Sorted by date Results 895 - 919 of 1297
At its meeting on Aug. 25, the Wrangell City and Borough Assembly were updated on developments of a number of civil improvement projects just getting started or currently in progress. In his monthly report, Borough Manager Jeff Jabusch explained that the Alaska Department of Transportation’s (ADOT) work on Evergreen Avenue continues to progress slowly. Bidding was initially expected to begin last fall, but delays have pushed the project forward by a year. Jabusch explained the next step will be a community planning meeting, which will allow r...
On Friday a new inter-island ferry began making runs, lowering its ramp in Wrangell's Reliance Harbor that afternoon. Rainforest Islands Ferry will be a three-stop service between Wrangell, Mitkof and Prince of Wales island, running four times each week from spring through autumn. During the winter it will run on a reduced schedule. Based in Coffman Cove, the service is managed by North End Ferry Authority (NEFA). The ferry service makes use of a 65-foot repurposed landing craft, the Rainforest...
On Aug. 25, members of Wrangell's Native community were invited to stop into Wrangell Cooperative Association's new cultural center to meet with Tlingit-Haida Central Council (CCTHITA) President Richard Peterson and various department heads. In an effort to improve the council's outreach to its member communities, Peterson has pushed to reinvigorate its end-of-summer Client Service Benefit Fair since taking office last spring. Starting with Saxman on Aug. 24, fairs will be held through the next...
Though the leaves have hardly begun to turn, Wrangell’s Ministerial Association is already thinking about Christmas as it prepares for its annual gift drive. For the past 15 years, Wrangell volunteers have loaded and wrapped up shoe boxes for Operation: Christmas Child, which gathers up and spreads the holiday cheer to children worldwide. The annual drive is a program of Samaritan’s Purse International Relief, a nondenominational Christian aid organization. “We’re making it a community effort this year,” explained Deanna Reeves, an organizer. T...
Applications for candidacy in the Oct. 6 regular borough-wide election closed on Monday. Candidates have filed for all available seats, with those on the Wrangell School Board in contest. Among those open to the polls this year are two 3-year seats on the City and Borough Assembly. Incumbents David Powell and Becky Rooney have both filed to run again and are uncontested. Incumbents John Martin and Clay Hammer have also filed to retain two 3-year seats on the Port Commission. On the Wrangell Medical Center Board, Woody Wilson has filed to...
A body was discovered and reported to the Wrangell Police Department around 6:30 a.m. Tuesday morning. Lester Daniels Ortua, 34, was found dead on the fishing vessel Pacifica, moored in Reliance Harbor. The probable cause of death was reported to be from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, likely occurring Monday evening. From Huntington Beach, Calif., Ortua had been working as a deckhand on the Pacifica. Police Chief Doug McCloskey reported that Ortua's next-of-kin has been contacted. His body has been sent on to the state medical examiner in...
Wrangell Medical Center's Board of Directors announced Robert Rang will take over as the hospital CEO once Marla Sanger steps down Oct. 30. Rang is currently the long-term care administrator for the Providence Kodiak Island Medical Center. He will relocate to Wrangell the first week of October and begin working on Oct. 12, allowing him three weeks to work alongside Sanger as he transitions into the position. When Sanger announced her intention to step down in June, her employer PeaceHealth confi...
Runners, swimmers and other fitness-minded folk are reminded that new fees for Wrangell’s Parks and Recreation Department facilities are set to take effect on Sept. 1. The new rates were approved by the Borough Assembly in July. A previous schedule put forward last winter was rejected, with proposed changes criticized for being too steep. Bounced back for consideration in May, the new schedule maintains some of the changes proposed in the previous draft, with an effective decrease to most community center and facilities rental rates and modest...
Earlier this month the United States Forest Service finalized a sizable timber sale on Etolin Island. The Tongass National Forest's Navy timber sale will make available for commercial harvest 13.1 million board feet of sawlog and utility timber. The lands involved in the sale encompass 1,252 acres. "The project area used to be quite a bit larger," explained Austin O'Brien, timber staff officer for Wrangell Ranger District. Initiated nearly a decade ago, the sale was named for Navy Lake, to...
The cruise ship Regatta's departure Tuesday evening marked the start of the end for Wrangell's tourist 2015 season. "I think it was a great season," said Cyni Waddington, with the Chamber of Commerce. "I feel we had just the right amount of cruise ships." The summer's high point came during Wrangell's annual July 4 celebrations, which benefitted from clear weather during an otherwise unusually rainy month. "It was probably one of the most well-attended," Waddington said. "I was happy with the...
Two of the three men presumed killed by landslides in Sitka on Aug. 18 had been located by Tuesday, as the search for a third continued. Six landslides and a sinkhole occurred in and around the Southeast Alaska community after it received heavy, sustained rains. The fatal slide struck the Kramer Avenue neighborhood, northwest of town. Search efforts were initially hampered by continued bad weather and safety concerns due to still-unstable terrain. Sitka Police Department confirmed the bodies of brothers Elmer and Ulises Diaz had both been...
Meeting in a special session Aug. 12, a full City and Borough Assembly unanimously approved setting aside $500,000 in funds for the Wrangell Medical Center. Interim CEO Marla Sanger approached the Assembly last month seeking permission to obtain a line of credit for that amount from a bank. While appreciative of the hospital’s concerns, Assembly members had not favored the idea of approving such a line through a private bank due to concerns about interest and accountability. Instead, they offered to provide a reserve from money in the G...
At its regular monthly meeting Aug. 13, Wrangell’s Planning and Zoning Commission continued its evaluation of entitlement properties held near Thoms Place. The territory is part of 9,006 acres transferred to Wrangell in April by the Alaska Department of Natural Resources. In addition to Thoms Place, these include parcels at St. Johns Harbor, Mill Creek, Olive Cove, Crittenden Creek, Earl West, and Sunny Bay, as well as other areas on Wrangell Island. Different options exist for how best to z...
Wrangell's teachers, parents and students are schools are gearing up for a new year, with registration currently ongoing. While some programs have already started up, classes will begin on Aug 27. A number of changes will greet students when they walk through those doors, some more noticeable than others. Mondays will be a bit shorter for starters, at least for students. School will let out at 2 p.m. once a week to allow teachers time to develop "professional learning communities," which are...
Whatever one might say about the year’s fishing harvests, it wouldn’t be fair to say the Southeast purse seining fleet is in the pink. The state forecast for 2015 anticipated a 58 million pink salmon harvest for Southeast, but so far harvests have not been living up to the expectation. “We are not even coming close,” explained Dan Gray, Alaska Department of Fish and Game management coordinator for Southeast fisheries in Sitka. With the season already in its ninth week, only 22 million pink salmon have been reported harvested by seiners so far,...
After a rainy summer punctuated by four cancelled tournaments, Muskeg Meadows Golf Club decided to end its season early. Following the Sea Level Seafoods tournament last weekend, the course is now closed to regular play for the year. Course Manager Laurie Overbay Burrows said this season has been slower than most, following one of the wettest Julys on record for Southeast Alaska. Wrangell absorbed 9.81 inches over the month, with two-thirds of its days experiencing some precipitation. Muskeg...
As Alaska moves into its end-of-summer rain pattern, wildland fire activity across the state has moderated. But in the Lower 48, the fire season remains in full swing, with the National Preparedness Level moved to five, the highest level of planning and organizing of resources, in reaction to increasing fire danger. In a media release, the Bureau of Land Management Alaska Fire Service (AFS) reported five Type-2 emergency firefighting crews departed last week from the base on Ladd Army Airfield at Fort Wainwright. Coming from Chevak, Fort...
Staff working for Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski stopped into Wrangell on Aug. 14, during a string of visits this month to communities in Southeast. Setting up a mobile office outside the post office, Phillip Dodd and Ben Cotter caught up with constituents during the Friday lunch rush. “We do it every year, in different communities,” Cotter explained. “It’s kind of a good way to reach out.” The pair staffed one of several mobile offices deployed by Alaska’s congressional delegation this month, whil...
Test results for shellfish compiled by the local Indian Environmental General Assistance Program (IGAP) office have been released. Working locally in partnership with Wrangell Cooperative Association, IGAP's primary mission is to undertake projects focused on addressing environmental and quality of life problems. On April 20, IGAP staff and volunteers collected littleneck and butterneck clams, cockles, horse clams and other commonly-consumed shellfish from three beach locations along Zimovia...
Area golfers teed off for cancer treatment last weekend, during Wrangell Medical Center's tenth annual Rally For Cancer Care Tournament at Muskeg Meadows. The yearly tournaments raise funds for the WMC Foundation's cancer care program, which assists patients with travel and lodging expenses as they seek treatment for various forms of cancer. Fifty-nine women took part in Saturday's tournament, which featured noncompetitive, fun challenges on the course. Twenty-one of the participants came from...
Wrangell's former head librarian recently received an appointment by Gov. Bill Walker to sit on his Advisory Council on Libraries. Kay Jabusch will serve on the 12-person council through the end of 2016. She will help coordinate the state's five-year plan to implement the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) slated to take effect after the current one expires in 2017. The LSTA provides over $150 million to state systems across the nation, with Alaska State Libraries receiving $2.4 million...
The Wrangell Medical Center Board last week announced it had narrowed the field for the hospital’s future executive officer from ten candidates to three. After meeting Wednesday morning, board members wanted to see more of Jeffery Lyle, Aaron McPherson and Robert Rang. Coming from Belton, Texas, and Kodiak, Alaska, respectively, Lyle and Rang will be brought to Wrangell for site visits next week, from Tuesday through Friday. Along with Wrangell resident McPherson, they will meet with hospital staff, Alaska Island Community Services p...
Wrangell’s Port Commission decided it didn’t “have a dog in the fight” over a tidelands purchase proposal submitted to it for review. Meeting Thursday, it had to consider an application by BW Enterprises to purchase 6,240 square feet of city tidelands adjacent to its property near the state ferry terminal. With tidelands purchase proposals, both the Port and Planning and Zoning commissions have the opportunity to make assessments and forward their recommendations to the Assembly, which has ultimate say in such matters. Speaking at the meeting...
A region-wide campaign is kicking off, so to speak, with opponents of British Columbia mining projects collecting as many pairs of Alaska’s ubiquitous rubber boots as it can. Once assembled, the mountain of footwear will be deposited on Gov. Bill Walker’s lawn later this month. Collection locations have been set up in Petersburg, Sitka and Juneau, and in Wrangell donation boxes have been set up at Marine Artist Brenda Schwartz-Yeager’s shop and other local stores. The campaign is being driven by Inside Passage Waterkeeper, a Juneau-based affil...
If you've ever recycled a can in Wrangell, you probably have the Lions Club to thank. Since July 2014, the club has collected four full van-loads of the stuff. Since 1968, the local chapter has been doing good in the community, supporting projects ranging from childhood eyecare to the annual Gold Medal basketball tournament held each March. A steady source of its fundraising comes from collecting discarded aluminum, which gets redeemed for cash when turned in for recycling. "It doesn't have to b...
