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Not a single legislator voted against the bill to reconfigure the public advisory board for the Alaska Marine Highway System, taking away from governors the power to appoint half the members. The Senate president and House speaker would each appoint two of the nine board members, with the governor naming the other five to the panel that would advise the Department of Transportation on operations and long-term planning for the ferry system. The final decision on the change in state law rests with the governor, who will have until next month to...
Wrangell is one of four Southeast communities selected for a joint U.S. Forest Service and University of Alaska Southeast project to learn more about how the pandemic has affected the tourism industry in the region and what it means for the economy longer term. The other communities selected for the survey and report are Skagway, Hoonah and Angoon. “Each one is very unique,” said Robert Venables, executive director of the Southeast Conference, which is helping to publicize the online survey. “Take a look at Skagway, the biggest small port...
Evergreen Elementary School students last week exercised their green thumbs at the school's annual plant and seed sale and garden cleanup and prep for the summer. Fourth grader Brogan Booker spreads fresh dirt in the raised bed as Jacoby Hunt keeps adding to the pile on May 18. Students were busy filling the beds for next year, mixing in coffee grounds and eggshells, said Jenn Miller-Yancey, lead teacher and assistant principal at Evergreen Elementary. They also were harvesting the last of this...
Joanne J. Roberts, a 27-year Wrangell resident, died May 13 at the SouthEast Regional Health Consortium's Mt. Edgecumbe Medical Center. She was 74, and died of pulmonary disease, her family said. "Wrangell was her style," her family said. Roberts moved to Alaska with the U.S. Army in 1976 and later, when she grew tired of big cities, left Fairbanks and moved to Wrangell, where she tended bar, worked aboard commercial fishing boats and hunted. "She lived a colorful life." "She was married five... Full story
While the Alaska Legislature continues to work in special session this week on the state budget and deciding the amount of this year’s Permanent Fund dividend, lawmakers managed to pass 34 bills before the regular session ended last week — among the lowest number since statehood. Gov. Mike Dunleavy will have at least until sometime next month to decide whether to sign or veto the bills, depending on when the Legislature sends the documents to the governor’s office. Among the bills approved by lawmakers: A measure sponsored by Juneau Rep. Sara...
The Wrangell High School cheer squad placed second in Division 2A in this year's virtual Southeast regional competition, and now they have the plaque and medals to prove it. The squad sent in videos of their four routines to the judges back in March, and the awards just arrived last week, said coach Stephanie Cartwright. In addition to the team award, Wrangell squad members Aaliyah Messmer and Brodie Gardner were named to the 15-member all-conference squad, Cartwright said. Schools were...
Wrangell police, assisted by several other law enforcement agencies, arrested Wilson Taylor Boon, 32, on a felony drug charge at the post office May 19. Boon was being held at the Wrangell jail as of Monday on a $10,000 cash bail. He was arrested in possession of 84 grams of methamphetamine, almost three ounces, said Wrangell Police Lt. Bruce Smith. “U.S. Postal Service employees in Wrangell intercepted a suspicious package. A search of the package revealed it contained a controlled substance,” according to a press release from the city. Boo...
The Southeast Alaska Power Agency continues to review damage and repair costs after a fire at its Zimovia Highway warehouse and office building May 13. The fire did not affect electrical service to the community. The Sentinel last week incorrectly reported the fire caused “minimal damage.” The news report should have said SEAPA was “appreciative of the rapid response of the Wrangell Volunteer Fire Department, which minimized damage to the structure and its contents....
Elevate UAS finished flying its drone over Wrangell last week, taking photos and gathering digital data of the terrain from a pulsing laser aimed at the ground, known as LiDAR. The company was in town to finish the aerial work on its borough contract, which covers almost 1,400 acres from the north end of Wrangell Island to south and east of Heritage Harbor. Andy Dietrick (above) preps the drone for another flight May 19. He and Cole Smith, owner of the Portland-based company, were on their...
JUNEAU (AP) - Alaska had 19,100 more jobs in April than it did the same month in 2020, but the numbers still lagged what they were before the pandemic, the state labor department reported last Friday. There were an estimated 297,200 nonfarm jobs in Alaska last month, compared to 278,100 in April 2020 but down from 322,400 in April 2019, the report shows. The unemployment rate in Alaska was 6.7% in April versus the national rate of 6.1%. The unemployment rate in Wrangell was 7.6%, a big improvement from 12.9% a year ago. The report provides a...
TAZLINA — Catholic missionaries first started venturing into Alaskan territory in the late 19th century, not long after Russia sold the land to the United States for two cents per acre. The Catholic Church built missions and churches and, in the 1950s, bought land in the Copper River Valley from the U.S. government at $1.25 an acre for a mission school largely serving Native students. Now, 50 years after the once-thriving school was shuttered, the Archdiocese of Anchorage-Juneau wants to sell the 462-acre property back to its Indigenous i...
It didn’t work a year ago, but the borough and Wrangell’s state House member are trying again to restore the Alaska Office of Children’s Services caseworker position in the community. Same as last year, the borough is offering to cover half the expenses if the state will pay its half. The community has been without a caseworker for more than a decade due to state cutbacks. Bringing back a caseworker “is absolutely crucial,” said Bob Davis, lead teacher and assistant principal for the high school and middle school. “We’re seeing a huge uptick i...
May 19, 1921 The U.S. Fisheries Service boat Auklet made an emergency trip to Prince Rupert, British Columbia, during the week for the merchants of Wrangell. The Auklet left here early Saturday morning and returned yesterday morning. Needed supplies such as flour, sugar, eggs and meat were brought back from the Canadian port. Mrs. Neville accompanied Captain Neville on the trip, which was made by special permission of the government. A union strike has stopped loading of ships at U.S. West Coast ports, significantly reducing flow of goods to...
Wrangell graduating seniors received scholarships that could total almost $175,000, with many extending through four years of college. The scholarships were announced at the high school awards ceremony Monday. Students received scholarships from 21 different programs. Among the larger awards was the Alaska Pulp Corp. scholarship of $20,000 per student over four years to attend the college of their choice. The former owner of the since-closed Wrangell sawmill started the program in 1992, and sinc...
Wrangell High School graduating class wanted to do something different this year and the students were looking forward to staging the ceremonies on the city dock. But an unkind weather forecast pushed them back into the community gym, where graduation is set for 7 p.m. Friday. “The weather forecast was not so favorable,” Megan Powell, adviser to the class of 2021, said Monday. Though attendance will be restricted only to graduates and limited guests per student, the event will be livestreamed on the school district YouTube channel. The 7 p.m...
I know Wrangell people have opinions and viewpoints and all sorts of interesting thoughts in their heads. I hear them in the stores, see them on Facebook and listen when people talk with me on the street. But I don’t read them in the Sentinel. I feel like the Maytag repairman in the TV commercials — lonely because no one calls. We can fill that missing piece in the newspaper. I say “we” because while I am eager to print your letters to the editor, you need to write them. I’ll provide the newspaper space free of charge for letters. All you n...
To steal the line from a country-western song of almost 30 years ago — “Well that’s my story and I’m sticking to it” — Gov. Mike Dunleavy is sticking to his story that the Permanent Fund dividend is just about the most important thing in Alaska today. So much so that not only does he want the PFD enshrined in the constitution, but he wants the formula for calculating the annual payment to residents hard-wired into the everlasting document. Even education, public health and safety don’t get that kind of star treatment. The governor want...
Music survived a challenging year Before the May 11 mini-concerts performed by the middle and high school bands and high school choir, our last in-person concert was in December 2019. It has been challenging this past year. We play with special masks that have flaps for the instrument’s mouthpiece to fit through, and we cover our instruments to keep our air to ourselves. Frequently we would have to stop because someone’s cover had become entangled in the keys of their instrument. I frequently heard, “Hold on, Mrs. Morse! My sarong has got stuck...
The Wrangell Museum has two projects underway, both dealing with wood. One is a new sign, being carved from a 20-foot-long yellow cedar log. The other is the ongoing effort to preserve and display the 96-year-old retired U.S. Forest Service wooden boat, the Chugach Ranger. Wrangell carver Denny Leak started last month stripping the bark off the log and is cutting his way into the design, which will spell out MUSEUM in large block letters vertically, with an eagle and a raven carved out at the...
For not much more money - less than $10,000 - the city is able to add 411 acres at the north end of the island to an aerial imaging project that already covers 957 acres of downtown, Wrangell's water reservoirs, and land south and east of Heritage Harbor. It has been almost 20 years since aerial photography of the community. In addition, the project includes LiDAR, an airborne pulsed laser signal that "sees," measures and produces detailed three-dimensional images of the terrain, ground cover an...
The Mt. Dewey Trail extension project could go to construction next year, including a new trailhead parking area on Bennett Street, just north of U.S. Forest Service offices. The borough assembly May 11 unanimously approved a $69,542 contract with PND Engineers for scoping work to prepare the project for final design, to be followed by construction. Almost 91% of the cost of the scoping contract will be covered by federal funds, with the borough paying the rest. "It's nice to have something in...
The team of Jerry Bakeburg, Frank Roppel, Doug Nelson and Eric Kading took first place May 8 in Wrangell IGA 9-hole best-ball play at the Muskeg Meadows golf course. The team of Rocky and Rodney Littleton and Marva Reid took first place in May 9 competition. The Ray Pederson Memorial Ryder golf tournament is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Muskeg Meadows. It’s 18 holes each day, with a $25 cash entry fee. Register by 9:30 a.m. each day. Call 874-4659 for more information....
Gina Rose Smalley, 52, died at her home in Chehalis, Washington, April 9. The cause was COVID-19, the family reports. Born on Feb. 9, 1969, in Ketchikan, Gina later moved to Wrangell, where she raised her children with Jody Smalley and worked at the hospital. She moved to Sitka in 2003 and continued to work with the elderly until 2020, when she moved to Chehalis and continued to work in home health care. Survivors include her ex-husband, Jody Smalley, their daughter Danika-rae and son-in-law... Full story
After going online last summer, the Irene Ingle Public Library summer reading program for kids is back this year — just like it was for 25 years before the pandemic. “We’re excited to get things a little back to normal this year,” library director Margaret Villarma said. Kids will receive points for each book they read, with more than 100 drawings and a special prize for readers who complete the program. Young readers can register now at the library or call 874-3535 to sign up. The library is open noon to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturda...
Wrangell Schools Music Director Tasha Morse conducted middle and high school students in their first performances since December 2019 at the covered basketball court at Evergreen Elementary School on May 11. At the start of the middle school mini-concert, Morse told the audience: "What you have just witnessed is the very first note that our entire band has played together as a band at all." COVID-19 safety protocols had blocked the two bands since early last year not just from performing but...