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There might be a way to avoid federal income taxes on the Alaska Permanent Fund dividend. But it would mean admitting that the annual payment to Alaskans is a political decision not at all tied to earnings of the savings account. It could mean changing the name of the PFD to Popular Fall Distribution, to truly disassociate the money from the fund’s investment earnings. If it means avoiding federal income tax on the money, we could learn to call the annual payment most anything. It would mean changing state law. And it would mean discarding the...
Dear Friends and Neighbors: On February 8, 2023, the Committee on Committees met and I was placed on the House Special Committee on Fisheries, which includes the Fish and Game Budget Subcommittee. I take my role on these committees very seriously. If you have input on the Fish and Game budget and/or topics considered by the special committee, I welcome your input. It has been heartening to see Southeast Alaskans, who know and rely on commercial, sport and subsistence fishing, work together for the trollers as they face down a major threat to...
Getting caught between a rock and a hard place is easier. At least you can rent a backhoe and move the rock. Getting politically caught between more money for public schools and even more money for the Permanent Fund dividend will be the hardest place for legislators this year. The vote will come down to which is more important for Alaska: A long-needed, substantial increase in state funding for public schools, or the governor’s proposed supersized Happy Meal of a nearly $4,000 Permanent Fund dividend? But putting the dividend first and school...
Dear Friends and Neighbors: I write this first update to House District 2 from my office on the 4th floor of the Capitol. It is hard to believe, but the legislative session is already in full swing. In addition to attending floor sessions and committee meetings this week, I had the privilege of meeting with some of my constituents and I enjoyed participating in Southeast Conference. As a member of the House Community and Regional Affairs Committee, this week I was proud to support moving...
Look at causes not just symptoms To the Editor: May I respectfully suggest that we don’t have an affordable housing or a childcare crisis in Petersburg? I came to a town of 1800 folks sixty years ago this month to start an apprenticeship at one of three machine shops, rented a little house for $45 a month and groceries were another $45 a month. We had only the North Harbor for boats, one harbormaster, one city office clerk, and one policeman. Two oil companies actually competed a little, as did three grocery stores, two auto shops, a shoe s...
Unsettled Science To the Editor: This letter is in response to Sam Bunge’s response to my letter two weeks ago. The contention is based on the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC) petition. Sam’s letter states according to Wikipedia.”The authenticity and methods of the petitioners as well as the signatories credentials have been questioned, and the project has been characterized as a disinformation campaign engaged in climate change denial.” My response: according to the University of Pittsburgh Library system,...
Sen. Lisa Murkowski succeeded in convincing her colleagues that the Alaska Marine Highway System deserves more federal funding. The proof of her success in helping to write last year’s federal spending legislation is the $284 million in grants announced last week for new ferries, repairs to old vessels, dock improvements and better service to small communities. The state will need to put up about $105 million in matching funds for the grants. Some of that already has been appropriated and the rest can come during this year’s legislative ses...
Thank you, thank you, thank you To the Editor: Mike and I are so incredibly humbled by and grateful for the outpouring of support, generosity, thoughts, and prayers after our house fire. It has been said many times that this community rises to the occasion to help each other, but to be the recipient of such support and generosity—there are not enough words to express how much we appreciate everyone and everything that has been done for us. Although our home and possessions are a total loss, we are extremely lucky to live in such an amazing c...
Earlier this month, the 117th Congress formally adjourned, marking the close of a remarkably productive legislative stretch for Alaska. The last Congress was one of the best for our state in recent memory, and the bipartisan bills we passed during it will produce lasting benefits for Petersburg and across Southeast. Most significant is the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which I played a lead role on. In just over a year, roughly $3 billion from it has already been announced for Alaska. Those dollars are helping us build, expand, and...
For the 10th year in a row, more Alaskans moved out last year than new residents moved in. That’s a draining fact, with no real plan to plug the leak. To confirm the Alaska Department of Labor’s statistics about population and persistent out-migration, drive no farther than U-Haul. America’s do-it-yourself movers reported this month on its annual numbers for traffic into states and one-way rentals leaving each state. The traffic count for Alaska is not good. The state fell 25 spots in the nationwide ranking of growth states, from 16th place...
Vikings: take a closer look To the Editor: I enjoy living in a community with a strong sense of tradition and heritage, sadly lacking in many places today. I find the culture of this “Little Norway” largely wholesome and endearing, from krumkake to rosemaling. When the furs and horned helmets come out at Mayfest, I’m glad to see that someone remembers that there once existed people who went a-Viking, long, long ago. But I think that pop culture imagery of the Vikings falls far short of what we now actually know about these people, who were...
Community Emergency Response Team in the works To the Editor: The Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department (PVFD) Auxiliary committee has been looking for training to further assist the PVFD in its mission of Public Safety. After some careful digging, Chief Stolpe found a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program through FEMA. Through the PVFD Auxiliary, Chief Stolpe and I hope to establish a Community Emergency Response Team. This team’s mission would be to provide lay responder support to first responders in the event of a large-scale e...
Starting this week, a new locally-drawn strip will be showing up with the comics here on page 4. Gus Petersen - a Petersburg resident attending The Kubert School, which is an art school in New Jersey that concentrates on cartoon and graphic art - approached the Pilot this fall with an offer to contribute something new. Growing up in Petersburg, Petersen remembers wishing there were comics in the Pilot. In some of the daily papers from around the area he would see the classic comic strips, "Fox...
Small publishers all across the country got some tough news this fall when Postmaster General Louis DeJoy announced a substantial postage rate increase set to arrive in January. While postage is increasing for everybody, the class of postage facing the highest increase is the in-county periodical postage rate newspapers pay to distribute local papers to subscribers through post offices. That rate will jump by 7.6% next month, and the increase is coming hot on the heels of a 7% hike in July of...
This is why I love this town so much To the Editor: On December 23 I was leaving Petro Marine when I slipped on the icy road and fell. I am 69 years old and a fall like that isn’t the same as when I was 25. I mean, I didn’t jump right back to my feet. As I was trying to get back to my feet I heard a voice asking me if I was ok. That really got me going. Embarrassed, I started gathering the things I had dropped. He asked me if I was hurt. I told him my ribs were hurting. I looked up at him and assured him I was ok. Don’t know where this kind...
The case of the purloined judgeship To the Editor: In 1982 our former Representative, Ernie Haugen, persuaded the Alaska Legislature to create a new judgeship and designated its vicinage in the Petersburg-Wrangell region to serve our neck of the woods, but there was a catch. Before passage of the bill, the Senate added a rider to the bill, a Letter of Intent stating that the new Superior judgeship could be authorized only on the condition that Petersburg’s old District Court judgeship be decommissioned. The deal was like giving up an old F...
Newly reelected Gov. Mike Dunleavy last week unveiled his proposed state spending plan for the next budget year. By far, the largest single expense in the entire state budget is the Permanent Fund dividend. The governor’s budget proposes no increase in state funding for public schools and a reduction in funding for the university system. No significant increases for road repairs, snow removal, mental health services, or more staff to help the backlog of food stamp applications which has created hours-long hold times for callers needing help. L...
The world will continue to need liquid fuels refined from crude oil for decades. But it likely will need less in the decades ahead as it transitions to renewable energy sources in hopes of stemming the damages caused by a warming planet. Which means oil companies generally are looking for the least risky projects, the environmentally smartest ones, the ones with the quickest payback to recover their investment. No producer wants to sink billions into a new development, only to find that delays, cost overruns and political or permitting...
Thank you! To the Editor: Mitkof Dance Troupe (MDT) is eternally grateful for the many students, families, teachers, volunteers, and community members who were involved with the winter dance recital. And, thank you to those who expressed interest in joining the board! Seeing the hard work and dedication come to life on the dance stage is truly heartwarming. Sincerely, Carin Christensen, MDT Board President...
This October, I was provided the opportunity to serve as the Executive Director of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation. As a lifelong Alaskan, leading APFC is my childhood dream come true. From meeting with Governor Hammond with my third-grade class in 1976, to receiving the benefits of the Fund’s existence throughout my life, to now having the experience to manage the Corporation is truly special. To tell a little about myself, I was born in Cordova and raised in Yakutat and Juneau, where my wife Erin and I reside and raised our two sons. F...
I had the distinct pleasure to catch the final performance of “Dorothy in Wonderland’’ staged by the Mitkof Mummers Theater Company. I must admit, my expectations were not high having seen enough bad community theater to reluctantly attend one more. But I was wrong. The show was delightful and presented exactly what good community theater is all about, for young and old alike. Let’s start with the director, Irene Littleton. Ms. Littleton’s adept direction was particularly noteworthy in two respects. Firstly, community theater, especiall...
Gloria Family memories To the Editor: Way back in the late 1930s and the World War II era, at the top of Lumber Street, in what was then called the “Gulley”, there lived a family known as the Glorias. Lewis Gloria, an immigrant from the Philippines, worked for Earl Ohmer at Alaskan Glacier Seafoods. He was married to a native of Kake and together they had four boys and two girls. I remember two of the children, Fred Gloria and Isabel Gloria as classmates in the third grade class of 1938 and as members of the Lumber Street Gang, which inc...
Dear Petersburg To the Editor: About three years ago we decided to move our family back to Petersburg after both being away since graduating from high school. We made the decision to come home for many reasons — great schools, a small close-knit community, a simpler lifestyle, and the chance to share more time with our family and friends. It’s been amazing to watch our children grow up so close to family and to follow in our footsteps, playing on the same playgrounds and fishing the same dolly hotspots in the harbor as we did thirty years ago...
More people moved out of Alaska than moved in every year between 2015 and 2021. If not for a healthy birth rate, the state population would have shrunk even more than it did. Wrangell has steadily lost population over the past 20 years, with the decline projected to continue. These are not good statistics. Even worse, these are self-fulfilling projections of future economic troubles. Fewer residents means fewer available workers, which means labor shortages for the goods and services people need. Business across the state already suffer from a...
Thank You To the Editor: We would like to express a heartfelt THANK YOU to the community of Petersburg and all the volunteers that made November Rain possible this past weekend! The three day swim meet hosted teams from Petersburg, Ketchikan, Craig, Wrangell, Juneau and Sitka with a total of 114 swimmers participating in over 100 events. Without our dedicated volunteers and their many hours of work, this meet would not have been possible. The Board of Directors and over sixty Viking Swim Club swimmers want to say Thank You to each person that...
