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Senior Jack Roberts outswam athletes from much larger schools around Alaska at the state championship swim meet Nov. 3 and 4 in Juneau, placing third in the 100-yard freestyle at 47.95 seconds and seventh in the 100-yard breaststroke at 1:00.83. He earned the Wrangell swim team's first state medal since the program began six years ago. Roberts' freestyle time was a fraction of a second behind the first-place finisher, Ben Price of Anchorage's Service High School, who completed the race in...
The Turkey Trot returns to Wrangell for its 13th year at 9 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 23, at the Volunteer Park Nature Trail. Sign-ups begin at 8:45 a.m. at the covered basketball court behind Evergreen Elementary School. Sponsored by Parks and Recreation, the 5-kilometer (3.1 miles) race course is a three-times loop of the Nature Trail. Participants can choose to either run or walk. Though there isn’t an entry fee, a donation of $10 is suggested. Recreation Coordinator Devyn Johnson expects a turnout similar to last year. “We usually get...
The borough collected a record amount of sales tax revenues in the fiscal year that ended June 30, passing the $4 million mark. A growing share of the borough’s tax collections is coming from online sales, just over $401,000, according to Finance Director Mason Villarma. That 10% share of total sales tax receipts in the past fiscal year is substantially higher than the roughly 6% share two years ago. “It’s bittersweet,” Mayor Patty Gilbert said of the increase in online shopping. The increased tax revenue is not entirely the result of residen...
Ten Alaska Native youth from the Wrangell School District learned about their heritage and made connections with the statewide Native community at the Elders & Youth Conference in Anchorage last month. The event, which featured cultural and educational workshops, speeches, healing circles, a talent show and more, is a chance for Native youth to learn about democratic processes and leadership skills. This year, its theme was Woosht Guganéixh, which translates from Tlingit to “let it be that we heal each other.” Tlingit teacher Virginia Oliv...
The borough wants to hear from the public as officials work toward deciding the best way to sell the several dozen residential lots that will be created at the Alder Top Village (Keishangita.’aan) subdivision upland from Shoemaker Bay. “The borough is considering two methods of disposing of the land — through an auction and a lottery,” according to the survey announcement issued by the Economic Development Department. “This dual approach is intended to enhance affordability and fairness in the land allocation process, ensuring a more equitable...
Nov. 1, 1923 W. J. Bradley and family arrived from Twin Falls, Idaho, on the Northwestern Monday night. Mr. Bradley has come north to engage in the ranching business on Farm Island. He brought with him a good supply of farming implements, six head of cattle and four horses. A new settlement is springing up on Farm Island. W. S. Binkley and family and Chester Lloyd and family are already located there. This week the population of the island will be increased by the addition of Mr. and Mrs. W.J. Bradley and eight children. Other families who...
After considering 11 projects submitted by community members and borough staff for Wrangell’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) application, the assembly selected the Stikine Middle School roof replacement as its top priority at the Oct. 24 meeting. Most of the middle school roof hasn’t been replaced since 1995, and the roof’s substrate has begun to warp after 28 years of water absorption. The estimated cost is $1.475 million. The CDBG is a federal program that provides financial assistance for low- to moderate-income communities seeki...
Jackie Hanson, high school and middle school principal, is attempting to make improvements in student attendance before it becomes an issue this school year. According to the most recent Alaska Department of Education’s Report Card to the Public, school attendance in the Wrangell School District has not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels, remaining at 86.72% for the 2021-2022 school year, almost 9% below its attendance rate of 95.54% during the 2019-2020 school year. “Given the transitions associated in how educational services were del...
Unconscionable. Indefensible. There are many words to describe the disrespect for the public and disregard for honest government by the actions of the governor’s office to block publication of a factual report on teacher salaries in Alaska. Even for the administration of Gov. Mike Dunleavy, this is a low point in putting politics ahead of good government. And that’s saying a lot for an administration that has been criticized by the court for firing state employees who refused to pledge political loyalty to the governor. State government should...
Normally, I would use this space to share my opinions with readers. That’s what newspaper columnists do: They give their opinions, the facts behind those views, and hope to educate, enlighten or at least entertain readers. But this week is different. I want to hear readers’ opinions. Actually, I need to hear from the Sentinel’s non-readers, which makes this column particularly difficult. I am writing this for people who won’t see it. Their choice, of course, but I want to understand why many people don’t read newspapers, the Sentinel in particu...
The newly created Wrangell Athletic Club is ready to start fundraising to cover student travel expenses for state competition. The group will focus on the state swim meet later this month, followed by the volleyball and wrestling championships in December. The group held its third organizing meeting on Oct. 25, looking to start fundraising efforts in time for the competitions. The school board is scheduled to meet Nov. 16 to consider an administration recommendation to draw from reserve funds to cover a $44,000 deficit for state event travel ex...
The Wrangell Wolves wrestled at Mt. Edgecumbe High School in Sitka this past weekend, with a round robin on Friday, Oct. 27, and a scramble on Saturday, Oct. 28, earning 67 wins, 24 losses, and 55 pins, according to wrestling coach Jack Carney. Carney said most of the brackets were unfinished. As a result, many who would have placed including a few who likely would have come in first, simply ran out of time. “They didn’t come close to finishing the brackets, because they were big, huge brackets,” he said. Of the brackets that were finis...
The city of Whale Pass in Southeast Alaska doesn’t have much: a few dozen residents, a road, a school and a few lodges, among other businesses. But what it does have is a lot of trees. The town, nestled in a cove on the north end of Prince of Wales Island, about 40 air miles southwest of Wrangell, has been the site of logging camps since the 1960s. Like the rest of Southeast, it’s within the Tongass National Forest, the United States’ largest national forest. Now, Whale Pass residents are fighting a pending state timber sale in their town,...
School district administrators have recommended using a collection of unspent accounts and general fund reserves to cover the $44,000 deficit in the travel account from past state competition, while acknowledging that does not address the funding problem for the current or future years. The school board will consider the staff recommendation for wiping out the negative balance in the state travel account at its Nov. 20 meeting, along with discussing options for covering travel costs for this...
After a yearlong public process, the U.S. Forest Service has announced eight potential cabin sites in the Petersburg and Wrangell Ranger Districts. After considering the environmental impacts and accessibility of hundreds of sites suggested by members of the public or identified by staff, the district picked the ones that are most likely to see substantial traffic and compete for federal funding, and announced them in a draft decision published Thursday, Oct. 19. There are three sites in the...
The Wrangell Cooperative Association’s Tl’átk - Earth Branch is looking for a place to build a greenhouse after tribal citizens objected to putting one near the community garden, due to the area’s proximity to Indigenous gravesites. The borough assembly was slated to consider Tl’átk – Earth Branch’s request for a parcel of land next to the garden at its Sept. 26 meeting. The parcel is near Indigenous gravesites and Tl’átk was considering maintenance and signs on the gravesites as part of its plan for the greenhouse. However, after some triba...
Oct. 25, 1923 Volume 1, Number 1, Buy 1, of the School News of the Wrangell Public School is off the mimeograph. The publication is brim full of interesting reading pertaining to school life in general and the Wrangell school in particular. The School News, like every other publication that has appeared on the journalistic horizon during the past 300 years, “fills a long-felt want.” For the past quarter-century or more, there has been a class in English in the Wrangell school each year, with students eager for an opportunity to make use of the...
I want to share my thoughts about the development of Wrangell’s waterfront properties. My opinions are based on the unique experience our family has enjoyed from residing in many Southeast communities. Raised and schooled in Ketchikan, serving in the U.S. Coast Guard in Sitka, banking and serving in my first elective office on the school board in Wrangell and living in Juneau as commissioner of the state Department of Economic Development and then later as governor have given us a terrific opportunity to see change throughout Southeast. F...
"Why would you want to move to a small town in Alaska?" That was the question put to me by the Sentinel's publisher, Larry Persily, when I applied for the position of editor. My answer? I was looking for an adventure. Before coming here, I had never been near the state of Alaska. I did live in Fargo, North Dakota, from 2004 to 2006, which is a lot colder. But it's a dry cold; I heard that phrase a lot while I was there - that and "uff da". I was born in Richmond, Virginia, and spent my...
The high school swim team continued refining its skills and building its endurance at the invitational in Petersburg Oct. 13 and 14. The team competed in 20 individual and four relay events and the six athletes earned a combined 10 personal bests. Maddy Davies had a standout weekend, competing in four individual events and two relays. Typically, high school swimmers log a maximum of 400 to 500 yards of racing at any given meet, explained coach Jamie Roberts. In Petersburg, however, Davies swam nearly 1,500 yards. “She’s really gravitated to...
Wrangell wrestlers excelled on the mat at the Southeast Showdown at Thunder Mountain High School in Juneau. "We went 34 wins, 15 losses and 30 pins," said coach Jack Carney. "Four of the losses were to our own teammates." Competing on Friday, Oct. 20, and Saturday, Oct. 21, five of the 11 wrestlers who made the trip took the top spot in their weight brackets, going undefeated at the Showdown. Winning first place were senior Keegan Hanson at 152, junior Della Churchill at 120, sophomore...
The school district plans to install three air quality sensors to monitor temperature, humidity, noise, carbon dioxide, pollution — and even vape smoke. The district can use the data it collects from the monitors in its request for state funding to repair and improve parts of the decades-old school buildings, including new windows, insulation, roofing, heating and ventilation systems. The district received the sensors at no cost with a year of free monitoring under a program with the Alaska Department of Education and the sensors’ man...
As the borough is developing a portion of the former Wrangell Institute property near Shoemaker Bay for a residential subdivision — Alder Top Village (Keishangita.’aan) — the Wrangell Cooperative Association has asked for two adjoining parcels at the northern end of the property. “We want it for a memorial for people who attended the Wrangell Institute,” said Esther Aaltséen Reese, tribal administrator. One possibility is constructing a gazebo with Alaska Native art at the site, to create “a place for reflection,” she said. “Have it as a...
Oct. 18, 1923 The PTA held a well attended meeting at the school house last Thursday evening. A geological cabinet has been purchased for the school by the PTA at the suggestion of the Rev. Corser, and a collection of specimens will be started at once. This collection will be of value to the school as well as of great interest to the boys, especially. The committee appointed at the September meeting to look up a cabinet reported that one could be secured and altered slightly for a small sum, and its purchase was authorized unanimously. Oct. 15,...
Award-winning historian Ronan Rooney’s latest project is filling up a new webpage with interviews, photos, government and university reports — even the student newspaper and yearbooks — remembering the Wrangell Institute Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding school. Rooney started his “Wrangell History Unlocked” podcasts in 2020, recalling shipwrecks, the Stikine River route to the Klondike gold rush of 1898 and environmental advocate John Muir’s life and famous story about building a fire in 1879 atop what is now called Mount Dewey. “The Wrange...