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Mountains of metal are in the middle of being moved this week from the island's landfill and storage spaces. The city is working with Channel Construction to remove as much of the miscellaneous waste as it has on hand. Since Tuesday the company's barge has been busy at the loading yard piling on assorted scrap, discarded autos and bulky items. It has been at least five years since the city was last able to offload a consignment of scrap, after depressed metals prices made transport an expensive...
Summer officially began this week, with the solstice marking the year’s longest day on Wednesday. For hundreds of Wrangell children, the months-long break between school years began at the end of May, and programming to keep them active and socially engaged started up soon afterward. Wrangell Parks and Recreation kicked off its summer activities at the start of June. The library’s summer reading program began June 1, and young residents have already begun taking lessons in horseback riding and swimming. A fee structure is in place for par...
arpen their skills on the basketball court last week, during a two-day clinic hosted at the high school. The Alaska Native Sisterhood Association brought down Damen Bell-Holter, a professional player and life coach whose "Blessed 2 Bless" program reaches out to youth around the country. Having grown up in Hydaburg, he was a hit with Wrangell's own aspiring athletes as an example of what hard work can accomplish. Raised in Hydaburg, after being signed with the Boston Celtics for the 2013 season,...
Very soon visitors will be able to start picking up daily permits for the Anan Wildlife Observatory. The United States Forest Service makes four of these available for every day of the season to accommodate for last-minute planning and local visitation to the mainland site. The permits need to be requested for in person at the Wrangell Ranger District, up to one week in advance. Requests are made by filling out a form at the office’s front desk. With the exception of family members, individuals listed on the form must also be physically p...
The governing board for Southeast Alaska Power Agency has approved a draft for next year's budget, as well as a hefty rebate to its member communities' utilities. The decision was supported by a fair financial position for the agency, which supplies hydroelectric power to Ketchikan, Wrangell and Petersburg. In a meeting held at Wrangell's Nolan Center Tuesday afternoon, SEAPA chief executive Trey Acteson explained sales revenues had come in higher than expected. Power sales to Ketchikan, Wrangel...
It was out of the workplace and into the streets for many Wrangell city staff Thursday morning, as two dozen unionized workers began a strike over prolonged contract negotiations. The City and Borough has been negotiating for a new collective bargaining agreement with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1547 since the summer of 2014, when the previous CBA expired. The process has at times been tumultuous, with court proceedings through the fall of 2016 being settled by...
A suspect has been charged and arraigned following a destructive string of vehicle thefts around Wrangell last week. Lief Cheyenne Bosdell, 20, was arraigned June 9 on seven counts of first-degree vehicle theft, each a Class C felony carrying up to five years in prison and a maximum $50,000 fine. Three charges of fifth-degree criminal mischief were also filed, Class B misdemeanors which together carry up to 30 days jail time and $6,000 in fines. Before his appearance at Wrangell Courthouse,...
A new principal has been hired for Evergreen Elementary School and is expected later this summer. A selection panel made up of Wrangell Public Schools teachers, paraprofessionals, the secondary schools principal and superintendent have unanimously approved the hire of Gail Taylor for the position. Taylor is currently the elementary principal with Haworth School District in Haworth, Oklahoma. Relating her background, Taylor explained she is a graduate of Southeastern Oklahoma State University...
At Tuesday evening’s meeting of the City and Borough Assembly, the operating budget for the new year was adopted. The fiscal year begins July 1, and for the coming year will use about $457,311 in previous-year surpluses to cover the difference between revenues and expenditures. A number of critical capital expense items have made the borough's list of priorities this year, including exterior repairs to the Public Safety Building and swimming pool, and acquisition of a new excavator for the waste transfer facility. Property tax rates will r...
The Wrangell Borough Assembly rejected a last best offer on terms for a new collective bargaining agreement put forward by its public employees’ union. Negotiators with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1547 arrived in Wrangell last week to meet with members of the bargaining unit ahead of a special meeting June 8. Meeting with most of the Borough Assembly, an offer package was put forward for their consideration. The city negotiating team and IBEW bargaining unit have been at odds over the terms of a new CBA since t...
The city’s annual switch-over to diesel power is scheduled to begin next week, lasting just under two weeks. Electrical superintendent Clay Hammer explained the temporary transition is to allow Southeast Alaska Power Agency – a utility providing hydroelectric power to the communities of Wrangell, Ketchikan and Petersburg – to undertake maintenance projects on its infrastructure. While those lines are down, it falls on municipalities to generate their own power during the interim, with Wrangell Municipal Light and Power firing up its diese...
An updated schedule for next month's Independence Day festivities was put out this week by Wrangell's Chamber of Commerce. The big change in this year's lineup will be the return of boat racing, after a dry spell of nearly three decades. Heading up the organization of that effort were Penny Allen and Clay Hammer, who with Jay Einert and John Waddington figured out what needed to be done to get the event back into the water. Routes have been plotted out, rules drawn up and insurance secured for...
Members of Wrangell’s Port Commission have set a timetable for themselves for reworking how lot leases at the boatyard are arranged. At their meeting Monday, commission chair Clay Hammer and harbormaster Greg Meissner said they are putting together an ordinance proposal to consider after the summer season winds down. In its drafting stages, it would reflect discussions held last year and feedback from various yard contractors. The conversation has been an ongoing one for a year and a half, and the commission had previously intended to settle t...
Wrangell continues to brace itself for summertime demand on its treated water, after bottlenecks in production last year led to a critical shortage. Public Works director Amber Al-Haddad has been keeping the Borough Assembly up to date on conditions at the treatment plant and its reservoirs, and so far reports have been on the positive side. Water in the two reservoirs is close to full, with the upper reservoir down by about two feet. The biggest worry is that the plant’s primary filtration system – consisting of four large bays of special san...
Wrangell’s extracurricular youth programs will be getting a boost beginning this summer with the help of local stores. Bobs’ IGA and City Market both will allow shoppers to conveniently donate spare change toward the public schools’ Booster Club activities. “It’s set up with both stores, where people come in and round up their purchase to the nearest dollar,” explained Wrangell secondary schools principal Bill Schwan. “The stores have both agreed that that money would go toward our booster activity accounts.” It is a hands-off approach to a f...
A big batch of old gillnets is being shipped south for reprocessing. The Indian Environmental General Assistance Program (IGAP) offices in Wrangell and Petersburg planned to send several container loads this week to a Seattle-area processor for reuse. In all, the work of preparing the nets for transport took about two weeks. Wrangell's IGAP hired on temporary laborers this spring to help move, clip and sort through the collected nets. Weed, cork and lead lines were removed from them, with some...
At last week's meeting of the Borough Assembly, members were asked to reconsider city ordinances banning the use and sale of a variety of explosive projectiles on and around the island. Resident Marilyn Mork came forward during the meeting's "persons to be heard" segment, and expressed an interest in allowing at least a temporary lightening of Chapter 9.12 in the Code, which deals with fireworks. Because of the Chamber of Commerce's announcement last month that the July 4 fireworks display is...
School may be out for the summer, but the local library is still trying to keep books in students’ hands with its seasonal reading program. Beginning June 1, the Irene Ingle Public Library’s summertime program encourages kids from ninth grade on down to continue to read for fun and study by assigning point values to individual volumes. During the months of June and July, participants have a chance to take computerized tests on what they’ve read, with passing grades earning points toward a seasonal total, which in turn translates into ticke...
Candidates for Wrangell's annual Fourth of July Royalty Competition kicked off proceedings in an evening event at the Elks last week. Members of the Chamber of Commerce put together the May 31 presentation, catered by the lodge and which saw remarks from organizers and the competitors themselves, recent graduate Hailie Davis and incoming high school senior Charley Seddon. The contest is a big fundraiser held to support July 4 festivities and to benefit the youth who are involved. "It started as...
The Wrangell Police Department is investigating the reported thefts and damage of three vehicles over the course of three or four days. Two pickup trucks and a sedan are believed to be involved in the case, with one truck damaged, another ditched, and the car burnt to cinders. Chief Doug McCloskey explained the department has a suspect, but formal charges are yet to be filed. This person, left unidentified until charges are eventually brought, has not been taken into custody as of Wednesday...
After several days of serial car thefts around Wrangell a suspect is in custody at the police department. After Wrangell Police Department discovered three missing vehicles on Tuesday, more vehicles were taken Wednesday. “We had three or four more stolen last night,” Chief Doug McCloskey reported. Details on the chain of events are still forthcoming, but officers pursued their suspect through town. The individual at several points changed vehicles, damaging at least one in the process. Cur...
Wrangell's Assembly reviewed a first draft of its Fiscal Year 2018 budget Tuesday evening, during a workshop and public hearing session. Finance director Lee Burgess presented the 43-page document, prefacing it with an overview of the city's financial situation and upcoming budgetary needs. Burgess notes that this year's draft budget is not a balanced one, in terms of revenues versus expenditures. Some critical capital projects are anticipated, the largest being Shoemaker Bay Harbor's facilities replacement. More than $6 million that will have...
The competition has really been stepped up in this year's King Salmon Derby. A 64.1 pound fish was brought to the scales on May 24 by Gary Smart of Sequim, Washington. He and his wife were here visiting family friends for a few weeks, and he was on board the Rowland family's boat when the catch occurred. James Rowland explained his party of four had been fishing south of Wrangell that morning, near Found Island. The trip was one of a series since the arrival of Smart and Rowland's uncle on May...
A new borough manager for Wrangell will be arriving in the middle of July. Lisa Von Bargen was selected from a pool of candidates by the City and Borough Assembly earlier in April, finally hired following several weeks of negotiations over terms. She has been the director for community and economic development in Valdez since 2001, and has worked for the city’s Chamber of Commerce and its Convention and Visitors Bureau prior to that. “I was born in Anchorage. My father was transferred to Valdez when I was eight,” Von Bargen explained. Graduatin...
Two young men were charged in connection with an early hour break-in at Alpine Mini Mart last week, which had resulted in the theft of some cigarettes. Police had responded to an alarm call at the Zimovia Highway gas station on May 23, at about 3:30 a.m. Surveillance footage showed two persons in hats and hooded sweatshirts approaching the store’s back entrance, opening an unlocked window and slipping inside. Using backpacks, the pair then absconded with what was reported to be 19 packs of Marlboro cigarettes. No other items had been r...
