Oct. 8, 1925
No doubt disgusted by the attempts of certain champion swimmers to cross the English Channel, a 2-year-old spike buck deer jumped into Clarence Strait in a bold mood, hoping to reach the other shore in record time. It soon became exhausted and was ready to conclude the adventure when Mr. and Mrs. Earnest Steers of Ketchikan, with their tugboat Chief, prowed toward Wrangell, appeared and Mrs. Steers bravely put a rope around the deer’s neck and brought him near enough to their craft to boost him into it. Too exhausted to be bothered about the strange surroundings, Mr. Buck sank into a refreshing two-hour nap. By the time the small craft docked at Wrangell, the new addition to the Steers company had become quite orientated in his strange environment and graciously received callers during the remainder of the day.

Oct. 6, 1950
A hearing for regulations for the 1951 commercial fishing season will be held in Wrangell on Oct. 11 at Bjorge’s Hall. A group of U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials, headed by C. Howard Blatzo, assistant regional director for Alaska, will attend. At the first hearing in Ketchikan this week, it was the unanimous suggestion of representatives of the public that the fall season on chum fishing be limited to six designated areas. This, they said, would avoid the concentration of gear and give everyone a chance at the fall chum run.

Oct. 8, 1975
If you call the Wrangell police and the patrolman answering sounds as though he is on foot patrol, he very well may be. Local police will be using a system within the next few weeks that allows officers on patrol in their cars or on foot to answer telephone calls to the station on their portable radios. Though the system has been used before for taxis, this is the first time it has been used for law enforcement, Police Chief William Klein said. The new radio system is a pilot project funded through a $17,000 grant from the federal government.

Oct. 5, 2000
The Wrangell Volunteer Fire Department held a controlled burn last Wednesday night when they burned down the old Grandma (Mary) Haling house on Stikine Avenue near the ferry terminal. The house, according to Mayor Fern Neimeyer, Mrs. Haling’s daughter, was over 100 years old and had been the mortuary at one time. Mary Hauling, who moved to Wrangell after Fern married Bob Neimeyer and moved here, worked at the Wrangell Institute and bought the house in the early 1950s. She lived there until she died in 1991. The property has since passed to Mrs. Neimeyer’s son, Randy, and his wife Kristy, who recently sold it to Kristy’s parents. The fire department regularly uses planned house fires as practice and, while unexpected winds gave them a little extra work, they did an “excellent job,” said Mayor Neimeyer.