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In its last home games of the 2016-17 season, Wrangell High School took on a pair of losses against visiting Metlakatla. In Friday evening's games, the junior varsity boys opened with a win over the Chiefs. The Wrangell boys recovered from a 12-point deficit in the second quarter, closing that to nine by the half at 15-22. The JV Wolves then took the offensive, racking up 12 points per quarter while holding Metlakatla to only eight the whole half. The game wrapped up in a 39-30 victory for...
Wrangell’s girls began a long slog of a weekend with a pair of losses at Metlakatla over the weekend. Playing Friday, the Miss Chiefs opened with a 17-7 lead in the first quarter, building from there. The hosts scored in the double digits every quarter, playing most strongly during the third with 19 scored to Wrangell’s five. The game finished in a 32-61 loss for the Lady Wolves. The team was playing short-handed, with four girls left at home due to injuries. Kaylyn Easterly led her team for points with 17 overall, and making five of six fre...
Wrangell's girls were swept during their Homecoming weekend games against Petersburg, following a set of wins over Craig the previous week. After much back and forth, Wrangell's varsity team took the lead early on in Friday's game, leading at the half 16-13. Tied at 23 by the end of the third, the Lady Vikings rallied hard in the fourth quarter, finishing with a 43-34 win. Leading offensively, Maddy Harding scored 14 points in the game, with four of her baskets being three-pointers. Kaylyn...
Wrangell is being represented at the West Coast's biggest annual boat show, which began in Seattle on Friday. Held this year at CenturyLink Field's convention center and at South Lake Union, the annual Seattle Boat Show draws thousands of visitors for a 10-day celebration of all things nautical. This includes craft and gear – with 1,000s of vessels and three acres of accessories to peruse – seminars and activities, and also opportunities to work and travel. A booth boosting Wrangell's ava...
Wrangell Medical Center’s cash reserves are looking healthy again, after receipt of a substantial Medicare repayment last month. The hospital had been underpaid by the federal health insurer by about $488,000 the previous fiscal year, and the adjustment was received along with a scheduled $210,000 payment by January 20. The influx benefitted the hospital’s reserve accounts, with cash-on-hand just topping the $1,000,000 mark by the month’s end. Previously, at the year’s end it had $577,000 on hand, equivalent to 19.6 days of operating expenses....
A Wrangell resident was among the travelers detained following a selective travel ban issued by the White House last week. Sylvia Ettefagh was returning from a 10-day vacation in Costa Rica with her husband, John, and friends the Stroms on Saturday. The group was at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on its way to connecting with an Alaska Airlines flight to Seattle. At customs, Ettefagh attempted to enter the Global Entry section of the Trusted Traveler program. The expedited screening is offered by US Customs and Border Protection for...
As the Alaska State Legislature continues with the new session, members in both the House and Senate have put forward ideas to fix the state’s ongoing budget woes. Sitka Sen. Burt Stedman (R-District R) submitted his own contribution to that discussion, filing Senate Bill 21 on January 18. “It’s a percent of market value bill for the permanent fund which would have a five-year average market value payout of four percent. Of that four percent, a minimum of half of it or two and a quarter percent would have to go to dividends,” he explain...
Wrangell's girls were swept during their Homecoming weekend games against Petersburg, following a set of wins over Craig the previous week. After much back and forth, Wrangell's varsity team took the lead early on in Friday's game, leading at the half 16-13. Tied at 23 by the end of the third, the Lady Vikings rallied hard in the fourth quarter, finishing with a 43-34 win. Leading offensively, Maddy Harding scored 14 points in the game, with four of her baskets being three-pointers. Kaylyn...
Hosting the Vikings over the high school's homecoming weekend, Wrangell's Wolves ended up taking two on the nose after a pair of winning weekends. Friday night, the Wolves fought to overcome a steep deficit early in the game, with Petersburg leading 25-9 at the start of the second. A tenacious offense on the part of the visiting team and a number of missed shots kept Wrangell behind at the half, 20-38. The Vikings also got the bulk of its free throws for the game up to that point, with 10 of 13...
A new sample site shows more butter clams carry the risk of paralytic shellfish poisoning for consumers, according to a report released last week. Since last year Wrangell Cooperative Association's Indian Environmental General Assistance Program (IGAP) staff have been collecting samples of various bivalves from the beaches around Shoemaker Bay on a weekly basis. It added a new site further south to its monitoring, near Pats Landing. It was here that the butter clam samples showed unsafe...
Joining millions of other women and men estimated to have marched worldwide on Saturday, 20 residents of Wrangell held a Women's March of their own downtown on February 21. The Women's March on Washington was a daylong event emphasizing that "women's rights are human rights," following the swearing-in of President Donald Trump the previous day. The group which organized the event cited the divisive rhetoric of the past election cycle as the underlying cause of the march. "The march wasn't about...
Taking up the mantle left by the Lions Club after it closed its Wrangell chapter last summer, the Garnet Grit Betties roller derby team is continuing its aluminum collection program. For two decades the club had raised money for itself through the program, as aluminum is one of the few recyclable materials which can turn a profit for collectors. Reprocessing the material is considerably more efficient than producing it from bauxite ore, a savings which makes it more profitable than iron scrap...
Trident Seafoods will be welcoming a new manager for its Wrangell plant during the summer's production run. Nick Ohmer was named as the company's selection in a media brief last week. A lifelong resident of Southeast Alaska, in an interview Ohmer said he would be bringing to the job his local knowledge and personal connections with Wrangell's fishermen. Ohmer grew up in Petersburg, and even before fishing alongside those from the neighboring community he grew up with many of them through basketb...
The maintenance crew at Wrangell International Airport was recognized for an ongoing run of outstanding service. In a release, Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities announced it presented the team with a plaque detailing the years they passed a pair of important federal inspections. Since 2011, Wrangell has passed its Federal Aviation Administration annual inspections without any letters of correction given. The FAA operations certification focuses on airport safety, paying...
Wrangell's boys basketball team won two while hosting Craig High School on January 20 and 21. "I thought the boys looked good this weekend," said Wolves coach Ray Stokes. "I was really proud of them." During Friday night's game the Wolves started with a commanding lead over Craig, picking up 29 points in the first quarter and 43 by the half. Play grew defensive into the second half, and by the end Wrangell stood with a 68-29 win. Five of the team's players shot with 50-percent accuracy, and...
The Lady Wolves have got themselves back on track for the second half of their season with a pair of wins against Craig last weekend. The team is third in the region at 4-4-0, sitting just behind Petersburg after its recent losses in Metlakatla last week. "They were pretty good games for us," said Wrangell's coach, Laurie Brown. In their opening game on January 20, Craig held a lead on Wrangell through the first half. Brown pointed out her team overcame a 15-point deficit at one juncture, and...
After the Borough Assembly last month approved expansion of its Memorial Cemetery, the Wrangell Community Garden Committee needs new digs to plant in. Started in 2010, the garden group reached an agreement with the city allowing them use of their current patch, by the old ball field west of the cemetery. Since its start though, group committee member Kris Reed explained their numbers have withered somewhat and they’re looking for new members. Currently there are five garden users, who in addition to pulling weeds and sowing seeds divide club t...
At a specially scheduled meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission on Monday, it issued conditional use permitting for a proposed senior living and assisted care center. The center would be at the site of Sourdough Lodge, which is between Peninsula and Berger streets and is currently zoned light industrial. Before its sale last year the lodge operated under a conditional use permit, which would need to be applied for by the new owners as well. Shannon Bosdell and Daniel Blake are working to convert the lodge into Harbor House Assisted Livin...
Members of the Wrangell Assembly learned a new water treatment plant being sought after will be financially unfeasible for the foreseeable future, and are looking into other options. Even before the water shortage problems of last summer due to its plant being unable to keep up with demand, the city was aware the facility could use replacement. After it was installed nearly two decades ago, the treatment plant's combination of roughing filters and slow sand filtration system turned out to be ill-suited to the sedimented water coming from Wrange...
Following a contentious meeting last week, the Planning and Zoning Commission held a follow-up workshop Tuesday evening to address neighbors concerns about a proposed senior housing and assisted care facility. With 30 people sitting in, the meeting was perhaps the liveliest City Hall has hosted since P&Z looked into the propriety of raising chickens in residential zoning back in 2014. The issue at hand was a conditional use permit being applied for by Daniel Blake and Shannon Bosdell, which would convert the Sourdough Lodge they are...
Wrangell has narrowed the field for its new borough manager, with city staff and members of the Borough Assembly holding a teleconference with five candidates during a closed-door meeting Friday. Current manager Jeff Jabusch announced his plans to retire back in September, which is to take effect at the end of day March 31. In his current post since 2013, the move brings to a close four decades of employment with the city, much which was spent as its finance director. The Assembly accepted the...
Wrangell Public School District unveiled its first draft for next year’s operating budget at its board’s Monday evening meeting. Overall, the school district’s budget is projected to be 2.3 percent higher than the FY17 revised budget, coming in at $5,953,642. As with other city departments, the new fiscal year is slated to begin July 1. Accounting for the rise, step-and-column increases are anticipated to raise the teacher and support salaries budget by about $48,000, with another $96,000 increase in payroll benefits associated with a 10-pe...
The state has so far not received any applications from a number of floathouse owners contacted last autumn. Since October, the Department of Natural Resources has been reaching out to identified owners of floating facilities anchored along the Stikine River’s tidal area, the land which is under its clear jurisdiction after resolving a longstanding dispute with the United States Forest Service last March. The floathouses being targeted are those anchored within the tidal influence of the river, which ends just beyond the terminus of Shakes S...
A state task force set up to further develop a sustainable mariculture industry is setting up several advisory committees as part of that process. The Alaska Mariculture Task Force was set up by Gov. Bill Walker following recommendations by the state’s marine industry. The group announced January 13 that after five meetings it is on its way to proposing an implementable plan by its deadline of March 1, 2018. These recommendations will address public and private investment, regulatory issues, and research and development needs. To that end, A...
Alaska’s 30th Legislature convened for its new session on Tuesday, with the state’s finances presenting a daunting challenge for the next 90 days. The spending deficit is projected at around $3.1 billion this year if the budget is left as-is. Agency spending has come to just over 13-percent since FY15, and the budget as a whole has taken a 29-percent cut when capital projects and other funding is considered. Revenue has failed to cover operating expenses since FY13, but has covered an ever-dwindling proportion since. This year the $1.2 bil...
