Sorted by date Results 1 - 15 of 15
A fire has left Petersburg's St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church in ruins. No serious injuries were reported and the fire did not spread to any surrounding buildings, though smoke from the Thursday, July 6, blaze caused the Petersburg Medical Center and multiple businesses downtown to close. According to parish priest Father Jose Thomas, a few people were attending a prayer service in the chapel when they heard glass shattering and were alerted to smoke coming from the office. "We did not...
The U.S. Forest Service has approved the Organized Village of Kake’s request to operate a cultural healing center at a seldom-used building at Portage Bay, according to an announcement from the agency last month. The village plans to establish a program centered on cultural healing that would provide counseling to people struggling with alcohol, substance abuse and other issues, and reconnect them with their cultural identity. “We know that immersing our people in the culture helps them and we’re also ... teaching them who they are, where they...
It was a week of change for a 100-year-old Petersburg institution: The Trading Union was officially renamed Petersburg IGA on Feb. 20, as new owners Mike Ward, his daughter Caroline Bangs and her husband Travis Bangs took over the grocery store. “I got crew over from Wrangell, crew over from Haines, and we’re power-stocking this place,” Ward said last week. The family also owns Wrangell IGA and Ward is the majority owner of Howsers IGA in Haines. Ward, who is in his 44th year actively managing grocery stores, was born in Haines and as a young...
The Organized Village of Kake is looking into using a U.S. Forest Service facility at Portage Bay, on the north end of Kupreanof Island, as a cultural healing and rehabilitation center. The goal of the program would be to reconnect people with their cultural identity, improve their mental health, and counsel those recovering from alcohol and substance abuse and other issues. The cultural healing center has been a dream of Joel Jackson, the village president, for years. “What I had in mind was getting people to teach them who they are, b...
The 2022 Southeast Alaska salmon harvest is estimated at 29.6 million fish, mostly comprised of 17.6 million wild stock pink salmon, according to Troy Thynes, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game's regional management coordinator for commercial fisheries. Though the pink salmon harvest was only 53% of the recent 10-year average, it was above the preseason estimate of 16 million fish. "The pink salmon in Southeast have been on a strong odd year, even cycle for probably almost the past 15 years or so, and so this year compared with the parent...
When Ukrainian Arsen Tatizian arrived in Petersburg in February he did not think he would be staying in Alaska beyond the end of his contract with OBI Seafoods, much less with his wife and his daughter at his side. It was his second year working for OBI, though he spent his first summer at its other plants in Alaska. He was only in Petersburg for two weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine. While he continued with work, his mind was on the safety of his wife Snizhana and their 2-year-old daughter...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly, which is creating a task force to look for solutions to the housing shortage in the community, held a work session Aug. 29 to get a better understanding of the challenges in developing or purchasing homes. Assembly Member Dave Kensinger spoke on changing the zoning codes to make building affordable houses possible, and shared his concern that people cannot move to Petersburg if they do not have a place to live. Some of the potential changes to the zoning codes discussed included allowing the development of more...
At 8 a.m. on July 30, Andrew Simmonds, 60, entered the chilling waters of Sandy Beach in Petersburg, setting out to prove that age has not slowed him down. His goal was to swim across Frederick Sound to the mainland, more than six miles away. His journey started months earlier. Soon after arriving in Petersburg in November, Simmonds, who is a physical therapist at Petersburg Medical Center, visited Sandy Beach to gaze out over Frederick Sound. He admired the whales leaping above the water and cr...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly has voted to write a letter opposing federal legislation that would transfer federal land to new Native corporations proposed for Petersburg, Wrangell, Haines, Ketchikan and Tenakee Springs. The assembly action was prompted by a request from Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski for a Senate committee hearing on legislation to create the corporations as an amendment to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. The bill would allow the so-called “landless Native communities” to form corporations and receive 23,040 acres of...
The Alaska Board of Fisheries has adopted a revised king salmon Southeast management plan in a compromise that will see sport fishery limits set before the start of the season based on a tiered system of abundance instead of changing during the season. The revised plan is expected to be in place by the 2023 season. The hope is that the 80/20 split between the commercial troll and sport fisheries will be maintained, while allowing non-residents who travel to Alaska to catch king salmon the opportunity to do so, rather than being shut down at a...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly has decided not to request home mail delivery. Assembly members on Dec. 20 defeated a resolution that would have asked the U.S. Postal Service to send carriers around town delivering mail, giving residents and businesses an option instead of requiring everyone to pick up letters and parcels at the post office. The resolution had been presented as a possible solution to ongoing issues at the short-staffed post office, which has seen long wait times for package pickup and reduced hours at the customer service...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly has voted to extend an emergency ordinance requiring masking in indoor public buildings. The Petersburg hospital reported 230 COVID-19 cases in November — infecting more than 7% of the community’s population. An emergency face mask ordinance adopted Nov. 5 was set to expire Dec. 6. The assembly voted 6-1 on Dec. 6 to extend the masking requirement to Jan. 3. The ordinance requires masking in public and communal spaces, other than private residences. Phil Hofstetter, chief executive officer of the Petersburg Med...
While Petersburg continues to endure limited hours at the post office service window, long lines and a lack of masking enforcement in the building, the borough assembly is considering asking the U.S. Postal Service to offer home delivery. A draft resolution was presented to the assembly at its Dec. 6 meeting, with further consideration planned when the assembly meets Dec. 20. The Petersburg Chamber of Commerce wrote a letter in support of home delivery. The post office has been a common frustration among businesses, said Jim Floyd, chamber of...
The Petersburg borough assembly last week adopted a new emergency ordinance requiring face masks in indoor public places amid a surge of COVID-19 cases in the community the past couple of weeks. The assembly, however, deleted from the draft ordinance a proposed $50 non-compliance fine for individuals and $100 fine for business and property owners. The ordinance adopted by the assembly Nov. 17 replaced an emergency ordinance adopted Nov. 5, which also did not include any specific enforcement measures for non-compliance. The public health...
This year’s overall Southeast Alaska salmon harvest is headed toward 58 million fish, with pink salmon leading the tally at 48.2 million — more than 40% above the 10-year average for pinks. This summer’s pink catch was six times last year’s measly 8 million, and more than double the brood year of 2019. The numbers for fish tickets are still preliminary, said Troy Thynes, regional management coordinator for commercial fisheries with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Petersburg. “The main thing is the pink salmon run came in a lot stron...