Author: kfskadmin

Petersburg welcomed the 2009 fishing season and remembered lost loved-ones Sunday afternoon with the annual blessing of the fleet. There was a full crowd for the event at the sons of norway hall. Drizzly weather prompted organizers to hold the event inside. The service typically takes place next door at Fisherman's Memorial Park. Matt Lichtenstein produced this sound portrait of the annual religious and community event, which is a spring tradition in fishing towns around the state of Alaska:

Music teacher Matt Lenhard says, last weekend, a group of Petersburg High School students gave the finest choir performance he’s heard at a Southeast Music Festival. The Treble Choir included thirteen high school girls who sang a Japanese folksong and received a superior rating from the judges in Sitka. Matt Lichtenstein spoke with Lenhard this week:

Southeast Alaska gillnetters will vote again this year on whether to pay one percent of their gross fishing income towards a regional seafood development association. The money could be spent on a variety of projects that are ultimately aimed reducing the fleet’s costs and boosting the value of the catch. The self-assessment failed by a very narrow margin a few years ago and proponents are trying again. A supportive crowd of gillnetters turned out to learn more about the issue at a recent meeting in Petersburg.

A few dozen Petersburg residents are scheduled to interview each other for posterity as part of the nationwide Storycorps project this week.

It looks like Petersburg may be able to take a phased-in approach to fixing the Cabin Creek water pipeline after all. The city administration proposed the plan to insure the pipeline can provide water for the upcoming salmon processing season.
The proposal initially met with opposition from several City Council members who worried it would not accomplish the full plan they had originally approved. A three-member group of councilors who attended a special meeting this Friday effectively blocked the issue from coming up for a second council vote.
However, the three later approached the City Manager in his office that afternoon and came to a compromise on the issue. Petersburg’s Mayor says that discussion should have taken place in public.