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A fire destroyed the Allen mill site on Tuesday, July 30, leaving Mike Allen’s business venture a smoking heap of twisted metal and burnt lumber – and saw the largest response from the Wrangell Volunteer Fire Department in recent memory. According to WVFD Fire Chief Tim Buness the fire began in the early afternoon and saw a quick response given the distance to the fire from the Zimovia substation and the Fire Hall. “We received the call at 2:08 p.m. and twelve minutes later the first engin...
A Wrangell woman is alleging she was fined by the US Forest Service for conducting a business on federal land during an excursion she made out the road last month with a group of children. Marilyn Mork, who runs Auntie’s Daycare Service, said that on June 19 she was taking six children to play at Middle Ridge when she discovered that one of her employees had taken the children to a boat near one of the new trails in the area. Mork said she immediately had the children removed from the area b...
The 2013 Bearfest celebration came roaring back to Wrangell last Wednesday as the Shtax’Heen Kwaan dancers presented a moving and eloquent recitation of traditional Tlingit dance and language – and fed the nearly 60 visitors with fresh baked and smoked salmon dishes at the Chief Shakes Tribal House. Wrangell Cooperative Association president Tim Gillen said the sharing of food is important to the Natives of Southeast Alaska as a way of keeping ancient Tlingit culture alive. “From my persp...
A series of capital projects led the way in Borough Manager Tim Rooney’s final report to the Borough Assembly last week as he highlighted the improvements on-going or planned in the Borough. Starting off, Rooney informed the Assembly about a number of projects related to the city’s Harbor Department, including upgrades at the Marine Service Center pier. “Pool Engineering has begun work on the pier upgrades and good progress is being made,” Rooney wrote. “The two new batter piles have been driv...
On Aug. 6 the City and Borough of Wrangell will have a new interim Borough Manager to fill the spot left by the departing Tim Rooney – and it’s a familiar face to everyone in town. The Borough Assembly appointed Jeff Jabusch, who currently sits as the finance director for the city, to the top municipal spot last week in a unanimous vote, though Assembly member Ernie Christian was not present. Jabusch, who previously served as acting manager when Rooney or other past managers were out of town, sa...
The Sitka All-Stars baseball team’s District II championship came last week in Wrangell, though their tough play against other teams from Southeast could not be matched against the stellar District I champs, “Abbott-O-Rabbit” out of Anchorage in the State Championship, where Anchorage won the best-of-three competition. Anchorage, who maintained a post-season scoring record of 109-2 against the All-Star teams in their division, had to play a little more defense as Sitka scored 8 points over...
On Wednesday, July 10 the US Forest Service, the Wrangell Resource Council, and Southeast Alaska Conservation Council held a community collaboration workshop exploring opportunities for stewardship contracting in the Wrangell Ranger District. Keith Rush, a conservation forester with The Nature Conservancy provided background on the Stewardship Contracting Authority, which allows local Forest Service districts to retain excess receipts from timber sales for use on conservation and restoration projects. Stewardship Contracting has been widely...
Students from the Tatoosh School, a Klawock and Portland, Ore., based educational outfit specializing in studying the “ecological and human dimensions of the landscape of Alaska’s Inside Passage,” made a stop last week in Wrangell with their instructors, Dr. Peter Chaille and Erin Steinkruger. The school’s program, which runs for six week sessions June-September, offers college credit of up to 12 units for students and teaches the foundational skills of wilderness sea kayaking and camping, with...
The team from Sitka saw lightning strike as they took the Region II crown on Sunday afternoon by defeating reigning champ Juneau by a score of 5-1 in six innings. Sitka’s scoring run started off in the top of the second inning with Morgan Simic giving an RBI single to give the go-ahead to Jasoren McGraw for 1-0 lead. The score remained 1-0 through the top of the fourth when Kyler Sumauang scored on an RBI single from Aaron Dumag – with two outs against Sitka. Another single by Bryce Kelly to sco...
A spate of break-ins to vehicles and possibly a home has the Wrangell Police Department – and private citizens on the lookout for suspicious behavior. The break-ins occurred on the night of Wednesday, July 17, sometime between 10:30-11 p.m., according to a number of statements given by the victims. In total, seven vehicles were either broken into or saw the perpetrator attempt to start the vehicle. One of the unlucky Wrangell residents to have his vehicle tampered with is fire chief Tim Buness. “I went to bed at about a quar...
The Borough Assembly unanimously approved on Tuesday night a request from Alcan Forest Products to lease a portion of the former Wrangell Institute property for a timber sale contracted with the landowner, the Alaska Mental Health Trust. The proposal from Alcan would be for a 100-foot-wide wide easement where a proposed logging road would be located. Alcan would install the road and a gate would be installed between MHT and Borough property to restrict access. In exchange for the use of the land and possession of the timber, the City and Boroug...
The Borough Assembly approved a change order in the amount of $34,600 for the 300-ton marine hoist purchased by the City and Borough of Wrangell this week. The city is under contract with Italian firm Ascom S.p.A. to manufacture and assemble the new 300-ton capacity vessel hoist. The bid documents required a backup control system for use in the case of failure of the wireless remote control, which Ascom is providing as a redundant, plug in, wired remote control. In a memo to the Assembly, Wrangell Public Works Director Carl Johnson explained...
The final showdown of play at the 2013 Region II All-Stars Little League tournament in Wrangell culminated on Thursday night as the home team took on – and came close to beating – perennial rival Petersburg. For two innings the Wrangell team either led or were tied with their competition from the north, though the team stayed in until the very end, losing only by a 3-1 score in the sixth inning. Petersburg scored first on a stolen base by Stone Morgan. Dillon Rooney scored the first and onl...
The City and Borough of Wrangell has contracted with Emergency Communications Network, LLC to utilize its CodeRED high-speed notification system, which will allow local officials to quickly deliver messages to targeted areas or the entire borough. For those that want to use the system, Wrangell Police Department Chief Doug McCloskey said that such systems are only as good as the telephone number database supporting them. “If your phone number is not in the database, you will not be called,” he said. “One of the reasons the CodeRED system was s...
The Alaska State Department of Social and Health Services has named Alaska Island Community Services physician Greg Salard to the Alaska Medicaid Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee. He is also a member of the Alaska Medicaid Drug Utilization Review Committee, beginning his three-year term late last year. Salard, who is currently on vacation in the Lower-48, could not be reached for comment. However, in a 2012 interview, he said he volunteered for the spot on the committees in order to assist...
Former Wrangell Medical Center CEO Noel Rea has accepted a position as the head of Sitka’s Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium hospital. In a newsletter to SEARHC members and employees, Charles Clement, the organization’s CEO, said Rea was taking over as the interim administrator of SEARHC Mt. Edgecumbe’s operation. “It is with a heavy heart that I announce the resignation of our friend and colleague, Dr. Marty Grasmeder, Hospital Administrator/Medical Director of the SEARHC Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital. His last day will be at the end of...
Youth baseball came to Wrangell in a big way last weekend as the 2013 All-Stars tournament for Southeast Alaska kicked off at the diamonds near the Nature Trail. The competition featured teams from Wrangell, Petersburg, Ketchikan, Sitka, Prince of Wales Island and Juneau. Coach Glenn Smith said hosting the tournament in Wrangell was good for the nearly 100 players, visiting families, and the local community. “One of the things I like about the tournament being here in Wrangell is that it g...
One of the iconic and ubiquitous bears featured across Wrangell during the Bearfest celebration was recently defaced with purple paint at City Dock, requiring skillful touchup from local artists. Members of the Wrangell Art Gallery whimsically decorated the bear, shown above, last month. Liz Wolford, a volunteer with the gallery, said she was happy to see efforts to save the bear’s joyful, original paint job. “I’d like to thank the folks from the Wrangell Art Gallery who spent their time, talen...
For more than two decades Wrangell Medical Center Chief Financial Officer Garth Hamblin has served the healthcare community in Alaska and the Lower 48. Now, he’ll get to serve a higher power – in paradise. Hamblin, who is a past Stake President in the Juneau Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has been called, along with his wife Sandy, to serve the church’s ministry in the Kingdom of Tonga beginning next month. As CFO, Hamblin took the place of longtime department head Oli...
When the heat, sunshine and warmer waters of Zimovia Strait arrive every summer, it’s a chance for the residents of Wrangell to let loose, get in some time on the water, and generally enjoy the beautiful outdoors. But for some younger Wrangell residents the long nights of summer can also mean a misdemeanor charge for being a Minor Consuming Alcohol. In 2012, according to Wrangell Police Department Chief Doug McCloskey, his office cited 67 minors for using alcohol under the age of 21. That y...
By Greg Knight Sentinel writer It was a case of rain and sunshine for the annual Alaska Airlines golf tournament at Muskeg Meadows last weekend – as torrential downpours socked in players on Saturday and gloriously warm and sunny weather was the name of the game on Sunday. The tournament, which is one of Muskeg Meadows’ most popular and well-attended matches has seen immense turnout in recent years, though the 2013 version saw a slight downturn according to course manager Shannon Booker. “Tr...
The Sealaska Heritage Institute “Latseen Hoop Camp,” which started on Monday at the Old Gym, features a combination of Tlingit language directions mixed with muscle-memory basketball as a way of teaching not only the sounds, but also meanings of words in the Native language of Southeast. Basketball fundamentals such as offensive and defensive skills are also taught and are at the core of the program – along with a set of lessons designed to teach leadership and cultural pride. According to th...
The U.S. Forest Service has installed permanent monitoring locations on Wrangell Island and in other areas of Southeast Alaska to track shore pine tree survival and health status over time and to gather basic information about the insects, diseases, and other factors affecting trees. This two-year project has a total of 50 permanent plots that are installed at five main locations in Southeast, including Wrangell Island, Prince of Wales Island, Mitkof Island, north Chichagof Island and...
Physician Lynn Prysunka has stepped down as Chief of Staff at Wrangell Medical Center – a move that will see Dr. Greg Salard step into the position. On Monday, July 8, Dr. Prysunka offered her resignation after serving in that role for several years, according to WMC CEO Marla Sanger. “Dr. Greg Salard agreed to assume these duties effective immediately,” Sanger said. “WMC greatly appreciates all of our physicians and wishes to acknowledge in particular the highly professional and skillful leadership that Dr. Prysunka has provided to WMC in...
Sentinel writer A house fire at 6 Mile Zimovia Highway on Tuesday, July 2 destroyed a home and saw the Wrangell Volunteer Fire Department call an “all-out” for its firefighters in an effort to save the structure. The fire, which began at approximately 2 p.m., consumed the entire upper level of a home owned by Doug and Gail Thomas. The blaze is reported to have started in the rear portion of the home and quickly spread into the ceiling, requiring a response from both the WVFD Fire Hall and Zim...
