Week of November 6, 2024
Wrangell’s strong support for Republican Jeremy Bynum helped push him over the 50% threshold as the apparent winner for the state House seat to represent Wrangell, Ketchikan and Metlakatla. As of early Wednesday morning, across the district, Bynum had 3,153 votes, 51.57%, to Agnes Moran’s 1,503 votes, 24.58%, and Grant EchoHawk’s 1,448, 23.68%. Though there are still more absentee and early votes left to count, it does not appear they would change the outcome of the race. In Wrangell, Bynum had 424 to EchoHawk’s 144 and Moran’s 89.... Full story
A 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision on sales taxes and a 2020 statewide initiative started by the Alaska Municipal League are benefitting Wrangell’s public treasury. The borough in the past fiscal year collected about $440,000 in sales taxes from purchases made online, by phone or mail and delivered to Wrangell households and businesses. That is up about 10% from the prior year and up substantially from $180,000 in revenues in 2021, the first year of the program. Before the court ruling, states and municipalities were blocked from collecting...
Jamie Roberts is leaving Wrangell better than she found it. After 26 years on the island, Jamie is saying goodbye to a town that not only formed her, but that she helped form for the better. The Roberts family moved out of their 11.25-Mile home after the Nov. 20, 2023, landslide. Since then, they have been unable to find a tenable housing solution. Later this month, Jamie will join her husband, Greg, at their new home in Veneta, Oregon. The Wrangell chapter in the book of Jamie Roberts begins...
The Wrangell Cooperative Association, alongside the borough, invite community members to come together at the Nolan Center for a one-year remembrance of last November’s deadly landslide. The event is set for 6 p.m. on the slide’s anniversary, Nov. 20. Tribal Administrator Esther Aaltséen Reese said both the tribe and the borough want the structure of the event to be flexible in order to best meet people’s needs. There will be speeches to open the remembrance, but Reese said they are going to try and keep that portion of the evening...
Almost a year after a landslide on the night of Nov. 20, 2023, blocked and destroyed parts of Middle Ridge Road, the U.S. Forest Service was able to clear two of the four locations where the slide crossed over the switchback-style road. The clearings allowed for the rescue of Stan Guggenbickler’s abandoned truck, which became trapped in the slide debris last November and remained there until the blockages were cleared last month. Despite the partial clearing, Wrangell District Ranger Tory Houser expects the road, as well as the Middle Ridge...
The proposed summer 2025 Alaska Marine Highway System schedule shows the same level of service to Wrangell as in the past several years: one ship serving the mainline route, with one stop northbound and one southbound each week. The Columbia will stop in Wrangell northbound on Sundays, on its run from Bellingham, Washington, through Southeast, then turn around in Skagway and stop on its southbound route on Wednesdays. It’s the same schedule as the Kennicott is running this year. The state ferry system is scheduled to pull the Kennicott out...
While planning and hoping for as much as $2 billion to replace its shrinking fleet of older ships over the next 20 years, the Alaska Marine Highway System also is looking at smaller things it can do to improve service in the near term. That will include Wi-Fi service on the ships; possibly more offerings or expanded bars; maybe even putting gift shops on the vessels. Federal money will pay for installing Wi-Fi. Increased bar service and possible gift shops will depend on whether the state ferry system can cover the costs, said Sam Dapcevich,... Full story
NBA champion Chucky Brown should probably be back in Raleigh, North Carolina, preparing his St. Augustine’s University Falcons for their basketball season opener. He is their head coach, after all. But following a Zoom call with Wrangell Cooperative Association Tribal Administrator Esther Aaltséen Reese earlier this fall, he realized that a trip to Wrangell was not something he could turn down. Brown will join a coalition of Team Hollywood athletes and officials in Wrangell on Monday, Nov. 11, to lead all-day programming for students. Team...
A search for a missing hunter ended Oct. 30 when search teams found his body on the hillside in Nakwasina Sound, 14 miles north of Sitka. Alaska State Troopers said Tad Fujioka, 50, an experienced hunter and longtime Sitka resident, appeared to be the victim of a bear mauling. Fujioka left Sitka on a deer hunting trip to Nakwasina on Monday, Oct. 28, and a search was started around 5:30 p.m. the next day after he was reported overdue. U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Sitka dispatched a helicopter crew who searched for three hours before...
Wrangell Sentinel publisher Larry Persily is part of a new nonprofit, the Alaska News Coalition, which formed this summer to help newspapers around the state find ways to adapt and survive in the changing world of online media, digital delivery and tightening finances. “As the landscape for news and information continues to change and evolve, it’s imperative for the well-being of our communities that local newspapers in Alaska stay alive. The Alaska News Coalition is committed to bringing together news outlets from around the state to... Full story
There's not much on the walls of Mason Villarma's borough manger office. There is a minimalist whiteboard (purchased with his own money, he noted), a couple vintage maps of downtown, and some photos of fishing boats Villarma trolled on growing up. But one decoration stands out: a blown-up black and white image of an older man with a smile so infectious that even if Villarma's office's walls were decorated like Paris' Louvre, the image of the elder gentleman would stand out. "Who's that," I... Full story
Wrangell High School wrestlers attended the Mountain City Christian Academy Invitation tournament in Anchorage this past weekend. Over the meet’s two days (Nov. 1-2), every single Wrangell wrestler won at least one match. The team also returned home with the first-place award for small teams. This is the third time in four years that the Wolves were the recipients of the award. Ben Houser was the team’s sole champion of the tournament. The junior finished atop the podium in the 125-pound weight class after finishing in second place in... Full story
Nov. 6, 1924 G. E. Diemart of the Wrangell Dairy received a fine milk cow from the states on the Yukon when it called at port Monday night. The cow is a strong-willed animal. She did not like the looks of the deckhands who had her in tow, so after dragging two or three of them around over the dock she broke away and came uptown. After looking around for a time she decided to spend the night at the Lemieux ranch. She was not obstreperous, however, when taken to the dairy on the following day. Nov. 4, 1949 A thorough study of the feeding habits... Full story
Wrangell resident Sandy Churchill was elected Alaska Native Sisterhood grand president for 2024-2025 Outgoing ANS Grand President Daphyne Alby and President Emeritus Millie Schoonover visited Wrangell to bestow the honors in ceremonies Oct. 24. Virginia Oliver was elected second grand vice president. Both are from Wrangell ANS Camp No. 1, where Churchill is president and Oliver is secretary. The Wrangell camps of ANS and the Alaska Native Brotherhood are scheduled to host the organization's... Full story
Monday, Oct. 28 Summons service. Citation issued for objectionable animal. Tuesday, Oct. 29 Courtesy transport. Agency assist: Hoonah Police Department. Criminal mischief. Found property. Agency assist: Public Works. Wednesday, Oct. 30 Traffic stop. Agency assist: Ambulance. Traffic stop. Gunshots: Unfounded. Thursday, Oct. 31 Dog complaint. Friday, Nov. 1 Traffic stop: Verbal warning for headlights out. Saturday, Nov. 2 Agency assist: Ambulance. Found property. Traffic stop: Verbal warning for no turn signal. Traffic stop. Bar check. Sunday,... Full story
Online, mail order and phone shopping by Wrangell households and businesses last year totaled around $7.5 million, which averages out close to $4,000 for every person living in town. That is a stunningly large amount of money. And a large opportunity. Not that residents could find every item, or even most items, on that $7.5 million shopping list in town. But if they could shift just 10% of online shopping to in-town shopping, that would equate to about $2,000 a day in additional spending at local businesses. That is a lot of money in a small...
I’m on the five-year plan for colonoscopies. The doc keeps finding small polyps that he cuts out and so he tells me to keep coming back to avoid a worse fate. As uncomfortable as it is, at least the prep work for that is brief and painless compared to the excruciatingly long and upsetting presidential elections which come every four years. Something is wrong with politics when I dread elections more than colonoscopies. Yes, the voting is over, though it will take several more days or weeks or court decisions to know the final outcomes of...
