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The Lady Wolves softball team has hit the diamond at the city fields – and are beginning work toward their 2013 season with a pair of seniors leading the way and head coach Kathleen Harding at the helm once again. In 2012 the squad finished last season with a convincing 20-7 win over the Craig Lady Panthers at home, but only after overcoming a 26-38 loss in the two-game opener. It was during the win that Wrangell’s McKenna Harding and Alyssa Allen had back-to-back homers. Allen, and fellow senio...
The Wrangell Cooperative Association has submitted a letter to the Borough Assembly requesting that the Wrangell Institute Property be donated to WCA. The letter requests that the possibility of WCA acquiring the land be placed on the April 23 Assembly agenda for discussion. According to Borough Manager Tim Rooney, the item will be placed on that meeting’s agenda. In a March 25 letter to the Borough, WCA board president Tim Gillen lays out his reasons for the request of the property that f...
After what seems like an eternity of wind, rain, snow and generally horrid weather all winter, the staff at Muskeg Meadows Golf Course has opened for business and is poised for the 2013 season to begin. Course manager Shannon Booker said that while the course is currently open for both rounds on the links and for use of the driving range, the kickoff of the course’s season will begin early next month. “The Angerman’s Tournament will be May 4-5 and we are expecting up to 20 participants for that...
With the rededication of the Chief Shakes Tribal House only a month away, two local women who are blood descendants of Chief Shakes VI, the second to last leader of the Native community in Wrangell, are remembering him with their memories and a pre-1940 Potlatch photo of the Chief, who was born George Shakes in 1878. Nellie Gunderson-Lewis Torgramsen, the granddaughter of Chief Shakes VI, was born in 1932 in Wrangell and is related to him through her mother Margaret, grandmother Minnie Snook, an...
The most recent Port Commission meeting discussed a number of issues related to the ongoing Mariner’s Memorial project, lease space at the Marine Service Center, and a determination of whether Shoemaker or Inner harbors would receive priority in renovation efforts. In harbormaster Greg Meissner’s report to the commission he caught the commissioners up to speed on issues regarding Heritage Harbor. “The signage will be going in soon,” Meissner said. “We’ll put the parking signs in and the rules signs for the boat launch and all that. It sounds l...
Alaska Island Community Services unveiled their new “NextMD Patient Portal” program at the Wrangell Health Fair on Saturday, April 6 at the James and Elsie Nolan Center. The application, which is a web-based method of communicating with your physician or other medical staff is now online and provides a way to request, book or cancel appointments, receive and review your medical documents, request medication renewals, send messages to health care staff, and update personal medical information. The system, while online, is secure – and allow...
The Thomas Bay Power Authority commissioners undertook a lengthy discussion over who will be hired to take the reins of the utility for Wrangell and Petersburg during a special meeting held March 4 in Wrangell. A motion by commissioner Dave Galla to keep current manager Paul Southland on as the full-time leader of the utility for at least a year failed by a 4-3 vote, with commissioners Robert Larson, Joe Nelson, Clay Hammer and president John Jensen voting against the motion. TBPA operations foreman Mick Nicholls was then nominated by commissio...
The legendary mountain climber Barry Finlay once wrote in his book, Kilimanjaro and Beyond, that “Every mountain top is within reach if you just keep climbing.” Two local men have proven that point by cresting the massive mountain – the tallest in Africa and the highest freestanding mountain in the world at 19,341 feet above sea level – last month. Wrangellites Bruce Jamieson and Dustin Johnson recently returned to Southeast Alaska after making the trip to Tanzania where they conquered the pea...
The final touches on the Chief Shakes Tribal House are currently underway in preparation for the May 3-4 rededication ceremony on the island – and last week saw a colossal parade of students from Wrangell High School and the Native community down Front Street to restore a pair of cedar house posts to their rightful place in the Tribal House. The posts, which were carved by Steve Brown and Wayne Price, traveled from the James and Elsie Nolan Center in a flatbed trailer and were accompanied by m...
Gov. Sean Parnell signed into law last week a bill designating March 29 of each year as Vietnam Veterans Day in Alaska. Parnell was joined for the bill signing in the packed Speaker’s chamber by legislators and veterans of the war, some of whom are serving in the Legislature, including Senate President Charlie Huggins, R-Wasilla, who served in the Army. “This is welcome home,” he said, his voice cracking. “Welcome.” March 29, 1973, marked the withdrawal of the last U.S. troops from Vietnam....
The US Forest Service has chosen Wrangell’s Boy Scout Troop 40 to receive the 2013 Wilderness Partner Award for their efforts in identifying and accomplishing stewardship activities on the Wrangell Ranger District. Regional Forester Beth Pendleton made the announcement last week in a press release, stating, “Their invasive weed eradication efforts within the Stikine-LeConte Wilderness were a crucial partnership in keeping wilderness wild for everyone, especially our youth.” The troop has adopted the Twin Lakes area and plan to return every...
An emotion-filled public comment session at the most recent Borough Assembly meeting brought to light concerns about a coming logging operation near the former Wrangell Institute property near 5.25 Mile Zimovia Highway. The issue first came to light during the March meeting of the Borough’s Planning and Zoning Commission. It was during that meeting that local residents, including Daryl Gross and the family of Mark Armstrong, spoke up against what they perceived as a plan to build a logging road from an Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority prope...
During the Thomas Bay Power Authority Commission meeting on March 27, TBPA general manager Paul Southland’s report shed light on a number of issues, with special attention paid to on-going brush clearing efforts in the utility’s service area. According to Southland, clearing operations are underway in the Borough, but a lack of proper US Forest Service permitting for use of all-terrain vehicles is making for trying times in the muskeg and brush where crews are working. “Without a proper permit it is a complete waste of time and manpower,” South...
The Borough Assembly undertook one of their longest and most productive sessions in recent months this week as they attempted for a second time to form an “energy committee,” approved a number of contracts and construction projects, and took under consideration a recent protest over use of the former Wrangell Institute property for storage of timber from an Alaska Mental Heath Land Trust land sale. The formation of an energy committee, which would be tasked with looking at the possibilities of d...
The Wrangell Medical Center Board of Trustees took no action on three key proposals at their March 20 meeting at the James and Elsie Nolan Center, instead deciding to hold off on making any decisions for the near term. The first item the board considered was whether or not to allow attendance at executive or other closed sessions by electronic means, including telephone, Skype or other methods. After a lengthy discussion by the members, board president Woody Wilson restated the feelings of the...
Zimovia Strait is under consideration by the Alaska Division of Forestry for short-term moorage space for logs and a log ship, with Shoemaker Bay being a preferred location. According to Borough Manager Tim Rooney, the state is looking to replace or improve some of the marine infrastructure for the timber industry to provide for a series of state owned marine moorage systems throughout the region – and because of Wrangell’s central location and future sales in the area – it makes sense for t...
The Alaska Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys has released an interactive web map application displaying earthquake faults and folds throughout Alaska that are believed capable of producing damaging earthquakes. The new application, Alaska’s Quaternary Faults and Folds, focuses on “geologically recent activity,” and is part of the DGGS Engineering Geology Section’s efforts to better characterize earthquake hazards. The map included uses zoom and scroll options to navigate and view the locations...
Alaska’s Board of Game took a step toward a potential wolf control program on Gravina Island recently when it directed the state to prepare an “operational plan” for the board to consider in March. Meeting earlier this month in Sitka, the board accepted the feasibility studies completed by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game regarding the potential for wolf control programs on Gravina Island and in limited areas near Petersburg to help boost deer populations. “We believe that this is a project that the department could accomplish and be...
Verizon is on its way to Southeast Alaska – just not for the foreseeable future in Wrangell or Petersburg. According to company spokesman Scott Charlston, the move to bring cell and data service to rural Alaska is in its first phase and that network facilities are currently in Juneau only. “It’s no secret that we have towers in Juneau and we can’t hide that,” Charlston said. “But, we are not poised to go into some of the more rural areas at this point. Wrangell and Petersburg would be in that. There might be something in phase two, but I have...
The Alaska Army National Guard held a memorial service at the James and Elsie Nolan Center on Monday, March 18 to remember the Wrangellites that served in the Alaska Territorial Guard – and to present two flags in memory of our soldiers. Corporal Jeremy Goff and Specialist Serita Johnson comprised the Honor Guard and presented flags to veterans Arnold “Cappy” Bakke and Kjell Nore, Sr. Bakke received a flag on behalf of Wrangell’s American Legion Post No. 6, while Nore was presented with a flag...
There will no change in Alaska Airlines’ status as the provider of Essential Air Service for Southeast Alaska communities after the U.S. Department of Transportation issued an order in February continuing the EAS through 2015 – and Alaska Airlines will retain the designation as the provider of the service. “On February 11, we issued an order re-selecting Alaska Airlines to provide Essential Air Service in five communities in Southeast Alaska,” said USDOT spokesperson Bill Moseley. “That o...
During the March 5-6 meeting of the SEAPA Board of Directors, the reports of operations manager Steve Henson and special projects director Eric Wolfe highlighted a number of projects and new information related to the Tyee Lake Hydroelectric project. In Henson’s report he began with information on the Wrangell Reactor Replacement project at the powerhouse near Bradfield Canal. “The Wrangell Reactor replacement project management, engineering, and design have been awarded to Electric Power Systems, Inc. (EPS). Completion of the project has bee...
Ground has been broken on a new carving shed for the Wrangell Cooperative Association on property adjacent to the SNO Building in downtown. The construction, under the direction of WCA project manager Todd White, began with grading and underground work and will progress over the coming months to include pouring a foundation, framing, and ultimate completion of the one-of-a-kind structure. According to White, the work will begin in earnest once warmer temperatures arrive and the snow gives way...
The 2013 Wrangell Medical Center Health Fair is scheduled for April 6 at the Nolan Center – and this year’s fair will include a new Vitamin D level test in addition to the normal Health Profile, Thyroid Screen, Prostate Screen and Hemoglobin A1C diabetes screens. For the past 19 years, WMC has sponsored the event – which has grown in size each year. Cathy Gross, WMC’s Director of Health Information Management, said the event is unique in Southeast Alaska. “Wrangell Medical Center sponsors...
