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Wealthy people enjoy their mansions, yachts, fancy cars, private jets and private clubs. No law against being super comfortable, living the good life with servants and avoiding TSA lines and self-serve kiosks. But considering that the ultra-wealthy already own so much, enjoy so many perks in life and never have to ask “how much” when grocery shopping, you would think they could leave alone federal services for everyone else who is not in the same high-income world. I’m not asking them to take a vow of poverty like a nun or even share their...
Wrangell’s potential summer cruise ship passenger count has dropped by about 5,000 with the loss of two mid-size ships to Klawock. The Prince of Wales Island community opened up a cruise ship port last summer to attract more visitors — and economic activity — to the town of about 700 residents which is on the island’s extensive road system that links 10 communities. The 728-berth Sea Nova canceled six Wrangell stops May through August, switching to Klawock, and the 750-berth Silver Seas Explorer moved an August visit to Klawock while retaini...
President Donald Trump has strong opinions, strong confidence in his decisions and often uses strong language. All of which can be good traits for a leader. Assertiveness and assurances, particularly in times of crisis or disaster, can help the public feel that someone is taking charge and will make things better. Nations need leaders who can bring people together in times of sadness. Such as the day after a deadly crash between a passenger jet and a military helicopter at Washington National Airport last week. Trump started his press...
The borough has negotiated a $50,000 insurance settlement to help pay for repairs after a boat owner pulled up their anchor and hooked and crimped the sewage treatment plant’s deep outfall pipeline in the waters off City Park last September. The Public Works Department quickly found a temporary solution to keep the treated discharge flowing out of the plant. Bids on a permanent fix were due at City Hall on Tuesday, Feb. 4. The total cost of the temporary work, underwater video to locate the problem and permanent repairs to the pipeline is estim...
A team from Oregon State University’s Sustainable Tourism Lab will conduct a survey in Wrangell next month to help the borough learn more of what residents think of tourism, the positives and any negatives of having visitors in town, and how to manage for the best outcome for the community. The online survey will start early February, with a student researcher in town later in the month for in-person interviews. “The purpose is to figure out where community sentiment lies” on the effects of a growing tourism industry, explained Kate Thoma...
The Wrangell advisory committee doesn’t want to see Southeast residents lose any more of their limited share of king salmon catches to nonresident charter fishing customers, but it isn’t ready to support proposals that would substantially rewrite the commercial/sport allocations set by the Alaska Board of Fisheries. “It’s complicated,” said Chris Guggenbickler, chair of the local advisory committee which met three times in November and December to consider close to 160 proposals that will go before the state board at its meeting Jan. 28 throug...
Among the 159 proposals to go before the state Board of Fisheries at its meeting in Ketchikan starting this week is one to reduce Southeast Alaska hatcheries’ chum and pink egg take by 25%. Supporters say it would help wild salmon stocks by reducing their competition with hatchery fish for food. The Wrangell advisory committee to the Board of Fisheries “adamantly opposes” the proposal, said Chris Guggenbickler, committee chair. “The hatcheries around here are pretty beneficial to everyone,” he said. “If we didn’t have them,” a lot of people i...
I remember as a kid accompanying my mom to the elementary school a few blocks from our house. No, not because the principal had called her into the office to talk about my behavior. That came later, in high school and college. Such as in college, when the dorm manager called my dad at work to tattle on me. He called my dad collect. For people too young to know, that’s when the person making the call instructed the operator to bill the person getting the call, “collecting” the toll. That was back when you paid for long-distance calls by the expe...
The borough owns about 12,000 acres on Wrangell Island and wants to work with two different state agencies that hold several thousand acres more to see if they can coordinate small-scale timber sales on the island. “By pooling our resources … we put ourselves in a better position,” Borough Manager Mason Villarma said. The borough assembly last month approved a memorandum of understanding to work with the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority, which owns a little over 4,000 acres across the island. The agreement calls for working together towar...
Wrangell lost 147 working-age residents — defined as between the ages of 20 and 64 — from 2020 to 2024, according to the state’s latest numbers. Meanwhile, the community’s senior citizen population — 65 and older — grew by 91 during the same period. The loss of working-age residents likely is a big reason for the chronic labor shortage in town, particularly among Front Street businesses. The town is getting older, with the median age increasing from 48 years old in 2020 to 49.1 years old in 2024, according to data released by the Alaska Depa...
The country is looking at tariffs the wrong way. This isn’t a new problem — we’ve been making the same mistake since the first U.S. tariffs on imported goods in 1790. But the self-inflicted case of mistaken identity has gone on far too long and it’s time to fix it. The problem is that the U.S. imposes tariffs on what we buy, which is why the added cost often ends up hurting no one but ourselves. And now the country is talking about even more and larger tariffs on what we buy for our homes, business and factories — the very items that many cons...
The failure of the U.S. House to reauthorize federal funding to assist rural communities with a lot of non-taxable federal land — such as the Tongass National Forest — presents a $550,000 challenge for the Wrangell School District and borough. If the new Congress doesn’t fix the problem, the district could have to further draw on its reserves, or the borough could have to take from its reserves to plug the gap, or a combination of the two. Or cut spending at the schools — the federal money represents about 10% of this year’s school district...
Close to 20 years ago, when I was working for the Anchorage Daily News, the paper was moving more aggressively into the online world, allowing readers to post comments at the end of news stories, opinion columns and letters to the editor for everyone to see. I thought that was a bad idea, opening up a free platform for people to spread and promote mistruths, half-truths and full-out falsehoods to tens of thousands of readers every day. Not to mention personal attacks on innocent people, accusations and hostile language. The problems would...
The Washington state developer who wants to turn the former 6-Mile mill property into a waste-burning operation to heat large-scale greenhouses said his next steps include lining up financing and making an offer to buy the land from the borough. Dale Borgford said he was heartened by the warm reception he received from the borough assembly, mayor and borough staff when he and his crew met with officials and toured the site last month. The Colville, Washington businessman has estimated the cost for developing the Wrangell project could total...
“Grease cake” is not a recipe for success in Public Works Director Tom Wetor’s kitchen. And there’s nothing completely handy and harmless about wiping up a mess and flushing it down the toilet. It all clogs up the pumps, screens and equipment at Wrangell’s sewage treatment plant. “It’s definitely a constant problem,” Wetor said, so much so that the borough sends out a reminder every year to residents about what not to dump into their sinks, tubs and toilets. “You’d be amazed at how those wipes clump together,” twisting into a rope around th...
Borough staff is working with an engineering team to finish up the design and specifications to put in streets and utilities for the second phase of the Alder Top Village (Keishangita.’aan) residential subdivision near Shoemaker Harbor. If the borough goes ahead with the project, the street and utility work could be put out to bid for 2025 construction. Phase II of the subdivision of borough-owned land would make available for sale 20 residential lots, adding to the 20 lots already planned for sale by online bidding and a lottery this coming s...
Anne Morrison, who is moving to Montana to be closer to family, has resigned her seat on the borough assembly. Applications to fill the vacancy will be accepted until Feb. 11, when the assembly is expected to appoint a successor to serve until the next municipal election in October. Anyone interested in serving on the assembly needs to submit a letter of interest to the borough clerk’s office by 3 p.m. Feb. 11. The assembly will consider the applicants and make an appointment at its regularly scheduled meeting that evening. A majority vote o...
There’s no reason to hide my praise for the Freedom Caucus, that rabble-rousing merry band of far-right conservatives who make trouble for congressional Republican leaders — and for the country. The hard-liners are willing to shut down government services to make a point, even when the point is dull and the public harm is sharp. They promote chaos to churn up their fundraising efforts. And they flock to social media like waterfowl flock to wetlands to feed — both leave the same kind of mess behind. But when the Freedom Caucus is right, they...
It’s been almost four months since an anchor line pulled up and bent the deepwater discharge pipe from Wrangell’s wastewater treatment plant, cutting off the outflow, but the repair work is going out for bid and the borough hopes to have everything back to normal by April. Borough crews will restore the normal flow through the buried discharge pipe near City Park just as soon as the contractor completes the underwater repairs, said Public Works Director Tom Wetor. Crews had dug up the pipe on the beach and cut into the line so that the tre...
The mayor convened the public workshop, inviting Washington state-based entrepreneur Dale Borgford to lay out for borough officials his plans to build biomass boilers that would burn trash from around Southeast to heat large commercial greenhouses at the site of the former 6-Mile mill. He also wants to build a plant capable of filling large plastic bottles with 40,000 gallons a day of clean water from a creek at the north end of the property, or from rainwater if the creek flow is insufficient. And his list includes a plant to turn fish waste...
The Alaska Marine Highway System has added Wi-Fi service for passengers aboard the state ferry Columbia - with other ships in the fleet to follow. The service, which initially will be free on the Columbia, started last month when the ship came out of a yearlong layup to take over the weekly run between Bellingham, Washington, and Southeast Alaska when the Kennicott was pulled for its own yearlong layup for new generators. The Columbia is the only state ferry serving Wrangell, with a northbound...
The borough has until 2030 to meet tighter state and federal water quality standards for its wastewater treatment plant discharge, and will use this year to determine the best way to kill more of the bacteria in the outflow. The Environmental Protection Agency renewed Wrangell’s wastewater discharge permit in November — along with permits for Haines, Skagway, Sitka, Ketchikan and Petersburg. The communities must make improvements to their treatment systems to reduce the levels of bacteria discharged into marine waters. In Wrangell, that lik...
The Irene Ingle Public Library, which has run a summer reading program for children for years, is turning a new page for 2025 — it is running a similar program for adults. There will be prizes for adults who fill in their book bingo card. The idea started with parents asking during the annual summer activity for children, “I wish you had an adult reading program,” said Sarah Scambler, library director. She talked with other librarians around the state, including the Anchorage public library which has run a bingo-card style reading chall...
Americans are changing their minds in record numbers. No, not about politics. People are pretty stubborn about that. And don’t look for Americans to change their minds about what they dislike — taxes, inflation, roof leaks and car repairs — or what they like —sweets, free Wi-Fi and airline miles on their credit cards. But take a look at the numbers and you’ll see that people change their minds about their online purchases more often than candidates change their positions on tough issues. Or, if you don’t want to pick on politicians...
The Wrangell Athletic Club succeeded in raising enough money in its first full year to repay the school district for the cost of sending students to state competition in the 2023-2024 school year. The all-volunteer nonprofit organization was created in late 2023 after the school district determined it could not afford to pay the expenses of students traveling to state competition and needed community fundraising to cover the bills. The costs totaled $25,042 for the 2023-2024 school year, which...