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As volleyball gets ready to serve up its first game this weekend, the cross-country season is just about past the finish line for Wrangell High School. The team headed to Sitka last weekend for the Region V meet, on a course which ran through the city's Totem Park. "There's really no hills," explained Wrangell coach Jenn Davies. "There's just a little bit of pavement at the start and finish." Despite some heavy cloud cover, for the most part the races avoided the weekend's rainfall. Travel was...
The Wrangell Chamber of Commerce recently issued a letter to the Borough Assembly in support of a statewide internet sales tax. Addressed to Mayor David Jack, the letter suggests a sales tax on online sales would benefit local commerce by removing a “competitive advantage” sellers on the internet have by not having to pay out-of-state sales taxes. In other states, these earnings may still be gleaned through personal or business income taxes for retailers with a physical presence there. In the case of major online retailers like Amazon, thi...
At its Sept. 8 meeting, the Planning and Zoning Commission approved a new draft of the local code pertaining to zoning categories. Specifically, changes were made which would update Title 20 to include reference to the legalization of cannabis, as well as when and where state permitted activities would and would not be allowed in the borough. An ordinance containing the updates will be headed to the Wrangell Borough Assembly for first reading at its next meeting. The commission's proposal would...
With the addition of two write-in candidates to next month’s municipal election ballot, all the expected vacancies will at least have people to fill them. Of the open spots on the Oct. 4 ballot, six are still currently uncontested. Of those being contested, current Mayor David Jack will be running for reelection against candidate Kipha Valvoda. Four candidates will be running for two three-year terms on the School Board, including former member Georgianna Buhler, Scott Seddon, Robert Rang and incumbent Rinda Howell. The two candidates with t...
Volleyball season is under way, with the Lady Wolves resuming practices last week in preparation for the season. Their first home game is set for September 30, with a weekend tournament trading venues between Wrangell and Petersburg. Coach Jessica Whitaker explained there will be two sets of home games against the Lady Vikings this season, and in both instances games will be played at both schools. It is a convenient trip for players, and also allows parents to see how their students are improving. Just because the team was on its summer...
Wrangell High School’s cross-country team finished another lap for the season, competing in Juneau over the weekend. “It went really, really, really well,” said the team’s coach, Jenn Davies. Reyn Hutten continued setting the pace, once again finishing first for the 1-3A division and placing fourth overall from among 107 girls. Among 151 boys, Riley Blatchley and Jacob Hammer came in 17th and 20th for their division, respectively, on what Davies explained was a challenging course. “There’s some strategy involved,” she said, with the course spor...
As this week's Sentinel hits the streets, Southeast Conference's 2016 Convention and Membership Meeting will be wrapping up in Petersburg. Designated by the state and federal governments as Southeast Alaska's organization for regional economic development, SEC includes 180 member organizations, representing 1,200 people from 32 regional communities. One of the highlights of its annual fall meeting in recent years has been its By the Numbers Report, which looks at economic and demographic trends...
A former Wrangell resident joined an Alaska canoe group in supporting a North Dakota tribe protesting construction of an oil pipeline across sacred lands. Earlier this month Ken Hoyt met up with members of the Juneau-based One People Canoe Society for a three-day spiritual journey on the Missouri River. For a week they joined a growing group of people protesting construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline near tribal land. The pipeline is planned to be an 1,172-mile connection between the...
Costs for the transition of operations at the Tyee Lake hydroelectric facility may be higher than first expected. Board members for Southeast Alaska Power Agency learned at their September 8 meeting that the unfunded pensions liability for Wrangell employees at the plant were more than double what was estimated when it assumed operations. SEAPA CEO Trey Acteson explained consultants had put the city's liabilities to the state Public Employees' Retirement System at $648,206, which included...
Emergency assistance was dispatched from Wrangell early Sunday evening, after a private boat struck a log near Farm Island. Fire Department Chief Tim Buness said emergency dispatch received a 911 call from one of the boat’s passengers at 5:23 p.m. Responders were notified and an initial unit was ready to depart within minutes. “We sent a float plane up with three medics on board,” Buness said. He estimated it took about twenty minutes to arrive at the scene. “We also sent one of the bigger boats with Alaska Vistas with more EMTs (Emerge...
A state outreach program sought to shake some sense into Wrangell residents, with a mobile earthquake simulator set up for the public earlier this week. Each year the state Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (DHSEM) sends out a mobile trailer unit to different communities in an effort to raise awareness of earthquake risks. The unit arrived in Wrangell on Tuesday, as part of its ongoing tour through Southeast. Alaska is the most seismically active state in the country, with about 11,000 of various magnitude earthquakes...
At its Tuesday night meeting, the Borough Assembly continued to keep up on its various utility priorities. In his regular update, city manager Jeff Jabusch reported most paving projects around town have been completed, including the barge ramp lot. Surfacing work at Wood Street is still on schedule, with new curbing being set in place. Work on that project is expected to wrap up in mid-October. For the water treatment plant, Public Works Department staff are working on a plan to clean out the sand in its filtration units. An emergency shortage...
Last month Wrangell's Senior Apartments formally went smoke-free, asking its residents to instead head outdoors if they feel the need to have a cigarette. "It was mostly for the health and well-being of our tenants," explained Gail Rilatos, manager of the facility for the past four years. The decision was made by the apartment complex's five-member governing board, which sought input on a new policy from Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium. SEARHC facilitates an Alaska Tobacco...
Wrangell High School's cross-country teams put their best feet forward over the weekend, with the girls together taking second place among 1-3A teams. "It went great," commented the team's coach, Jenn Davies. Runner Reyn Hutten ended up finishing in first place among her division's girls during Saturday's meet in Petersburg. She seems set this year to continue her pace of last year, when she placed first during the Region V run in Ketchikan. Teammate Jing O'Brien finished in 14th place, which...
The month long moose hunting season is ready to begin next week, opening on September 15 and lasting until October 15. For the Wrangell, Petersburg and Kake game unit, last year’s moose season turned out being the third best on record according to Alaska Department of Fish and Game harvest data. Area hunters had a 13-percent success rate, with 103 males harvested by 772 participating hunters. A total of 1,061 permits had been issued. After a reasonably mild winter, the moose population appears to be doing well. An aerial survey of the S...
The ballot for next month’s municipal election is still two names short, with vacancies on the Borough Assembly and Port Commission left without candidates. A few other positions will go uncontested, with Assembly member Julie Decker running for reelection to a three-year term unopposed, as is Port Commission incumbent John Yeager. Two unexpired two-year terms on the Wrangell Medical Center Board are uncontested as well, with incumbent Olinda White and newcomer Patrick Mayer applying for the seats. One full four-year term on the hospital board...
A pilot study currently underway seems to be bearing good news for Wrangells water worries. In mid-July the city declared a state of emergency as its water treatment plant struggled to meet local demand. An appeal to residents and local seafood processors to limit water usage followed, allowing Public Works time to replenish its reserve tanks. By August 18 City Hall declared the crisis over, but still encouraged people to conserve water. The problem was primarily with the plants water...
Local air travelers were invited to the airport for a question-and-answer session August 25. A delegation of managers with Alaska Airlines fired up a grill out front, fielding questions people may have about the phasing out of the services “combi” fleet next year. Since its introduction in 2007, the 737-400 combi has been a unique facet of travel within the state, combining cargo conveyance with passenger service in the main cabin. Until it phases them out, Alaska Airlines is the only major domestic carrier to still use the combination jet...
The City of Wrangell is applying to the United States Forest Service to give a historic boat a new home. The M/V Chugach was one of 11 ranger boats operating in the state during the first half of the 20th century. Built at the Lake Union Dry Dock and Machine Works in Seattle in 1925, the vessel was assigned to Cordova for work in the Tongass and Chugach national forests. It remains the last of its kind in the USFS fleet, continuing service until last year. The boat was restationed in Petersburg in 1953, it served from there more than 60 years....
Earlier this month a Wrangell youth was among four-dozen Alaskan students to put their math and science skills to the test in Anchorage. Seventh-grader Rowen Wiederspohn was accepted into the ExxonMobil Bernard Harris Summer Science Camp put on each year by the Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program (ANSEP). Hosted by the University of Alaska Anchorage, the two-week, all expenses paid, summer program focuses on honing young Alaskans' science, technology, engineering and mathematics...
At its regular meeting Tuesday the City and Borough Assembly approved a request by Wrangell Medical Center to pursue a housing assistance grant of up to $550,000 to build a quadruplex for its staff. Hospital CEO Robert Rang explained the amount was the maximum provided by Teacher, Health Professional and Public Safety Housing Program grants through Alaska Housing Finance Corporation. As a four-unit housing complex would likely cost more than that, he said the hospital would approach the Assembly with the specifics of additional funds needed as...
With the seasonal peak behind it, Alaska’s commercial fishing industry is expecting one of the worst shortfalls for salmon in recent memory. As of Tuesday, Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s in-season blue sheet summary estimated just over 102,245,000 salmon had been caught statewide, with less than a quarter of that caught in Southeast. Despite a fair showing for sockeye, the state’s fishermen would be fortunate enough to harvest half the 263,463,000 salmon estimated caught last year. The news has not been good for the local comme...
Local shellfish gatherers are advised to steer clear of the beach near Shoemaker Bay, after specimens tested positive for paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP). The alert was posted to the Southeast Alaska Tribal Ocean Research website at www.seator.org/data on Monday. A sampling of butterclams collected by the Wrangell Cooperative Association’s Indian Environmental General Assistance Program (IGAP) staff and sent in to Sitka for testing turned out to have more than twice the state’s threshold for saxitoxin, the cause of PSP. The sample mea...
Two more people have put forth their names to be included on October’s municipal elections ballot. As of press time Tuesday, schools superintendent Patrick Mayer expressed interest in running for a vacancy on the Wrangell Medical Center Board, while WMC head Robert Rang will be running for a position on the Public School Board. The city clerk’s office is inquiring with its attorney on retainer about whether having the two officials serve on each others’ boards would represent a conflict of interest. While unusual, the possibility is not prohi...
A group of Wrangell and Girl Scouts experienced the summer trip of a lifetime last month, heading southward to Peru for a nine-day tour. Three girls and two chaperones made the 5,686-mile journey from Wrangell to Lima, Peru's capital city. To get there, the scouts had to raise around $14,000, which did not include the cost of the parents. The fundraising process took more than a year, with the girls earning money both as a group and individually to meet their goal. Sisters Jing and Sophie O'Brie...
