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The Wrangell Parks and Recreation Advisory Board sat down to workshop a set of proposed increases to fees for youth sports programs last Wednesday, Sept. 4. Parks and Recreation Director Kate Thomas said that there are two main youth programs that use the P&R facilities: The Wrangell Swim Club and AAU girls basketball. The proposed fee change to $15 per hour would see the swim club pay a total annual fee of about $6,000, while AAU will see a bill of about $2,000. According to documents provided...
Local organization BRAVE (Building Respect and Valuing Everyone) will be hosting their annual Family Resilience Fair at the end of the month, on Sept. 28 from noon to 2 p.m. Last year's fair brought together about 20 different organizations that offered a variety of support and resources for Wrangell families, according to a 2018 article in the Wrangell Sentinel. The main goal of BRAVE, said organizer Kay Larson, is to bring people together in an effort to support one another and strengthen the...
The Wrangell Mariners' Memorial Board brought in a little less than $5,000 with their annual fish fry last month. Proceeds like this are going towards the mariners' memorial by Heritage Harbor, dedicated to Wrangellites who have been lost at sea. Construction has been ongoing in increments for several months, but more funds are still needed. According to Jenn Miller-Yancey, with the memorial board, they are hoping to raise an additional $6,000 by Oct. 1. Back in July, the mariners' memorial...
Wrangell High School travelled to Petersburg last Saturday, Sept. 7, to face their rival school in a cross country meet. While Wrangell's runners did not beat Petersburg or several other competing schools last weekend, Coach Drew Larrabee said that the team continues to make positive gains on their times. In the women's 5,000 meter varsity run, Wrangell came in sixth place out of nine teams, just behind Petersburg at fifth place. Liana Carney was Wrangell's first runner to cross the finish line,...
Setting up a booth behind Rayme's Bar on Sunday and Monday, Wrangell resident Maleah Wenzel spent her Labor Day weekend taking signatures for the ongoing recall effort against Governor Mike Dunleavy. The governor, like many other people and issues in American politics, has become a source of division in recent months. According to a July 26 memorandum, the recall movement has several reasons they want to see Dunleavy removed from office. Among their claims are Dunleavy violating state law by...
The mission of Alaska Natives Without Land is to correct a decades-old injustice done to five Southeast Alaskan native communities. Back in 1971, the group's website reads, Congress passed the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. This act granted Alaska Natives 44 million acres of land across the state, and $963 million, to form tribal corporations. In Southeast Alaska in particular, according to the website, ANCSA returned 560,000 acres of land to native ownership. However, five communities wer...
Declarations for candidacy in Wrangell's upcoming October elections closed at 4 p.m. last Friday, Aug. 30. From city hall to the school board, there are multiple positions open as well as people willing to run for them. The following is a list of open seats and a list of candidates, courtesy of city hall: Wrangell Borough Assembly Two open seats for three-year terms: Incumbent Julie Decker and incumbent Patricia Gilbert. Two open seats for one-year unexpired terms: Incumbent Anne Morrison,...
A large crowd gathered at the Wrangell Cooperative Association's new building last Friday, Aug. 30. The building, located at 1002 Zimovia Highway, is the new home for the WCA after their move from downtown Wrangell. Two stories tall, the new building offers much more room for the cooperative association to work in. With formline artwork by Steve Brown on the panelling, the building draws attention from people going down the highway. Construction of the building began in April of 2018, according...
As summer draws to a close, another season of fishing derbies has wrapped up as well. Wrangell saw two derbies this past month, a coho derby from Aug. 10 to Sept. 2, and a halibut derby over Labor Day weekend. There were numerous prizes available in each derby. According to Alicia Gillen, with the chamber of commerce, 220 tickets were sold this year in total. First place in the coho derby went to Elmer Mork, who caught a salmon weighing 15.4 pounds. His prize for first place is 30 percent of...
Wrangell's cross country team travelled to Juneau last week for their season opener in Juneau. There were a total of 11 schools present for the first meet. Nine competed in the women's 5,000 meter varsity run, while all 11 competed in the men's 5,000 meter run. In both cases, Wrangell found themselves in the middle of the pack at the end of the competition. Wrangell took 7th place in the women's competition. Liana Carney was the first Wrangell student to finish the run, with a time of 21:22....
The Wrangell Borough Assembly met Tuesday evening, Aug. 27, for their regularly scheduled meeting. A work session was held prior to the meeting to discuss the potential demolition and replacement of part of Wrangell's power plant. The city recently contacted PND Engineers out of Juneau for a structural analysis of the concrete section of the power plant, according to the meeting's agenda packet. PND Engineers had performed an analysis on the building back in 2007, it was determined. According...
The Diocese of Juneau released a letter and report last Wednesday, Aug. 21, naming seven people with allegations of sexual misconduct against minors and/or vulnerable adults. The letter, signed by Bishop Andrew Bellisario, states that these seven names have been released upon the conclusion of an independent review of the diocese's personnel files from 1951 to the present. The Independent Commission which led this review was established last December, according to the letter, and was staffed by...
With the new school year comes a wide variety of new opportunities: To make new friends, to get better grades, to try a new sport, the list goes on. The Wrangell School District is helping provide some of these opportunities by providing new classes this year. At the high school level, students can get a jumpstart on their college careers with AP physics. Meanwhile, in Stikine Middle School, "Encore" classes are being provided to let kids explore different avenues of education. According to...
Wrangell's Economic Development Committee met for the first time in almost a year last Thursday, Aug. 22, according to EDC Chair Julie Decker. Economic Development Director Carol Rushmore said that the committee is meant to meet quarterly, but that she didn't want to call together meetings just for the sake of having meetings. With two recent developments that are likely to impact Wrangell's economy, though, a meeting was finally organized. The two main items on the evening's agenda were in regards to the Wrangell Cooperative Association's...
Wrangell's 2019-2020 school year kicked off early the morning of Tuesday, Aug. 27. The new school year will run until May 21, according to the school calendar, with winter break scheduled from Dec. 21 to Jan. 3. "It's always really exciting when the kids come back," said Technology Director Matt Gore. "Watching the excitement in their faces because of the social interactions, the learning, that's my favorite part." Being the first day of school, many first period classes in the middle school...
The Wrangell High School Swim Team held a parent/student meeting last Wednesday, Aug. 21. Coach Jamie Roberts called everyone together to give them a basic overview of what the upcoming season will look like, and to discuss her expectations from the team. In short, she expects everyone to do their best and push their limits. “I want your kids to show up to practice with a good attitude, bad attitudes are contagious,” she said. “They just have to give their best effort when they show up. Show up on time, if you’re not going to be there let me...
Sgt. Mario Morales visited Wrangell last week. As a recruiter for the Army National Guard, he said that he and his office partner are responsible for a wide range of Southeast Alaska, from Prince of Wales to Yakutat. He came to Wrangell because he is interested in finding recruits from small-town Alaska. A lot of Alaskan members of the National Guard come from the major cities of Southeast, like Juneau and Ketchikan. He wants to reach out to the smaller towns in the area, as well. "A lot of...
With the new school year less than a week away, parents and students were invited to the Wrangell High School commons for a short orientation. Largely led by secondary school principal David Macri, and Technology Director Matt Gore, the orientation was an opportunity for everyone to get on the same page about what to expect with the coming year. The emphasis for 2019-2020, it would seem, is on increased communication and proper care for technology. As Macri said in the orientation, this is not...
Several new hires and resignations in the school district were a big topic of discussion in the Wrangell School Board's last meeting on Monday, Aug. 19. One such hire was Tawney Crowley, who will start this year as both the new high school art teacher and middle school home economics teacher. The school board approved this hire unanimously, with minimal discussion. Crowley has spent the past year working at the Wrangell Sentinel, and also runs a side business making custom artwork that can be...
Construction of Wrangell's new hospital is on track, according to Hospital Administrator Leatha Merculieff. Construction began back in April, as land next to the AICS Clinic was cleared of trees and leveled. An official groundbreaking ceremony was held on May 30. Back in 2018, the old Wrangell Medical Center was acquired by the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium. As part of this deal, SEARHC agreed to build a new hospital for the city. Designs for the new hospital will connect to the...
The Wrangell Mariners' Memorial Board will be hosting a fish fry at the future memorial site, by Heritage Harbor, this Friday at 5 p.m. The fish fry is one of the memorial's bigger fundraisers, according to Board President Jenn Miller-Yancey. The event will be pay-what-you-want for a plate of food, she said, but $20 is the suggested minimum. Besides a seafood dinner, Miller-Yancey said that attendees can also participate in a silent auction full of items that the community has donated for the...
Thanks to the generosity of several Wrangell residents, and support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a fundraiser for new games for the Evergreen Elementary School playground was fully funded in a 24 hour window recently. Jenn Miller-Yancey, head teacher of the elementary school, said that the school wanted to get some new yard games for the kids, with the new school year just around the corner. These games include items like giant chess, giant jenga, and a large connect-four game, am...
A planning and zoning commission meeting, scheduled for Aug. 8, was postponed due to a lack of quorum. Of the five members of the commission, only Commissioner Kate Hein was able to attend. The others were unavailable due to unspecified personal reasons. Among the items to be covered in this meeting was a variance permit request for an “after-the-fact” permit for a reduction in the side yard setback for a residential addition by Dale Parkinson, as well as an encroachment permit request by Mike and Kim Lane for a chain link fence. Aleisha Mol...
The Wrangell School District's budget/finance committee held a brief meeting last Wednesday, Aug. 7. One of the topics covered related to infrastructure and capital improvements. Capital improvement projects, or CIP, have been an ongoing discussion for the school district as of late. CIPs generally involve improving or renovating existing infrastructure. The Wrangell School District, with their budget season recently coming to a close, has sought city support for various projects. Back in June,...
Anny Newport, locally known as the "Free Toy Fairy" by some around town, has organized a parade for this weekend. The "Wonderfulness Parade," as it is called, is a tradition that has travelled with Newport across Southeast Alaska. In a previous interview with the Wrangell Sentinel, she said that the very first parade took place on Zarembo Island in 1978. After that, it was a common occurrence in Petersburg for many years. Newport moved to Wrangell in 1998. She tried to reorganize the...
