Sorted by date Results 476 - 500 of 515
Brett Abrahamson (Captain America), along with Elissa DeBoer (Vampiress) and Gavin DeBoer (Scream Killer) attack the candy basket at the Wrangell Cooperative Association during Wrangell’s “Early Trick or Treat” event on Wednesday, Oct. 31....
The Wrangell Cooperative Association has released the tentative schedule of events for the Rededication of Shakes Island set for May 3-4, 2013. Beginning on Friday, May 3 a noontime parade through downtown, as well a children’s regalia contest and canoe races will take place. A bingo tournament and Native dancing is set for that evening beginning at 7 p.m. with a location as yet to be determined. On Saturday the events will begin in earnest with the “One People Canoe Society” making a landi...
The Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium Board of Directors elected new officers during its quarterly board meeting last week Oct. 11-12 in Juneau. Lovey Brock of the Wrangell Cooperative Association was reelected secretary, while Frederick Olsen, Jr., of Kasaan was reelected to a second one-year term as board chair. Jan Hill of the Chilkoot Indian Association in Haines was selected as vice-chair, and Harriet Silva of the Angoon Community Association was reelected treasurer. SEARHC is a consortium of 18 tribal communities in Southeast...
With the removal of the temporary adzing shed set up at the intersection of Campbell Drive and Brueger Street, the lot where a brand-new facility for totem pole carving will soon receive a makeover in preparation for construction. Wrangell Cooperative Association project manager Todd White said preparations for the site where the new shed will be located are underway and includes getting ready to pour the foundation of what will be a 4,000-square foot facility. “We’re getting ready to start the...
If estimates of expected attendance hold true, the population of Wrangell could increase by 25 percent or more in May 2013 – during the rededication of Chief Shakes Tribal House. The numbers of expected visitors, which has been calculated by Tis Peterman of the Wrangell Cooperative Association, could equal between 700-1,000 participants from across Alaska and the lower-48. Because of this projection, the hunt for housing so many visitors to the borough is on with a vengeance. “So far we...
During the next few weeks, the Irene Ingle Public Library will be offering a new service – e-books. Library patrons will now be able to browse a website, check out an electronic book with a valid library card, and download its contents to a PC and many other types of mobile devices. According to library director Kay Jabusch, patrons will need to load software on their devices such as an iPod, Sony Reader, Nook, Kindle or computer. Titles will automatically expire at the end of the lending period and there will be no late fees. The first year o...
The family of Kaawishté, also known as Chief Shakes V, visited Wrangell last week and was treated to a trip to Shakes Island and the Tribal House and the hospitality of the Wrangell Cooperative Association. Jessica Clark, one of descendents of the Kaawishté who lives in Cypress, Calif., said it was an important experience for her to stand on Shakes Island and learn about her family history. “It’s really enlightening to see where our family came from,” she said. “Both my dad and my uncles ha...
With the flurry of activity on Shakes Island, including the redesign and construction of a new Chief Shakes Tribal House, the cleaning and renovation of the totem poles, and planning for a rededication ceremony in May 2013, the Wrangell Cooperative Association is busy focusing on the future of tribal assets in the community. But a portion of Wrangell’s Tlingit history is also spread to the wind as a part of two separate exhibits at museums in Washington and Colorado. The Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture at the University of W...
The Chief Shakes Tribal House restoration project is more than halfway to completion, thanks in part to good weather and the hard work of the adzing team involved in the renovation. “If I had to put a number on the total project, I’d say we’re about 65 percent done,” said Project Manager Todd White. “We expected to salvage about 30 percent of the existing Tribal House, but that number turned out to be closer to 7 percent, creating additional work. But even with the additions, we’re still on-time for the 2013 re-dedication.” The Shakes Island tr...
A Homer-based group is seeking help from Wrangellites in their effort to bring natural blueberry products to the local, regional and international markets. Trail Mountain Harvesters is a company that organizes harvests of wild berries and herbs for Denali BioTechnologies, Inc., a manufacturer of premium dietary supplement ingredients owned by Dr. Maureen McKenzie, also of Homer. According to TMH field purchasing supervisor Bob Fenex, his company is interested in recruiting Wrangellites and...
With coats of stain covering the walls, and the majority of framing complete, the Chief Shakes Tribal House is more than halfway toward completion. According to project superintendent Todd White, the work continues and brings the finished house closer to reality every day. “The walls have been up for some time, but now the roof is halfway done and the adzers are doing everything they can to keep the cedar flowing to the island,” White said. “If I had to put a number on the total project, I’d s...
The Wrangell Resource Council has received a grant for their “Wrangell Forest Stewardship Contracting and Resource Mapping Project,” which was submitted for funding by the council in June. The $24,000 grant, which was awarded by the National Forest Foundation, will allow the council to fulfill what they call, “strengthening” the Forest Service’s capacity for collaboration with local stakeholders, including small businesses, the Wrangell Cooperative Association, the borough, conservation groups, and small mills. The NFF was founded in 1991 by a...
Janell Privett - 2015 What is your previous experience on boards or other relevant experience that would qualify you as a member of the Wrangell Medical Center Board of Directors? I spent most of my adult life volunteering in our community and all of my experiences are from the various boards and commissions I have served on. I served three terms on the Wrangell School Board for a total of nine years, seven of those as the chair. I was given the opportunity to attend yearly training in Roberts...
Brad Williams - 2014 What is your previous experience on boards or other relevant experience that would qualify you as a member of the Wrangell Medical Board of Directors? I was Chairman of the Board for the Mountain Book School District for 3 years. I was Chairman of the Board for the Montana Advisory Counsel for 1.5 years. I also have 35+ years dealing with various boards on a wide range of issues. I have very strong moral values to include a sense of right and wrong. I believe in and try to...
A largely forgotten piece of Wrangell history may soon come to light, with the awarding of a Sealaska Heritage Institute grant to research the 1869 Bombardment of Wrangell. SHI received a one-year National Park Service Battlefield Preservation grant to document the 1869 bombardment through oral history work with elders. The work will be done in partnership with the Wrangell Cooperative Association. “This is the first ever Battlefield Preservation Grant awarded to an organization in Alaska to s...
With the rising costs of heating homes and businesses in Southeast Alaska, an earth-friendly product may be the answer to lower costs – and possibly creating jobs in Wrangell. The Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, in collaboration with the Wrangell Cooperative Association, has been working in past weeks to bring a feasibility consultant to the borough in an effort to determine the economic and strategic possibilities of producing a biofuel – or “biobrick” – product locally. Biobricks...
The Wrangell Cooperative Association welcomed one of the earliest and largest contributors to the Chief Shakes restoration project to Wrangell last week, as members of the Rasmuson Foundation paid the Tribal House and Carving Shed a visit on June 25. “The Chief Shakes Island Tribal House restoration is exactly the type of project the Rasmuson Foundation likes to get behind,” said CEO Ed Rasmuson, who before becoming President and Chairman of the Board for National Bank of Alaska spent two years running the Wrangell branch after the tenure of...
With the loss of 8 members of the Wrangell Medical Center Board of Directors, the question of how those seats will be filled came to the forefront during the Borough Assembly’s June 26 meeting. The assembly, in conjunction with borough attorney Bob Blasco answered that question after an executive session. Blasco informed the assembly that the only method to fill those seats, under Alaska law, was to hold a special election on Aug. 21 – and that those elected to fill the vacancies would hold their seats for the remainder the respective sea...
Nutrition is elementary for healthy living in both mind and body. Proper dietary consideration is especially important for seniors living in Wrangell since many of our most precious citizens – who are a tie to our past – are frequently unable to leave their homes in the borough. And that is precisely where the Wrangell Senior Center comes in. The center, which has been feeding lunch to seniors both in-house and by delivery for decades is now able to offer meals five days a week for those in nee...
When the Eagle totem at Shakes Island came down for renovation in September 2011, it was a beginning for the renovation project on the island – a project that would take more than a year and see the Chief Shakes Tribal House gutted down to its bare framework of original cedar. Another milestone in the life of the house came last week when workers raised the first newly adzed corner post for the building on June 15. The cedar plank, which is part of a batch of wood acquired by the Wrangell Cooper...
The Tribal House restoration on Chief Shakes Island was awarded another grant last week, with a $222,000 award from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust inching the project towards full funding. After submitting and revising the grant multiple times beginning in 2009, Wrangell Cooperative Association received notice on May 24 that the grant had been approved. The trust put no restrictions on the grant distribution, and with the paperwork now officially signed, the entire amount will be paid in a lump sum. “We extend our congratulations on your r...
Studying the ties that bind all Tlingits – genetically – was a large part of Celebration 2012 last week in Juneau. The Sealaska Heritage Institute, in connection with the University of Pennsylvania, sponsored a study of the DNA of Natives in attendance at the event that was held June 7-9. The university’s Department of Anthropology was at Centennial Hall to undertake their “Genographic Project: Molecular Genetic Analyses of Indigenous Populations of North America” study led by investigator Dr. Theodore G. Schurr. According to Sealaska...
The Wrangell Cooperative Association was on the receiving end of financial help from the State of Alaska last week as Governor Sean Parnell included the Chief Shakes Tribal House and Carving Shed on the list of House District 2 initiatives for 2013. “Alaska’s cash position is as strong as it’s ever been,” Parnell said in his annual Budget Message given in Anchorage on May 14. “We start from a position of strength.” The WCA submission was just one of eight Wrangell projects receiving funding in the new budget. The Governor appropriate...
Members of the Wrangell Cooperative Association, along with visitors from other communities in Southeast Alaska, joined together on Tuesday, May 22 to bless planks of cedar to be used in the renovation of the Chief Shakes tribal house. The wood, which is a portion of 12 logs donated to the project by Sealaska Corporation, was taken from native lands near the Cleveland Peninsula on Prince of Wales Island. WCA office manager Carol Snoddy said the ceremony was special because the current delivery...
The Chief Shakes Tribal House on Shakes Island is nearly empty. The intricate artwork has been taken out, as have the approximately 70-year old cedar floor beams, exposing electrical wires and the house’s foundation. The removal is part of the restoration project expected to cost nearly $1.1 million on the tribal house, which has been described as “Wrangell’s Washington Monument.” Restoration work began last week, and artwork and totem poles from the tribal house are now being stored the Nolan Center, where they are on display in the museum....
