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The borough assembly voted 7-0 Tuesday night to select Jeff Jabusch for the borough manager position. The vote means Jabusch will enter into contract negotiations with assembly members Donald Blake and James Stough, as well as Mayor David Jack, in the coming weeks. The assembly had been looking for a new manager since the resignation of former administrator Tim Rooney in August. Assembly members had reduced a list of 15 candidates to four, prior to Tuesday's vote. Jabsuch said he was happy with... Full story
Wrangell High School opened a new salad bar for lunch Oct. 23 in the student commons. The salad bar has been in the works for several months at the cafeteria after the school received a grant for the salad bar at the end of last year, and opens after last month's numbers from the food services program showed a steep decline between the number of lunches eaten this year and the number of lunches eaten at the same time last year. Most students said they enjoyed school lunches in general, even if t... Full story
In the Sentinel 100, 75, 50 and 25 years ago. November 20, 1913: C.F. Clark, whose nomination for U.S. Marshal for the First Judicial Division of Alaska has just been made by President Wilson, has resided in Juneau for 6 years. He was in the drug business and late in taxidermy. Prior to coming Mr. Clark was located in Tacoma. Mr. Clark is a native of Missouri and his home is in Champ Clark's district. Mr. Clark went into the race for the marshalship without the endorsement of the Alaska Democratic national committee or any local Democrat of...
School lunches were the main topic of conversation at the Oct. 9 school board meeting. Documents provided by the school meals program show the school provided 2,623 meals in September, down 1,182 meals from the same month last year. The figure represents a decrease of 31 percent. District figures show students ate 443 fewer breakfasts this year than last year, and 739 fewer lunches. The decline in meals is also attributable in part to declining enrollment. Fewer students mean fewer lunches and breakfasts. As evidence, they pointed out that the...
Wrangell voters insurmountably rejected a proposal to lower the sales tax, retained their sitting mayor, and removed one member of the assembly in municipal elections Tuesday, officials said. The unofficial results, read aloud shortly after the polls closed at 8 pm, put the vote tally for the contentious tax proposal at 451 votes against lowering taxes from 7 percent to 5.5 percent, and 172 votes in favor of the change. Sitting mayor David Jack tallied 455 votes while Kipha Valvoda scored 118.... Full story
A federal bill allocating at least a quarter of the school system’s local funding passed the Senate and House of Representatives this week. The Secure Rural Schools program provides Wrangell Schools with $1.3 million per year, which represents roughly 25 to 30 percent of the school system’s budget, according to Superintendent Rich Rhodes. Local officials and the borough’s lobbyist expressed concern for the fate of the bill among the widely reported atmosphere of fiscal belt-tightening in Washington. The bill awaits President Obama’s expecte...
Name: Cynthia Waddington Age: 39 Occupation: Wrangell Chamber of Commerce Office Manager What background or experience do you have that qualifies you to be on the Wrangell School Board? I believe that education is the key to success. I am a college graduate and fully support the goal of ensuring that our students excel to their potential. I am currently the Executive Director of the Chamber Board of Directors, and understand the importance of conducting productive meetings. My business...
A proposed 1.5 percent sales tax cut in the City and Borough of Wrangell has split the community ahead of an Oct. 1 vote. The borough administration sent out an informational flyer this week outlining the details of cuts approved with the budget May 28, sparking at least one accusation of advocacy against the cuts. Business owners and citizens have taken out an advertisement against the reduction in the Sentinel. Assembly members and citizens have spilled ink for and against the proposal in letters to the editor. The proposal’s author and a... Full story
In the Sentinel 100, 75, 50 and 25 years ago. October 9, 1913: One of the most important steps that has been taken during the past summer pertaining to the opening of the great interior country at the head waters of the Stikine River is the building of the wagon road from Telegraph Creek to Dease Lake by the B.C. Government under the supervision of Charles Collins. The road has been built but 13 miles from Telegraph this summer and most of the worst of the road has been constructed leaving 2 bridges to be built and a few miles of mountain road,...
The Wrangell school board voted 3-0 Monday to begin the search for a possible food vendor. The motion approved by the board empowers school administrator Rich Rhodes to begin advertising requests for proposals in local publications. The district currently purchases and prepares all food served to students through a combination of grants and the school system’s general fund, Rhodes said. Allowing an outside vendor to provide the food could potentially lead to savings for the district, Rhodes added. “I feel good that a food services man...
In the Sentinel 100, 75, 50 and 25 years ago. August 28, 1913: The School Board is looking for the teachers for the ensuing year on one of the first boats. Owing to the fact that the teachers of last year, Mrs. Burke and Miss Prichett and Miss Haley, found it impossible to return at a late date caused some anxiety among the school board but the positions have been filled with a staff of teachers who have the recommendations of the University of Washington which make it sure that we are getting the right people for the right situation. The...
In the Sentinel 100, 75, 50 and 25 years ago. August 7, 1913: Hank Summers, who arrived a chechaco in Juneau during the year 1886 but passed on to the watershed of the great Yukon during the summer is again in Juneau, says the Empire. Mr. Summers has been in the reaches of the White river near the Shushana for the past several months. He says the Shushana will turn out to be a great producer. That section of the country in which Mr. Summers has been since last April is, he says, the greatest mineral belt in the world. All kinds of minerals...
In the Sentinel 100, 75, 50 and 25 years ago. July 31, 1913: Max Rosenburg, who has conducted the Bismark Restaurant in Ketchikan for some time, has sold his place of business to James Petersen, a recent comer from Seattle. Mr. Petersen is an experienced restaurant man and will make some changes in the Bismark. Max has decided to cast his lot with Wrangell and today has opened up his new grill to be known as the Bismark Café and Lunch Room. July 29, 1938: An occasion so unusual that it can never be repeated here occurred early last Tuesday...
The Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium partnered with the Center for Disease Control this week to hold a meeting on traditional foods – and showcased a variety of options available to Natives and others for healthy eating. The meeting was held at the James and Elsie Nolan Center starting on Monday, June 17 and is a required component of the CDC’s Traditional Foods Program and for all tribal entities receiving grant money under a federal program aimed at diabetes prevention in Ame... Full story
The Wrangell Public School Board of Education is moving forward on a pair of long-term issues – with one involving Evergreen Elementary and Wrangell High School facility upgrades – and another involving the nutritional needs of the district’s students. The board voted Monday, May 13 to initiate a request for proposals to paint the elementary school façade and a portion of the front of the high school. “Painting the elementary school has been on the list of to do items for awhile now and will... Full story
With the advent of digital technology, a number of Wrangell’s public and governmental agencies are going “paperless” in an effort to streamline operations, save costs and improve efficiency. One of the main users of digital records technology in town is the Wrangell Medical Center – though the Wrangell Public Schools District can now be counted among such users of this next-generation standard for meetings. According to superintendent Rich Rhodes, a paperless, web-based system known as BoardDo...
The Borough Assembly held a public hearing regarding the draft form of the 2013-14 Fiscal Year budget for the city on Tuesday, May 14 at City Hall, taking testimony from two citizens. Cyni Waddington, the manager of the Wrangell Chamber of Commerce spoke first in support of the budget, adding that her organization relies on funding from the city to survive. “Speaking on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce, in regard to the amount that is provided to us, we absolutely need that money,” Wad... Full story
On May 4, the sun rose on Wrangell Island under gray skies – though those skies would part slightly and sunshine would descend upon a place that is the spiritual heartland of the Tlingit in Wrangell as the Chief Shakes Tribal House was rededicated for the first time in more than 70 years. Last week, over the course of May 2-4, Wrangell entered the pantheon of history as nearly 1,000 visitors from the Native communities of Southeast Alaska and beyond traveled to the Borough to witness the r... Full story
After a the recent and successful 2013 Wrangell Chamber of Commerce awards dinner and auction, the group’s Board of Directors is seeing a change in lineup. Cori Robinson, a 13-year member of the Chamber, has stepped into her new position as board president after the resignation of past president John Taylor. In addition to Taylor, longtime member Janell Privett and Wrangell School District superintendent Rich Rhodes also resigned their positions with the board recently. Robinson said she w... Full story
To the Editor: The April 11, 2013 issue of the Wrangell Sentinel contains a quote by me regarding the need for Thomas Bay General Manager qualifications that have been interpreted by some to cast a negative opinion of SEAPA. In the clarity of hindsight, I certainly wish I had phrased my statement differently as that was not my intent. When going into the process of filling the vacant General Manager’s position there was some discussion as to the qualifications that the Commission deemed necessary to move Thomas Bay Power Authority forward a...
Sentinel writer When you look at a website, a business card, or just about any sign or graphical image you can imagine, you can expect to see information. That information is usually one-dimensional and does not extend beyond what you might see with your own eyes. A group of students from Wrangell High School are working to change that, however. An after-school “AVATAR” club led by WHS teacher Michele Galla has been working on developing a technology that will “augment” the reality of images...
The Shtax’ Heen Kwaan canoe group held a blessing ceremony last weekend for a canoe that will lead the dozens of participants from the One People Canoe Society into Wrangell during the Shakes Island rededication on May 2. The OPCS paddlers began their voyage to Shakes Island on Wednesday, April 24 from a number of communities throughout Southeast, with canoes coming from Yakutat, Juneau, Kake, Petersburg, Sitka, Prince of Wales, Hydaburg and Klawock. Nearly 50 members of the community were on h...
In the Sentinel 100, 75, 50 and 25 years ago. April 24, 1913: On the vote for passage for the third reading, the fish trap bill was killed in the Senate last Saturday. Sen. Sutherland, Tanner and Roden voting for passage and Freeling, Tripp, Millard and Ray against the measure. Sen. Sutherland, father of the bill, made a spirited talk in its defense and filed notice to reconsider when the reading had been voted. April 22, 1938: Official observation of May Day-Child Health Week will begin in Wrangell on Saturday April 30. On that day at 2:30...
In the Sentinel 100, 75, 50 and 25 years ago. April 17, 1913: The Canadian Pacific Railway Co. took another whack at Sentinal Island, near Juneau, this week when the Princess Sophia, southbound, struck in the same spot which her sister ship Princess May struck in the summer of 1910. From the boatmen of the Sophia when she landed in Wrangell southbound Saturday, all that could be learned of the accident was that a 30-foot hole had been torn in her bottom forward and that her watertight compartments forward were keeping her afloat. The crew... Full story
The Thomas Bay Power Authority commissioners undertook a lengthy discussion over who will be hired to take the reins of the utility for Wrangell and Petersburg during a special meeting held March 4 in Wrangell. A motion by commissioner Dave Galla to keep current manager Paul Southland on as the full-time leader of the utility for at least a year failed by a 4-3 vote, with commissioners Robert Larson, Joe Nelson, Clay Hammer and president John Jensen voting against the motion. TBPA operations foreman Mick Nicholls was then nominated by commissio...