Sorted by date Results 824 - 848 of 3076
Lifelong resident Harvey Gross came to the end of the trail and met death on Nov. 30, 2022, at the Wrangell SEARHC medical hospital. Born in Wrangell on April 7, 1929, to his Tlingit mother Bessie (Nickerson) Gross and Father William (Bill) Gross Sr., Harvey was the youngest of five children. Like so many who were poor during the Great Depression, he described living those years as "the chicken in the summer and the feathers in the winter." About 1935, the family took up homesteading on the...
There was plenty of tough competition last Friday and Saturday as the Wrangell High School wrestling squad attended the Southeast Division II regional championship competition in Ketchikan. Head coach Jack Carney's strategy to curb any risks of injury over the previous weeks paid off as grapplers brought home six first-place wins, one second-place finish, four third-place, two fourth-place, one fifth-place and one sixth-place win. The Wrangell squad placed second overall behind Mt. Edgecumbe...
If your smartphone screen is cracked, your tablet is on the fritz or your laptop won’t stop generating pop-up windows after you clicked on a suspicious link, Tyler Riberio of Tydi Creek Tech might be able to help. His new tech repair service assists Wrangell residents as they navigate the intimidating world of computers, whether he’s fixing minor cosmetic issues or performing total rebuilds. Riberio moved to Wrangell with his wife in July. After taking on a few pro-bono tech repairs, he “noticed that there was a need in the community” and dec...
"Remember, ladies," head coach Christina Good yells to her players from across the high school gym, "stretch really good. Hammies. Quads." Good moves about the hardwood, keeping an eye on the players' forms, with one bare foot. As players arrived for practice last Wednesday night, one had forgotten a single sock. Good lent the player hers. It's an example of how dedicated the coach and her team are toward making the most of the season. "That's what coaches do," Good said with a shrug. Last...
The borough assembly is moving toward lowering the asking price for the former Wrangell hospital by almost half and hiring a real estate agent to sell the property. The assembly at its Nov. 22 meeting accepted an ordinance to reduce the asking price and set a public hearing on the ordinance for Dec. 20, at which time members could vote on the proposal. The Bennet Street lot has been vacant since the SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium’s new medical center opened in February 2021. The borough has been looking actively – and unsuccessfull...
An incredible run of wins took the Wrangell High School girls volleyball team all the way to the state championship playoffs at Palmer High School last Thursday and Friday. Even with their signature ability to come back from losses and overcome the competition to win matches, it wasn’t enough for the Lady Wolves, whose bid for the state title ended after three hard-fought games. Wrangell versus Dillingham Play started Thursday morning with Wrangell facing the Dillingham High School Wolverines. Early on, it was evident the kind of competition W...
Cassady Cowan had a grand plan for her senior project to bring some vibrancy to Wrangell. Although her original plan didn't float, her backup plan bears repeating. When Cowan, 17, was trying to figure out her high school project, her focus was on the killer whale mural on the retaining wall facing the water behind the Stikine Inn. "I was going to make it brighter and make it look newer," she said about the mural. Ultimately, "it would cost too much (because of) the cracked paint. The...
This year could look very different for the Wrangell High School boys basketball team. Already, the team is comprised of anywhere from 17 to 20 players, allowing coaches to modify their training routine. But first, many of their players have to finish wrestling, making it the first challenge the team faces this year. "We have ... kind of a big group that are still wrestling," said head coach Cody Angerman. "The crossover is tough on both (programs). It's tough on the wrestling program because...
Grapplers from all over Southeast traveled to Petersburg over the weekend to compete in the Viking Rumble tournament. Eleven different schools met on the mat, but incomplete round robins made it hard for the Wolves to earn first-place finishes. Wrestlers from Craig, Hoonah, Hydaburg, Ketchikan, Metlakatla, Mt. Edgecumbe, Sitka, Skagway, Thunder Mountain in Juneau and Wrangell high schools competed in Petersburg across various weight divisions. Katelyn Gillen was the only Wrangell wrestler to pla...
Readers can find both an optimistic view and gloomy numbers in the borough’s annual economic conditions report, issued last month. “With some of the lowest electrical rates in Alaska, the highest school district test scores, the potential to grow its visitor industry, the lowest unemployment rate on record, and a high level of entrepreneurship (more than a quarter of all workers are self-employed), Wrangell has potential to improve its prospects,” says the report, prepared by Juneau-based consulting firm Rain Coast Data. However, the repor...
Statewide assessment test scores have been released by the Alaska Department of Education, and the results are not good. In English language arts, 70% of students tested were not proficient. In math, 77% were not proficient. In science, 62% were not proficient. Wrangell’s students fared better than the statewide average, with 62.68% not proficient in English language arts, 65.49% not proficient in math and 48.08% not proficient in science. That’s not necessarily bad news, say Wrangell’s educators. The tests given last spring were the Alask...
Next month, Sarah Lewis of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Extension Service will help Wrangell residents develop the skills they need to ride out the dark winter days, from preserving delicious foods to reducing those shocking seasonal energy bills. From Dec. 8 to 11, she will teach a wide variety of home skills and food preservation classes in collaboration with the Wrangell Cooperative Association, the nonprofit RurAL Cap and the federal Tribes Extension Program. Lewis, a licensed architect with a master’s degree in social work, has m...
Nov. 30, 1922 J.G. Galvin arrived in town Saturday after being out with engineers for the past several weeks. Mr. Galvin stated that John P. Van Orsdel of the J.D. Lacy Co. is preparing a report on timber conditions in the vicinity of Wrangell. The J.D. Lacy Co. is one of the best known cruising and timber estimating corporations in the country. That the report of the engineers will be favorable is regarded as a certainty, in which case the establishment of a paper mill will proceed without delay. Mr. Galvin stated that he had every reason to...
Three students traveled to Boise, Idaho, earlier this month for a gathering of young minds that could shape not only their futures but the future of Wrangell and beyond. Members of the Teaching Through Technology Alliance, better known as the T3 Alliance, attended the Energy Summit at Boise State University Nov. 3 - 7, and were tasked with finding an energy-related problem and then working together to come up with innovative solutions. Senior Nikolai Bardin-Siekawitch and juniors Sean McDonald...
The Wrangell School District has taken another step toward curbing harassment by using modern technology. Earlier this month, the district installed the STOPit system on electronic devices to make it easier for students and staff to anonymously report any bullying they may witness. “It’s been in the works for a year now,” said Schools Superintendent Bill Burr. “The Southeast Regional Resource Center in Juneau wrote a grant and included most of the Southeast school districts in the grant. This is an online program with an app, already install...
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, thanks to Evergreen Elementary School students. Last Wednesday, students in every grade level had an opportunity to create ornaments for this year's community Christmas tree. All manner of colorful baubles were crafted and made ready to adorn the tree. Teacher Jenn Davies' third grade class was busy the day before Thanksgiving using cellophane to wrap empty and cleaned food containers, such as strawberry packaging, to make ornaments that look like gia...
Nearing the end of his flight from Seattle to Juneau, Frank Hughes looked out his plane window to the ground below where the outline of the Kake slowly appeared beneath him. An excitement built in him, one that he said made him feel like his heart had just skipped a beat. Though Hughes has lived in the small Southeast Native community for years and has come and gone from it too many times to count, this time was different — because he wasn’t alone in coming home. In the belly of the plane sat a sturdy black bin locked by zip ties and sca...
The Wrangell Swim Club traveled to Petersburg to compete in the November Rain swim meet on Nov. 11 to 13. It was the first time since 2019 the club has competed in the meet. Club coach Jamie Roberts said the team didn't compete the past two years due to COVID-19. This year's team included 19 swimmers, of which 12 were at their first meet. Swim clubs from all over Southeast competed at the event, and Wrangell's swimmers competed in 146 individual races, which included 83 first-time swims with 24...
It’s been seven years since Wrangell had a spring sports offering for high school students. Baseball was canceled in 2015 due to a lack of participation, but now a proposed track program might be in the works. At the Nov. 21 school board meeting, Mason Villarma, the district’s activities director, said a survey was in process to gauge student interest in a modified track program. “It’s just so good for those kids to have some outlet, and you can see the benefit in the classroom,” Villarma told the board. “I would propose track because there see...
Ronald D. Kagee passed away Nov. 17 at the Wrangell Medical Center. Burial is planned for 1 p.m. on Dec. 6 at the Sunset Gardens Cemetery. No reception is planned. Ron was born to Bill and Toney Kagee on March 14, 1936, in Longview, Washington. He joined the U.S. Army shortly after graduating from high school in Castle Rock, Washington. He spent two years in the military in Germany and played the bugle. He then worked as a cutter in logging, working in Washington and Oregon before coming to Alas...
School districts statewide, including Wrangell, will be looking to the Legislature next year for an increase in state funding, but any boost in the state’s per-pupil formula likely will depend in large part on oil revenues and also Permanent Fund earnings. And neither looks good this month, less than eight weeks before lawmakers are scheduled to convene in Juneau. The state funding formula for K-12 education hadn’t moved in about five years before this year’s 0.5% mini-nudge upward. Meanwhile, districts statewide are facing budget defic...
From the first-place seed going into regionals to a first-place finish, the Wrangell High School girls volleyball team saw their winning streak interrupted only once in Klawock. The Lady Wolves faced the Craig Panthers twice in the second day of play last Friday after beating host team Klawock the day before in three sets. Craig bested Wrangell in the first match-up after four sets, dashing their hopes of a clean sweep on Friday, but Wrangell rallied and came howling back to win the second...
Nov. 23, 1922 J. Stockley Ligon, who was sent to Alaska by the U.S. Biological Survey to investigate wolf attacks, came to town this week, having caught six wolves – four on Kupreanof and two on Zarembo. Ligon is not so much concerned in actual trapping as in making an investigation and working out plans and developing methods that are applicable in Alaska. The $150 that has been raised locally could be spent in no better way than by sending out some reliable local man with Ligon to learn how wolves can be most successfully trapped. Nov. 21, 1...
Back in March, I wrote a column about being a converted sports junkie. It detailed my appreciation for high school sports, and I believe it’s what spurred me to get more involved in the community since people still remark on it nearly nine months later. On Nov. 15, the last session was held for the I Toowú Klatseen group. Before the final meeting, a make-up run took place for the kids who had missed the previous week’s 5-kilometer fun run. It was the culmination of around 10 weeks of meetings and practices — and I nearly missed all of it. So...
A tournament that originally pitted the Wrangell High School wrestling squad against Petersburg and Sitka ended with the Wolves grappling the Wolves. Two rounds of wrestling, with a pause for senior appreciation and other accolades, was held last Saturday in the high school gym when competitors from the other schools decided against the trip due to scheduling, illness and other issues. "This is really just so people can see them wrestle," head coach Jack Carney said before the matches. Lucas...
