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The borough’s contract with Republic Services — the company that manages the transportation and disposal of Wrangell’s trash —expires at the end of July. Despite a substantial increase in Republic’s pricing, the borough assembly voted to extend the company’s contract at its June 27 meeting due to a lack of cheaper alternatives. In 2018, Republic charged $121.03 per ton for disposal and hauling, according to a letter from the company’s area president Gregg Brummer. In the contract the assembly just approved, the disposal cost has increased mor...
After Rosie and Jon Tollerud of the Salvation Army left Wrangell for Fairbanks last month, two new officers moved to town to take their place. Lieutenants Belle and Chase Green and their two children, KellyGrace, 3, and Ollivander, 1, arrived in Wrangell on June 20 and have been settling into their new home for the past few weeks. The couple looks forward to getting to know the community and to serving in Alaska, where they were both raised. Moving to Wrangell was "like being back at home,"...
Kaiya Roher, 12 (center), and Violet Allen, 10, serve lemonade to Cassandra Schilling and her daughter Melany Shilts at their stand on Case Avenue on Friday, July 7. Violet is raising money for travel to Massachusetts and other places to see family. Schilling said it was the perfect time to happen across the stand, as she and her daughter had walked to downtown from 3 Mile. The temperature last Friday reached 82 degrees....
Wrangell will go without any southbound ferry service in alternating weeks from Oct. 1 to mid-November under the Alaska Marine Highway System’s draft fall/winter schedule. The town is on the schedule for its usual weekly northbound stop during that period. The rest of the winter schedule shows once-a-week service to town in each direction, with the bonus of two stops in each direction the second week of each month from mid-November through February when the Kennicott will shorten its Southeast route and not go to Bellingham, Washington. The f...
At its upcoming July 25 meeting, the borough assembly will decide whether to spend $25,000 per year to help keep a state Office of Children’s Services (OCS) caseworker in town or cut funding for the position. About a year ago, the borough established a cost-sharing deal with the state to bring a caseworker to Wrangell. The deal stipulated that the borough would pay $53,000, half of the position’s annual cost, and provide an office in the Public Safety Building. Community advocates for the deal hoped that having a caseworker on the island wou...
As tribal members lined the shore on the backside of Shakes Island, dressed in regalia from their respective clans, one of their voices rang out. "Where do these boats come from?" "We are the children of Hawaii. We come from Hawaii," came the response from a canoe in Reliance Harbor. "Aahá. It is good to see you again. Aahá. Come on our land. You are welcome." From the moment the sailing vessel Hōkūleʻa appeared on the horizon June 27 to greet the Tlingit tribe near Petroglyph Beach for an esco...
As three days of cultural exchanges wrapped up in Wrangell with the departure of the visiting crew from the Polynesian Voyaging Society, another piece of Wrangell history came to light depicting Tlingit life almost 140 years ago. In the late 1800s, artist Theodore J. Richardson painted a watercolor of a village that appears to be in the general vicinity of Reliance Harbor. A photo shows him possibly working on that watercolor while in a boat in Zimovia Strait, with Woronkofski Island in the...
The Irene Ingle Public Library has been guided by a distinguished line of library directors, from Helen Hofstad, who ran the library when it opened in 1921, to Irene Ingle, Kay Jabusch and Margaret Villarma. Now that Villarma has retired, former Assistant Librarian Sarah Scambler is stepping into the role of library director to continue the facility's over 100-year legacy. Her official first day was June 26; Villarma's last day in the office was June 27. Wrangell's library has been a part of...
Every local knows that Wrangell has a fascinating, complex history, but people outside the island may not be aware of the community's many stories. Now that a Wrangell history podcast has received national recognition, tales of the island's past are becoming accessible to a broader audience. In mid-June, the American Association for State and Local History gave Ronan Rooney's "Wrangell History Unlocked" podcast an award of excellence for its five-part "Rise and Fall of the Star of Bengal"...
The borough’s general fund operating budget for the fiscal year that started July 1 totals about $7.25 million, with the biggest pieces going to police services, the Public Works Department, and to pay expenses at the Nolan Center and Parks and Recreation Department. The budget, approved by the assembly June 27, includes just over $1 million to help fund operations at the Nolan Center ($360,000) and Parks and Recreation programs ($685,000) which are not fully covered by user fees and other income. The spending plans for the center and Parks a...
The borough’s Economic Development Board needs a new member to fill an open seat, and Kate Thomas, economic development director, hopes for “a creative, innovative type.” The board’s job is to come up with and review ideas to improve the town’s economy, forwarding its recommendations to the assembly. Thomas describes it as “mining the ideas and opportunities we don’t already know.” Letters of interest to fill the open seat on the five-member board will be accepted until filled. The mayor appoints the members. The board generally meets monthly....
Wrangell High School and Stikine Middle School are going through an alarming upgrade, quite literally. Both buildings, including the high school gym and the Parks and Recreation's pool facility, are getting a new fire alarm system that will help pinpoint any smoke or fires, helping emergency responders act quicker. Current fire codes dictated replacement of the old system, especially since the schools sometimes house visiting sports teams or other students and teaching staff, according to Josh B...
A federal appeals panel issued a last-second ruling June 21 that will allow this summer’s Southeast Alaska troll chinook salmon fishery to open as scheduled Saturday — reversing a lower court ruling that would have kept the $85 million industry off the water. “It’s a major victory,” Alaska Fish and Game Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang said in a phone interview. “We can go fishing.” The panel, in a five-page ruling, said that the entities defending the fishery — the Alaska Trollers Association, the state of Alaska and the National Marine...
Snap on your goggles and squirm into your spandex because the community pool is preparing to reopen after its seven-month closure. The exact opening date is still to be determined, but Parks and Recreation staff are aiming to welcome swimmers back to the facility in the first half of July. After the pool closed for maintenance Nov. 28, department staff discovered a leak near its center. The monthslong process of hiring a contractor and performing repairs extended the closure. Last week,...
Though the governor vetoed half of the legislatively approved increase in state funding for public schools, it will still be enough to erase the deficit in the budget adopted by the Wrangell school board last week. The budget for the 2023-2024 school year shows a $121,717 deficit, which is covered by drawing on savings, but the district will revise its spending plan in the fall to include the additional state aid and after it has enrollment numbers. The district expects to receive a one-time increase of about $212,500 in state funding for next...
Commercial fishermen were a little surprised on Father's Day, June 18, when the Tongass eased alongside them, offering pizzas for sale. Nic Martin, owner of Nic's Pizza, and Brian Schwartz, pilot of the Tongass, took an idea Schwartz had for delivering pizzas to fishing vessels and sailed off with it. The two baked six pizzas, sold five and "ate one for quality control," Schwartz said. They covered 30 miles on 18 gallons of fuel, going out as far as Anita Bay. Schwartz originally had the idea...
From towering Christmas trees to black light Halloween parties, Wrangell goes hard for the holidays. With the community's most spectacular celebration - the Fourth of July - just around the corner, event organizers are putting the finishing touches on the event schedule. Here are some of the highlights that attendees can look forward to: The festivities kick off with a picnic and pie-eating contest at 1 p.m. Saturday outside the Irene Ingle Public Library. On Sunday, kids will fish at City Dock...
Kem Haggard, pastor at Harbor Light Church, will lead the parade as grand marshal at this year's Fourth of July celebration. He received this honor for his extensive volunteer and fundraising work, along with his ability to connect with and inspire Wrangell's youth during his 23 years at Harbor Light. After two brief summer visits to the island starting in 1999, Haggard told his wife, Susan, that he felt drawn to accept a pastor position in Wrangell. Moving across the country from Texas to an...
In past years, organizers of Fourth of July street games and other competitions handed out cash prizes to winners. After some temporary confusion about whether such prizes would be allowed this year or replaced with ribbons, trophies or other non-cash alternatives, the chamber of commerce has decided to stick with tradition — cash prizes will be permitted during the Fourth celebration. At its June 19 meeting, the chamber board heard public comment on the issue, then voted unanimously in favor of allowing cash prizes. The short-lived ban on c...
The Alaska Marine Highway System, which five months ago embarked on improving its hiring process to address chronic crew shortages, is unable to say how many new employees it has hired since then. The push started after a consultant’s report in January determined the state had hired just four out of 250 job applicants over the prior 12 months. The crew shortage forced the state to pull the Kennicott, the second-largest operable ship in the fleet, off this summer’s schedule and keep it tied up at the dock in Ketchikan. Asked how many new emp...
The road along Pats Lake was lined with parked vehicles on Saturday, June 24, as parents, grandparents and kids of various ages turned out for Family Fishing Day. Staff from the U.S. Forest Service, Alaska Department of Fish and Game and Wrangell Cooperative Association Earth Branch (Tl'átḵ) ran lure-making stations, painting booths, a scavenger hunt and other fun activities for the young and young-at-heart. And there was fishing. Shirley Wimberley, the scoutmaster for Boy Scout Troop 40, he...
Each of local artist Scott Glaze's wooden creations - geometric cutting boards, engraved wall hangings, children's toys, holiday décor - is a labor of love. The owner of Papa's Cabins and Gifts spends countless hours handcrafting one-of-a-kind pieces for customers. After he was laid off from his job at the Wrangell Medical Center at the beginning of the pandemic, Glaze spent his newfound free time making a miniature log cabin out of cedar for his grandchildren. The cabin featured over 200...
A total of just 15 salmon were caught and entered the past two weekends for Wrangell’s 68th King Salmon Derby. The top three adult entries won cash prizes, as did the top three kids ages 12 and under. In the adult category, John Fernen caught the biggest king at Point Ward on June 25, weighing in at 42.5 pounds. Second place went to Mark Soeteber with his 30-pound king, caught at Burg Bay on June 17. Neal Soeteber landed in third place with a 27-pound king caught at Kindergarten Bay on June 25. The prizes were $800, $400 and $200, r...
Delayed a day last week for COVID testing after leaving Juneau, the Polynesian Voyaging Society vessel Hōkūle’a was scheduled to arrive in Wrangell for a traditional Tlingit welcome and community reception on Tuesday, June 27. Wrangell Cooperative Association and clan leaders planned to take the visitors on Wednesday aboard charter boats to see Old Town, WCA Tribal Administrator Esther Aaltséen Reese said Monday. The original Tlingit village is about 13 miles south of downtown. The 65-foot, twin-hulled sailing craft left Juneau on June 18,...
Southeast legislators said they were disappointed that Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed half of the one-time increase in state money for K-12 public schools, but will try again next year to address education funding needs. “We heard from school districts around the state that needed the money,” Ketchikan Rep. Dan Ortiz said June 21. The $175 million increase that legislators appropriated for the 2023-2024 school year was a compromise between House and Senate members, Democrats, Republicans and independents, he explained. The money, which Dunleavy cut...
