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The federal and state stars are not lining up well for Wrangell’s budget future, at least not for the next few years. And that will mean some hard choices for the community, particularly when it comes to deciding the future of its schools and how to pay for that future. The borough has been using money from a federal program that dates back to 2000 to cover much of its annual contribution to the school district operating budget. But Congress failed to appropriate the money last year — the Republican-controlled U.S. House declined to take up...
On paper, the Wrangell High School boys basketball state bid was unexceptional. They dropped their opening game to Seward, bounced back in a win against Fairbanks charter school Effie Kokrine, and eventually settled for sixth after falling by three points to Susitna Valley at the tournament held in Anchorage on March 13-15. But you'll need to keep shaking the Polaroid if you want to develop the full picture of Wrangell's performance. Early Sunday morning, March 9, while the team was at the...
She loves its water, its plants, its people. She loves the community she's cultivated here, and she loves the personal history of which it reminds her. From tight matches on the wrestling mat to even tighter bonds connecting her with loved ones, Churchill is certain: After college, she's coming home to Wrangell. But before she does that, she needs to graduate high school - and to do that, she needs a senior project. For that, Churchill helped coach the middle school wrestling team alongside her...
Frederick "Fred" Clarence Angerman Jr. passed away unexpectedly on March 9, 2025, at the age of 68. Born Nov. 16, 1956, in Wrangell, Fred was the first of four children to Mercedes Angerman Sr. and Fred Angerman Sr. Memorial services will take place on May 24 at the St. Philip's Episcopal Church, followed by a reception at the Nolan Center. Fred was raised on Cassiar Street with siblings Jeff, Kyle and Mercedes Jr. He would continue to build his life on that street with wife Sumi and sons Aaron,...
“There’s nothing off the list,” Superintendent Bill Burr said about potential cuts to the school district’s 2025-2026 budget. From exploring what life would be like as a satellite site of the Petersburg school district to eliminating teacher positions, Burr said the district is exploring everything and anything. The draft budget presented to the school board last month showed a $1 million shortfall between projected revenue ($5.05 million) and proposed expenses ($6.1 million). Covering that gap — without a significant boost in state funding ...
Before the high school boys basketball season started, head coach Cody Angerman said his goal was to win state. But he also said, “If we’re the best team possible by the time March comes around, that’s the best I can ask for.” After a tight second place Southeast finish to defending champions Metlakatla, the boys team is very much still in the running to achieve both those goals. The boys took home the silver medal after winning two of their three games March 5-8 at the Southeast tournament in Ketchikan. The Wolves got out to an impress...
PORTABLE SOUTHEAST, a traveling art exhibit from the Juneau Arts & Humanities Council, is on display at the Nolan Center through March 28. A reception will be held 6 to 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 14, at the center to showcase the exhibit, which includes works from Alaskans in several cities. “Portable Southeast provides a new and exciting mode for artists to showcase their works beyond local reach,” the arts council says. BRAVE MONTHLY MEETING (Building Respect and Valuing Everyone), 2 p.m. Thursday, March 13, at the Irene Ingle Public Lib...
The House Finance Committee is scheduled to take public testimony on the state operating budget over three days this week, with several Southeast communities, including Wrangell, on the calendar for Friday afternoon, March 14. The time slot for Southeast residents to testify is set for 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Friday. Individuals will be limited to two minutes each to give the committee their opinions on the state spending plan for the fiscal year that starts July 1. Anyone in Wrangell who wants to testify is asked to come to the Legislative...
Don't try and put Johnny Allen in a box, even if it's one he welded himself. Allen, a senior at Wrangell High School, is upfront about his values. He gets up early, works hard, doesn't complain and quietly goes about his business. He finds joy, not just reward, in work that other people might only see as tedious, something that shines through in his choice for a senior project. For that, Allen has taken it upon himself to freshen up the whale mural outside the Stikine Inn. The painted mural is...
The most recent draft of the school district’s 2025-2026 budget shows a deficit of $271,000. With City Hall hamstrung by cuts to federal funding, the school board could need to make sweeping cuts to balance the books. The district is not legally permitted to operate in a deficit and its operating reserve is nearing empty The draft budget assumes that the borough will fund the schools at the maximum amount allowed by state law, around $1.8 million. However, both City Hall and the school district anticipate that number will likely be closer to $...
No one could remember it ever happening before, but the Wrangell Cooperative Association was ready when it did happen last month. The annual tribal council election on Feb. 27 ended in a tie for the fourth seat. WCA election rules designated a coin toss to decide the winner, said Tribal Administrator Esther Aaltséen Reese. Einar Haaseth, the tribal council election chairman, researched online the proper way to toss a coin, Reese said. He studied how NFL referees do it at the start of every game. Tribal Council President Ed Rilatos brought in...
The Wrangell Cooperative Association will hold an electronic waste collection event Friday and Saturday, March 7-8, paired with an unofficial grand opening of its new transportation center on Zimovia Highway. The center will be open for the first time to the public from noon to 4 p.m. Friday and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday as the drop-off site for e-waste. The 5,000-square-foot maintenance and warehouse building is next door to WCA offices on the upland side of the highway, just south of TK’s Mini Mart. Kim Wickman, the WCA Tl’átḵ | Earth...
March 5, 1925 The rivers and harbors bill containing an appropriation of $500,000 for the dredging of Wrangell Narrows has been passed by Congress and signed by President Calvin Coolidge, according to a cablegram received by the publisher of the Sentinel from Alaska’s congressional delegate, Dan Sutherland. There are 14 reefs or shoals in the 21-mile channel between Sumner Strait and Frederick Sound. The project which has now been authorized calls for the first four stages of work. This will result in the removal of the worst five of the r...
Amid the widespread uncertainty and mass budget cuts under the new administration of President Donald Trump, Wrangell’s municipal leadership is not particularly concerned about the completion of any of the borough’s ongoing projects. Currently, City Hall awaits two reimbursements from the federal government: one at around $18 million for the water treatment plant and another at $1 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for disaster recovery costs after the November 2023 landslide. Borough Manager Mason Villarma said City Hall has...
A team from Oregon State University’s Sustainable Tourism Lab wants to hear from you. The borough linked up with the academic team to better understand the community’s opinions about tourism. The survey is available at http://beav.es/wrangell and the deadline to complete the short questionnaire is March 20. On Feb. 21, a member of the team joined City Hall’s monthly economic development coffee chat at the Stikine Inn, and community members offered up ideas to better understand Wrangell’s tourism economy. For example, one community member...
Keaton Gadd knows who he is. He knows what he likes, he knows what he doesn't. He knows what motivates him and he knows what scares him (planes). Gadd is direct. He speaks in short, swift sentences - not due to a limited vocabulary, but because of an involuntary compulsion for his speech to match his thinking: undeviating and without waste. "I like being pretty straightforward, just doing what it takes," he said. "No extra steps." For his senior project, Gadd is doing something that matches...
Katherine Sandness, 76, a resident of Sun City West, Arizona, passed away on Feb. 12, 2025, after a long and courageous battle with gastrointestinal stromal tumor cancer. She was born on New Year's Eve 1948 to Henry and Anna Huebert, "Kathy" grew up on a small dairy farm in rural Port Orchard, Washington, where she was taught the value of hard work and discipline. She grew up with two older brothers, Robert and Henry (both deceased), and who surely contributed to her very determined,...
Christine Rose Thomas Jackson passed away peacefully on Jan. 28, 2025, surrounded by her loving family, at the age of 80. Christine was born in Kake on Oct. 17, 1944. She attended elementary and junior high in Kake before spending her freshman high school year at Mt. Edgecumbe. She returned home to finish high school, graduating in 1963. In 1963, Christine welcomed her daughter, Carla. The following year, she married the love of her life, Ben Jackson, and they would go on to have three sons:...
A particular place in history awaits this year’s Fourth of July royalty, as the fundraising competition marks its 75th anniversary. It began in 1950, when Pat Lewis won with her bake sale earnings, estimated at $405. Over the years, food booths and raffle ticket sales have become the primary fundraisers for those vying for queen or king. It is an intense monthlong June marathon that reaps big rewards for the contestants and the Wrangell Chamber of Commerce’s Fourth of July activities budget. The chamber is looking for royalty candidates to sign...
Feb. 26, 1925 Life in Wrangell this winter is very different from what it has been in former years. During the past two decades there has not been enough traffic by dog teams in this region to attract any attention. But this winter Wrangell resembles Nome or Iditarod with its streets congested with dog teams that are leaving here daily for the Cassiar mining district in British Columbia. There are three outfits now on the Stikine en route from Wrangell to Telegraph Creek, B.C., and a dozen more men will leave this week for the Cassiar. Feb. 24,...
ASH WEDNESDAY 7 to 8 a.m., noon to 1 p.m. and 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 5, at the pavilion downtown. Pastor Sue Bahleda of Island of Faith Lutheran Church will be available to impose ashes for those wanting to mark the day. CLIMATE SOLUTIONS EXHIBIT from the University Corporation for Science Education (a nonprofit of more than 130 North American colleges and universities) will be at the Nolan Center lobby through Friday, Feb. 28. No admission fee to see the exhibit. The center is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays. HOMESCHOOL HANGOUT 10...
The school district and borough share a money problem. And it’s a community problem that needs an answer this spring. The schools need more money to continue even the basic programs for Wrangell’s 260 students. The state funding formula over the past eight years has been flat, which is to say far short of keeping up with inflation, which is to say wholly inadequate. The borough assembly has tried pitching in, but its check-writing ability is limited by two factors: A state law that puts a cap on local contributions to school district budgets, a...
The school district has a separate savings account of nearly $1.2 million, which would more than cover its expected revenue shortfall of $767,016 for the upcoming school year. The fund is reserved for capital improvement projects, but it is within the school board’s purview to reallocate the funds if needed. The district has been building the fund since 1998, with only small withdrawals in recent years. Without major new revenues or spending cuts, the district’s operating budget reserve fund — a separate account from the building impro...
For her senior project, Clara Waddington hopes to cement the Tlingit language and culture at the forefront of the Wrangell educational experience. She is engraving metal signs with the Tlingit translations for different English-language signs across the school. The Tlingit language signs will be hung beside the other signs, similar to the style of the Tlingit words in Wrangell IGA displayed beneath the English tags. So far, Waddington has found direct translations for "Wrangell High School,"...
