Sorted by date Results 868 - 892 of 3069
A century ago on Nov. 7, 1922, Tlingit translator and civil rights advocate Tillie Paul Tamaree helped Charlie Jones, the seventh Chief Shakes, vote in a Wrangell municipal election. Her actions led to a court case that would secure the right to vote for Alaska Natives two years before the federal Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 extended citizenship to Native people across the United States. When she was 12 years old, Tamaree entered the Amanda McFarland Home for Girls in Wrangell to avoid an...
Oct. 19, 1922 The regular monthly meeting of the Parent-Teachers Association was held last Thursday evening at the schoolhouse. H. W. Gartley spoke forcibly and to the point regarding the need for a playground for children, aside from the playshed on the school grounds. Mr. Gartley’s talk met with enthusiastic approval, and he was asked to act as chairman of a playground committee to look into the matter and report at the next meeting on available sites for a public playground where the boys can play baseball with no fear of breaking windows, w...
With voter approval of a $3.5 million bond issue, the Wrangell School District wasted no time in moving ahead with its plan to go after a state grant as it works to fully fund needed repairs at its buildings. But before the district starts any work, it first must determine exactly what needs fixing so it can set priorities and assemble cost estimates. To that end, the school board voted Oct. 11 to appropriate up to $385,900 from the district’s major maintenance fund to pay for condition surveys of all three buildings. The fund has a current b...
School enrollment is heading in the right direction, but just slightly. After counting 257 students during the state-mandated annual tally last year, this year’s Wrangell enrollment count was at 266 as of last week, said Schools Superintendent Bill Burr. The school district had estimated 263 students when it put together its budget for the 2022-2023 school year. State funding, which provides more than 60% of the district’s operating budget, is based on enrollment, with districts statewide required to submit their count every October. The hig...
The Wrangell School District could face a financial squeeze in the next several years, forcing hard decisions over which programs get cut, what classes go away and how much staff is left. It’s not that the administration or staff did anything wrong. Just as school districts statewide, Wrangell has been waiting on some legislators and governors to put aside their biases against teacher unions, their personal views on political issues and their tendency to hold schools responsible for every shortcoming in society, and move to approve an i...
The state champs Wrangell High School cross country running team was honored last Friday at an assembly in the school gym. From left: Randy Churchill III, Ethan Blatchley, Ian Nelson, Daniel Harrison, Boomchain Loucks and Devlyn Campbell, and assistant coach Mason Villarma, shared in the moment. The team placed first at state in Anchorage the previous weekend, winning the championship for the first time in the school's history. Harrison came in first overall with a time of 17:29.1. (Photo by...
The Wrangell High School swim team traveled to Sitka last Friday and Saturday to compete in the town’s invitational swim meet, turning in three personal bests, four season bests and eight top 10 finishes. Head coach Jamie Roberts said the team has been working on breathing patterns and other techniques, and “sometimes, it takes a while for their practice patterns to translate into race patterns, as muscle memory can be challenging to overcome.” Despite that, the individual swimmers did well in their categories. Wrangell didn’t have a men’s r...
Former Wrangell real estate broker John L. Tullis Sr., 99, passed away peacefully with his two daughters present on Sept. 28 in Camas, Washington. Tullis was born on Jan. 16, 1923, in Pendleton, Oregon. He was raised on a ranch, caring for animals, pitching hay, building fences, cleaning the barn and cooking with his mom. He was one of six kids, second from the bottom. He drove a Model T Ford to high school and later sold it for $25. Serving in the Navy during World War II took him to the...
Child care has been a pressing need in the community for some time, and the Wrangell Cooperative Association is hoping to address the issue at least in some part. Starting last week, the WCA distributed surveys on bulletin boards around town, on its website and on Facebook. The survey will help the organization assess how great the need is. “We’re looking to assess the need in our community as a whole,” said Esther Reese, tribal administrator for WCA. The organization is asking how many families need child care, what days of the week are neede...
In a relatively short season, the Wrangell High School boys cross country team went from training to champions. The team won the Division III state title last Saturday at the ASAA/First National Bank Alaska Cross Country Running Championships in Anchorage, making it the first in the program's history. Assistant coach Mason Villarma predicted the runners had the potential to make history for the school after only a couple of meets earlier in the season. That prediction came true with the team...
Patty Gilbert was sworn in as mayor last Thursday, and in her first days in office plans to “(continue) the heavy work.” She hopes to revitalize the borough’s economic development committee, support local businesses and promote new ones. “It’ll be a full agenda,” she said. The borough assembly certified the election results last Thursday. The ballot proposition to issue $8.5 million in bonds for Public Safety Building repairs failed 259 to 324 in the Oct. 4 election. Since the building is still in need of costly repairs, the assembly wi...
No less than 100 people turned out on Sept. 26 right before sunset for the dedication of the Wrangell Mariners' Memorial at Heritage Harbor. What some said has been in the works for decades has finally been completed, honoring those who have lost their lives at sea and those who made their lives from the sea. "It's amazing (that it's finished)," said Jenn Miller-Yancey, president of the memorial board. "We stand out here and can't believe it sometimes." Miller-Yancey, who's late husband Ryan...
Josh Fish would like to see kids win at the game of life across the board rather than be pawns, so he took a gambit with a classic game. The first chess club will start after school next Monday at Evergreen Elementary, with Fish and helpers teaching students the rules of the game, with the hope of developing social skills and critical-thinking skills in the young players. Fish, 25, learned to play chess in Fayetteville, North Carolina, when he was a freshman in high school. The game turned his...
Wrangell is great at helping neighbors in need, at filling holiday food baskets and supporting student activities. The community excels at watching out for each other, watching over our elders and keeping watch over mariners. There are multiple examples just in last week’s and this week’s Sentinel and on the Wrangell Community Group Facebook page: Volunteers working to reopen the roller rink after a three-year shutdown; all the effort that has gone into growing the community garden; the dedication, labor and money that have gone into bui...
Last Saturday, Sept. 24, I had the pleasure of helping work the finish line at the Capital City Invitational cross-country meet in Juneau. The previous night’s monsoon had passed, and the cool, damp air at the running field throbbed with the pent-up energy of about 225 young runners from all parts of Southeast Alaska. It was high school athletics at its finest. I must say I was one of many people who were impressed by the grit and toughness of the Wrangell boys team. They’ve clearly been working hard, and they run like a pack of red hungry wol...
The Wrangell High School boys cross country team came home from an eventful weekend in Sitka, taking many top spots at Southeast regionals. Once again, sophomore Daniel Harrison led his team, only this time he powered through to take first place out of 56 runners with a time of 16:50, nine seconds faster than senior Luke Davis of Haines. “Daniel had an incredible race,” said head coach Kayla Rooney. “He did exactly what we have been working on this season, pacing himself with other runners that we’ve been competing with every weekend and pus...
The Wrangell High School swim team dove into the competition in Petersburg last Friday and Saturday, with junior Jack Roberts winning the top spot in the 100-yard freestyle event. Four of the swimmers had nine top 10 finishes at the meet, and three had six personal bests. Roberts finished first in the 100-yard freestyle, third in the 200-yard individual medley and third in the 100-yard butterfly. Sophomore Max Lloyd finished fourth in the 50-yard freestyle, while junior Alisha Armstrong finished eighth in the 50-yard freestyle, 10th in the...
A Republican Ketchikan Gateway Borough assembly member is challenging the four-term incumbent to represent Ketchikan, Wrangell, Metlakatla, Coffman Cove and other communities of southern Southeast Alaska in the state House. In Jeremy Bynum's first time running for state office, he got 44% percent of the votes in the August primary to Rep. Dan Ortiz's 52%. Both live in Ketchikan. About 4% of voters chose Wrangell resident Shevaun Meggitt, who has since withdrawn and will not appear on the...
HELP WANTED Wrangell Public Schools is accepting applications for the following positions for the 2022-2023 school year: - Paraprofessionals: These are part-time positions working with students in Grades K-5, 5.75 hours per day in the Special Education Program or Library at Evergreen Elementary School. Salary placement is Column A-C on the Classified Salary Schedule. A high school diploma or equivalent is required. An associate degree, equivalent credits, or the ability to pass the para-pro assessment is also required. Contact the district offi...
Patricia Gilbert is the likely winner in Tuesday’s mayoral election against Terry Courson, leading the in-person vote tally 275-219. With slightly more than 100 absentee and early votes still to count, Courson would have to win those votes by more than a 3-to-1 margin to overtake Gilbert’s 56-vote lead. Voters approved by a wide margin, 311-to-170, approved borrowing $3.5 million for repairs to all three school buildings, but a proposed $8.5 million bond issue for repairs to the Public Safety Building appears headed to defeat. That ballot pro...
Wrangell has received $291,566 that it was owed by the state but never expected to receive, and could hold it as a cushion to soften the debt payments on bonds to repair school buildings and the Public Safety Building. Borough Finance Director Mason Villarma said last week he would recommend to the assembly that it move the money into the debt service fund, keeping it there if needed to help with payments on the proposed bonds, easing the pressure on property tax payers. Wrangell voters are being asked in the Oct. 4 municipal election to...
The roller rink, a community gathering place which has been vacant the past three years, is slated to reopen this fall. According to Jim Freeman, one of the cleanup coordinators, the rink, housed at the Church of God, was a mainstay of Wrangell social life in the 1980s. It was “one of the most popular things in town,” he said, and hopes that skaters will feel a sense of nostalgia once the facilities are up and running again. Organizers are not yet sure when the rink will be open to the public, but they hope the space will be functional by Hallo...
Sept. 28, 1922 A party of prospectors came into town last week with an extensive collection of samples of various kinds of ore taken on the Iskoot in British Columbia. Some of the metals were gold, silver, lead and copper. The samples were forwarded to the government assay office at Victoria, and there is no doubt that the returns will show high values. While the samples brought in from the Iskoot attracted some attention, they caused no great surprise locally. There is little doubt that the Iskoot district is as highly mineralized as the...
It’s been 12 years since Wrangell voters were asked to approve the borough taking on debt, and next Tuesday’s municipal election ballot will include two such proposals to repair worn-down public buildings. The Oct. 4 ballot also will include the election of a new mayor, two borough assembly members, two port commissioners and three school board members. In addition, the ballot asks voter permission for the borough to sell or lease the former sawmill property at 6-Mile. The borough bought the property this summer for $2.5 million, and is loo...
During its regular monthly meeting on Sept. 19, the Wrangell school board started discussions on revising its strategic plan. Strategic plans provide school districts with guidance on reaching specific goals over the course of five years. The current plan expires in 2023 but can be updated at any time. In its recent accreditation assessment of the Wrangell Public School District, Arizona-based company Cognia determined the strategic plan was too vague. Schools Superintendent Bill Burr said Cognia came to that conclusion because plan timelines...
