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In two jamborees over successive weekends, the Lady Wolves demonstrated an acrobatic style at the net that makes them competitive with regional volleyball powers. That doesn’t mean it’s perfect, said head coach Jessica Whitaker. “Passing,” she said, when asked what about the Lady Wolves could stand improvement. “For the most part, they’re passing in the correct direction, it’s just nailing down the accuracy and getting the actual spot we’d like it in instead of having the setter run all over the...
Stephen Helgeson works guitars with the casual intensity of a long-time craftsman. He built his first guitar in 1998, after years of working wood as a hobby and before that as a shipwright. Now, Helgeson will build something a little different, but no less intricate. He’s currently at work on a business plan to make the transition from hobby to career, and hopes to one day open the doors on Tongass Guitars, an envisioned manufacturer of high-end acoustic guitars made from sustainably h...
The borough assembly voted 5-1 Tuesday to reject changes to borough code during a first reading. The changes would have given the harbormaster powers to impound or remove abandoned and derelict vessels from the marine service yard at the port. Harbormaster Greg Meissner had told the port commission that the changes were necessary in order to deal with up to six boats currently housed in the yard. Assembly members seemed to have no complaint with the primary text of the change, which officials have said was made to bring borough code into...
The Wolves took third at their second away meet of the season, Oct. 18 and 19. The high school wrestling team fielded seven of 11 wrestlers at Hoonah. Junior Jeffery Rooney, Jr. and sophomore Roger Miller placed first in the 182-lb class and 132-lb class respectively. “Roger brought home seven wins this weekend with five of them coming by way of pin,” head Coach Jeffery Rooney wrote in a summary of the event. Jeffery Rooney, Jr. managed only four pins, but was still good enough for first place. Behind them, freshman Sig Decker finished sec...
Local residents ran, heard speakers, and dined on soup to celebrate Alaska Day Friday and Saturday. The state holiday, observed Oct. 18 every year, commemorates the day Russian officials signed the territory of Alaska over to American officials at Sitka in 1867. The day features prominent displays of the Alaska state flag, and in at least one case a big fur hat. The hat in question belonged to Bruce Jamieson, who won the Alaska costume competition at the Alaska Day run Saturday, and the...
By Brian O’Connor Sentinel writer The borough assembly cut an additional candidate from the list of applicants for the borough manager job during a closed executive session Sept. 10. Four candidates now remain in the hunt for the position. They are: retired borough clerk and former legislative aide Christie Jamieson, current interim borough manager and finance manager Jeff Jabusch, current Alaska Commission on Aging planner Jon Erickson, and Kyle H. McCain of Shavano Park, Texas, where he was most recently city manager for just under two y...
Spooks, vampires, and ponies descended on downtown Oct. 12 for the Wrangell Chamber of Commerce Pumpkin Patch. Organizers said the event was a success. Activities included a cake walk, face painting, pony rides, and other family-focused activities. Chamber officials estimated the attendance at about 140 people. “We had about 200 pumpkins, and at the end of the day we had very few left,” said Cynthia Waddington. “It was a huge success.” Organizers were grateful to all organizations and busines...
Local U.S. Forest Service employees express frustration with the ongoing government shutdown this week. The Wrangell Unit of the Tongass National Forest has been closed for 15 days following negotiations between the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives and the Democrat-controlled U.S. Senate Oct. 1. The office’s 28 employees have been instructed call a 1-800 phone number each day to determine whether the office will be reopened, according to Forest Service Ranger Bob Dalrymple. D...
For Rhonda Christian, life as a breast cancer survivor is filled with moments of small horror. She remembers the moment in March when tests at Mt. Edgecumbe Medical Center revealed what might be a small mass, amid planning for her and husband Ernie’s honeymoon in Jamaica. There was the moment when her husband insisted on getting it checked out in Seattle, on a more accurate, updated machine. And then there was the moment when she woke up from anesthesia and looked down, and her breast was gone. “I don’t know how to describe it,” she said. “The...
School lunches were the main topic of conversation at the Oct. 9 school board meeting. Documents provided by the school meals program show the school provided 2,623 meals in September, down 1,182 meals from the same month last year. The figure represents a decrease of 31 percent. District figures show students ate 443 fewer breakfasts this year than last year, and 739 fewer lunches. The decline in meals is also attributable in part to declining enrollment. Fewer students mean fewer lunches and breakfasts. As evidence, they pointed out that the...
The Wrangell Wolves wrestling team came out of the weekend with a positive performance in Petersburg. The Wolves finished third among the school competing, and trounced much bigger schools. They finished the Petersburg tournament four points in front of Sitka and a point behind Mt. Edgecumbe. “All of the Wrangell Wolves did extremely well this past weekend in the Petersburg Invitational,” said coach Jeffrey Rooney. Sophomore Roger Miller and Junior Jeffrey Rooney Jr. led the way, collecting a p...
The Wrangell Borough Assembly clarified questions to be put to an attorney relating to the ongoing debate over the Thomas Bay Power Authority. Discussion focused around questions to be put to a power attorney – borough manager Jeff Jabusch mentioned one of the attorneys who drafted the original Long-Term Power Sales Agreement, which dictates the terms under which electricity from Tyee Lake power plant and Swan Lake dam are sold as a possibility – as the borough resolves questions about the future of the Authority. The scope of the que...
Southeast Alaska Power Agency CEO Trey Acteson this week decried what he called the ‘overwhelming amount of misinformation’ circulated at a city council meeting Sept. 24. Acteson focused primarily on accusations made at that meeting during the public comments section. In particular, he cited rumors of a rate increase, the possibility of new diesel construction, and statements about the SEAPA payroll, saying they were false. At least one SEAPA board member disagreed with Acteson’s characterization of the debate. Both he and SEAPA keep the walle...
Contractors were hard at work Monday closing out the last big construction project of the season at the marine haul-out facility. Their tasks included installing rebar, over which concrete will eventually be poured to replace the gravel surface and create a smooth, even surface. The work will also eventually include the installation of a 300-ton hoist, effectively doubling the harbor’s lifting capacity. Officials say the hoist, which could feature as a central draw for fishing and pleasure c...
This year’s Domestic Abuse Awareness month finds officials with the Healthy Wrangell Coalition working to re-establish a somewhat lapsed network of support. Last month the coalition launched a committee to examine the potential for supporting women – and men, officials are quick to point out – who find themselves trapped in abusive situations in a community with a fine line between intimate and common knowledge. Nor is abuse limited to the sort of physical advice which often spills into the police station or the courts, said Elizabeth Brumm...
Widely reported technical glitches and uncertainty over how a new influx of insured patients would affect the local medical business greeted the Alaska version of the Federal government’s new health insurance exchange program. Users seeking to enroll in the exchange via the Federal government website www.healthcare.gov were allowed to create an account, however, the transition from the Federal site to the State-specific site Enroll Alaska were greeted with a simple page reading “Downstream Error” most of the weekend. The site was tempo...
Like many other teams at Wrangell High School this year, the Wolves wrestlers have seen a fair amount of turnover this season. However, unlike some other teams, the wrestling team has roots in a program which extends all the way back to elementary school, and in some cases all the way back to kindergarten, said fourth-year coach Jeffrey Rooney. “I have 11 wrestlers registered, and five of them are freshman,” he said. “We have good transition from the Middle School and Peewee programs.” In addi...
The Lady Wolves varsity volleyball team graduated six seniors last year, leaving something of a hole for senior leadership, coaches said. If you ask head coach Jessica Whitaker, this year’s seniors are up to the task. “We have three seniors that are playing very well,” she said. “They’ve finally blossomed.” Seniors McKenna Harding, Erica Smith and Calleigh Miller will have their work cut out for them this season, she said. Whitaker said she’d look to Smith in particular. “She shows a lot of...
The borough assembly certified the results of the Oct. 1 election on Monday. The official results presented by borough clerk Kim Lane to the council are identical to informal results announced after the polls closed Oct. 1, except they include absentee vote totals as well. New members of the assembly include Julie Decker – who ran unopposed for Seat E and has served by appointment on the assembly since her appointment in September – and Daniel Blake, who ran unopposed for Seat F’s three...
The Wrangell High School boys’ cross country team finished out the season in Anchorage with performances at or near their personal bests. Sophomore Bryce Gerald led the pack for Wrangell at 17:53, eight seconds off his personal best at Juneau in mid-September. That was good enough for 27th among the small-schools runners. Gerald can look forward to a promising career for the remaining two years of high school running, said Coach Monty Buness. “He’s only the third kid I’ve ever had who’s r...
Wrangell voters insurmountably rejected a proposal to lower the sales tax, retained their sitting mayor, and removed one member of the assembly in municipal elections Tuesday, officials said. The unofficial results, read aloud shortly after the polls closed at 8 pm, put the vote tally for the contentious tax proposal at 451 votes against lowering taxes from 7 percent to 5.5 percent, and 172 votes in favor of the change. Sitting mayor David Jack tallied 455 votes while Kipha Valvoda scored 118....
An argument between a Thomas Bay Power Authority commissioner and two Thomas Bay employees after the Wrangell Assembly has added to the venom in the debate over the future of TBPA. Shortly after Tuesday’s regular assembly meeting, Commissioner Clay Hammer confronted TBPA office manager Rhonda Christian over public comment delivered to the Borough Assembly on the subject of TBPA, Nicholls and Christian said. Hammer accused Christian of overstepping her bounds as a TBPA employee to address the commission, and Christian countered that Hammer w...
The borough assembly has narrowed a field of 14 applicants for the position of borough manager down to five, according to members of the assembly. The borough assembly met last Thursday in executive session to consider the applications, no action was taken in open session. The names of the remaining applicants aren’t in the public domain yet to protect their professional standing at their existing jobs. However, two local applicants who have admitted in public to pursing the position – interim manager and finance director Jeff Jabusch and for...
A federal bill allocating at least a quarter of the school system’s local funding passed the Senate and House of Representatives this week. The Secure Rural Schools program provides Wrangell Schools with $1.3 million per year, which represents roughly 25 to 30 percent of the school system’s budget, according to Superintendent Rich Rhodes. Local officials and the borough’s lobbyist expressed concern for the fate of the bill among the widely reported atmosphere of fiscal belt-tightening in Washington. The bill awaits President Obama’s expecte...
A new greenhouse at Evergreen Elementary School is on hold after the student-designed project failed to win a community improvement grant, school officials said. Students at Wrangell High School designed the greenhouse as part of the construction trades class. Most of the students in the class said the hoped a new source of funding could be located. “I really hope they do build it,” said Cody Thomassen. “It would nice.” The new greenhouse wouldn’t be used, he said. Students discussed the proje...
