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Like eight-track, cassette tapes and VCRs, cable TV will soon be a piece of entertainment nostalgia — in Alaska anyway. GCI announced a year ago that it would cease providing cable television service, and has introduced its streaming app, Yukon TV, to replace it. The company had set Dec. 31 as the deadline for customers to turn in their cable boxes and sign up for the new service, but later extended the deadline to March 31 — though fewer channels will be available on cable as the company transitions its service. “The whole industry is movin...
As the holiday season is upon us, people who leave town or receive visitors are hoping for an easy, breezy ride. No overheads or ferry breakdowns. But it doesn’t always go that way. Residents were happy to share their holiday travel stories, from heartwarming to humorous. Brittani Robbins, executive director of the Wrangell Chamber of Commerce In 2013, her grandmother Marian Robbins, in her 70s at the time, came to visit for Christmas from Tacoma, Washington. There had been a blizzard the day before and she overheaded Wrangell to Ketchikan. J...
Responding to the loss of power at the airport during the windstorm which tore through the community on Nov. 30, the borough assembly has voted to spend $80,000 in federal funds to install a backup generator for the airport runway lighting. At its Tuesday meeting, assembly members approved using money from a CARES Act grant fund for the generator purchase and installation. The capital facilities department will order the generator this week, and expects delivery in four to five months. The generator would solely be for the runway lighting,...
Wrangell's community garden has a chance to grow once more. On Dec. 8, eight people gathered in the community gym classroom to discuss forming a committee to oversee the direction the project will take. "That's really what tonight is all about, is not making any decisions or appointing anyone to a position exactly, but we really just want to find out who is serious about being on the committee and if you don't want to be on the committee, that's OK, there's plenty of volunteer (opportunities)...
Bob Davis, assistant principal of Wrangell’s high school and middle school, has submitted his resignation and plans to retire at the end of the school year. The resignation was on the agenda for Monday’s school board meeting and will take effect next June. “When I took this job, I made it clear that I had a maximum expiration date of three years,” Davis said. “This is my second. From the time I signed my contract this last spring, I’ve made it clear that this would be my last year.” Davis has been a teacher at the middle school since 1994. He b...
Julia Ostrander was voted in to fill a short-term vacancy on the school board on Monday. The vacancy was created when Laura Ballou resigned from the board in early November. The board received two applications to fill the position — from Ostrander and Alexandra Angerman, both of whom ran for seats on the board in the October municipal election but lost. At Monday’s meeting, board president Don Wilson announced that Angerman had withdrawn her submission, citing other responsibilities. Ostrander, a parent and small business owner, was asked to...
It’s the holiday season and all through town, more people need to get a-stirring and pick up their packages. That’s the word from the post office. Postmaster Dorothy Gladsjo declined an interview last week, and said another time maybe, when she wasn’t “covered in sweat.” Gladsjo and a co-worker had just dumped another orange bag full of packages flown into town onto a pushcart at the post office. The shelves were already stuffed full, but they had to find room to add the latest additions. Tommy Brown, who has lived in Wrangell for 18 years, ca...
Friday night drumming at the Wrangell Cooperative Association's carving shed on Front Street brings together Tlingit elders and teens, different generations forming a circle around an overhead projector as instructor Virginia Oliver guided the group through the pronunciation of Tlingit song lyrics. Oliver's son Tommy Rooney Jr., Luella Knapp and Tom Gillen Sr. were among the adults on drums, accompanied by children that included 14-year-old Keaton (Saak, "hooligan") Gadd, 13-year-old Boomchain...
The annual Elks Hoop Shoot is back on schedule this year. The event is set for Saturday morning at the community gym, with staggered times for different age groups. Last winter’s shoot was postponed to January, to stay away from holiday events amid concerns over COVID-19’s impact on the community. Each participant Saturday will receive a free basketball to use in the Hoop Shoot — and will get to keep the ball. A hamburger lunch at the Elks Club for all participants will follow the competition. Boys and girls ages 8 and 9 will shoot at 9 a.m.,...
When Amber Al-Haddad inherited the public safety building project as the borough’s capital facilities director in 2018, she was told the building simply needed a paint job. The now 34-year-old building needed, and still needs, much more than that. The assembly convened in a work session Monday night to discuss a phased rehabilitation plan for overhauling the water- and rot-damaged building, a plan it had requested of Al-Haddad at its Nov. 9 assembly meeting. The latest proposal comes with an estimated price tag of at least $14.7 million, in t...
Wrangell Medical Center will get an extra month of help from three traveling health care professionals, as the state has extended its contract for the workers. Alaska is adding to its $87 million contract that brought in about 470 out-of-state health care workers to assist hospitals, clinics and schools stressed this fall by the heavy workload of COVID-19 patients and testing, and to provide relief for overwhelmed medical staffs in multiple communities. In September, the state signed up Atlanta-based DLH Solutions to bring the workers to...
A Wrangell company that makes bath and body care products has nothing to do with fish, but that's OK because it won this year's beyond-the-plate award at the Alaska Symphony of Seafood competition. Waterbody won for its Deep Blue Sea Bath Soak, which counts Pacific sea salt and Alaska bull kelp among its ingredients. Angie Flickinger started the business in 2015 as Gathered and Grown Botanicals. The idea began when she wanted to give handcrafted soap as a gift. She rebranded in 2020 as...
The sounds of laughter and excited conversation filled the halls, while brightly colored pieces of art adorned the walls on Dec. 1. Evergreen Elementary held its first art walk, allowing students to showcase their creative works throughout the school, a months-long effort that came about as a result of helping children express themselves. The art program, which is classified as a social-emotional learning (SEL) program, was created to help students walk through the mental and emotional...
For the second time in the past 30 days, the state has to shift around the two other ferries serving Southeast to cover for the Matanuska, which will stay in the Ketchikan shipyard longer than expected for more steel repairs. The loss of the Matanuska means reduced service to Wrangell for the next six weeks. The Alaska Marine Highway System has added a couple more runs of the Kennicott through Southeast, including two stops in Wrangell in January, to replace the Matanuska’s weekly service, but the schedule will be sparse — just one northbound a...
Wrangell residents have long complained that Petersburg enjoys more than its share of perks - a Coast Guard station, more state and federal offices, more ferry service last winter. But now, Wrangell has something Petersburg doesn't have: Lots of free parking at the airport. Starting Dec. 1, Petersburg travelers who park at the airport but can't find one of the limited free spaces in front of the Alaska Airlines terminal will be charged $7 per day to park in an area nearby that used to be free. A...
Correction The Dec. 2 issue of the Wrangell Sentinel mistakenly identified Cindy Martin as a liaison with the Wrangell Burial Assistance program. Martin is a board member of Hospice of Wrangell....
The aftermath of an unexpectedly strong Nov. 30 weather system affected life in Wrangell, postponing community events and unfurling an outpouring of support amid power outages. Community events including last Friday’s Midnight Madness and downtown Christmas tree lighting were rescheduled to this Saturday, according to the Wrangell Chamber of Commerce. As utility workers were busy restoring power, and food and craft vendors were focused on getting power to their homes, the chamber decided to postpone the Dec. 3 events to this weekend, Executive...
The borough is taking inventory of losses in the community to determine the total amount of damages for a possible disaster declaration after an unexpected windstorm on Nov. 30 knocked out power. After initial power restoration to much of the community, it took nearly 48 hours to restore electricity to 90 households after the storm snapped off Southeast Alaska Power Agency poles just south of City Park. "I was outside ready to pull the generator crank when the porch (light) came on!!!" wrote...
When Devyn Johnson unexpectedly lost her mom, Shannan Lee Phillips, on June 2, 2017, in Washington state at the age of 41, it wasn't until six months later that Johnson was able to sit in her grief and mourn her mother. As the eldest, Johnson said a lot of the financial responsibility of planning the funeral fell on her. She was 25 years old. "I hadn't lost anyone before," she said. "I was just like, 'Now what?' And instead of being able to be sad and grieve, I had to go into business mode, put...
The Alaska Housing Finance Corp. is continuing its monthslong program of sending out rental and utility assistance payments — including almost $400,000 to Wrangell households as of last week — drawing on federal pandemic relief aid allocated to the states. As of last Friday, Alaska continued among the leaders nationwide in distributing the aid to households hurt by a loss of income due to the pandemic. AHFC reported it had sent out almost $193 million in payments, about 80% of the $242 million in federal funds allocated to Alaska under ren...
Students at the middle and high schools have a new focus: Values. Students in grades six through 12 can take a photo they believe captures the essence of a value — like ethics, integrity or kindness — and enter it into a contest which could land them $300 if their photo wins the top spot. Bob Davis, the assistant principal of the two schools, said a similar photo contest was held at the high school last year, but a theme wasn’t attached. “We didn’t have ‘values,’ it was just a contest, and the kids really got into it.” The original deadli...
The school district is hiring for a full-time paraprofessional position, which is a change from what it was able to offer a short time ago. Thanks to federal grant funds, the district was able to make the position full-time and offer benefits including state retirement, health insurance for the employee and dependents, paid holidays, vacation and sick leave. Paraprofessionals have been needed at all three Wrangell schools for some time, though the current open position will be based at the elementary school level. They work one-on-one or in...
Wrangell marked two milestones in the fight against COVID-19 in November: The first death attributed to the highly infectious disease in the community, and a record number of new infections. The borough on Monday reported the death. To protect the individual and family privacy, neither the borough nor the state releases the name, specific age or day of death of the person, though the state reported the individual was a Wrangell man in his 60s. The state health department website only lists the death as occurring sometime in the past 30 days....
If something interested Ira Merrill, he would throw his all into it. He would order books to absorb and learn, just to master a subject before moving onto the next thing. As it was in all things that caught Merrill's attention, so it was especially in art. By the time of his death two years ago, at age 83, Merrill had created thousands of pieces of artwork which can still be found throughout Wrangell and beyond. Born in 1936, he had already lived an adventurous life by the time he reached...
An unexpected, strong weather system sent high winds tearing through Wrangell, snapping three Southeast Alaska Power Agency poles which blocked the highway at City Park and knocked out power to most of Wrangell for much of Tuesday afternoon into the evening. A peak wind gust of 54 mph out of the southwest was detected on Zarembo Island at 1:55 p.m., said Wes Adkins, a lead meteorologist at the National Weather Service Juneau Forecast Office. The U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management operate a remote, automated weather system on...
