From fishing lawsuits to film crews, Petersburg had an eventful 2023. And, this year, KFSK has a brand new news team.
Shelby Herbert and Hannah Flor took a look back.
The year started out with the good news that then-fifteen-year-old Joseph Tagaban’s cancer was in remission after two years in-and-out of treatment.
And Rebecca Himschoot joined the Alaska Legislature as the House representative for Petersburg and other District 2 communities. Himschoot is an Independent and replaced Representative Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, who held the position for ten years as a Democrat.
Also in January, Shelby Herbert headed north from Reno, Nevada to join KFSK’s newsroom.
In February, a six-year legal battle between the estate of the late Molly Parks and the Petersburg Borough ended in the Alaska Supreme Court. The final ruling dropped the Petersburg Borough from a wrongful death lawsuit over a 2016 van crash, which killed 18-year-old Molly Parks and 19-year-old Marie Giesbrecht. Later this year, the Parks family regathered their efforts to advocate for increased safety measures in the Borough and changing Alaska Workers Compensation laws in the state legislature.
In April, Petersburg’s Ranger District had its biggest hiring push in recent memory, with 40 new positions.
Then thirteen Petersburg middle schoolers traveled to Juneau to compete in the Native Youth Olympics against teams from all over the state. Petersburg’s team has only existed for four years — but this year, they came in first.
In May, reporter Shelby Herbert experienced her first Little Norway festival, where KFSK’s General Manager Tom Abbott was named Petersburg’s “Norwegian of the Year.”
In June, Hannah Flor joined KFSK’s news team after working as the station’s Development Director since 2021.
A federal appeals court reversed a lower court order that would have kept Southeast Alaska trollers off the water for the season. Trollers started fishing on the first of the month. The initial pause was kicked off by the Wild Fish Conservancy suit to shut down Southeast’s king troll fishery, on the basis that the harvest is harming a declining population of orca whales in Washington’s Puget Sound.
Governor Mike Dunleavy cut one-time funding for Alaska schools in half, but Petersburg wasn’t left scrambling like many other districts in Alaska. That’s because the district did not bet on having state funding when creating its budget for the next school year. And the Petersburg Borough increased its funding to the school district for the first time in 20 years.
The Polynesian Voyaging canoe, the Hokulea, started its four year journey in Southeast Alaska, and passed through Petersburg in late June. Tribal members and community leaders greeted the vessel with singing, dancing, bonfires, and traditional foods.
News Intern Thomas Copeland joined the team in June. Copeland is from Northern Ireland, and got to experience his first American Independence Day in Petersburg.
Petersburg lost its Catholic Church in July when routine maintenance work sparked a blaze that melted the church’s spire and blanketed downtown and the harbors in smoke.
And in July, Scott May swam across Frederick Sound. A week later, Andrew Simmonds did the same. It was the first time in living memory that anyone ever swam across the sound.
Trident Seafoods lowered their price for chum salmon in August, saying that chum salmon markets have collapsed. And that came shortly after Trident, and other processors, dropped the price of sockeye salmon in Bristol Bay earlier in the summer, causing fishermen to protest.
And the Petersburg Housing Task Force shared the results of a community survey in August, showing that the town needs more than 300 houses to be built or renovated in the next decade.
The deadline for Petersburg residents to file for candidacy for the municipal election was in late August. And participation was way up from previous years — every open position had at least one candidate, and many elections were contested.
And August saw two separate ascents of Devils Thumb. Kyle Knight became the first person born and raised in Petersburg to climb the mountain. Weeks later, internationally-renowned climbers Tommy Caldwell and Alex Honnold made the ascent as part of a documentary they filmed for National Geographic.
In September, Petersburg’s Borough Assembly rejected a proposed design for a subdivision between Papke’s Landing and Blind River Rapids on South Mitkof Island. The land is owned by the Mental Health Trust Land Authority, and the borough is currently in talks with the Trust Land Office.
Two students made threats against the Petersburg School District in two unrelated incidents in September. Mitkof Middle School and Petersburg High school eventually changed their policy and began locking entry doors after classes started in the morning. Rae C. Stedman Elementary school made the same change weeks later.
In October, Alaska Seaplanes announced that it would close its Petersburg and Wrangell locations for financial reasons.
When the polls closed for Petersburg’s municipal election, assembly candidate Rick Perkins had a five-point lead over his opponent, Jeigh Stanton Gregor. At the final count, Stanton Gregor overtook him — by just one vote.
And then, local subsistence hunters were frustrated when Petersburg hosted the cast and crew of “Outlast,” a survival show where contestants are dropped into the Alaska wilderness to compete for a $1 million cash prize. They took over a popular hunting spot in the middle of moose season.
In November, six people were arrested for trafficking cocaine, methamphetamine, fentanyl, and heroin in Petersburg. There are still outstanding warrants for two others.
The Petersburg Police Department also investigated a string of burglaries that targeted local businesses and the post office. After more than a month, they arrested a suspect in late November on both burglary and drug-related charges.
And a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter crashed in Farragut Bay. All four crew members aboard survived, albeit two with serious injuries. Several agencies, including Petersburg Search and Rescue and EMS came to assist the crew of the downed helicopter.
And in November, a massive landslide in Wrangell killed five people. One person is still missing, and one person survived. Volunteers in Petersburg organized and delivered donations to the community.
In December, Trident Seafoods, one of the biggest seafood processors in the country, announced plans to sell one third of its Alaska plants, including those in Petersburg and Ketchikan.
Wrapping up the year, Petersburg School District Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter announced her retirement after 23 years with the district. Also in December, Coach Dino Brock, who coached the Lady Vikings basketball team, stepped back from the role he held for about thirty years.
And the year ended not with a bang, but with the rumbling of bulldozers as Petersburg Medical Center broke ground at the construction site of its new hospital facility; which is what assembly members have dubbed “the biggest project in the history of Petersburg.
