Sorted by date Results 1032 - 1056 of 1297
A collection drive begun last August by Wrangell's Indian Environmental General Assistance Program (IGAP) has brought in quite a haul: about 3,300 pounds of discarded gill netting, brought in by area fishermen for recycling. A survey conducted last year by Wrangell Cooperative Association (WCA) found that illegal dumping was a top environmental issue among residents. Among the items being abandoned around the island's lots and roadsides, old gill nets were a particularly knotty issue. City...
Two of Wrangell High School’s wrestlers will be traversing the equator this summer, taking their skills to Australia and New Zealand for Down Under Sports’ 27th annual tournament. JD Barratt and Ian Jenson will join 126 other United States wrestlers for the international invitational, which brings in teams of secondary-school aged wrestlers from around the world. “With two of those coming down from our community, that’s a lot,” Barratt commented. The trip will last 12 days, spent split between Brisbane, Australia, and Auckland, New Zealand. The...
A local author has recently come out with a new book, which should begin hitting the shelves this month. Bonnie Demerjian’s “Rock Art of Southeast Alaska” explores petroglyphs, rock carvings, pictographs and paintings found in the region. The stone-based art of Native peoples has left an enduring impression on the physical history of these islands and continues to fascinate residents and visitors alike. “I just wanted to make something that would give visitors more information and appreciation,” Demerjian explained. Although rock art is found...
Proponents of constructing a new hospital facility in Wrangell hoped to revive conversation about the project with a pair of presentations and a group discussion last week. Alaska Island Community Services (AICS) and Wrangell Medical Center (WMC) hosted Foraker Group founder and president Dennis McMillian at the Nolan Center the afternoon and evening of April 2. Based in Anchorage, Foraker is a nonprofit group specializing in assisting other nonprofits around the state. Wrangell’s two medical providers invited the group to assist with g...
Eight new lots are being sited, surveyed and prepared for sale by the City and Borough of Wrangell, in what should be its largest such offering since the late 1990s. Ranging from 7,500 to 15,800 square feet, the lots are located up the hill along the Etolin Street extension, south of its intersection with Council Drive. “The survey will give us the final square footage on that,” explained Wrangell’s economic development director, Carol Rushmore. Values for the properties are derived from their assessment and any additional fees. “That becomes...
Former physician Greg Salard was arraigned at Alaska First District Court in Juneau Tuesday on the charge of being a fugitive from justice. In a story released by Alaska Native News, the charge is said to stem from an outstanding warrant for his arrest in Louisiana for the charge of Aggravated Rape. Judge Thomas Nave presided over Salard’s Tuesday afternoon hearing. Supplementary court documentation was unavailable by the Sentinel’s press time. Salard was arrested at his Wrangell home last October following a five-month investigation by the...
Anglers near and far away are gearing up for next month’s 63rd annual King Salmon Derby, held in Wrangell from May 9 to June 7. Last year over 930 tickets were sold to participants coming from around the world. The derby’s planning committee met late last month to approve changes to this year’s rule book. Among the new policies taking effect this year, salmon being weighed will be subject to random opening at stations to ensure no additional weights are being used. “Probably the one biggest...
Wrangell's Port Commission got to take a look at preliminary designs for a new float system at Shoemaker Bay Harbor at its April 2 meeting. Designed by PND Engineers of Juneau, projected costs for the redesign are currently at around $10 million. Harbormaster Greg Meissner presented the concept, which will feature four fingers built using polyethylene tubs. Three of these envisioned fingers will be enough to accommodate the currently berthed boats, with the fourth offering space for longer,...
Wrangell’s Parks and Recreation Board continued to reexamine the fee structure for Park’s facilities at their April 1 meeting. A previous draft schedule was rejected by the Borough Assembly in January. Park Board members will meet April 29 for a workshop to discuss future rates for pool and facilities usage. “People are curious to see how we’re going to move forward,” Parks director Kate Thomas said. “And I want to be able to give them that answer.” At its January meeting, the Assembly told previous Parks director Amber Al-Haddad planned rate...
While preparing a draft budget for the next fiscal year, Wrangell Public Schools superintendent Patrick Mayer was surprised to learn the Senate Finance Committee approved a four-percent decrease to Alaska’s Foundation formula late last week. The adjustment would alter the formula for base student allocation, which is how the state allots money to its various school districts. “None of this was ever discussed,” Mayer stated. If implemented, the cuts would amount to about $47 million statewide and would mean $140,000 in cuts for Wrangell schoo...
A project to improve storage capacity at Southeast Alaska Power Agency's (SEAPA) Swan Lake hydropower facility continues along with efforts to finance it with up to $11.36 million in bond sales. Over the past month, SEAPA's executive director Trey Acteson and general counsel presented updates on the planned expansion of the facility located northeast of Ketchikan on Revillagigedo Island. Each of SEAPA's three member utilities-Wrangell, Petersburg and Ketchikan- heard presentations on the...
For the first time in more than two months the board of trustees for Wrangell Medical Center found themselves with a quorum March 25, in a meeting postponed from the 18th. The hospital’s financial situation remains delicate as staff recover from a difficult combination of low reserves, high receivables, sluggish Medicaid payments and rising operating costs. In her board report, hospital CEO Marla Sanger reported a $155,000 loss for the month of February, or $141,822 when grants were taken into account. Net charges came to $704,398, short of a...
Wrangell residents and other Alaskans from around the state were given more opportunity to voice concerns over impending cuts to state programming during a public hearing held Monday evening for the draft of next year's budget being considered by the Senate Finance Committee. Six Wrangellites came to their local Legislative Information Office to provide testimony via telephone, along with residents of Petersburg and Ketchikan. “I am speaking in opposition to the cuts to the Alaska Marine Highway System,” borough manager Jeff Jabusch told the...
Workers at a logging camp on nearby Zarembo Island discovered the body of a Nevada man in the early evening of March 24. David Fussell, 55, of Stagecoach, Nev., was found unresponsive by a coworker in the passenger seat of a parked truck. First aid was performed, but Fussell was declared dead on the scene when emergency personnel arrived. Alaska State Troopers were notified just before 5 p.m. Fussell’s body was sent to the medical examiner’s office for an autopsy. The death is considered to be of natural causes, with Troopers reporting no fou...
The high school is getting ready to sponsor a bit of culture, as it comes Wrangell's turn to host this year's Southeast Alaska Regional Artfest next week. Sixty students and 15 teachers from schools around the region will be represented, coming from Klawock, Skagway, Petersburg, Craig, Sitka, Mount Edgecumbe and Juneau. "We're honored to host the continuation of the Southeast Alaska Artfest," said Wrangell High School's art teacher, Anne Luetkemeyer. Fifteen different classes will be offered to...
While the threat of service reductions looms over the Alaska Marine Highway System as the Legislature devises its budget, starting this summer travelers will at least have another option to hop between islands in the area. The North End Ferry Authority (NEFA) in Coffman Cove is starting up Rainforest Islands Ferry, a three-stop service between Wrangell, Petersburg and Prince of Wales Island. Beginning June 14, the ferry's new public passenger-vehicle service will connect stops at Coffman Cove,...
Wrangell residents are invited to shake off their winter malaise and step down to the annual Health Fair this Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon inside the Nolan Center. The fair will feature booths put up by 45 different agencies, groups and organizations related to health and wellness. Participating groups are many and varied, aimed for all ages. Alaska Island Community Services (AICS) will have its Teddy Bear Clinic for the wee ones, Wrangell Volunteer Fire Department will provide free blood pressure checks for adults, and Hanna’s Place will h...
Environmental organization Earthjustice announced last Friday groups it is representing in a trio of lawsuits opposed to U.S. Forest Service’s Big Thorne timber sale have filed two notices of appeal with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, following the dismissal of their suits by a federal judge in a March 20 ruling. The Big Thorne sale involves the harvest of around 6,200 acres of forest on Prince of Wales Island and includes the clearcut of old-growth rainforest. Klowock-based mill Viking Lumber was awarded a contract last September to h...
Even before getting into its own upcoming budget, Wrangell’s Assembly had plenty of numbers to crunch at its regular meeting Tuesday evening, with an hour-long joint session held beforehand with the local school board regarding its upcoming budget and a presentation by Wrangell Medical Center’s executive on the state of the hospital’s finances. (see adjoining stories) Borough Manager Jeff Jabusch reported next year’s budget is coming along on task, with a draft likely to be ready for review by mid-April. “We’ll bring you a balanced budget one w...
School Board members met with the Wrangell City and Borough Assembly, city staff and school district officials at a joint work session late Tuesday afternoon. Of particular importance, they discussed a draft budget for the 2016 fiscal year. Ahead of anticipated declines in Foundation Support by $162,188, Wrangell School District staff is looking at making more than $156,144 in cuts to the operating costs. This decline in revenue includes one-time and special education funding provided by the state. One-time funding was promised by the state...
Wrangell Medical Center CEO Marla Sanger updated the Wrangell Borough Assembly on the hospital’s financial situation at its Tuesday evening meeting. “We are solvent. We’re just being very cautious,” she said. In December, Sanger and acting CFO Olinda White approached the Assembly to reveal the hospital was experiencing financial difficulties. An annual audit had, among other concerns, reported finding a $3.5 million loss in written-off costs related to the hospital’s previous bid to build a new facility. “I don’t think our financial sit...
The signs of spring are unmistakable. Migratory birds have begun their return to Wrangell's trees and shrubs, the days have grown longer and somewhat sunnier, and the smell of hooligan smoking and frying waft from residents' homes. Continuing a local tradition, some families have been distributing the oily fish to friends, neighbors and most anybody who wants them. It's a tradition Janice Churchill and her family have been keeping for a long time. "I have fished fifty-some years with my...
Wrangell’s Thunderbirds basketball team had a rough week at the 69th annual Juneau Lions Club Gold Medal Basketball Tournament. The yearly tournament is an invitational event, largely using High School Federation Basketball rules. Second-place winners last year, Wrangell’s team received its invitation in January. Wrangell won its first game March 15, beating Angoon in a close match 69 to 68. The game was a rematch of last year’s B Bracket championship game, only this time Wrangell came out on top. “It was kind of a little payback,” said Cody...
Wrangell's High School boys basketball team members were welcomed as hometown heroes last Thursday, after taking fourth at the State Tournament in Anchorage last week for the 2A division. It was the team's first trip to State in more than a decade, and though it did not bring back a title Wrangell's players brought home several awards. "I was really proud of the boys," said the Wolves' coach, Ray Stokes. "They all did great." The team won two of its three games, and beat region rival Metlakatla...
