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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...
A patrol officer will be hanging up his hat and badge this week, after two decades of public service. Officer Terrell Courson officially finished with Wrangell Police Department yesterday. "I wanted to be a cop when I was a kid," he explained. His father had been a firefighter, but had dissuaded his son from pursuing a career in either that field or police work. "Eventually I went into the military." Courson served in the Navy for six years, primarily working as an aircraft technician aboard...
A pair of French travelers made their way down the Stikine River to Wrangell from Telegraph Creek using a homemade dugout. Both in their early twenties, friends Theophile Bouton and Karl Panchout have spent the past year exploring the Northwest, and their 11-day trip down the transboundary river was just one of a series of adventures. This part of the story begins in the Yukon, which Panchout hitch-hiked across Canada to reach from Quebec about 11 months ago. "I met a friend of my uncle there,"...
Twenty-four seniors graduated this year from Wrangell High School. A special commencement was held at the school gym on May 19, decked out with school colors, balloons and red carpet. All students in the year's class qualified for graduation this year, and many will be continuing their educations this coming fall. Together they earned a considerable number of scholarships as well. "That is quite an accomplishment, you guys," school counselor Kerry Nordstrom told the class at its awards ceremony...
Police were called in to Alpine Mini Mart early Tuesday morning, after being notified of a break-in by the store's alarm system. "So at about 3:30 this morning, the alarm goes off and calls us at home," Alpine manager Cori Robinson recounted. "The cop was here and called us, and told us someone had been here in the store." The intrusion was caught by the gas station's security cameras, with footage showing two individuals wearing ball caps and hooded sweatshirts approaching the rear entrance....
An area youth was seriously injured in a paddleboarding accident at Pats Creek late Sunday, and after being found by emergency medical technicians had to be airlifted out to safety. Sixteen-year-old Trevyn Stockton had been out on the water with two friends that evening. They were navigating Pats using paddleboards, similar to a surf board which the rider stands or sits on while using a paddle for direction. Heavy rainfall over the weekend contributed to high, swift water conditions. At some...
Residents are invited to attend a special presentation at the local clinic this evening, focused on understanding and treating addiction. Targeting problems with alcohol and opioids, Dr. Janice Sheufelt will lead the public presentation, which begins at 5:30 p.m. in the conference room at Alaska Island Community Services, a division of Southeast Regional Health Consortium. As the medical director for primary care across the SEARHC network, Sheufelt will explain the scope of the addiction problem facing Southeast communities, while also offering...
Wrangell Medical Center is gearing up for its 10th annual golf tournament and fundraiser dinner, proceeds from which will go toward several initiatives of its Foundation. Coupled with Saturday’s banquet and auction, the Brian Gilbert Memorial Golf Tournament is one of the biggest drives benefiting the WMC Foundation each year, with the weekend last year raising just under $30,000. The Foundation is the hospital’s philanthropic arm and in the past such weekends have supported two of the Foundation’s ongoing initiatives. One of these is its cance...
Ending its regular 120-day session without a budget plan in place, the Legislature was called back into its first special session of the year by Gov. Bill Walker. The body’s regular session expired last week, with unresolved questions on how to address a multibillion-dollar spending deficit. Led by a mostly Democratic majority, the solution put forward by the House consisted of an income tax with some cuts, as well as changes to the state’s oil tax and credit structure. Maintaining its majority in the Senate, Republicans put forward a pro...
The sounds of a couple dozen projects can be heard coming from Wrangell's Marine Service Center, as commercial fishermen, pleasure boaters and other mariners finish work ahead of the busy summer season. Activity at the yard has heightened over the past six weeks, harbormaster Greg Meissner reported, following a steady but comparatively slower winter. The uptick is normal, however, with a little fewer than half of the boats lifted at the yard through the year moved during this final fiscal quarte...
