Sorted by date Results 1426 - 1450 of 6232
Next spring, the Forest Service will begin thinning portions of second-growth forest around Nemo Loop to improve blueberry yields in those areas. The blueberry enhancement project is a collaborative effort between the borough and the Forest Service. It has been funded by a $100,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The grant is part of the USDA’s Southeast Sustainability Initiative. The initiative seeks to partner with Alaska Native corporations and municipal governments to bolster local economies and improve food security t...
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...
Now that the community garden has put down roots and harvested a successful return, committee members are mulling over what comes next for the budding group. At its monthly meeting Sept. 20, a few members gathered at the community garden site at 1.5 Mile to discuss end-of-season plans, a final harvest wrap-up party and what will happen next year. Committee member and co-founder of the group Valerie Massie said there was still work left to do this season, such as building an eight-foot-high...
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...
What some would see as just a portion of muddy lawn at City Park, Angie Flickinger saw as an opportunity to better the environment. A couple years ago, Flickinger, who works on a part-time basis with the Southeast Alaska Watershed Coalition in Juneau, conducted a community watershed assessment to determine areas that would be ideal for a rain garden in Wrangell. Rain gardens act as natural filtration for rainwater that empties into streams and other waterbodies. "Basically, I went around on...
At a special assembly meeting Sept. 20, the borough committed to match 10% of a possible $2,584,650 grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation for design and permitting of a new barge ramp. The borough has not received the grant but anticipates an update on the status of its application around Sept. 30. Last week, DOT Port Infrastructure Development Program staff contacted the borough to confirm their ability to cover 10% of the project, meaning that the grant application has made it to the final stages of the selection process....
Tribal members from both sides of the U.S.-Canada border — the headwaters and downstream region of the Stikine River — talked about strengthening their relationship when they met at the recent Sharing Our Knowledge conference in Wrangell. One of the common interests bringing the Indigenous people together is their concern for the river — protecting and preserving its salmon runs that have fed tribal members for generations. The discussions during the conference were about “connecting and cementing those relationships,” said Christie Jamieson,...
Winston Davies is running for an uncontested three-year term on the port commission to give back to his community and support Wrangell's commercial fishing industry. He has no previous experience in public office, but when he heard KSTK's plea for candidates to fill the empty port commission seats, he decided to "step up to the plate." Davies is a teacher during the school year and a commercial fisherman in the summer. He has taught a variety of subjects in his 18 years in education, including...
John Yeager, sport fishing guide and commercial halibut fisherman, plans to keep promoting sustainable growth in Wrangell during his upcoming three-year term on the port commission. "Fortunately, I have been on the port commission to see a lot of our projects started, like the Marine Service Center and a lot of our harbors," he said. "I want to stay on and see Wrangell's continued growth." Yeager has served on the commission for six terms already, totaling 12 years. He believes that the...
David Wilson has served two three-year terms on the Wrangell school board and is seeking re-election for a third. He is serving as board president during his second term. Since being elected to the board, Wilson, 67, said he believes the schools are "headed in the right direction," despite the challenges the schools face. When he originally ran for the board, the semi-retired cabinet maker said he was unhappy with how things were being run in the schools. "I wanted to see our education...
Elizabeth Roundtree is running for one of two three-year seats on the Wrangell school board, and her main focus is creating more opportunities for students through funding. One of her main concerns, like many involved with the schools, is the budget. That, and lunches. Roundtree, who went to school for accounting and is now the office administrator for Wrangell IGA, wants to find solutions to keep the school funded. Declining enrollment has reduced state funding for the schools, creating holes i...
Esther Ashton sees an opportunity to strengthen partnerships between the school district and entities such as the borough and U.S. Forest Service. She is running unopposed for a one-year seat on the school board. Ashton, 45, is the tribal administrator for the Wrangell Cooperative Association and had held the position for five years. She's been with the WCA since 2014. She has also served on multiple parent committees and is the chair for the Indian Education Committee. In the past, she was on...
After nine years in public service across four different councils, commissions and committees, Patty Gilbert is running for Wrangell's highest elected office. Gilbert is a retired math and science teacher who left the Wrangell School District in 2018 after 23 years. The mayoral candidate has since served in a wide variety of government organizations, including the borough assembly, where she is vice mayor, and the school board, where she served a two-year term as vice president. She also sits...
Terry Courson, a firearms instructor and retired police officer, is running for borough mayor. Though he declined interviews with KSTK and the Sentinel, he has posted flyers around Wrangell outlining his stances and experience. Courson served on the borough assembly from 2020 to 2021. He is a fiscal conservative and plans to vote no on the bond issues on the Oct. 4 municipal election ballot, which would finance repairs at the schools and Public Safety Building. Officials believe that the borough can cover the annual debt payment on the $3.5...
Officials believe the borough can cover the entire annual debt payment on $3.5 million in school maintenance bonds by taking advantage of strong sales tax revenues and higher federal aid payments — without turning to property taxes. State lease payments for the community’s jail and investment earnings from Wrangell’s $10 million permanent fund savings account could help reduce the tax cost of the other bond issue on the Oct. 4 municipal election ballot — $8.5 million for rebuild and repair to the rot-damaged Public Safety Building — according...
Wrangell will be without ferry service from Jan. 10 to Feb. 3 under the fall/winter schedule released by the Alaska Marine Highway System last week. The rest of the seven months covered by the schedule includes a weekly stop in each direction in Wrangell, with the bonus of a second northbound and southbound sailing one week a month when the ferry travels only as far south as Prince Rupert, British Columbia, instead of the longer round-trip voyage to Bellingham, Washington. The three-week break in service to Wrangell in January is scheduled as...
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...
Exuberant shouts resounded in the Evergreen Elementary gym last Thursday night as a group of nine young runners, between the third and fifth grades, bounded into the room for another session of I Toowú Klatseen, a running program for youth that combines athletic activity with Tlingit language learning and cultural education. The group settled into a circle to learn about the Tlingit subsistence lifestyle, healthy foods and the importance of having respect for the plants and animals we eat. Kim Wickman, a program volunteer, instructed the...
Last Thursday afternoon, Tanner Thomassen, 27, shot Wrangell's first moose of the season on Andrew Island in the Stikine River. The moose is also Thomassen's first - he has been trying to bag one since the fifth grade, and after 15 years of effort, he was finally in the right place at the right time. "I was in a tree and I saw a calf," he said. "I thought that was all there was, so we were ready to crawl down the tree and go down to another spot." Thankfully for Thomassen, he stayed put long eno...
It's taken a few years of requests and planning, but the community center weight room finally has new equipment, freeing up valuable space and increasing safety. Two metal frames allow users to do pull-ups, triceps dips, landmines, seated rows and many other exercises, helping to create targeted workouts. A survey was conducted to identify the value of each piece of equipment in the weight room before the upgrade was made. Free weights were unanimously chosen as the most used items. However,...
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...
One of the foundational wooden beams under the Senior Center is rotting and will have to be repaired, according to Borough Manager Jeff Good. “There is no immediate threat to life and safety,” Good explained, but he hopes to address the problem quickly. “The more you wait with rot, especially with wood, the worse it gets.” He plans to hire an engineer to assess the damage and design a solution, but he does not yet have details about how soon this assessment will take place. “We typically work with a couple of engineers,” said Good, but since n...
What to do with someone's property when they die can be a complicated task involving beneficiaries, a ton of paperwork and the court system. But it doesn't necessarily have to be. Liz Smith, a Juneau-based lawyer specializing in estate planning, gave a presentation last Wednesday to help clear up the often confusing world of wills, asset protection and long-term health care decisions Twelve people of various ages attended the presentation at Irene Ingle Public Library, listening as Smith gave a...