Sorted by date Results 8576 - 8600 of 10720
Wrangell Medical Center staff released information Tuesday that it will be strengthening their preparations for handling infectious diseases on the island. While the Ebola outbreak in West Africa has brought the subject to the world’s attention, diseases that require similar infection control responses such as measles have been making a resurgence in the United States. The Center for Disease Control reports nearly 600 cases of measles since January, spread among 22 states including California, Oregon and Washington. Since this is more than t...
Former Wrangell physician Greg Salard appeared in U.S. District Court in Juneau on Oct. 28 to be arraigned for the alleged possession and distribution of child pornography. Salard was later indicted by a federal grand jury on two felony counts of sexual exploitation of a child, for distributing and possessing child pornography. According to a press release issued by the U.S. District Attorney’s office, if convicted of distribution Salard faces a maximum statutory penalty of not less than five and up to 20 years imprisonment. If convicted of pos...
The Wolves played a close inter-squad volleyball scrimmage against the Petersburg Vikings at home Tuesday evening. "The schedule worked out wonderfully," said the Vikings' coach, Jaime Cabral. The team approaches the end of two by-weeks before heading to 3A regionals this weekend. Next year Petersburg will move to 2A play, returning to direct competition with the Wolves on a more regular basis. Cabral and Wrangell coach Jessica Whitaker have each said they look forward to their teams seeing more...
The Wrangell Wolves high school wrestling team participated in the tournament at Anchorage Christian Schools last Friday and Saturday. A statewide event, the ACS tournament is generally a big predictor for the State Championship. “It went very well,” said the team’s coach, Jeffery Rooney. The Wolves placed 12th out of 45 schools. Individually, three wrestlers ranked in the top of their weight class. Roger Miller earned fourth place for 138, Justus Mikkelsen took fifth for 195, and Chet Armstrong came in sixth for 160. “We had a lot of really...
PETERSBURG – With a crew working six days a week, construction at the Crystal Lake Hatchery facility is moving along on schedule. “We’re basically on schedule, which is a little bit surprising for a construction project,” Bill Gass said with a laugh. Gass is the production manager for Southern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association (SSRAA), which is contracted to operate the Crystal Lake facility by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s Sport Fish Division. The incubation building and generator shed at the facility, along with some 1.2...
Work on Cassiar Street is at a temporary standstill as contractors and Wrangell Public Works wait for a spot of clear weather to finish pouring concrete. As of Tuesday, the block behind Irene Ingle Public Library was finished and crews were working their way down from the street's north end. Estimating the paving to be about a third done, Borough Manager Jeff Jabusch expected workers need a three-day window of clear weather to finish pouring concrete. They are hoping such an opportunity comes...
Wrangell's unusual end of October avian visitors may have hopped a few islands to the north as winter creeps in, as a pair of Cattle Egrets caused a fair stir in Petersburg last week, enticing several out of town birders to witness the sightings themselves. The birds, regularly spotted along lawns in town for more than a week, are not a native resident to Alaska, or to the American continents, hailing originally from Africa. They arrived in Florida around 1953, hopping across the continent to...
PETERSBURG – The Petersburg Vessel Owners Association hosted a presentation by the International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) exploring long-term halibut trends. IPHC Executive Director Bruce Leaman and quantitative scientist Ian Stewart presented the findings and fielding questions from the audience. The data collected look at halibut stocks from across the Pacific, from Alaska to British Columbia, Canada and south to Washington and Oregon. Stewart said that the IPHC has 100 years worth of data on the Pacific stock of halibut, which h...
Sydney Reed of Wrangell High School’s Drama, Debate and Forensics (DDF) teams is looking for volunteers interested in assisting meets being hosted at the school on Nov. 14 and 15. “To host a successful meet we need volunteers to sign up to time and judge events,” Reed explained. “We’re hoping that the six schools will all be coming.” There is a need to fill 160 volunteer slots, divided equally between judging and timing events for 90 minute periods. Clinics for the judging will be held next week on Monday and Wednesday evenings from 6:30-7...
There was plenty to do for Halloween in Wrangell last Friday, as the borough's businesses opened their doors to a colorful assortment of trick-or-treaters in the afternoon. Organized by the Chamber of Commerce, many establishments provided candy and other free amusements in the town's business district. Earlier that morning, children at Evergreen Elementary and their parents were able to enjoy the school's annual "Harvest of the Land and Sea" festival in the gymnasium. The fifth graders helped...
An agreement is currently being worked out between the Alaska Mental Health Trust (AMHT) and the United States Forest Service (USFS) that could see the transfer of between 18,000 and 20,900 acres of state and federal lands. "I've been working on this personally for seven years," said Paul Slenkamp, resource manager for the AMHT Land Office. He is currently working with Forrest Cole, USFS forest supervisor for the Tongass National Forest. "We've been moving through this administrative exchange...
Residents came to express their opinions before the the Wrangell City and Borough Assembly regarding its decision last week to look into supporting the United States Forest Service (USFS) in a trio of impending lawsuits seeking to halt the Big Thorne timber sale. The meeting was held at noon Friday in the Assembly Chambers. All members were present despite the short notice, though Stephen Prysunka participated via telecommunication. At the Oct. 14 meeting, the Assembly had looked favorably at acting as an intervenor in the dispute, which would...
In the Sentinel 100, 75, 50 and 25 years ago. October 29, 1914: It is with a feeling of regret that we make the announcement this week of the retirement of Dr. L.P. Dawes from the medical field of Wrangell, Dr. Dawes having decided to move to Juneau to take up the practice of his profession in that city. Dr. Dawes has been in practice in Wrangell for about five years and had built up his practice to the full extent and his move to Juneau is for the reason of a larger and wider practice offered in the Capitol City. During his stay in Wrangell...
Some changes to the federally-administered subsistence fisheries were recommended by the Southeast Alaska Subsistence Regional Advisory Council (RAC) at its three day meeting at Wrangell's Nolan Center last week. Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologist Robert Larson explained the meeting's agenda featured an uncommon mix of proposals from the state boards of Game and Fisheries, since the regulatory cycles of both synchronized with each other this year. “It doesn't happen very often,” he noted. Of particular concern for Wrangell's sub...
FAIRBANKS (AP) — The University of Alaska Fairbanks has landed a $23.8 million federal grant to attract rural Alaskans to careers in biomedical research. The five-year award from the National Institutes of Health will fund the program, which will be established at UAF and nine rural Alaska campuses. The effort is part of a nationwide $240 million NIH program to boost diversity in biomedical fields. Specific details are still being developed for the program, which will include partnerships with Ilisagvik College in Barrow and smaller University...
Daniel Edward Hines, 47, passed away in Juneau, Alaska on October 11, 2014 after a 10 month battle with brain cancer. Born on December 22, 1966 in Ketchikan, Alaska, he grew up there graduating from Ketchikan High School in 1985. He moved to Juneau in 1989 and worked for Aero Services. Shortly after that he began what became a 19 year career with the City and Borough of Juneau Water Utility earning Statewide Operator of the Year Award in 2001-2002. Appointed to the Governor's Water and...
Ladies from Unit 6 of the American Legion Auxiliary donated $500 to staff representing Wrangell Medical Center's Cancer Care Fund, raising the money previously as part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The fund provides travel and lodging money for cancer patients in Southeast as they seek treatment. Auxiliary members Donna McKay, Zona Gregg and Juanita Courson presented the checks Friday morning to Jane Bliss, Cathy Gross, Kris Reed and Ann Kramer of WMC....
It was a busy weekend for Wrangell Public Schools' autumn extracurricular programs, with the wrestling, volleyball, and humanities teams traveling to meets all over the Southeast. The high school's Drama, Debate and Forensics competed in Haines Friday and Saturday. “It went really well,” said Sydney Reed, the program's director. Two groups progressed to the final round in the “Reader's Theater” and pantomime categories. Joseph Hommel, Amos Comstock, and Devin Till took sixth in the theater, and Tabitha Hommel and Karl Torgramsen took sixth i...
Steven Nelson demonstrates how technology was used to revitalize the Eyak language in Alaska at an Alaska School Board Association-sponsored workshop the evenings of Oct. 21-22. Around 20 Wrangellites attended the first night of the presentation delivered by Nelson and Cheryl Bobo, and 15 attended the second evening. The two also met with a number of local school faculty members during the day to help them begin improving how technology is used in the classroom and with other projects....
Transboundary water issues and mining projects being developed across the Canadian border seem to gain prominence each week as a topic in Wrangell, with a sizable presentation on the issue delivered to the public Tuesday evening. United Tribal Transboundary Mining Work Group and Salmon Beyond Borders have gotten together with other interest groups to present their shared concern about the size and reputedly lax oversight of British Columbia projects currently being planned, with five mines in particular posing a threat to the salmon-abundant...
Richard Oliver and Perry Butler of White Construction prepare to take their first load of waste, collected as part of the WCA-IGAP Elder Property Cleanup project, to the landfill. A $14,100 grant was secured to hire and equip local workers to remove large debris and garbage from the properties of Wrangell's elders for disposal. Sixteen households were identified for assistance through the program, which will end next week....
The big, predominately green, bear-stymying garbage receptacles ubiquitous to the island may be soon partnered up with a blue variety as Wrangell weighs the benefits and costs of investing in a curbside recycling program. Members on the Borough's Economic Development Committee were abuzz with the idea at their Thursday night meeting following a public presentation for a solid waste recycling management plan submitted by consultants Richard Hertzberg and Chris Bell the previous evening. The bigge...
Throughout history, arguments over land and water usages have run the gamut from tussles over fences with next door neighbors to shoot outs over inter-state grazing rights in the old west. But when land and water rights pit one country against another, that’s when things really gets tricky. That is the situation in Southeast Alaska, where residents find themselves downstream from several massive open pit gold/copper mines being developed in bordering British Columbia. The mines are located in the headwaters of some of Southeast’s largest and...
Aside from the matter of the Big Thorne timber sale (see story on page 1) there was not too much for the City and Borough of Wrangell Assembly to go over when it met for its regularly-scheduled meeting Tuesday evening at City Hall. At City Manager Jeff Jabusch's recommendation, the Assembly agreed to hire for one year the services of Ray Matiashowski as its lobbyist in Juneau for an annual fee of $34,000. “We solicited six different lobbyists,” Jabusch told the assembly. Two of the lobbyists were unavailable, and of the four available, he fel...