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The U.S. Forest Service is preparing for another busy season at Anan Wildlife Observatory, one of the biggest visitor attractions around, just 30 miles south of town. This summer, the daily fee to visit the bear observatory during the permit-only season of prime bear watching July 5 through Aug. 25 will remain at $10. Starting in 2025, however, the fee will increase $10 per year, raising next summer's fee to $20 per day. The fee will increase every year until it reaches $50 in 2028. The...
Wrangell Cooperative Association’s most recent test for paralytic shellfish toxins in blue mussels at two sites in town showed unhealthy levels. “Paralytic shellfish toxins (PST) levels are above the FDA regulatory limit. … PSTs cause paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP), and eating wild shellfish from these sites may increase the risk of PSP,” WCA published in a report May 17 after tests from shellfish at City Park and Shoemaker helipad came back with elevated levels of toxins. The toxins are caused by Alexandrium, a type of phytopl...
The Nolan Center, Irene Ingle Public Library and Parks and Recreation have teamed up to keep kids entertained this summer. Starting June 3 and running through Aug. 16, there will be morning and afternoon activities Monday through Friday like open swim, open gym, art classes, movies, Forest Explorers and reading activities. Parks and Recreation will host open swim at the pool from 1:30 to 3 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Open gym will be held at the community center Monday mornings from 10:30 a.m. to noon. Regular drop-in rates will...
It’ll be early fall before the borough offers for sale 20 lots at the new Alder Top Village (Keishangita.’aan) residential subdivision upland from Shoemaker Bay, but residents interested in buying and building a home on the property can start lining up financing. In addition to conventional lenders such as banks, credit unions and the Alaska Housing Finance Corp., Haa Yakaawu Financial Corp., which works with the Tlingit Haida Regional Housing Authority, offers a couple of different home loan programs, including one with below-market int...
A group of young Alaskans, backed by a nonprofit legal firm, is suing the state of Alaska and the state-owned Alaska Gasline Development Corp. in an attempt to block construction of the corporation’s long-planned but economically questionable North Slope natural gas pipeline. In a complaint filed May 22 in Anchorage Superior Court, the eight plaintiffs argue that the corporation’s founding laws are unconstitutional because the gas pipeline would result in so much climate-altering greenhouse gas that it would endanger their constitutionally guar... Full story
At age 94, longtime resident Elmer Mork was reunited with an old Army buddy after 71 years with no contact. "He got homesick for (me)," Mork said of his friend Harold Esmailka, age 93. "My little brother." Esmailka's son-in-law, Dale Erickson, had recently gotten a boat in Seattle and wanted to base it in Wrangell. When Erickson found out that one of the town's residents was Esmailka's often-talked-about Army friend, he contacted his father-in-law. Esmailka remembered Erickson's phone call, "He...
The same day that she graduated from high school, Alisha Armstrong and her family decided to step up and help the community. Armstrong is the lone candidate for this year’s Fourth of July royalty contest, and will sell raffle tickets to help raise money for the holiday celebration. The ticket sales kickoff is planned for May 31 and will continue through July 3, with the prize drawings on July 4. The chamber of commerce sponsors the Fourth festivities and depends on royalty candidates to sell tens of thousands of raffle tickets. The c...
By Larry Persily Sentinel writer The Alaska state ferry Columbia — which has been out of service since late November for its annual overhaul and repairs but was supposed to go back to work this summer — will be laid up until the end of the year. Extensive corrosion in the 51-year-old ship’s fire suppression system is the reason for the extra time in the shipyard, Department of Transportation spokesman Sam Dapcevich said Friday, May 17. During the Columbia’s extended absence, the Alaska Marine Highway System has diverted the Kennicott out of...
The borough assembly has approved a local contribution to the school district that could cancel out a pending increase in state funding. The assembly on May 14 approved a local contribution of $1.3 million to the school district for the 2024-2025 school year, down from this year’s level, based on the assumption that the state increases its funding to Wrangell schools by $440,000. The amount of state funding is pending the governor’s decision on the budget passed by legislators last week. The school board had asked for $1.75 million from the bor...
A class of fourth graders and a few third graders from Evergreen Elementary School traveled 10 miles by jet boat up the Stikine River to Cottonwood Island on a chilly, rainy May 14 to learn about nature, fishing techniques, wilderness survival and Tlingit culture as part of an annual field trip. Fourth grade science teacher Brian Merritt, who has been the main organizer of the yearly school outing for over two decades, felt this latest excursion was a great success. "Everything went according to...
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 1547 has filed a petition with the state for Wrangell Police Department employees to vote on joining the union bargaining unit that represents other borough employees. The borough assembly met in executive session on May 14 to discuss the petition. Borough Manager Mason Villarma said the borough will object to the request to add police employees to the union. Though the borough supports employees unionizing, Villarma said he doesn’t believe the police department and IBEW have e...
The community gathered at the Wrangell Mariners' Memorial on Sunday, May 19, for the annual blessing of the fleet and to add 14 names to the waterfront memorial at Heritage Harbor. Added to the memorial this year were Kenneth Olson, Curly Rathbone, Mickey Prescott, Wes Allen, Helen Allen, Cappy Bakke, Randall Churchill Jr., Sam Privett, Dave Hartung, Marion Goodrich, Otto Florschutz III, James Smith, Doyle Sarff and Harold Snoddy. Jenn Miller-Yancey, Jeff Jabusch, Gig Decker, John Yeager and...
Funding to repair and rebuild Wrangell’s Public Safety Building is her top priority for federal aid for the community, said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. It’s among the more than 500 requests for federal money the state’s senior senator has submitted for inclusion in a dozen different appropriation bills that Congress will consider for the federal fiscal year that starts Oct. 1. The requests from across the state total about $2.5 billion, Murkowski said in an interview May 16. “Believe me, we won’t g...
Cruise ships have started to make their appearances at the City Dock, and the Wrangell Cooperative Association has geared up for the season by hiring Ed Caum as tourism coordinator. Caum, known by some in town as "Fast Eddy" from his rock and roll radio shows on KSTK in the '70s, started the position at the beginning of May. The tourism branch of WCA is set up to grow exponentially, Caum said. Economic development and bringing new money into town are two of his goals. He emphasized that the...
A retirement potluck party for Sandy Churchill will be held at 4 p.m. Saturday, June 1, at the Nolan Center. All residents are welcome to attend and bring prepared food or dessert. "Bring a dish to share and a story to tell," Head Start coworker Dawn Welch said. "This party is to celebrate the years and years of Sandy's commitment and dedication to our Head Start program," Welch said earlier this month in a Facebook post about the party. Churchill will step down at the end of the school year...
Students were recognized for their outstanding achievements at the annual academic and scholarship awards ceremony held the afternoon of May 15 at the high school gym. Faculty, staff, community and business leaders gathered to present ninth through 12th graders with certificates, plaques and checks for their accomplishments at the end of the school year. Awards were presented in the areas of general education, shop class, finance, the arts, student government and others. Scholarships presented...
The dates for this year’s king salmon derby have been set for two weekends: June 7-9 and June 14-16. The chamber of commerce is still deciding other details like the prizes for the largest fish and cost of tickets, said Tommy Wells, executive director of the chamber, which sponsors the annual event — now in its 69th year. King salmon runs have been weak in recent years — only 15 fish were turned in for weighing during last year’s derby. District 8 in front of Wrangell and the Stikine River is closed again this year to king salmon sportfi...
The Nolan Center is unveiling a new display this weekend featuring repatriated clan items that were returned to Wrangell last fall. Objects in the display include xóots shákee.át, a bear headdress; tsax l'axhk'eit, a marmot mask; kéet shakee.át s'áaxhw, a killer whale hat (a replica); and gunakadeit s'eikdaakeit, a sea monster tobacco pipe. The items were returned to Wrangell from the Thomas Burke Memorial Museum at the University of Washington. Though most historical details of the objec...
Several of Wrangell’s requests are included in the state capital budget of public works projects that the Legislature approved last week, sending the spending plan to the governor for signature into law or veto. Unless the governor uses his veto powers to eliminate or reduce the appropriations, Wrangell would receive $5 million toward stabilization work at the earthen dams that hold back the community’s water reservoirs; $200,000 to start planning what’s being called an “escape route” for Zimovia Highway residents to drive across the island to...
Next year’s Fourth of July celebration, Wrangell’s most popular holiday, may be in jeopardy – the May 1 deadline to turn in paperwork yielded zero royalty candidates. It takes a village to put on the fireworks and countless other festivities for the Fourth every year. To offset costs, high school students or recent graduates run as royalty contestants – selling tens of thousands of $1 raffle tickets and running food booths downtown to raise money for the chamber of commerce, which organizes the celebration’s events. Royalty candidate...
Wrangell High School will hold its graduation ceremony at 7 p.m. Friday, May 17, in the high school gym. Principal Jackie Hanson will welcome the 10 seniors and teacher Jack Carney will serve as the commencement speaker. This year's valedictorian and salutatorian had not been announced as of the Sentinel's printing deadline on Monday. Each senior has tickets for 10 friends or family for seats on the gym floor, with overflow space in the bleachers. The ceremony can also be viewed online at...
Alisha Seward is Wrangell's new state wildlife trooper - her fifth move in nine years. Wrangell is one of the smaller posts among the 37 locations staffed by the Alaska wildlife troopers division and she is the only officer in town, with no corresponding state trooper. "Right now, my goal is just to learn my patrol area, which is big and vast," she said. "I just spent the last couple days out on a boat patrol with Chadd (Yoder), who was just here, learning my area and all that encompasses it."...
Ronan Rooney picked the Nose for his latest history lesson. The podcaster recently wrote a blog post about one of the island's most photographed landmarks: Elephant's Nose. It's at the northern tip of Woronkofski Island, 4.5 miles west of Wrangell across Zimovia Strait. Rooney's blog digs into the history behind the Nose and how it got its popular name. Fannie Kellog Young, wife of the Rev. S. Hall Young, gave the Nose its name. The couple moved to Wrangell in 1878 and lived just in front of...
Wrangell now has a total of 56 security cameras up and running across all its harbors and the Marine Service Center. The cameras run 24 hours a day and pick up clear footage in all lighting situations, said Harbormaster Steve Miller, even capturing images well in complete darkness. The harbormaster and staff have access to the camera footage, which is stored for 30 days. Rather than monitoring the videos, harbor staff will go back to access the feeds if information is needed. But the cameras are equipped with motion sensors that highlight...
The town’s population could double for a day. Holland America Line’s Nieuw Amsterdam, with accommodations for just over 2,100 passengers plus a crew of more than 900, is scheduled to tie up at Wrangell at 8 a.m. Thursday, May 16, staying until 7 p.m. It will be the ship’s only visit to Wrangell this summer. It will be the largest ship to bring travelers to town, just beating out Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth, which is scheduled to visit twice — July 18 and 29 — and can carry up to 2,081 passengers. The Queen Elizabeth is actually a little long...
