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Discussion of a possible divestiture of Wrangell from the Southeast Alaska Power Agency by 2015 eclipsed a rescission and new vote on a motion by the Borough Assembly related to operations at the Tyee hydroelectric plant on Friday, Nov. 30. The meeting was called after the Assembly passed a motion in error on Tuesday, Nov. 27 that originally called for a letter of non-support to be issued against a report by D. Hittle and Associates – a report which calls for the operations and management of T...
Wrangell High School hosted the 2A Region V volleyball tournament Nov. 29-Dec. 1, with Wrangell nearly making it to the finals before losing in straight sets to Craig (25-19, 25-6, 25-17.) The Lady Wolves began the tournament with a win against Hoonah, but fell later in the day on Thursday with a tough loss to Craig. The squad was able to bounce back by winning three straight matchups in the B-bracket against Metlakatla and Haines, however, to get them into the semifinals against the Lady...
The Southeast Alaska Power Agency Board of Directors is set to vote next week on accepting a report that recommends a single operator at Thomas Bay Power Authority and Ketchikan Public Utility sites in Southeast. SEAPA commissioned the report, which was released in September and will be discussed at their Dec. 11 meeting in Ketchikan, as an alternative to current staffing and risk management solutions at Swan Lake and Tyee Lake hydroelectric plants. According to SEAPA chief executive officer Trey Acteson, the change in operating structures at...
The Chief Shakes Tribal House renovation is almost done after a yearlong crawl towards completion – and a new, permanent carving shed is almost ready to be built adjacent to the SNO Building on Front Street in downtown. The Shakes structure is beginning to look like a near finished product, with foundation, wall and roof construction wrapping up in the past few weeks. Finishing the interior will still take at least two more months, though, and some of the house’s artwork, including the scr...
The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation has notified the Forest Service of an investigation into allegations of misrepresented and omitted pertinent information from its application for permission to store logs from the Tonka Timber Sale during log transfer to Klawock. DEC’s letter requires the Forest Service to respond in writing by Dec. 19 and was prompted by a request by Earthjustice, an environmental law firm on behalf of its client, the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council i...
The progression of a court case against former Wrangell Medical Center administrator Noel Rea and six former members of the WMC Board of Directors was a main topic discussed this week during the regularly scheduled Borough Assembly meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 27. After coming out of executive session, Mayor Don McConachie informed the public that the Assembly had directed Borough Manager Tim Rooney and Borough Attorney Bob Blasco to continue in negotiations to settle the matter. The offer would...
Planning for the proposed Mariner’s Memorial at Heritage Harbor, and the purchase of a new travel lift for the Marine Service Center were the highlights of the most recent Wrangell Port Commission meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 20. After the selection of Brennon Eagle as the new chairman of the commission, and the seating of Eric Yancey as the newest member, the quorum present got down to business beginning with a report from Harbormaster Greg Meissner. “Phase II of the (Marine Service Center) con...
Wrangell High School has a new student newspaper available to students, parents and Wrangell residents as an emailed file for those that wish to subscribe. The paper, titled “WHS News Monthly” is the senior project of Haley Reed and includes writing by students Haley Reed, Nicole Hammer, Kacie Galla, Courtney Haggard, Briana Sample and Victoria Ingram. Reed said she chose to do a newspaper because it offered a plethora of ways to serve the community and do something she loves to do – write...
A skull found near the mouth of the Stikine River in October may require radiocarbon date testing to determine if it came from a Native Alaskan. The skull, which was discovered by Wrangellite Vena Stough while hunting near Government Slough on Oct. 5, was first turned over to the Wrangell Police Department, who then handed it over to the Tongass National Forest supervisor’s office in Petersburg. According to Forest Service anthropologist Jane L. Smith, the office of the Alaska State Medical Exam...
The jury trial of a Wrangell man for a 2011 assault is now on hold after an indictment against him was dismissed in First District Court. Steven Marshall, 53, who was arrested on Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2011 at a residence in the Bloom Trailer Court after Wrangell Police Department officers responded to an argument between him and his girlfriend, will not go to trial next week as originally planned after Judge William B. Carey dismissed the indictment because of an error in the instructions given to...
The Wrangell Cooperative Association, with a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency, has acquired funds to develop environmental programs for Wrangell. And now they want to know what community members think is important to the pristine environment of our region. According to WCA’s Renee Claggett, the Native association has set areas of focus based on information gathered from an initial environmental survey and a questionnaire is being distributed with the intent of discovering what Wrangellites do and know when it comes to saving t...
The Alaska Housing Finance Corporation is promoting a home energy rebate program meant to see savings – and encourage better energy use – in the homes of Alaska residents. With no income requirements, Alaskans who live in owner-occupied year-round homes are eligible for up to $10,000 in reimbursable expenses for the renovations. Butch Schmidt, the energy rater for AHFC in Wrangell, said the program is easy to get started with. “The program works two ways; by either calling AHFC’s program line, or by going online,” Schmidt said. “AHFC wil...
The Wrangell Public School District Board of Directors held their second to last regular meeting of the year on Nov. 19 at Stikine Elementary School – and held a public hearing where the results of the district report cards were discussed. The report cards, which are issued annually for each of the three public schools in the district and the Alaska Virtual Academy, showed an 88.5 percent graduation rate with a 92.7 percent average attendance for the 2011-12 school year. The State of Alaska requires 85 percent return as a target for each of t...
A debate over whether to cut down one of the oldest trees on Chief Shakes Island was temporarily resolved last week after the Wrangell Cooperative Association Board of Directors voted recently to remove it – and the issue was brought up for discussion during the WCA general membership meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 14. The tree, a cottonwood that is estimated by local botanist Glen Decker to be approximately 100 years old, sits on the northwestern corner of the island, adjacent to the location of t...
A proposed change to Title 20 of the Wrangell Municipal Code is up for review by the Borough Assembly – and would alter some definitions and add language regarding zoning in some of the borough’s most remote areas. The most expansive change to the code would be the addition of a new section dealing with the Remote Residential Mixed Use zone, and would include Meyers Chuck, Union Bay, Thom’s Place, Olive Cove and Wrangell Island East. “The remote residential mixed-use (RMU) district is intende...
With the coming basketball season for the Lady Wolves quickly approaching, the baton for MiKayla Stokes’ senior project is now ready to be passed – if enough interest among parents and students can be garnered in the weeks and months to come. Her project, a swim club that teaches the basic strokes of swimming and diving, has about 20 members who have taken part over the past few months. Stokes was upbeat during a meeting with parents and participants last week at Wrangell High School. “This is about the continuation of the swim club, and it so...
Wrangell High School’s wrestling team took second place at the Bill Weiss Invitational Wrestling Tournament at Ketchikan High School last weekend – with sophomore Jeff Rooney, Jr. taking the No. 1 spot in the 182-pounder class as the 2012 season nears completion. The tournament at Kayhi featured 17 teams from across Southeast. Rooney began his run at the top spot by defeating Sam Sergie of Craig with a pin in 44 seconds. Entering the championship round, Rooney took out Kohl Hallman of Ketchikan...
A late stretch of warm, fall weather saw the new Chief Shakes Tribal House roof up in a matter of days – and it wasn’t long before the weather switched, with cool, clear days giving way eventually to rain and some heavy winds. “We’re still standing,” said Project Manager Todd White. “Take a look at the new foundation, massive logs and water tight roof, and you wonder what it’d actually take to make even a scratch in the awesome building. The interior remains bone-dry, thanks to a beefed up roof system.” In addition to the classic cedar p...
The annual Dove Tree ceremony, a remembrance of Wrangellites and family who have passed away during the past 12 months, marked a decade on Sunday, Nov. 18 at the Nolan Center. A total of 46 paper doves, each with the name of a loved one emblazoned upon it in gold ink, were placed on the tree by relatives, friends, and members of the Wrangell Seventh-day Adventist Church. The Wrangell Hospice sponsors the annual event. Alice Rooney, who takes part in the ceremony as an accompanist on piano, said...
The newly built Alaska Island Community Services clinic underwent its final inspection last week by a team of professionals from across the State of Alaska in preparation for the facility opening in early December. Project superintendent Mike Ashton said the inspection went as planned and only involved minor items as the clinic nears its opening. “We had four different inspectors show up and they went through the building and looked at mechanical and electrical systems,” Ashton said. “The elect...
A settlement in the City and Borough of Wrangell’s lawsuit against former Wrangell Medical Center administrator Noel Rea and six recalled members of the WMC Board of Directors will have to wait until at least early December. Attorneys David Shoupe and Jon Dawson, who represent Rea and the former board members and in the case respectively, asked Judge William Carey on Nov. 19 to schedule the hearing with the expectation that all parties will have agreed to the settlement – and that an iPad and...
The Wrangell Ranger District site at Anan has just added a new face to its operation. Natural Resource Specialist Matthew Jurak, who spent three seasons in Wrangell between 2006-08, has been tapped to be the new Anan Site Manager for the district. “I moved from Douglas, Wyo. where I was working with the Forest Service as a biological technician,” Jurak said. “Before that I worked a total of seven summer seasons with the Forest Service including a season in Petersburg in 2004 and three seasons in Wrangell as an interpreter and ranger at Anan...
The return of a laptop computer, iPad, and the scheduling of a hearing that might signal the end of the City and Borough of Wrangell’s lawsuit against former Wrangell Medical Center administrator Noel Rea and six former WMC board members was the topic of discussion during a status conference held Thursday, Nov. 8 in First District Court. The hearing, which was originally slated to be a scheduling conference for a trial in the matter, was changed to a status hearing last week when attorneys for the borough, Rea and the six recalled board m...
Now that you have been re-elected, what is the most important issue you see facing Wrangell, and how do you intend to deal with it in the Legislature? I think the issues facing all of Southeast Alaska are, basically, similar. We need to improve our economy and make ourselves attractive to new business ventures and increase the population of Southeast. There are three ways to do this; when a business comes into an area, they look at three things. First, they look to see if there are good...
The Wrangell Wolves wrestling team came together in a big way – and took 2nd place at the Thorne Bay High School Invitational Tournament last weekend after being edged out only slightly by the squad from Ketchikan. A mix and match format was the name of the game on the first day of competition and was, according to head coach Jeff Rooney, a way to prepare his wrestlers for a high level of play on the mat. “Our attending coaches set up a minimum of two matches per wrestler for the first day of the meet,” Rooney said. “We did these matchup...
