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The Aug. 20 primary election for the state House district that covers Wrangell is a preview of the Nov. 5 general election. All three primary election candidates to succeed Rep. Dan Ortiz in representing Ketchikan, Metlakatla and Wrangell in the House will advance to the November round under Alaska’s voting system that sends up to the top four primary finishers to the general election. Competing for the seat are Jeremy Bynum, a Ketchikan Gateway Borough Assembly member and Ketchikan Public Utilities electric manager; Grant EchoHawk, also a m...
The state primary election is Tuesday, Aug. 20, but Wrangell voters who want to cast their ballots early can come to City Hall between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. weekdays through Monday, Aug. 19. Just walk back to the assembly chambers and, if the state elections staff does not recognize you, present a drivers license, voter ID card or other form of identification to get a ballot. On election day Aug. 20, the polling booths will be set up at the Nolan Center from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. The state has offered early voting for years, making it easier for people...
Too busy to vote? That’s now less of an excuse. Early voting, in addition to voting by email, was unanimously approved by the borough assembly last month. The ordinance only affects municipal elections, not state elections. It will take effect for the borough election on Oct. 1. Both vote-by-email and early voting are just as secure as traditional election day voting. Early voting opens 15 days before an election and takes place in Borough Clerk Kim Lane’s office at City Hall. Voters need only to provide a form of identification, sign the...
Charles Martin Nore, 82, passed away on July 6, 2024. Charles, the oldest of seven children, was born on Sept. 9, 1941, in Wrangell to Martin and Celestine Nore. In 1956, Charlie and his brother Mike were deckhands on the Marcele for their dad. In the summer of 1957, W.F. Smith brought the first shrimp peeling machine to Wrangell and asked Martin to fish for shrimp for him instead of seining. Charlie and Mike worked for their dad on the Marcele in 1957, 1958 and 1959. Charlie graduated in the Wr... Full story
It took us seven days to get from Wrangell to Juneau in the Paddle to Celebration 2024. We could not have even launched without you and your support. Gunalchéesh. We extend our deepest gratitude to all the community supporters who donated money, and those who lent us gear, especially the U.S. Forest Service and Wrangell Cooperative Association. We extend our deepest gratitude to our friends and family who offered views, likes and shares, and cheers and prayers — you paddled with us. The Wrangell-Petersburg Indian Association Canoe Team ex...
FOR RENT Two-bedroom, office, two-bath, furnished and dog friendly trailer. Saltwater view. Text only to 907-305-0464. 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. Stop by Johnson’s for an application. FREE Recycled newsp... Full story
It's safe to say that City Park received quite the facelift this summer. Thanks to work from the Parks and Recreation Department, new stairs, a refurbished pavilion and even a pair of horseshoe pits are the freshest features of Wrangell's often-frequented City Park, about a mile south of downtown. Parks and Rec Director Lucy Robinson began planning the project earlier this spring with the hope of contracting out work to exclusively local contractors, as opposed to putting the projects up for... Full story
Wrangell this year will go without state ferry service for almost three weeks in late November and early December under the fall and winter schedule released Aug. 2. The service gap will occur between the time the Alaska Marine Highway System pulls the Kennicott out of service for major work and until it can transfer crew from the Kennicott to the Columbia, and outfit the Columbia, said Sam Dapcevich, Alaska Department of Transportation spokesman. The Columbia has been out service for repairs since last November. Other than the three-week gap,...
The 10 senior centers operated by Catholic Community Service in Southeast Alaska are serving about 50% more meals than they provided before the pandemic hit in 2020. However, tightened budgets and reduced staffing are making it difficult. Meals counts spiked during the pandemic as seniors stayed home and depended on delivered lunches but, unexpectedly, demand for meals on wheels has not declined much since COVID restrictions were lifted in communities, said Erin Walker-Tolles, executive director of the Juneau-based nonprofit. The numbers of...
At least 973 Native American children died in the U.S. government’s abusive boarding school system, according to the results of an investigation released July 30 by officials who called on the government to apologize for the schools. The investigation commissioned by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland found marked and unmarked graves at 65 of the more than 400 U.S. boarding schools that were established to forcibly assimilate Native American children into white society. The findings don’t specify how each child died, but the causes of death inc...
Aug. 7, 1924 Frederick H. Meisnest, vice president and treasurer of the Alaska Shellfish Co., is in Wrangell for a week’s visit. This company was recently established in Wrangell by James. M. Bell for the purpose of canning crabs. Bell has experienced many annoying delays in getting the cannery started, but everything is going fine now and the prospects are bright that the work will be successfully continued through the season. The company is using the trawling system in its crab fishing, which is used by the Japanese and the British deep-sea f... Full story
BACK-TO-SCHOOL REGISTRATION for grades K-12. Online registration is open. In-person registration on Monday, Aug. 12, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Evergreen Elementary gym for grades K-12. Check the school district website at www.wpsd.us. Classes begin Aug. 22. BRAVE MEETING (Building Respect and Valuing Everyone) 2 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 8, at the Lutheran Church. All are welcome. To join the Zoom session, contact brave.wrangell@gmail.com for a link, or call Kay Larson at 907-209-9117. BACK-TO-SCHOOL backpacks for tribal youth who signed up for... Full story
The Oakland Museum of California has housed the Kadashan cane for the past 65 years. Now, with help from the Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, the five-foot cedar cane is due to arrive in Wrangell in the coming days. Lu Knapp, a direct descendant of Chief John Kadashan, was thrilled when she learned of the cane's imminent return. "It just gives me a really good feeling hearing that it's coming back," Knapp said. "It was my great-grandfather's!" While any...
The Wrangell Elks Lodge has been around since 1935, putting on community programs for kids, veterans and others over the years. But it’s just as well known for Friday night hamburgers and Saturday night steak dinners. As popular as the dinners have become over the years, the Elks are not immune from the same problem confronting many other community groups in town — they need volunteers. It takes at least three volunteers to staff the Friday burger night and at least two for the Saturday steak night, said Dawn Angerman, who co-manages the lod...
Technically, Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s veto blocked five bills from becoming law that the state House passed after the constitutional adjournment deadline. But don’t blame him for killing the new laws. The House is the guilty party. The 40-member House, managed the past two years by a splintered and often disorganized 23-member Republican-led majority, couldn’t manage to get its work done before the clock struck midnight. The governor did not hold them up; no power outage set them back; there was no IT meltdown or online hack; nothing slowed them...
It would be wonderful to see a picture of Dan Trail and his dogs who helped rescue the baby seal pup. How many dogs? What breed? I am one of the many dog lovers in Wrangell and it was cool to read about how Dan’s dogs were a catalyst for a seal pup rescue. This is such a perfect place to get outside and walk dogs. And look what could happen — lives are saved. Sometimes lost, too. We have stories. After spending 20 winters of not walking outside in Wasilla, my husband Greg and I are loving being senior citizens who live somewhere in Alaska, lik...
On June 1, at Sandy Churchill's retirement party from Head Start, attendees learned that fellow staff member Dawn Welch would take over as lead teacher for the preschool program. "I actually found out the day before," Welch said. Two months later, on Aug. 2, she was in the midst of giving a makeover to the Head Start building with the help of friends and family like her little cousin, Ava. "She likes to organize things," Welch said. "I'm like, 'I got a job for you.'" School starts Aug. 27. One...
The Meyers Chuck dock is in despair, kept floating mostly by barrels Meyers Chuck residents installed themselves. The borough is responsible for maintaining the floating dock, and plans are underway to build a replacement. The borough took in the small community, about 50 miles south of town, when Wrangell expanded to a borough from a city in 2008. The state turned over the dock to the borough in 2014. The most recent census estimates there are 20 full-time residents of Meyers Chuck. Regardless...
It was a close finish in the Bearfest half-marathon, with one minute separating the top two finishers of Carter Howell, at 1:51, and Steven Ditgen, with a time of 1:52. Ian Fuller was the runaway winner of the full marathon at 2:49, with Wrangell High School alum Galen Reed coming in second at 3:25. The 26.2-mile marathon drew nine runners, with 11 racers in the half-marathon on the last day of Bearfest on July 28. Reed, a 2008 graduate of Wrangell High School, planned a family trip from Grand Rapids, Michigan, to run in the marathon. His...
Need a secure, dry place to stash your stuff? John Esther and Phillip Mach may have a solution, it just might be a while. The business partners are working to get a rezone from the borough that would allow them to build a storage facility on their Zimovia Highway lot, midway between TK’s Mini Mart and Panhandle Trailer Court. According to Mach and Esther, the project “would include three metal buildings with lighting, security cameras and locked gates.” The buildings would be constructed one at a time, as Esther and Mach would need to wait...
Gov. Mike Dunleavy has vetoed five bills passed by the Alaska Legislature after the constitutionally mandated date to end its session. The vetoed bills include bonding authority to build a new cruise ship dock in Seward, a bill allowing licensed 18-year-olds to serve alcohol at bars, a measure that would prohibit insurance companies from denying coverage to elected officials, legislation to eliminate duplicative registration requirements for boats, and a proposal that would have allowed employers to pay workers with short-term electronic... Full story
The borough assembly has taken the first step in allowing American flags on veterans’ gravestones to remain up for the month-long stretch between Memorial Day and the Fourth of July. After approving the change in first reading at the July 23 assembly meeting, there will be a second reading of the ordinance at the Aug. 27 meeting, with a public hearing before assembly members vote whether to adopt the change. The current version of the law states: “No temporary decoration, marker, or monument, may be placed upon or near the grave … except on th...
Edward "Ed" Roland Ness, 86, described by his family as a "beloved father, devoted husband, enthusiastic storyteller, at-ease conversationalist," passed away surrounded by his loved ones on July 13, 2024. Ed was born on July 8, 1938, the eldest child of Esther and Knute Ness of Wrangell. He fished alongside his father, hunted in the woods of what is now St. Elias National Park, and spent ample time outdoors growing up. After commercially fishing 13 seasons and loving boats, Ed pursued a career... Full story
I would like to express my eternal gratitude and thanks to everybody involved in saving my life when I experienced cardiac arrest at the Anan trail on July 22. I owe my life to Brian Schwartz of Alaska Charters and Adventures, James Leslie and Glen Decker of Alaska Waters, the U.S. Forest Service Anan crew, Wrangell EMTs, Dr. Lynn Prysunka, emergency room staff, medivac flight crew and others I am not aware of because three hours of my life are missing. I could hardly “pick” a worse location for balancing on the verge of death. My survival in...
Wrangell is not immune to the nationwide shortage of electrical transformers, and the delivery delay has pushed back the borough’s sale of 20 lots at the residential subdivision near 6-Mile Zimovia Highway until the spring. The borough wants to wait until the streets and utilities are finished at the property before opening access to the land for potential buyers to evaluate which lots they may want to buy. The transformers and buried electrical lines are part of the work. The land sale had been tentatively planned for late summer or fall, b...