Sorted by date Results 551 - 575 of 613
The Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium recently hired Ken Hoyt to manage the WISEFAMILIES Through Customary and Traditional Living program in Wrangell with his office located in the SNO Building at 325 Front St., in Wrangell. The WISEFAMILIES program participants learn how to harvest and preserve traditional subsistence foods, learn Tlingit language, story telling and other traditional activities such as carving and weaving. These traditional activities improve overall health and...
Wrangell High School senior William Helgeson joins the WHS choir carolers on guitar at Otteson’s True Value on Friday night....
A group of Wrangell-based outfitters and tour guides last week came out in opposition to a bill currently before Congress that would cede hundreds of thousands of acres to Sealaska under the Southeast Alaska Native Land Entitlement Finalization and Jobs Protection Act. If passed, the bill would open up lands beyond the original boundaries of the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act and would transfer the acreage from government control to the shareholders of Sealaska. One of those...
The Wrangell Medical Center replacement project took another step toward becoming a reality this week after the Borough Assembly voted to reinstate language in an agreement between the borough, hospital CEO Noel Selle-Rea and Pennsylvania-based InnoVative Capital. The agreement between the three parties would end a lawsuit filed by the borough against Selle-Rea and InnoVative on Oct. 4 that seeks to have the borough severed from any legal or financial implications arising from an arbitration...
The Wrangell Borough Assembly met in two open sessions last week to address a number of items of new business and to certify the most recent special election vote for Proposition 1. During a special session on Monday, Nov. 21, the vote was certified 425-172 in favor of the proposition to provide both the land and buildings comprising the new Wrangell Medical Center as collateral on a $24.7 million USDA loan. The second session, a regularly scheduled meeting, was held on Tuesday, Nov. 22 and...
Representative Peggy Wilson announced this week that she would run for the new District 33 seat in the Alaska House of Representatives. The district was formed after the 2010 census caused realignment of districts across the state. The new District 33 seat will cover Wrangell, northeastern Prince of Wales Island, Hyder, Ketchikan and Saxman. If elected, Wilson would serve for her seventh term in the legislature. She currently serves in a leadership position as the House Majority Whip. According...
In what promises to be an important election for Southeast Alaska voters in 2012, District 3 State Senator and Angoon businessman Albert Kookesh has filed to challenge Republican District 1 Senator Bert Stedman for leadership of a new district created after reapportionment. The new district, currently named “District Q,” encompasses Wrangell, Ketchikan, Haines, Angoon, Sitka, Hoonah, Prince of Wales Island and a number of other small towns and villages in Southeast Alaska. Kookesh, a Dem...
The annual holiday shopping extravaganza known as Black Friday made its return appearance in Wrangell last week as sales were up among a number of retailers. Jeff Angerman, owner of Angerman’s Inc., and Angerman’s Outlet, said his sales were up over 2010 – and made a connection between the opening of Front Street and the increase in profit for businesses. “In general, our sales were much better than in 2010,” Angerman said. “Of course, last year, the whole economy was down. It was a turkey.” Th...
The Wrangell Elks Lodge will be holding their 2011 Hoop Shoot competition this Saturday, Dec. 3 at the community gym beginning at 9 a.m. The event, which is organized by Elks member Jeff Jabusch, is for all young men and women who want to take part. “The Hoop Shoot is a national program by the Elks that starts at the local level,” Jabusch said. “It’s a free throw contest and we encourage everybody that is eligible to come out because you don’t have to be a basketball player to take part.” Th...
Alaska Island Community Services received funding earlier this month from the State of Alaska to help prevent the use of alcohol among youths age 12-20 in Wrangell and Petersburg. The Strategic Prevention Framework State Incentive Grant, or SPFSIG, is a program under the auspices of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s infrastructure grant program that helps grantees build and deliver substance abuse and mental health services in Alaska and 48 other states. A...
With the seafood industry as the lifeblood of Southeast Alaska, staying up to date on the latest equipment, services, suppliers, gear and ideas is a must for any community in the region or an Alaskan commercial fishing endeavor. It is with those factors in mind that Wrangell Harbormaster Greg Meissner attended the 35th annual Pacific Marine Expo, otherwise known as “fish expo,” at Seattle’s Qwest Field last week. The expo, which included speakers on a range of topics including fishing safety, ma...
Preparation and desire can be said to be the key to winning in wrestling. That said, hard work pays off in spades when you find yourself atop the dais after the finals – with a gold medal around your neck and the title “champion.” Becoming a champion is exactly what two Wolves wrestlers did last week in Juneau during the 2011 Pilot Invitational tournament at Thunder Mountain High School. Keeping true to form, juniors Kurt Dingwall and Tanner Thomassen returned to the top spot at the tourn...
Wrangellites may soon be able to drive on Front Street again – thanks to a little help from borough manager Tim Rooney and our Alaskan legislative delegation. An email sent on Saturday, Nov. 19 from Rooney to Senator Bert Stedman and Representative Peggy Wilson pleaded with them to provide “immediate assistance in obtaining a winter closure for Wrangell’s Downtown Revitalization Project.” According to business owner Jeff Angerman, contractors told him and other retailers on Saturday that th...
The Wrangell Medical Center Board of Directors voted unanimously on Wednesday, Nov. 16 to extend Emergency Room and hospital privileges to 7 physicians and one CRNA, while denying those same privileges to Dr. Greg Salard of the Tideline Clinic. Salard attended the open portion of the meeting and spoke up with a request after he was informed that his name was once again up for review. “Would it be possible for me to be there while your discussing my credentials?” Salard asked the board and Sel...
Last week, students from Wrangell got the chance to learn about the dangers of tobacco use and the challenges of quitting at the 36th annual Great American Smokeout. The event, which is sponsored by the American Cancer Society, came to the borough on Thursday, Nov. 17, and is a day frequently used as a quit date for many users According to event planner and Alaska Island Community Services therapist Rachael Woods, the event is a reminder of the benefits of living a tobacco-free life. “The highli...
Governor Sean Parnell’s office honored a lifelong Wrangell resident and educator last week in Anchorage at the 2011 Emergency Medical Services symposium. During the event, Randy Churchill was awarded the EMS Educator Award in recognition of his 20 years of service as an EMS educator with the Wrangell Volunteer Fire Department. According to the citation, Churchill was singled out for the award because of his junior firefighter program – a program that has become a model for fire departments in ot...
The Wrangell Medical Center Board of Directors held a special executive session meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 9 to discuss issues related to a possible course of action on a contract between WMC and InnoVative Capital. The contract, signed by WMC CEO Noel Selle-Rea on Aug. 8, 2009, hired the investment and banking firm based in Pennsylvania to find possible funding mechanisms and project team members for the nearly $30 million hospital replacement project. After meeting in executive session, the...
Drama, Debate and Forensics made a grand return to Wrangell High Scool last weekend as the home of the Wolves hosted their first DDF tournament in nearly a decade – and saw an amazing turnout with participants from 7 Southeast Alaska high schools acting, orating and arguing the benefits of the electoral college. Aside from Wrangell, competitors from Juneau-Douglas, Kayhi, Sitka, Thunder Mountain, Haines and Mt. Edgecumbe took part in the two-day event. Wrangell’s head coach, Mike Symons, sai...
The Southeast Alaska Power Agency is smarting over a letter recently delivered to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission seeking an investigation into claims SEAPA’s involvement in the Sunrise Lake Hydroelectric Project is forbidden by the Alaska Constitution. Former Wrangell City Council and Borough Assembly member Warren Edgley submitted the letter on Oct. 30 asking FERC to “investigate the likely misuse and potential abuse of the municipal power claim,” regarding the Sunrise project on Wo...
It was busy Monday for Wrangell’s First District courtroom as a number of cases found resolution – and a number were bound over for further action after the New Year. Sean A. Barclay, 27, of Sitka, was sentenced to 3 days in jail, 12 months of probation, and an aggregate fine of $1,750 after entering a plea of guilty to DUI and driving without a valid license. According to court documents, Barclay’s BAC was .146 when he was arrested – nearly twice the legal limit in Alaska. Judge Kevin Miller...
The trial of a Wrangell man charged with sexual abuse of a minor in the first degree was moved to early next year in First District Court on Tuesday, Nov. 9 after attorneys asked for additional time to study DNA evidence in the case. Cody Horner, 18, is accused of illicit sexual contact with a 3-year old girl just prior to the July 4th holiday in Wrangell. Horner’s trial is now set to begin Feb. 21, 2012 at 8:30 a.m. in Wrangell. A calendar call for managing the trial, which is expected to last...
The Wrangell Medical Center has added a new weapon to its cutting edge arsenal of tools to help fight disease and promote good health. That tool, a CT scanner, is currently housed in a trailer specially designed for the unit at the west end of the hospital – but will be moved into the new WMC building once construction is completed. The scanner is capable of generating a three-dimensional image of the interior of an object with a series of X-ray images shot around a rotational axis. The scan t...
During the most recent Wrangell School Board meeting an economic fact became abundantly clear – though spending more in some areas, the district is finding ways to save money. After beginning the year with an operating capital projection of $74,492 remaining in the district’s coffers, the board approved an upward departure from that number to $204,843. That total, an increase of $130,351, is just over 3 percent of the district’s total budget of $6,768,400. “This is a normal revision cycle and th...
The Wrangell Wolves wrestling team continued their winning ways last weekend in Ketchikan as two of Wrangell’s finest battled their way to the top of their brackets at the Bill Weiss Invitational tournament at Kayhi. The two wrestlers, juniors Kurt Dingwall and Tanner Thomassen, started high in their respective 138- and 145-pounder classes and were able to overcome four opponents each to take a 1st place finish for Wrangell. Wrangell’s head wrestling coach, Jeff Rooney, said each of his win...
Frank Hughes, an Army veteran and American Legion past commander from Kake speaks in front of a packed house at the Wrangell American Legion Hall on Veteran’s Day. Hughes was in Wrangell to present a traditional Tlingit cedar hat to siblings David and Johanna Joseph in memory of her husband, Morgan Joseph, who was a strong supporter of the Legion in both Kake and Wrangell....
