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The varsity Lady Wolves outlasted the Lady Glacier Bears twice over the weekend to put two chicken scratches in the win column. The girls team won by six points both Friday (31-25) and Saturday (30-24). It marks the first set of conference play wins on the season for the girls, and three wins overall, evening the conference record to 2-2 after losses to Craig and Metlakatla. The girls team also marked a win over Craig in Ketchikan for invitational tournament play. The team has gradually...
The school board voted Monday 3-2 to approve a contract for an interim principal for the rest of the 2013-14 school year. Board members Krissy Smith and Cyni Waddington voted against the proposal. Deidre Jenson, formerly of Thorne Bay, started at Evergreen Elementary School Tuesday morning as the first in a series of administrative changes proposed in the wake of the resignation of Superintendent and Elementary School Principal Rich Rhodes, approved in early December and set to take effect June 30. Jenson, who was on hand Monday to introduce...
A 60-foot tug that sank in 80 to 85 feet of water Jan. 14 was capped Friday and is no longer leaking fuel into Shoemaker Bay, authorities said. Assessment divers from Ketchikan-based Alaska Commercial Divers dove on the wreck Friday and were able to cap both diesel tanks and a hydraulic tank, and close a valve linking hydraulic equipment on board to the tank said Coast Guard Petty Officer Scott Wakefield. Divers had been delayed from diving on the wreck until Friday evening because of intransitable weather between Ketchikan and Wrangell....
The ideal new Wrangell School System superintendent could come from anywhere in the United States. He or she should be familiar with high technology schools. The new superintendent should be able to operate a Title I program, familiar with community involvement, high test scores. This person should be able to deal with a situation with high turnover, controversy, staff development, training, small schools, fishing communities, while also being a good communicator school board members told Norm Wooten, Director of School Improvement and...
Wrangellites looking for child-friendly weekend activities now have one more option. The Wrangell Museum has started offering Weekend Family Workshops focusing on aspects of Wrangell and Alaska history. The second workshop – focusing on dinosaurs found in Alaska - was held Saturday morning. The workshops are offered on the third Saturday of every month, and feature crafts based around the theme. A workshop held Dec. 21 focused on using locally available materials to construct Christmas o...
The Wrangell Medical Center Board of Directors voted 7-0 Jan. 15 to approve the hospital’s 2014 budget. Budget figures project the hospital will take in $9,610,679 gross revenue in the coming fiscal year, while expending $8,763,556 in operating expenses, leaving a positive cash flow of $847,123 at the end of the present fiscal year. This is the second-highest cash flow in seven years, trailing only 2009’s $1,066,371, according to figures provided by hospital Chief Financial Officer Dana Strong. Revenues are projected to increase 4.9 per...
Sunday will mark the last day Wrangellites can place their orders for thin mints, samoas and tagalongs. St. Philip's Episcopal Church Girl Scout Troop 4156 has been selling the scouting organization's trademark cookies all this month. The troop's membership has set a cookie sales goal of 240 for each member. Some scouts, like Aaliyah Messmer, 11, and Jing O'Brien, 12, have neared or shattered that goal. Aaliyah counted 512 orders Friday and Jing counted 220. Others, like Madison Blackburn, 12,...
The Wrangell High School varsity boy’s basketball team dropped two games to Metlakatla last weekend. The Wolves would lead Friday night by four points at the half, before losing 49-29. A tied score at halftime Saturday would turn into a 45-29 loss for the Wolves. Either game came down to guard play, and the Wolves are still developing offensively, said assistant coach Jason Clark. “We’re still a work in progress with our offense,” he said. “We have a really good defense right now, we’re just trying to get those extra pieces in on our offense...
The code review committee plans to address a potentially flammable issue Jan. 30. The issue is gasoline, specifically a revision of a sales tax cap intended for fuel sales greater than $1,200. The exemption is intended to encourage large boats to fuel up in Wrangell, and also to provide help to local fishermen. When Petro Marine Services purchased Wrangell Oil late last year, the company reviewed the ordinance and discovered a flaw, said Borough Clerk Kim Lane. Borough code Section 5.08.050 Subsection M lays out the exemption for “all sales o...
The Wrangell Chamber of Commerce will take over administration of a long-running Wrangell Scholarship program this year. The scholarship awards a Wrangell High School student $500 each year for four years, for a total value of $2,000. The program had been managed by the Emblem Club for the last 60 years. The scholarship is funded by the purchase of $10 calendars displaying the birthdays of local citizens. “Everything that we make we put back into the program,” said Cyni Waddington. “It’s kind of a local institution. People look forward to it e...
Impressive transitional defense, pulse-raising fourth-quarter play and crisp passing weren't enough for the Lady Wolves to overcome the Miss Chiefs. The Wrangell High School girls' basketball team lost two to the visiting Metlakatla squad last weekend. The Miss Chiefs took Friday night's game 46-27, and edged the Lady Wolves 40-20 in the Saturday night sequel. Head Coach Edna Abella-Nore sounded a little like an alarm clock, based on the number of times she shouted "Wake up!" from the sidelines...
More than 200 people met Saturday with local organizations at the Wrangell Cooperative Association's first membership rally. Representatives from the Association, the Indian Environmental General Assistance Program, Alaska Island Community Services and Tlingit-Haida registered, updated, collected and distributed information for 210 people by the end of the four-hour event at the Stikine Native Organizations building. Organizers from the WCA's Membership Committee had worked on organizing the...
Between 30 and 50 yachts will depart Seattle sometime in June and arrive in Wrangell June 17. The yachts will participate in the annual Salty Dog Rally, sponsored by Boating Puget Sound, a website dedicated to yachting in the Seattle area. Once they arrive, yachters will be welcomed by local Tlingit drummers and dancers and be feted in a gala dinner with the mayor. Borough officials estimate between 60 and 150 people will participate, though they won’t have official numbers until registration for the event concludes in April. Members of the W...
A vessel sunk near Wrangell Tuesday afternoon, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. The 60-foot Silver Bay 2 went down at anchor tied to another tug, according to Coast Guard Petty Officer First Class Jeremy Dawkins. No one was aboard when the Silver Bay 2 went down off shore from the former mill property. Coast Guard officials were notified because of potential environmental impacts from the ship’s sinking, and conducted no search and rescue operations associated with the sinking, Dawkins said. Company officials will likely wait until the w...
Officials from Trident Seafoods have received a conditional use permit request for the construction of a new bunkhouse. The company received the permit by a 5-0 vote of the borough planning and zoning commission Jan. 9. They also received a 5-0 vote on a variance permit for off-street parking at the same location, near the intersection of Case and Front streets. The facility will house between 40 and 80 people at a time. Trident officials hope to conclude construction on the new bunkhouse June 1, in time for the majority of summer salmon season...
The boys basketball team lost twice at Petersburg this weekend. The Vikings topped the Wolves 47-35 Friday, and closed out another chapter of the heated local rivalry with a 52-32 win Saturday. “They’re better than us,” said head coach Ray Stokes, and laughed. “That’s the truth.” While the Vikings boast two inside men well over six feet tall, the Wolves defense was up to the task Friday to keep things close, Stokes said. He compared their Petersburg performance to home games against Craig Dec. 20 and 21. “They’re kind of similar,” he sa...
The girls’ basketball team lost twice to the Lady Vikings this weekend in Petersburg. The Petersburg side edged Wrangell 49-36 Friday, then the Lady Vikings notched a 31-point win Saturday to make it a winless weekend for the Lady Wolves. “Friday night’s game was really good,” said head coach Edna Abella-Nore. “We had figured it out if we made every single layup that game, we would have won by a point.” Wrangell may have caught Petersburg by surprise Friday night, Abella-Nore said. “Petersburg just came out stronger (Saturday),...
Parks and recreation committee members will consider rescheduling the hours of operation for the swimming pool facility in the coming months. Two themes emerged over the course of the discussion of some potential schedules at the Jan. 8 Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee meeting. The first was concerns that the current schedule, which has variable hours for the non-pool facilities over the various weekdays, is inconvenient for some customers. The second was concerns that altering the hours of operation for both the pool and the weight room...
The sound of a .45-caliber handgun going off indoors lands like a blow on the ears. It can be felt through the diaphragm and rib cage, through protective glass. The sound echoed off the walls of the James Barker Memorial shooting range Thursday, the first night of the regularly scheduled season at the range in the basement of the public safety building. The range opens Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7 p.m. through January and February. Tuesdays are for pellet guns, .22-caliber handguns and rifles....
The borough assembly voted 5-0 Tuesday night to approve a no-bid design contract with Juneau-based Corvus Design. The contract allots $11,372 from a $35,000 state grant to renovate heritage harbor for that purpose. Port commissioners previously said the contract was designed to be no-bid in order to avoid a prolonged bidding process which might stretch past the June 30 expiration date for the grant. The money “is part of the starting of this thing?” assembly member James Stough asked harbormaster Greg Meissner. “Is that what this is?” The goa...
If water temperatures typically in the low to mid 40's won't deter you, what's a little rain or a high tide? About 50 enthusiastic swimmers waded into the sea near Shoemaker Park to celebrate New Year's Day and participate in the annual Polar Bear Swim. For some, the annual ritual is simply something to do on a day when many Wrangell businesses are traditionally closed. For others, the swim marks the start of something wonderful together. Erica and Adam Tlachac took their first swim together...
The School board voted 5-0 Monday to hire an interim principal for Evergreen Elementary School for the rest of the year. The board also voted 5-0 to separate the positions of elementary school principal and superintendent, held by Rich Rhodes since the beginning of this school year, and to retain the services of the Association of Alaska School Boards to aid the search for a replacement superintendent. The board voted down 4-1, with Krissy Smith the lone dissenter, a motion that would have hired a lead teacher at Evergreen to provide...
Alumni from as far away as Denver descended on the Wrangell High School gym floor to take on the Lady Wolves in the annual alumni game Jan. 3. The event featured a half-court contest, a baked goods silent auction, and the game itself, in which a motley crew of alumni and quasi-alumni (head coach Edna Abella-Nore contributed critical passing and outside shooting at points, though she attended Kodiak High School) thrashed the varsity squad 60-16. Despite the fact that the game had nothing but...
Representatives from the WCA’s membership community are hoping for a big turnout this weekend. A membership rally scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday could provide a needed boost to local tribal enrollment. The Wrangell tribe is moving toward photo identifications for its members, which will assist local members in applying for their exemption to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, known colloquially as Obamacare, said Apryl Hutchinson, the membership committee chair. A representative from AICS may be on hand to answer questions about t...
The State Department of Fish and Game has set the regulations for non-pelagic rockfish for Southeast waters. The regulations remained unchanged from last year’s season, which pertains only to non-pelagic, or deepwater rockfish, said Petersburg-Wrangell Area Management Biologist Doug Fleming. “It appears to be for all purposes pretty much the same as last year,” he said. The regulations for all Southeast waters are as follows: All non-pelagic rockfish caught must be retained until the bag limit is reached. Persons sport fishing from a chart...
