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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...
Area golfers raised close to $6,000 over the weekend during the hospital's annual Rally for Cancer Care and Blue Tees Tournament. Money raised from the two-part tournament go to support Wrangell Medical Center Foundation's cancer care fund, which in turn provides up to $1,000 per year to patients undergoing treatment for cancer-related illness. The stipend is meant to help defray some of the travel and lodging expenses which accompany such treatment. The funds are primarily raised through a...
Last week a new public cabin was added to Wrangell Ranger District's list, with the U.S. Forest Service's administrative camp at Deep Bay converted into a two-building recreational site. The cabin will be the district's 23rd, and its first on Zarembo Island, located about five miles to Wrangell's southwest. Due to its proximity and size, Zarembo is a popular destination for locals in the mood for activity, be it hunting, camping or taking the all-terrain vehicle out for a spin. The cabin is prim...
A newly arrived minister has been making the rounds in Wrangell, meeting with folk inside and outside of church for the past few weeks. Nancy Gradwohl began her ministry at Island of Faith Lutheran Church July 17, at which time Bishop Shelley Wickstrom of the Alaska Synod Assembly was on hand to formally install her. Wrangell will be her first assignment, being newly ordained by the Lutheran Church in June. Hailing from Edmonds, Washington, Gradwohl was previously a middle school teacher for 15 years, specializing in language arts and social...
With local elections coming up on October 4, the city is still looking for declarations of candidacy for a range of available seats. A handful of candidates have already declared as of Tuesday. Running for reelection will be Mayor David Jack, who has served since 2013 and won reelection in 2014. As of now, Jack will be running unopposed. Barbara Conine will be running for reelection to the Wrangell Medical Center Board for another four-year term. At the board’s urging in March, the Borough Assembly decided to reduce the number of seats from n...
With school set to start on August 25 staff at Wrangell Public Schools have returned from their summer hiatus and are preparing for registration of students. Incoming elementary school students can be registered anytime between 8 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. next Tuesday through Thursday. Those enrolling kindergarteners are advised to bring along copies of birth certificates a nd immunization records. High schoolers likewise can register for classes on Tuesday, with middle schoolers doing so on Wednesday....
Area youth tried their hands at an old art form last week, during a three-day formline course put on by the Alaska Native Sisterhood Association. Formline as a style of art is traditional to the people of Southeast Alaska, and its distinctive loop and hooks are widely seen in the designs of various totems, screens, regalia and other works. For the purposes of the Aug. 8-10 class, the canvas in this case was the bottoms of skateboards, which their designers have the option of eventually...
A sewer main broke early Monday morning, necessitating a temporary shutdown of nearby pump stations and causing an overflow of untreated water into Inner Harbor. The main line connecting town to the sewage treatment plant ruptured near the Sea Level Seafoods processing facility at 1204 Zimovia Highway. City crews responded to the scene, shutting down pump stations near the Public Works Department building and City Park in order to repair the break. Eighty-five percent of Wrangell households are connected to the municipal sewage system, and the...
Members of First Presbyterian Church were invited to a bit of fellowship last week, meeting with two missionaries operating in Indonesia for the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. (PCUSA) Coming from one archipelagic nation all the way to the Alexander Archipelago, on Aug. 4 and 5 Bernie and Farsijana Adeney-Risakotta made Wrangell a stop on their three-month interpretation assignment for PCUSA. The two visited Anan Wildlife Observatory and were treated to some local hospitality during their brief...
The local corps of the Salvation Army is continuing its work running a food bank with the arrival of Michael Bates and his wife, Jennifer. The couple has served together as majors in the Salvation Army for the past 26 years. Arriving in Wrangell in March, the two were previously stationed in Kodiak for three years, and have served elsewhere in Alaska, Wyoming, California and Utah. While the Salvation Army thrift store closed last year, the local organization has maintained its other outreach services, such as the food bank. “The food bank is a...
Events for the 7th Annual Bearfest are already underway, with the first two workshops and symposium presented yesterday at the Nolan Center. The annual activity was started in 2010 by Sylvia Ettefagh, an outfitter with Alaska Vistas and commercial fisherman. Drawing a number of notable speakers and participants each year, Bearfest serves to highlight the local bear population, particularly that found at nearby Anan Wildlife Observatory. About 30 miles southeast of Wrangell, the observatory...
Wrangell’s Borough Assembly revisited its local contractors list, which it had adopted last year in order to streamline hiring for small projects. An idea was first put forward to the Assembly by Borough Manager Jeff Jabusch in December 2014, drafting a list of licensed local contractors who could be called upon for small-scale jobs under $25,000 on a rotating on-call basis. A pool of qualified local contractors hirable by the city was created, ensuring those contacted for jobs were qualified for the work and that all those qualifying would b...
A Wrangell resident has been named among this year's Path to Prosperity competition finalists. Dixie Booker has put forward a proposal to cultivate and sell fresh produce. Called Mighty Bear Roots, the business would involve the construction of a 72-by-30-foot greenhouse housing a series of aeroponic growing towers. Gardening since childhood, Booker has only recently experimented with this less conventional method, which maximizes space and conserves resources by arranging plants vertically. "I...
Though a crisis in the local water supply has subsided, Wrangell remains in a state of conservation through most of the rest of summer. The City and Borough Assembly formally declared a state of disaster in a special meeting held July 19, after ready water reserves had fallen to a fraction of capacity. Problems with the water treatment plant’s filtration process meant supply could not keep up with demand, and early last week local seafood processors and the wider public were asked to reduce consumption. Efficiencies undertaken by both p...
The Wrangell Borough Assembly held an executive session on July 15 to discuss the sale of its belt tunnel freezer facility. It had been approached by the building's current lessee, Trident Seafoods. Giving some background, Assembly member Julie Decker explained the freezer had been part of a three-phase process to enhance local seafood processing infrastructure. Beginning in 2003 with the addition of mobile equipment such as the plate freezer and fillet machine line, in 2004 the belt freezer...
With the supply of treated water dangerously low, the Borough Assembly officially declared the city to be in a state of disaster Tuesday evening. The decision was reached during a special session in which officials met with departmental staff and representatives of Wrangell’s two fish processing plants, Trident Seafoods and Sea Level Seafoods. With the processing season already underway and production ramping up, the two together are consuming about half of the community’s water. Alarm bells were raised by Public Works when it reported its res...
The City and Borough of Wrangell has officially endorsed a plan being put forward by the United States Forest Service concerning future timber sales on the island. In a special meeting on July 15, the Borough Assembly gave its input on a letter of support being drafted by economic development coordinator Carol Rushmore. A final copy was formally submitted to the Wrangell Ranger District on Monday, the last day of the public comment period for its Wrangell timber sale’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement. The DEIS puts forward five alternative...
A steering committee has been selected to head up restructuring of the Alaska Marine Highway System. In May the office of Gov. Bill Walker tasked regional economic forum Southeast Conference with revitalizing the state’s maritime transportation network, a two-phase process which will involve looking both at its organizational structure and business model. To that end, a committee representing AMHS’ varied user base was selected from around 25 applicants. “We had quite a few names to choose from,” commented Robert Venables, transpo...
As Wrangell gears up for its 7th Annual Bearfest next week, locals may have already noticed the festival's distinctive bears popping up around town. Since its founding in 2010, each year a new plastic bear is decorated by a local artist to celebrate. The design styles have been distinct and highlight different facets of the community, from its school spirit to its marine life to its geography. This year's is no less unique, designed as a Russian matryoshka doll by resident Larissa Siekawitch....
Wrangell has moved a step closer toward the opening of licensed marijuana-related businesses, with Planning and Zoning forwarding its recommendations for code updates to the city’s clerk and lawyer. Basing the proposal on conclusions reached by the commission over the course of several meetings this year, economic development director Carol Rushmore passed out a draft for review she had prepared at a July 14 meeting. “I’ve kept it pretty simple,” she told commissioners. Given the go-ahead by the Borough Assembly in June, the proposed ordinan...
