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The high school swim team competed in its first meet of the season, the Sitka Invitational, on Sept. 1 and 2. Though the Wrangell Wolves placed sixth overall, many swimmers logged personal bests in this early season event after the community's long pool closure. Senior Jack Roberts placed first in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:54.13 and was among the top three finishers in all his events. He swam personal bests in two of his four events, with a 22.95 50-yard freestyle and a 1:04.91...
Members of the Tlingit community gathered outside the Wrangell airport last Friday while chests carrying four objects -a mudshark hat, a mudshark tunic, a blanket and a blanket with a killer whale stranded on a rock while hunting - were carefully lowered back into their hands after 91 years of separation. The objects, which belong to the Naanya.aayí clan, were taken by Wrangell police from the home of Mary Kunk, Eva Blake and Betty Carlstrom in the 1930s. In an effort to right past wrongs,...
Wrangell's cool, rainy climate might be ideal for banana slugs and bears, but it doesn't usually appeal to cold-blooded animals that rely on the sun's warmth to maintain their body temperatures. However, one reptile-loving resident is committed to providing a safe home for any turtles and tortoises that find their way onto the island as pets. Charity Hommel has been raising and rescuing reptiles for over 20 years now. Her lasting love for the animals began in the early 2000s, when her children...
The Nolan Center team has decided that “Cinderella” will be the perfect fit for its winter musical, and the community theater is preparing to search the realm far and wide for potential princesses, princes, stepsisters, kings and chorus members to join the cast. Auditions will be held Wednesday and Thursday, Sept. 6 and 7, between 4 and 7 p.m. at the Nolan Center. “We chose ‘Cinderella’ because we were looking for another show that we thought would connect with people,” said director Haley Reeves, who also helmed the Nolan Center’s pr...
The Wrangell School District has increased its annual state travel fee for student athletes from $350 to $400 to help cover the cost of travel to state meets. It also clarified its policy in which those funds, if not used by the end of the school year, would be deposited into an account to pay for future state travel. The fee increase was implemented for this school year in an effort to catch up with increasing costs, bolster the district’s overdrawn state travel account and shore up funds for future years. District representatives said the p...
Advocates of the longstanding effort to create five new Southeast Alaska Native corporations say it's about ancestry, economic value and correcting a five-decade-old wrong. This year, legislation before Congress would grant each of the five corporations, including Wrangell, about 23,000 acres of land from the Tongass National Forest. The proposed land selections for a Wrangell corporation are spread over about a dozen blocks around the area, as far south as Coffman Cove on Prince of Wales...
Margaret "Missy" Wright is an elegantly dressed woman with a bright white coiffure and a loud, infectious laugh. The long-term care resident has been a fixture of the Wrangell community since she moved to town in the late 1980s and now, as she prepares to turn 100, is likely the island's oldest inhabitant. She has invited the entire town to celebrate her birthday on Friday, Sept. 1, with a massive party at the Nolan Center at 4 p.m. The party theme is purple - Wright's favorite color - and...
A new generation of runners is preparing to follow in the footsteps of Wrangell High School’s state championship-winning cross country team. For the first time this fall, a middle school team will lace up their sneakers and get ready to race. Laura Davies, a teacher at Stikine Middle School, is organizing and coaching the program. She hopes that it will support the existing high school team by improving young runners’ endurance and preparing them to race at the regional level once they become freshmen. “If you look long-term, we have a high...
A newly formed group of automotive afficionados called the "Differentials" are volunteering to help the community rid itself of junked vehicles. So far, the Differentials boast two sets of two-person teams that to remove tires and drain fluids from cars and trucks so that they can be shipped off the island by scrap metal recycler Channel Construction. As of Thursday, Aug. 24, the group had prepared two cars and a bus for transport. Two more car-draining duos are slated to join the group soon,...
The sixth annual Family Resilience Fair will bring games, prizes and educational resources to the community on Oct. 14 at the Nolan Center. BRAVE Wrangell, a domestic violence prevention organization whose name stands for Building Respect and Valuing Everyone, is organizing the event. Since the fair is a little over a month away, BRAVE is seeking community organizations to get involved, specifically those that support families, explained member Kay Larsen. “School groups, faith communities, health-related agencies … anything with a special foc...
Last Friday and Saturday, WCA, Tlingit & Haida and the American Legion distributed backpacks and other school supplies to help prepare the community's youth for the academic year. A long line of students and families snaked out of the WCA Cultural Center on Friday morning, Aug. 18, as parents and children geared up for the task of backpack selection. "This is an important program to make sure that we're supporting our children and also our tribal families with school essentials," said Tribal...
Anyone who’s spent the summer in Wrangell knows that tourists often say — and do — the darndest things, whether it’s standing in the middle of the road or inquiring about the town’s elevation as they look out across the water, only yards below them. With just over a month left in the tourism season, the community’s guides, tour operators and service workers reflect on their most amusing tourist tales from this summer and beyond. Several summers ago, Zach Taylor of Muddy Water Adventures was guiding a tour up the Stikine River. As the group r...
Ever wanted to learn how to hem a pair of jeans? Fix a bike? Patch a tire? Drain the fluids from an old car so that it’s ready for disposal? The Wrangell Cooperative Association’s upcoming fix-it clinic will help the community learn to maintain and repair household items, promoting sustainability and reducing waste. The event will be held at the covered basketball court on Monday, Aug. 28, from noon to 4 p.m. Marilyn Mork will be available to share her sewing and mending expertise, particularly hemming and attaching loose buttons. She pla...
Do you love playing sports, spending time outdoors or working with kids? Do you take advantage of Wrangell’s many recreational opportunities and feel a desire to give back? If so, you are likely the type of person the Parks and Recreation Department is looking for. The department put out a call to the community on Aug. 14, seeking residents to volunteer for its many activities, programs and events. The majority of Parks and Recreation programs, from water aerobics to wrestling camp, are run by volunteers, explained Recreation Coordinator D...
Nine copper-engraving students sketched out designs, squinted through magnifying goggles and slowly etched away at thin sheets of metal using handheld tools. The students were three-and-a-half hours into an eight-hour day of carving at the Wrangell Cooperative Association's Cultural Center on Saturday, Aug. 12. The class's mood was one of quiet concentration. Students took occasional breaks to stretch their legs or massage their cramping fingers, while instructor Abel Ryan offered advice and...
The Wrangell Cooperative Association’s Tl’átk - Earth Branch is hoping to purchase a parcel of land next to the community garden from the borough to build a greenhouse. The greenhouse would provide fresh produce to the community year-round and create a space for people to learn about gardening and sustainable practices. The planning and zoning commission and Economic Development Director Kate Thomas both recommended approving the land sale. The port commission will discuss the issue at its September meeting before passing it along to the boro...
The borough has nearly $30 million in capital projects in its budget for the current fiscal year that runs through next June 30. The majority of funding — 58% — comes from grants, with 23% from borough coffers and 19% from loans. The costliest upcoming projects by far are related to the borough’s water infrastructure, particularly the water treatment plant and reservoirs. Preparations are underway to upgrade the water treatment plant, allowing for more consistent water quality and more production. The project went out to bid in mid-July. The b...
Wrangell will host the annual Alaska Recreation & Parks Association conference Sept. 19-22 for the first of two consecutive years. The conference will bring over 40 recreation professionals to town from around Alaska and the United States to swap ideas, build their skillsets and make connections among parks and recreation departments. The conference’s workshops will be geared toward industry insiders, not community members at large, but Economic Development Director Kate Thomas hopes that the conference will give Wrangell “an opportunity to...
Sockeye and chum runs have been hovering around average this season, according to local fishers, and the upcoming coho season is showing signs of promise. For gillnetters Jacob and Keisha Rushmore, this year’s sockeye run has been underwhelming. “I think it’s hit and miss,” said Keisha. “One week it’s pretty decent, and another week there’s none to be found. It’s kind of a weird year. … You never really know what to expect.” Jacob, who has been fishing for about 15 years, said sockeye have been “trickling” in this year, rather than appearing i...
More than 110 people completed the borough’s online survey to gauge public opinion on preferred uses for the former 6-Mile sawmill property, and an overwhelming majority said they want to see resource or industrial use at the site — not tourism development. “The community has less of a tolerance — almost none — to expand tourism into that area,” explained Kate Thomas, director of the Department of Economic Development, which ran the survey. Residents don’t want to create two separate tourism areas downtown and at 6 Mile, and are concerned “th...
The Forest Service’s Anan Bay cabin, which was destroyed by a fallen tree in February, will be one of the first seven cabins built — or in this case, rebuilt — as part of the federally funded Alaska cabins project. Reconstruction on the cabin is scheduled for the summer of 2024. The updated Anan Bay cabin will be in the same location, but with an altered design. “We had an engineer go out and determine that the cabin does need to be rebuilt, but the foundation can be used,” explained Dawn Collinsworth, Alaska Region deputy director for recre...
Young readers flocked to the old gym last Saturday to celebrate their summer achievements with pizza, prizes and a majestic bouncy castle. The event was the culmination of the Irene Ingle Public Library's annual summer reading program, which encourages Wrangell youth to keep their reading skills sharp during the summer months. Autumn Steyers couldn't recall the title of her favorite book that she read this summer, but the storyline left an impression on her: "It was about a unicorn and a little...
GCI, Alaska’s largest telecommunications company, will end its email service in mid-2024. At that point, customers will no longer be able to access their accounts and will have to transition to new providers. Reaction among Wrangell users is varied. August Schultz has had a GCI email for “as long as GCI had email,” he said. The company has offered the service since the 1990s. Schultz has been satisfied with his email and was surprised to learn that it will shut down next year. “They (GCI) didn’t email me, they didn’t send anything about it,...
BearFest attendees brought their culinary and athletic skills to bear at the celebration's games, tournaments and contests. The festival, which ran from July 26 to July 30, featured a golf tournament, marathon, raffle, berry pie contest and smoked salmon contest. When he isn't busy with his job as borough manager, Jeff Good can be found dominating the Muskeg Meadows golf course, and the BearFest tournament was no exception. He won the straightest-drive competition and the team he was part of -...
In the coming months, the borough plans to get stricter about enforcing parts of its municipal code — particularly rules prohibiting trash and derelict cars or boats from accumulating on people’s property. At a work session June 25, the assembly met with Borough Manager Jeff Good, Police Chief Tom Radke, Economic Development Director Kate Thomas and Public Works Director Tom Wetor to discuss what this new push for enforcement might look like in practice. “We’re not here to have a revenue stream,” said Radke. “We’re here to improve the t...
