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Wrangell's Lady Wolves high school volleyball team gave a great performance and won four out of five games in Craig last weekend at the Southern Seeing Tournament. "It went really well," said the Wolves' coach, Jessica Whitaker. Despite some serving errors that persisted on Friday, the team held on to win two of its three matches. Against Metlakatla and Haines, the Wolves swept the opposition in three games apiece. "Saturday, everything seemed to click," Whitaker said. Her team again swept the n...
Though lacking in numbers, Wrangell’s wrestlers did well at the Bill Weiss Invitational in Ketchikan Friday and Saturday. The team took third overall, coming in one point behind Craig and Ketchikan. Among small schools, the Wolves finished ahead of the pack. “It’s usually the first time we get to compete with 4A,” said the team’s coach, Jeffery Rooney. This year Alaska School Activities Association has schools in the region compete together, which has pit 1A-3A teams against larger 4A schools in regular competition. “It wasn’t as grandiose as...
KETCHIKAN, Alaska (AP) – Two recently-acquired 45-foot boats will serve as the new “primary assets’’ for the U.S. Coast Guard's Station Ketchikan. The boats will be used for missions ranging from law and fisheries enforcement to recreational boat safety and search and rescue, according to Senior Chief Boatswain's Mate Kevinn M. Smith, the officer in charge of the small boat station. The new “Response Boat Mediums’’ which cost about $2 million each and were built by Seattle's Kvichak Marine Industries are replacing two 47-foot motor lifeboa...
WASHINGTON – A new report from Headwaters Economics, a Bozeman, Mont.-based research firm, finds that the United States Forest Service is continuing to invest at a disproportionate rate into a flagging timber industry in southeast Alaska, while neglecting more sustainable and growing industries like recreation, tourism and fishing. The Headwaters report, entitled “The Tongass National Forest and the Transition Framework: A New Path Forward,” examines several years of U.S. Forest Service budget and staffing numbers for the Tongass Natio...
WASHINGTON (AP) – A key polar bear population fell nearly by half in the past decade, a new U.S.-Canada study found, with scientists seeing a dramatic increase in young cubs starving and dying. Researchers chiefly blame shrinking sea ice from global warming. Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey and Environment Canada captured, tagged and released polar bears in the southern Beaufort Sea from 2001 to 2010. The bear population shrank to about 900 in 2010, down from about 1,600 in 2004. That area is one of two main U.S. polar bear r...
The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities announced Friday it will be delaying the implementation of its upcoming unaccompanied minor policy for Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) services. The new policy would no longer allow children under the age of 18 to travel unaccompanied on the ferry system. Currently, travelers aged 12 to 15 can show a note from their parents or legal guardians allowing them to travel alone, and no restrictions are in place for those aged 16 and older. Exemptions to the new policy include...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – A longtime Juneau service agency is in debt and struggling to remain open amid staff resignations and layoffs. The nonprofit Southeast Alaska Guidance Association is also in the process of moving from its main shop and office. Acting board chairman Matt Smith said members are fighting to keep the agency running, but he doesn't know if it will be operating after this year. George McGuan, who joined the board in March, said members told him the association was $250,000 in debt. “I was blown away. I was like, OK, we're a non...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – The Juneau Police Department has unveiled a new substation at the University of Alaska Southeast. JPD debuted the new space a converted storage room near the Egan Library to the public Thursday afternoon during “Coffee with a Cop.“ The room may be a little spartan (there's only one computer and desk, and the walls are mostly bare), but UAS officials expressed excitement at having a visible police presence on campus. Officers won't be staffing the substation, but they can go there instead of doing work at JPD headq...
Wrangell’s Planning and Zoning Commission twice lacked a quorum at its scheduled evening meeting Nov. 13 and midday Monday rescheduling. Due to scheduling difficulties, Commission chair Terri Henson and Economic Development Coordinator Carol Rushmore were alone in the City Hall chambers at the Thursday night meeting. All seven commissioners were then notified of a rescheduling to Monday, but only Henson, Dorothy Hunt-Sweat and Don McConachie were able to attend. “Sorry everybody,” Henson said, as some residents had shown up to Monday’s meeting...
Wrangell seems to be in a fine position to prosper as attention in Alaska turns toward strengthening the region's various maritime industries. The Fishing, Seafood and Maritime Initiative (FSMI) has been developed by the University of Alaska and other public and private partners with the intention of supporting a strong and sustainable maritime workforce in the state. With over 500 firms and 70,000 employees, the maritime industry represents Alaska's largest employment sector, and its various "b...
Drawings for the future mariners' memorial at Heritage Harbor were unveiled at Wrangell's monthly Port Commission meeting on Nov. 6 in the City Hall Assembly Chambers. Drawn up by architect Christopher Mertl of Corvus Design in Juneau, the memorial plan calls for a concrete plaza designed to resemble wooden planking, a pavilion and weathered steel patina memorial wall evocative of the prow of a ship. "When it takes that curve it rakes out," explained Harbormaster Greg Meissner, going over the dr...
Many residents in Wrangell woke up Thursday to discover a power outage, following damage caused by a storm to Ketchikan’s Bailey Substation the previous evening. Power across the entire transmission system was down, affecting Ketchikan and Petersburg for most of the morning as well. A storm the previous evening featured winds between 43 and 61 miles per hour by 7 p.m. Gusts topping 90 mph were also reported at Ketchikan International Airport. “We started getting calls in,” recounted Andy Donato, electric division director of Ketchikan Publi...
In the Sentinel 100, 75, 50 and 25 years ago. November 12, 1914: Wrangell was visited by one of the worst storms last Sunday that has hit this port for several years. The storm started about two o'clock in the morning following a slight earthquake, and from then on a strong Southeaster was blowing 'til late in the afternoon. Considerable damage was done by the big wind and sea along the waterfront, several gas boats being driven on the shore and smashed more or less. Several shacks in the lower part of town were smashed and other damage was...
With a number of closely-contested initial results for the general elections on Nov. 4, voters and candidates alike may be holding their breath as Alaska’s Division of Elections began counting absentee and early votes Tuesday. The margins for several races remain slim. For a seat in the Senate, initial polling saw Republican challenger Dan Sullivan hold an 8,149-vote lead over Democratic incumbent Sen. Mark Begich. In the gubernatorial race, a mere 3,165 votes separate incumbent Gov. Sean Parnell from Independent challenger Bill Walker, w...
Wrangell High School's volleyball team traveled out to faraway Tok Friday for a weekend tournament, picking up wins against Glennallen, Nenana and Tri-Vallley and getting edged out by Tok High School in a close three-game contest. "The team performed well although they were missing two varsity players," reported the team's coach, Jessica Whitaker. "The girls were able to come together and make quick adjustments." Whitaker said that while passing is improving, the team still needs to increase its...
With November here and Thanksgiving quickly approaching, Wrangell Ministerial Association (WMA) is seeking support for its annual distribution of traditional dinner baskets. “This will be the twelfth year,” said Don Roher, who with his wife, Bonnie, organize the project. Their Thanksgiving Basket drive puts together holiday meals for community members that might need them. An ecumenical coalition of eight churches on the island, the WMA in particular seeks to help families who have experienced a personal catastrophe or are combating ill...
Teleconferencing from the Wrangell and Petersburg assembly chambers last Thursday, members of the Thomas Bay Power Commission (TBPC) decided to call it a year. The TPBC was the acting body for the Thomas Bay Power Authority, operating Tyee Hydroelectric Plant until the operations were transferred this summer to Southeast Alaska Power Authority. Since then, the TBPC has found itself with little to do beyond facilitating that change. But because of the unique connection the commission presents for the communities of Wrangell and Petersburg,...
Children in Wrangell interested in getting a bit of bowling in this winter are invited to come to the Elks Lodge #1595 on Saturday afternoons. The Elks have been active in Wrangell for about 70 years, and the club’s bowling alley has been a long-standing fixture. While they in the past have put on activities for local youth, lodge secretary Shirley Clark said “this is the first one we’ve done as far as bowling.” “It’s for all the kids,” explained Pamela Oglend, the lodge’s bartender. First putting the idea before the lodge board of truste...
Scores of people lined up with plates for Wrangell's Alaska Native Sisterhood Camp 1 and Alaska Native Brotherhood Camp 4 third annual Unity Dinner on Saturday evening. Participants partook in a bit of fellowship and marked the start of November's National Native Heritage Month. "The theme of this Unity Dinner is 'let's work together,'" explained Virginia Oliver, Wrangell's Johnson-O'Malley coordinator. Members from all seven Wrangell clans were there, plus visitors from neighboring...
Wrangell voters joined millions of other Americans Tuesday to cast their say into the electoral boxes. Nationally, evening results indicated the Republican Party had made gains in both the House and Senate, securing its hold on one and capturing the other. Unofficial results had the Borough's District 36 residents voting along Republican lines. For its Alaska House representative, Wrangell chose Chere Klein by 471 votes to the 273 of non-affiliated candidate Dan Ortiz. For governor, Wrangell...
It was a festive holiday weekend for Wrangell, but the local Tlingit community had particular reason to celebrate as they dedicated a new canoe Saturday inside the Wrangell Cooperative Association's recently completed carving facility. The 30-foot vessel seats up to nine crew members and is constructed of fiberglass and wood framing with a red cedar inlay. It was constructed over the summer at the old carving shed, near the causeway entrance to Chief Shakes Island. "Shane Gillen is the one who...
In the Sentinel 100, 75, 50 and 25 years ago. November 5, 1914: The Wrangell Fire Department held their regular meeting at the City Hall last Monday evening. The feature of the evening was the thorough discussion of a baseball park for Wrangell. The idea is one that should be thoroughly worked out and it is certainly possible for Wrangell to have good ground and with the rest of Alaska enjoy the national game. Several persons have already come forward with the promise of financial assistance if the fire boys can get the ground. The fire boys...
