had a hand in that history, Quitslund says. "A memorial bench is a nice way to honor someone's memory," he says. "It's a place for the ones left behind to reflect and other...
8,832 passengers and 2,515 vehicles boarded the ferry in Petersburg in 2011, and 9046 passengers and 2,434 vehicles arrived in town. In 2021, the ridership into Petersburg was 829 passengers, a decrease of about 90 percent from a decade before. Vehicles dropped 75 percent to 595, according to statistics provided by the Alaska Marine Highway System. And 2021's numbers are up from the pandemic-worst travel year. In 2020, just 409 passengers and 313 vehicles disembarked in Petersburg. But...
Special General Election: In Petersburg 725, or 24.22%, of the precinct’s 2,993 registered voters turned out. The preliminary numbers for Petersburg show Sarah Palin in the lead by a single vote. Sarah Palin: 256 Mary Peltola: 255 Nick Begich: 192 Absentee ballots postmarked by election day will still be counted until August 31st, at which time the ranked choice tabulations will determine the winner of the US House seat. Primary Election results in Petersburg U.S. Senate Lisa Murkowski: 312 votes (44.44%) Kelly Tshibaka: 258 (36.75%) U.S. H...
A pre-construction conference for the South Harbor dredge project was held on August 2 to review the contract requirements and proposed schedule as the project nears its start date. The conference was attended by contractor Western Marine, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project team, and Harbormaster Glo Wollen. "Everybody's feeling pretty good about this project and the Corps has worked on many projects with our company as well," Wollen said. "Everybody in the room knew each other which is a...
The U.S. Forest Service is looking at potential sites for new cabins in the Petersburg and Wrangell Ranger Districts in hopes of increasing accessibility for cabin users. According to the project's pre-scoping letter, the weather, tides, and the need for boat or plane transportation have limited people from reaching many of the current cabins, while demand for cabins that are more accessible has increased. Because of this, the project seeks to accommodate users current needs by building cabins...
Bikers and paddlers gathered at Scow Bay Saturday morning to participate in the annual Paddle and Pedal Battle fundraiser, which raised about $15,000 according to Community Wellness Coordinator Julie Walker. The donations will go toward continuing education for Petersburg Medical Center staff and scholarships for Petersburg High School graduates. "I think our goal this year was to revive the event and it really felt like we did that," Walker said. About 70 participants made it out to the event... Full story
