Articles from the September 11, 2024 edition


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  • Wrangell could see twice as many cruise ship visitors next year

    Sam Pausman, Wrangell Sentinel|Sep 11, 2024

    Though not yet final, the initial draft of the 2025 cruise ship schedule estimates around 40,000 passengers could arrive on cruise ships next year, an increase from just over 20,000 in 2024. Most notably, the number of larger ships (vessels that hold over 1,000 passengers) is expected to about triple. This summer, the largest ships made three port calls in Wrangell: the Nieuw Amsterdam once in May and the Queen Elizabeth twice in July. Both ships have capacity for just over 2,000 passengers....

  • Capitol Christmas Tree ornament deadline moved to end of September

    Mark C. Robinson, Wrangell Sentinel|Sep 11, 2024

    Alaskans still making ornaments to hang on the Capitol Christmas Tree now have a little more time. The original submission deadline of Sept. 16 has been extended two weeks to Sept. 30. "Sept. 16 ... that was the deadline we were given about a year ago when we started planning this," said Claire Froelich, interpretation and education specialist with the U.S. Forest Service in Wrangell. "But because we are now working with Alaska Airlines, our shipping is going to take less time, so now we have...

  • Borough explores options for former hospital property

    Sam Pausman, Wrangell Sentinel|Sep 11, 2024

    After a prospective buyer bailed out on purchasing the former hospital in June, the property remains a burden for the borough. Currently, the building sits empty. It had been eating up nearly $100,000 a year to cover heat, insurance and maintenance. On Sept. 2, the borough’s Economic Development Board brainstormed some potential options for the building’s future. After a long discussion, the board established two priorities for the property: job creation and economic development. Board Chair Bob Dalrymple acknowledged that spinning the ailing p...

  • Sitkans adapt to life without internet, cell service

    Nathaniel Herz, Northern Journal|Sep 11, 2024

    In Sitka, some hospital surgeries are on hold. Many shops and restaurants are operating on a cash-only basis. Contact with the outside world comes mostly through satellites. A break in the sole cable that provides Sitka's internet and phone service has wreaked havoc on residents and businesses - and, at the same time, effectively launched a massive social and economic experiment: What happens for 8,000 people who have deeply integrated the internet into their lives, when the switch gets flipped...

  • The Way We Were

    Amber Armstrong, Wrangell Sentinel|Sep 11, 2024

    Sept. 11, 1924 In spite of the distraction at the opening of school while alterations in the buildings are still going on, pupils and teachers have settled down to a business in a way that indicates a year of real program ahead. The staff of the Stikine Messenger, the high school publication, was elected by the student body Monday. George Case was elected editor-in-chief. It has been decided to change the publication from an open news sheet to a monthly publication of the magazine type. It will be attractively bound in such a way as to compare...

  • Community calendar

    Sep 11, 2024

    NOLAN CENTER THEATER “It Ends With Us” rated PG-13, at 6 p.m. Friday, 6 p.m. Saturday and 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 13-15. The drama romance runs 2 hours and 10 minutes; tickets are $7 for adults, $5 for children under age 12. Children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult. COMMUNITY MARKET from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14, at the Nolan Center. Check out the locally grown and handcrafted item BABY RAVEN READS 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14 at the Nolan Center classroom. Theme is Devil’s Club. Alaska Native families with child...

  • Timeline uncertain for wastewater outfall pipe repair

    Larry Persily, Wrangell Sentinel|Sep 11, 2024

    The borough hopes to learn this week the exact location and condition of the kinked blockage in the treatment plant outfall pipeline that has forced a temporary solution — discharging the wastewater on the beach near City Park. “It’s essentially been bent in half,” Public Works Director Tom Wetor said of the 12-inch-diameter plastic pipe, which was hooked Aug. 30 by a boat anchor and damaged as the anchor line was being pulled up. Repairs could take a couple of months, he said Sept. 6. It just depends on how much work is needed. The borough has...

  • Water main breaks are a sign of age, poor installation

    Larry Persily, Wrangell Sentinel|Sep 11, 2024

    As if the borough’s Public Works Department wasn’t busy enough last week with the damaged sewage outfall line, the crew was pressed into evening work to repair a broken water main on St. Michaels Street. The ductile iron pipe on the hill above City Market probably was 40 to 50 years old, said Public Works Director Tom Wetor. “The stuff was supposed to last 60 years,” he said, but poor installation likely led to deterioration of the pipe and the break. A lot of utility pipe was buried around town and throughout Alaska during the heavy flow of...

  • Ketchikan continues clearing and repair work after landslide

    Ketchikan Daily News|Sep 11, 2024

    Efforts were underway to find family belongings among the debris of damaged homes last week in the area hit by the landslide that flowed through a Ketchikan neighborhood on Aug. 25. "Each home scheduled for demolition had a list of family items that they requested contractors locate (if possible) during the process," according to the Ketchikan Emergency Operations Center announcement issued on Sept. 6. One of the homes involved belongs to Doug Trudeau, who requested that contractors look for...

  • Court proceedings

    Sep 11, 2024

  • 'Coffee chats' need public involvement

    Wrangell Sentinel|Sep 11, 2024

    The borough’s Economic Development Department has a caffeinated idea to energize the community’s push for economic stability and, in time, some growth would be good, too. The plan is for a series of “economic coffee chats” the third Friday of every month through March, starting Oct. 18. The location will vary each month. The department is calling the informal sessions “Our Town, Our Future.” It’s a good time to talk about a better future. Wrangell needs some new ideas to reverse years of population loss. Even worse, the state’s latest forecast...

  • The five elements of the Sentinel are different

    Larry Persily Publisher|Sep 11, 2024

    We deliver you the Sentinel as one piece, whether in print or online. If you’re reading this in print, just pretend that the sheets of paper folded together are one piece. Regardless of how you read the paper, it has five elements: Paid advertising, news, the Sentinel’s editorial, my personal opinion column and opinions from our readers. Each has different rules and standards. Each is essential for newspapers that want to serve their community. Paid ads are pretty simple: The advertiser, be it a business or an individual or a government agency,...

  • British Columbia regulators fail at job of mining review

    Brian Lynch|Sep 11, 2024

    On July 26, KSM Mining ULC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Seabridge Gold, received its “substantially started” determination from the British Columbia Environmental Assessment Office for its Kerr-Sulphurets-Mitchell (KSM) project. KSM is a huge proposed open-pit and underground gold-copper-silver mine targeting coastal mountains of northwestern B.C., within the headwaters of both the Nass River, which lies entirely within B.C., and the transboundary Unuk River, which flows into Southeast Alaska near Ketchikan. Why does this matter? Acc...

  • State gives trollers 10 days to go after kings, with 12-fish limit

    Anna Laffrey, Ketchikan Daily News|Sep 11, 2024

    Trollers shoved off from docks across Southeast Alaska over the weekend, following an announcement from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game of a very limited 10-day commercial opening for kings. The brief window opened Sept. 1 and was scheduled to close Sept. 10, with a limit of 12 kings per troller. The department said it expects trollers will harvest the remaining Southeast allocation of about 4,000 fish. That’s what remains of the commercial net fisheries share of Southeast kings, as seine fisheries have wrapped up and gillnet fisheries a...

  • Girls volleyball looks to build on last year's Southeast championship

    Sam Pausman, Wrangell Sentinel|Sep 11, 2024

    Head Coach Brian Herman wants the Wrangell High School girls volleyball to be the best team in Southeast — and he knows they can be. After winning the regional title (and fourth place at state) last year, the team is looking to take another step up this year. The 2024 season will be the second year for the team’s co-head coaching duo of Herman and Shelley Powers, and Herman noticed that the players are already looking better than they were at this point last year. Since May, Herman and Powers have hosted open-gym sessions for the players to...

  • Cross country boasts strong showing in Craig

    Sam Pausman, Wrangell Sentinel|Sep 11, 2024

    Wrangell High School’s cross-country teams raced well last Saturday and improved their results from the season’s opening race two weeks ago. The boys team finished first in all divisions in Craig, anchored by another Boomchain Loucks victory. Loucks, a junior, won the boys 5K handedly, and improved on his personal best race time by nearly 14 seconds. The girls side showed improvement as well — something coach Mason Villarma has emphasized as the focus of their season. Wrangell finished second in their division thanks to a sixth-place finis...

  • Forest Service creates online dashboard for subsistence users

    Sentinel staff|Sep 11, 2024

    Southeast Alaska subsistence users who want current information on sockeye escapement numbers, deer seasons and detailed maps now have a single website providing all the information. The U.S. Forest Service on Sept. 2 went live with its new subsistence dashboard. “This tool was created in response to feedback and requests by tribal organizations and subsistence users throughout Southeast Alaska,” Tongass Subsistence Program Manager Robert Cross said in a prepared statement. “We heard how difficult it was to find subsistence data and under...

  • Police report

    Sep 11, 2024

    Monday, Sept. 2 Agency assist: Municipal line crew. Traffic stop: Citation issued for failure to provide proof of insurance. Traffic stop: Citation issued to motorcyclist for not wearing a helmet. Tuesday, Sept. 3 Traffic stop: Citation issued for improper start from stop. Driving complaint. Sexual assault. Dangerous play. Wednesday, Sept. 4 Summons served. Agency assist: Public Works. Driving complaint. Speeding complaint. Agency assist: Search and Rescue. Thursday, Sept. 5 Found property. Missing person. Agency assist: Probation. Civil...

  • Classified ads

    Sep 11, 2024

    FOR SALE 2009 Ford E-350 bus with 86,341 miles. Runs well and has had all scheduled maintenance. Call Catholic Community Service at 907-874-2006 for more information. $15,000 OBO. HELP WANTED Johnson’s Building Supply is accepting applications for the following position: Customer Service: Duties include counter sales, freight handling, customer deliveries, stocking and inventory. Full-time position; will require working Saturdays. Valid Alaska driver’s license, must be able to lift 50 lbs., forklift experience a plus, starting pay is DOE. Sto...

  • Tlingit & Haida sends multiple Starlink units to help Sitka during GCI outage

    Shannon Haugland, Sitka Sentinel|Sep 11, 2024

    With repair of the damaged GCI fiber optic cable expected sometime in the next week, a lot of Sitkans are relying on Starlink thanks to help from the Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. Sitka lost internet service Aug. 29 when an undersea cable broke. “Our teams have successfully restored basic mobile voice and text services using alternative technology,” GCI reported Sept. 3. “However, customers are unable to use mobile data, internet and UConn TV services.” The telecommunications provider said a fiber repair...

  • Ketchikan police chief resigns rather than face criminal charges

    Anchorage Daily News|Sep 11, 2024

    Ketchikan’s police chief has resigned under an agreement that dismisses criminal charges against him stemming from a 2022 off-duty altercation in a restaurant that injured another man. Jeffrey Walls, 48, signed the agreement with state prosecutors on Aug. 27. He stepped down as chief effective Sept. 10. Walls was hired as Ketchikan police chief in 2021. Before that, he worked at the New Orleans Police Department for 24 years. He was accused of injuring a man during an encounter at the Salmon Falls resort restaurant in September 2022. Walls a...