Sorted by date Results 1303 - 1327 of 3085
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...
Maybe you're curious how we decide which stories go into the Sentinel each week. Maybe not, but please read this anyway. Since you are turning the pages of the Sentinel at the moment, or reading it online, it would be good for you to know why some stories are in the paper you bought (or borrowed), and it would be good for us to know what you think is missing from the newspaper. There is nothing magical in selecting which news reports make it into the Sentinel. It's a combination of space to fit...
As the new school year gets closer, the Wrangell School District is looking for community volunteers to serve on several committees to help inform and guide school leadership. The district is seeking applicants for seven committees: Budget/finance, calendar, curriculum, career and technical education, facilities, policy and technology. “Ideally, we’d have five to seven members at a minimum, on each,” said Kim Powell, district administrative assistant. “It’s open, and anyone who is interested is encouraged to serve.” The committees can include...
The Wrangell School District plans to start classes Aug. 30 with face masks required when staff and students are indoors — same as last year. The district is working under its COVID-19 mitigation plan, released in June, and will adapt it as needed, said Bill Burr, who took over as schools superintendent July 1. Burr said he has met with borough officials and the community’s health care provider, the SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium, “to try to get a cohesive plan all together.” Advance planning for how to respond as COVID case co...
Registration for the new school year will open online Wednesday. In-person registration will be offered 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Aug. 17 at the high school gym. Classes start Aug. 30. Teachers start back at work Aug. 25. Families registering their kids for school should not expect any big changes from last year, said Megan Powell, high school secretary. “It’s the same as last year, other than last year we didn’t do an in-person (registration) due to COVID,” she said. “It should be really easy for parents. I did it last year for my daughter and it wa...
Candidacy filing is open for the municipal election, with nine seats on the ballot for borough assembly, port commission and school board — three seats each. The filing deadline is Aug. 31. The declaration of candidacy form is available weekdays at the borough clerk’s office at city hall. Candidates also need to submit a petition signed by at least 10 qualified voters in Wrangell. The assembly seats held by Terry Courson, David Powell and Bob Dalrymple will be on the Oct. 5 ballot, as will the port commission seats of Frank Roppel, Brian Mer...
Wrangell’s new schools superintendent wants to provide students as many choices as possible for learning, though he acknowledges it’s hard for the small district to provide in-person teaching for every subject students may want. Over time, that may mean more online classes, led by instructors outside Wrangell, said Bill Burr, who took over as schools superintendent on July 1, moving to Wrangell from the Delta/Greely School District in the Interior. Burr sees the potential for additional class subjects as a positive. “We want to give our student...
The filing period opened this week for nine seats on the borough assembly, school board and port commission. Which means it's time for people to think about what they want for the community's future and how they could help make it happen. The best candidates are those who are for something, not against. Those who have ideas, not grudges and gripes. There is probably no shortage of people against COVID-19 health rules, taxes, zoning restrictions, cell phone towers, school policies, dog control la...
Summer camp focused on learning about virtues The six-day Virtues Summer Camp held at the Community Center has come to a close, with 14 children participating locally. New ideas were explored in one-hour Zoom meetings as the group in Wrangell interacted with children in Palmer, Willow, Nenana, Valdez, Anchorage and Juneau. The dedicated efforts of more than 20 adults statewide helped make this a success. The afternoon in-person sessions included an outdoor break, light lunch, music, games and ar...
"I was trying to think of what to do while finishing up college virtually, here in Wrangell," Alex Angerman said. "My family and I were brainstorming, and it was actually my dad who thought of the idea to start making and selling dog treats." Angerman has been running her dog-treat bakery, Jessie's Pantry, out of her home since October 2020. She graduated with honors this past spring from Eastern Washington University, with a degree in urban and regional planning and a minor in geography. She...
Clayton died suddenly in his home of 45+ years in Coffman Cove, Alaska. He was born in Santa Barbara, CA, and shortly after birth moved to Alaska when his mother, Marcella Smalley "Opheim," returned home. While not born in Alaska he was the essence of an Alaskan man, hardy, handy, possessing the inner strength and will to conquer whatever came his way. He was raised in a fishing family, spending summers at the family fish camp on Prince of Wales Island with his siblings and grandparents, Roy and...
The borough’s plans to subdivide the former Wrangell Institute Native boarding school property will wait until a thorough inspection of the site is conducted for cultural artifacts and remains. “We are working with both the Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and working with the tribe (Wrangell Cooperative Association),” to ensure the property is searched “before any activity takes place,” Mayor Steve Prysunka said last week. “It is incredibly sensitive that we do it really well,” Prysunka said. “What I care the most a...
There's some new leadership at the Wrangell Chamber of Commerce, but the organization's mission is still the same: To promote and support local businesses. To do so, said the new executive director Britani Robbins, there are big but currently secret plans for the future. "I have lots of new ideas, but they're secret," she said. "I plan on having a fair amount more events following COVID. Everything's opening back up. When I was a kid Wrangell was all about events and community gatherings, and I...
Practice starts next week for the Wrangell High School swim team, which had its season cut short last year by pandemic restrictions. After a month of five-day-a-week practice, the team’s first swim meet is tentatively planned for the first weekend of September, in Ketchikan. And although the team has put 13 or 14 swimmers into the pool in past years, “this year I might have only eight swimmers,” said coach Jamie Roberts. Fewer students this coming school year is part of the reason, Roberts said. In addition, some swimmers also compete in cross...
“I don’t know, somehow you kind of get addicted to it, I guess,” Matt Nore said. Nore, volunteering with the Parks and Recreation Department, will be hosting jiu jitsu classes starting next month. Nore has grown up enjoying combat sports, he said, starting with wrestling in high school. He also participated in mixed martial arts through the Alaska Fighting Championship before he was first deployed to Iraq around 2004. He started getting back into jiu jitsu early this year, he said, and wants to begin teaching others the basics so he can keep...
Longtime Wrangell resident Chuck Traylor, 86, died July 13 at Wrangell Medical Center. As Chuck would say, he had a good run, his family wrote. He was born in Nebraska in 1934, and his family was in and out of Alaska several times in the 1940s and early 1950s before settling in Alaska permanently. In 1948, the Traylor family was living at the floating logging camp in Hood Bay on Admiralty Island. There, Chuck and his sister, Vona, adopted a starving orphaned fawn, raised it, and released it....
Even while Bill Burr, Wrangell's new schools superintendent, is still unpacking, he already is looking toward challenges the district will face in the coming school year. One area of improvement he is optimistic about is bringing enrollment numbers back to previous levels. Last year, during the COVID-19 pandemic, enrollment in Wrangell schools dropped to about 200 from their typical number around 300 - the largest percentage decrease in any school district in Alaska. Many families chose to...