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A nine-course lunch in 1965 left an indelible mark on the memory of a young teacher from Denver. Queen Elizabeth II died on Sept. 8 at the age of 96, but she left an historical legacy that included a meal with Jacquie Dozier. Though it was just an afternoon in the 70-year reign of Britain's monarch, it profoundly affected Dozier and created a memory to last her lifetime. Dozier, now retired and living in Wrangell, began her teaching career at the age of 19. She was born in Michigan, made her...
Sept. 21, 1922 The Wrangell Parent-Teacher Association held its first meeting for the school year last Thursday night. There was a good attendance. Several matters pertaining to the welfare of the school were discussed. Two musical numbers by an orchestra comprised wholly of members of the W.L. Gross family were greatly appreciated. Charles W. Hawkesworth, superintendent for the Bureau of Education for Southeast Alaska, was present, and upon invitation made a short talk which was full of...
The Wrangell High School cross country boys team placed second at the Ketchikan Invitational at Ward Lake last Saturday. Sophomore Daniel Harrison once again led the Wolves, coming in fourth place overall with a time of 16:44.91. Harrison was outpaced by just over a second by Sitka's Trey Demmert, who placed third at 16:43.20. First and second place went to Sitka's Silas Demmert and Annan Weiland, respectively. Wrangell's Boomchain Loucks placed ninth at 17:40.25 out of 88 runners, followed by...
The Wrangell High School swim team competed in two meets at the Ketchikan Invitational competition last weekend, with junior Jack Roberts leading the team with a first-, second- and fifth-place finish. Competing against eight other high schools from throughout Southeast, Wrangell's swimmers had many personal bests and cut down their times significantly, coach Jamie Roberts said. "I'm proud of their performances," she said. "They posted some nice times for an early season meet. They are excited to see what they can do with nine more days of work...
Alex Angerman, CARES Act coordinator for the Wrangell Cooperative Association, is running for borough assembly to improve community outreach and foster youth engagement in municipal government. "The community oftentimes feels like they aren't heard," she said, and she hopes to use her assembly seat to provide a voice for the rising generation. She believes that the borough should increase its social media presence to better connect with the community, and has been actively fielding questions...
Brittani Robbins is running for borough assembly to bolster Wrangell's economic development and stem the out-migration of families and youth from the island. Robbins, 37, is executive director of the chamber of commerce. She has one year of experience in public office as a member of the school board. She was elected to the board last October and intends to keep her seat if elected to the assembly. As a school board member, Robbins said she advocates for students and for non-certified staff,...
After seven years on the borough assembly, Bay Co. manager David Powell is running for another three-year term. Powell's desire to get land out of the borough's hands was what first motivated him to pursue an assembly seat, and he is running again in hopes of seeing his goals completed. If elected, his primary focuses will be selling or leasing the 6-Mile mill property, which the borough purchased this summer, and the former Wrangell Institute property, which was the site of a federally...
HELP WANTED Wrangell Public Schools is accepting applications for the following extracurricular positions: - High School Head Wrestling Coach - Middle School Boys’ Assistant Basketball Coach - Middle School Assistant Volleyball Coach - Freshmen Class Adviser - Sophomore Class Adviser - Junior Class Adviser - Elementary Student Council Adviser Contact the district office at 907-874-2347 for more information. Positions are open until filled. It is the Wrangell Public School District’s policy to not discriminate on the basis of age, race, col...
Young Alaskans seeking to break into commercial fishing face a lot of the same barriers that confront young farmers in the Lower 48 states, but they have far fewer resources to help overcome those barriers, according to newly published research. A study by Alaska experts with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration argues that the fishing industry and the communities that depend on fishing should have support similar to that offered to young farmers. "The sheer scale, depth, and...
Sept. 14, 1922 At the Wrangell Commercial Club weekly luncheon at the Wrangell Hotel last Monday, officers of the Civic Improvement Club were present as guests. A number of worthy projects were discussed, but the one which was taken most seriously was the proposal to utilize the unused patches of soil on Front Street for little flower gardens. It was proposed that the Commercial Club attend to the fencing of these small parcels of ground, and that the ladies of the Civic Improvement Club...
Now that in-person school is available, the Wrangell homeschool community has shrunk to roughly pre-pandemic levels, though community awareness of alternative education options has increased. Homeschool education, which has been growing steadily nationwide since the 1970s, experienced a massive popularity boost in 2020, as families who were dissatisfied with their children’s Zoom classes explored other possibilities. While the percentage of homeschooled children nationwide was holding steady at around 3% before the pandemic, that number rose t...
Alaskans this week will start receiving their $3,284 payout from the state treasury, a combination of a large Permanent Fund dividend ($2,622) and a one-time bonus ($662) to help people pay higher energy costs. The payment is almost triple the size of last year’s dividend. Two reasons for the generosity: This is an election year, and oil prices for the state fiscal year that ended June 30 were almost 70% higher than the previous year, generating more than $2 billion in additional dollars for the state general fund. That fund pays for schools, r...
Starting this week, I will be working as a policy adviser to Mary Peltola, Alaska’s newly elected congresswoman. I hadn’t planned on it, but she asked and I accepted. Fortunately, I saved my suits from when I worked in Washington, D.C., for the state and federal governments a decade ago. I’ll be advising Peltola on oil and gas and other energy issues, natural resources, tax, fiscal, transportation, federal agency issues and whatever else is on the work list for Alaska as she fills out the rest of the late Rep. Don Young’s House term until J...
Last Saturday at the Sharing Our Knowledge Conference, a “Break the Silence” panel discussion highlighted a wide range of perspectives on and experiences with Alaska Native boarding schools. Some panelists identified with the term “boarding school survivor;” others did not. Some lost their language while attending a church- or government-run institution; others did not. Even the act of recounting boarding school experiences, while healing for some, was exhausting for others. “We have different experiences. We’re different people,” sa...
Dylan Wyatt Kirschner, 26, passed away on Aug. 26 "after a brief but courageous battle with cancer," his family wrote. Dylan was born on Feb. 16, 1996, in Wrangell and moved to the Yakima, Washington, area with his parents and younger brother Dawson in 2001. Dylan was an avid video gamer and music lover who played the guitar and ukulele. He played as much as his free time allowed. "We will all miss hearing him play," his family wrote. "Though Dylan moved from Alaska when he was very young, he re...
With 14 players on the roster, this season's high school girls volleyball team is one of the largest that Alyssa Allen has led in the four years she's been head coach. A few key players were lost with this year's graduating class, but she has six returning players to get the squad geared up for the coming months of competition. Allen has a lot of younger players coming from middle school and a few older players who have either never played or haven't played since middle school. Among the...
The Wrangell High School cross country team attended two different competitions last Saturday by sending five runners to Palmer and five to Petersburg. Five boys attended the George Plumley Cross Country Invitational in Palmer, while three boys and two girls went to Petersburg to compete in the Jack Eddy Invitational against runners from Sitka, Ketchikan, Haines, Klawock, Juneau, Craig, Angoon and Petersburg. In Palmer, the Wrangell boys varsity team was Daniel Harrison, Devlyn Campbell, Ethan...
Grants totaling $12.4 million for Southeast Alaska projects ranging from a greenhouse in Yakutat to workforce development in forestry-related fields in Hydaburg were announced Sept. 6 by U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, the final portion of $25 million in Southeast Alaska Sustainability Strategy Investment Projects announced this year. Vilsack, in an online news conference with Alaska Native and other regional leaders, said the awards are intended to maximize the area’s sustainability and self-reliance through its n...
Two of the races on the Oct. 4 municipal election ballot are contested: There are two candidates for mayor and three candidates to fill two three-year terms on the borough assembly. The other three races on the ballot — for port commission, a one-year school board term and two three-year school board seats — are all uncontested. Absent a surprising write-in turnout, the candidates on the ballot will win those elections. Patty Gilbert and Terry Courson are competing to succeed Mayor Steve Prysunka, who decided not to seek reelection to a thi...
Jim LaBelle entered the Wrangell Institute in 1955 at the age of 8. Over the next 10 years, he would lose his hair, large portions of his memory, and the ability to speak Inupiaq. He has spent his life trying to understand what happened, and he will tell his story Saturday morning at the Sharing Our Knowledge conference. For LaBelle, storytelling is an essential part of the healing process. As one of the keynote speakers at this week’s Sharing Our Knowledge conference of Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian tribes and clans, LaBelle will relate his e...
Normally, I do not respond to anonymous questions. Most all newspapers, the Sentinel included, will not print anonymous letters. To do otherwise would allow people to take free shots at anyone they want, hiding from view and protecting their own identity while they criticize or question others. However, sometimes the questions raised in an anonymous letter are worth sharing with the community. Such as the case of an unsigned letter mailed to the Sentinel, raising multiple questions about the proposed bond issues to pay for repairs to the...
Arnold Elmer "Cappy" Bakke, 91, passed away surrounded by family at his side on Aug. 30 in Wrangell. Graveside services will be held at noon Friday, Sept. 9, with a reception to follow at the Elks Hall. Donations of food for the reception will be appreciated by the family. Contact Tammy at 907-305-0270. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Wrangell Fire Department or the Wrangell Mariners' Memorial. Arnold was born to Orlando Bakke and Marguret Gunyah on Oct. 25, 1930. He had four si...
Beginning Sept. 7, the annual Sharing Our Knowledge conference of Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian tribes and clans will be held in Wrangell for the first time. This five-day event will take place at the Nolan Center and will feature a film festival, a panel discussion and a wide variety of research presentations on subjects ranging from Indigenous history to art. Organizers expect an estimated 200 people to arrive in town for the event. Because the anticipated attendance exceeds the capacity of Wrangell’s hotels and bed and breakfast rentals, conf...
In less than five weeks, voters will decide whether the borough should borrow $12 million to repair the schools and Public Safety Building. On Aug. 23, the borough assembly unanimously approved placing two questions on the Oct. 4 municipal election ballot that will ask voter approval to cover the renovation costs. One of the ballot issues would approve borrowing $8.5 million to repair the water-damaged Public Safety Building, while the other would approve borrowing $3.5 million to help fund repairs at the elementary, middle and high schools....
The borough assembly and staff spent a fair amount of time at last week’s assembly meeting, explaining the intent of a contract with an appraisal firm to reassess the value of all the property in town. Homes, businesses, industrial properties, empty lots — they will all get a new look to make sure the borough’s valuation is fair. This is about treating property owners equitably. It’s also about following state law, which requires that cities and boroughs assess property “at its full and true value.” This is not about raising taxes, though seve...
