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The Wrangell Parks and Recreation Department wants to help more kids whose families who may not be able to afford the fees for activities. “The department believes that everyone should have the opportunity to participate in the scheduled activities, programs and classes.” The fee assistance also applies to punch cards for use of recreational facilities. The program is designed to provide financial assistance to youth 3 to 18 years old “who may not otherwise be able to participate,” with a limit of $150 per person for the fiscal year that st...
Wrangell school enrollment numbers are a lot better than a year ago. As of last week, 262 students were enrolled in the elementary, middle and high schools. That’s far ahead of the enrollment low of the pandemic in fall 2020, when the student count dipped below 200. Enrollment was sitting at 206 the month before the school year ended in May. Though the district is not back up to its pre-pandemic tally of 306 in fall 2019, this year’s enrollment is “excellent,” said Schools Superintendent Bill Burr. Much of the loss of students last year wa...
The state is talking with the borough about restoring the Alaska Office of Children’s Services staff position in Wrangell, working through the details after the Legislature added funding for the job in this year’s budget. Legislators appropriated enough money to cover half the salary, with the borough agreeing to cover the other half and provide free office space. “The Office of Children’s Services is currently working with the Wrangell Borough to try to solidify details of the position,” Clinton Bennett, spokesman for the Department of Health...
The Wrangell High School swim team traveled to Ketchikan this past weekend to compete in its first in-person meet in a year, as COVID-19 restrictions had relegated the team to virtual swim meets. In the two-day Ketchikan Invitational Swim Meet, the seven athletes from Wrangell swam against students from Juneau-Douglas and Thunder Mountain high schools in Juneau, Petersburg, Craig and Ketchikan. Every Wrangell athlete turned in a personal best, and a couple had multiple bests along with first-place finishes. Renee Roberts placed first in two...
Wilma, 92, passed away peacefully on August 28, 2021, surrounded by her family. Wilma was born to David and Rebecca Churchill on June 25, 1928, in Craig, Alaska, Prince of Whales Island. She was the eldest of five children. Wilma enjoyed village life during a time when traditions of both tribal and small Alaska towns honored their elders and graciously respected individual rights. Wilma was an advocate for Alaska Native civil rights. She was of the Haida Nation, Raven Moiety, Yak-Laa-Naas Clan...
Almost 12,000 COVID-19 cases were reported around the state in August, the most since last fall, with some schools starting to close to in-person learning in only the first week or two of classes. Alaska set a record for hospitalizations on Tuesday, with 152 COVID patients under care. Wrangell also had a record COVID month, with 48 new infections reported in the community, more than one-third of all cases since the pandemic tally started in March 2020. The community is trying to stem the surge....
The Alaska Marine Highway System fall/winter schedule is online and open for reservations, but don’t look for too many sailings into Wrangell in October and November. A state ferry will pull into town just six times over the two months. But it will be more service than the community received last year. The Kennicott will make two northbound and two southbound stops in Wrangell in October, and just two southbound stops — nothing northbound — during November. The Matanuska, which usually calls on Wrangell once a week in each direction, will...
Sept. 1, 1921 The Zillah May sank off Strait Island on the evening of March 31. It was towed into port Monday night and is lying in the harbor, awaiting further attention from the local men who undertook to raise her. It will not be decided definitely what will be done with her until an examination reveals just what shape she is in. The men who were instrumental in raising her were Chas. Benjamin, Heinie Heinbockel and Charlie Lynch. They had been at work at the scene of the wreck for several weeks and had a diver from Juneau assisting them at...
Amid the recent surge in COVID-19 cases in town, Wrangell schools opened for classes on Monday with several measures in place to help protect students, staff and the community from further spread of the virus. Those measures include face masks, sanitation cleaning, improved ventilation, distancing between students whenever possible, and policies for students and staff who travel out of town. “It had been our hope that we would have been able to start the year with less restrictions, but the current COVID-19 variants (Delta especially, which i...
Ann Hilburn and her husband had driven from Mississippi to Bellingham, Washington, to catch the ferry for her new job at Wrangell Public Schools. They made the 2,700-mile drive in four days. "It was long days," she said. "The day we pulled off the ferry with our U-Haul and our pickup truck," the schools superintendent, principal and special education coordinator had planned to meet the couple at the terminal. But the ferry was early, and the welcoming committee missed the rendezvous. "They had c...
There will be contested races for one seat on the borough assembly, three seats on the school board and one seat on the port commission in Wrangell’s Oct. 5 municipal election. Candidates for two other borough assembly seats and a port commission seat are unchallenged. Jim DeBord and Bob Dalrymple are running for the two three-year open terms on the assembly. Dalrymple is an incumbent; he was appointed in January to fill out the year for Julie Decker, who left the assembly. DeBord also expressed interest in the seat at that time, though the a...
Classes started this week at Wrangell Public Schools, but there’s still time — and still a need — for people to apply for work as an education aide, and also for adult volunteers to help with a wide range of activities at all three schools. Volunteers could help during the lunch hour, with tutoring or providing one-on-one help with students who need additional assistance at the middle and high schools. It could be an hour a day, or a few hours one day a week, whatever time someone might have available, said Bob Davis, assistant principal at th...
Kindergartener Leeya Gillen was one of 154 Wrangell schoolchildren who went home Tuesday with new backpacks from the annual Wrangell Cooperative Association event. The backpacks, filled with school supplies, were part of the Tlingit & Haida Central Council's drive to ensure Native children have supplies for school. To guard against COVID-19 infections, the backpack giveaway was socially distanced at the covered basketball court behind Evergreen Elementary School. Classes start Monday in...
After starting July at 56%, then moving to 58% on Aug. 1, the rate of eligible Alaskans getting at least their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine has now climbed to 60%. Though the rate is improving, Alaska is still far behind the national average of 71%, as reported Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Alaska is two-thirds of the way down from the top in rankings of the 50 states. Just like the state’s rising tally, Wrangell’s rate of eligible residents with at least their first shot has climbed from 61% to 64% in the pas...
Forget politics, rumors, social media, accusations from all sides and everything else that has turned the vaccination debate into a circus — but without the fun, excitement and cotton candy. Too many Alaskans are getting sick (about 5,800 cases the past two weeks), too many are ending up in the hospital (121 in beds as of Tuesday), and too many are dying (419 since the start of the pandemic count, as of Tuesday). Though about two-thirds of the deaths have been recorded in Anchorage and the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Southeast Alaska c...
Candidacy filings for Wrangell’s Oct. 5 municipal election will close at 4 p.m. Tuesday. Residents who want their name on the ballot for a seat on the borough assembly, school board or port commission must file their paperwork at City Hall by the deadline. As of Monday, with a week still to go before the deadline, nine candidates had filed for the positions. Jim DeBord was the only candidate as of Monday for the two three-year seats on the borough assembly. Don McConachie Sr. filed for the one-year unexpired term open on the assembly. Angela A...
The Haines Borough had its largest population decline in history and the largest of any Alaska borough or census area over the past decade, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Haines’ population fell by 17.1% — from 2,508 in 2010 to 2,080 in 2020 — with much of the decline outside of the townsite that used to be considered the city of Haines. But the census numbers don’t align with the state Labor Department 2020 borough population estimate of 2,520, which was calculated using 2010 census data and Permanent Fund dividend application numbers...
The school board has decided to continue with its COVID-19 mitigation plan that requires students, staff and visitors to wear face masks in the buildings, though the policy will be reviewed again two weeks after classes begin. The plan approved at the board meeting Monday evening calls for review of the masking protocols on a monthly basis. Classes start Aug. 31. The next school board meeting is scheduled for Sept. 13. "Masks will be required for students, staff and guests while in school or at school events," the plan now reads. "During...
Brittani Robbins, chamber of commerce executive director, spun the drum and announced the winners Monday of the business group's back-to-school shopping event. Ben Howe won the children's drawing, with Della Churchill winning the adult category. Shoppers filled out a card and had their name added to the drum for the chance to win prizes, which were donated by Wrangell merchants. Close to 300 cards were entered in the drawing....
Aug. 25, 1921 The Wrangell Pulp and Paper Co., composed of local people with eastern connections, is busy with plans for the establishment of a pulp and paper mill in the Wrangell District. This company has made application to the Federal Power Commission for a preliminary permit for power development on certain unnamed streams and lakes discharging into the head of McHenry Inlet on Etolin Island. The Wrangell Pulp and Paper Co. has had reports made on the multiple water power sites by Donald G Campbell of the well known engineering firm of...
Wrangell High School graduate Jade Balansag is getting her opportunity to start classes Aug. 30 at George Washington University in the nation's capital. And she is doing it with yet another honor, named last week as one of seven Local Heroes in Alaska. Her advice to other Wrangell students is to look for their opportunities in life. "Don't be afraid to try something new, don't be afraid to fail," the 18-year-old said. "I've basically had the same philosophy awhile now, not to be afraid and to...
Lucille Margaret Merrill, age 85, passed away at Providence Hospital in Anchorage on July 21. Lucille was born in Tacoma, Washington, in 1935. It wasn't long before her adventurous family took on a project that would define her life. They built a boat and sailed to Alaska on a summer voyage. One of their stops was Wrangell, and they fell in love and decided to stay and work commercial fishing. While attending school, she would spend her summers with her family fishing. Thinking she was missing o...
Wrangell’s school bus operator is reminding parents and children that riders must wear a face mask, same as last year. But what will be new this school year is a software tool that will tell parents in real time the location of their children’s bus. Zach Taylor, of Taylor Transportation, said face masks are a federal mandate, and not something they can bend on. He asks that kids use their own masks when riding the bus, but the drivers will provide disposable masks in case anyone forgets. “That is a federal mandate, just like the airpl...
Aug. 11, 1921 Some time ago a committee of Wrangell men, interested in marking the graves of unknown sailors and soldiers buried here, applied to the government for the necessary markers. Delegate Sutherland was asked to take the matter up with the War Department. Mr. Sutherland, deserves much credit from the community for he was successful in cutting the red tape of the War Department and a letter received here this spring stated that the markers were being sent and might reach Wrangell for Memorial Day. They were not received at that time,...
After leading the nation in vaccination rates earlier this year, Alaska has slipped to the bottom third among the 50 states. Alaska’s rate has not moved up much in the past couple of weeks, despite an increasing number of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations statewide since mid-July — numbers that have not been this high since last winter in some communities. The higher case count — averaging almost 300 a day in the past couple of weeks and approaching 400 on a few days — comes as students are returning to school, with administrators eager f...