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It may have been Petersburg's homecoming weekend but two of Wrangell High School's basketball teams were the ones coming home with wins. In two days of tough competition last Friday and Saturday, Wrangell's varsity girls and boys junior varsity teams beat the Vikings in two games each. The boys varsity team was beaten by the Vikings in their two games. The girls junior varsity team didn't travel. Junior varsity From the start, the JV boys faced tough competition from the Petersburg team. The...
The steady drumbeat and voices singing in unison, mixed with formline artwork regalia are unmistakable as Tlingit storytellers and dancers share their Native culture while curious visitors look on. It’s a way to share the past and keep tribal traditions alive. But it needs help. The Wrangell Cooperative Association, which manages tribal affairs on the island, is looking for people to participate in its dancing and storytelling during the tourism season, which runs from about April to September, depending on the cruise ship schedule. “This is op...
An old Staples printer paper box sat in front of me, spewing forth its contents. Instead of reams of 8.5-by-11 copy paper, old lifestyle sections, visitor guides, comics, real estate sections and business pages laid inside and scattered around the box. It was a small fraction of my work in journalism, dating back to the late 1990s, and showing the progression of my work. Hundreds of stories stared back at me, unrecognizable. Most of these I didn’t even remember writing. Others took me right back to the interviews. The ones I thought best illust...
From the start of the game, the Wrangell High School boys basketball team had their work cut out for them against Haines. The energy from both the Wolves and the Glacier Bears was evident from tipoff in Friday and Saturday games, leading to one loss and one win on Haines' home turf. Right off the bat in the first period of the first game, Haines took possession of the ball and sunk a 3-point shot. Ethan Blatchley answered with Wrangell's first 2-pointer just moments into play. He would add...
Bad luck on Friday the 13th bled into Saturday the 14th for the Lady Wolves as they traveled to Haines to take on the Glacier Bears last weekend. In the first competition of the new year, the Wrangell High School girls basketball team played against Haines in two games last weekend. Haines proved to be a formidable opponent from the start of Friday night, taking an early lead and never letting go of it. The triple-threat of MacKenzy Dryden, Grace Long-Godinez and Ari'el Godinez-Long kept Haines...
Basketball and Jacen Hay go together like 3-point baskets and, well, Jacen Hay. It's no surprise then that the student-athlete chose to integrate basketball into his senior project, helping to coach the middle school basketball program. Hay has been playing the game since he was about 5 years old when he started in the peewee program. He and his core group of friends played together growing up, and he played on all the school teams and has made a name for himself on the Wrangell High School...
As the old saying goes, “Variety is the spice of life,” and Wrangell must have made a good impression for Holland America to change its menu for 2024. The cruise line made a late-scheduled stop near the end of the 2022 season, bringing more than 2,300 passengers and crew members to town aboard the Noordam. Now, Holland America has added two stops in Wrangell for the 2024 season for a more “diverse itinerary.” It’s the first time the company has included Wrangell in its pre-season advertising. The cruise line runs six ships on its Alaska to...
As part of its ongoing review and update of the schools’ mitigation plan, the Wrangell School District has dropped the COVID-19 testing requirement for athletes traveling for games. The requirement was dropped at the start of the year. Schools Superintendent Bill Burr announced the decision at the December school board meeting, during review of the plan. Though student-athletes no longer need to test before going out of town for games, the district still encourages it. “We are still doing optional testing at all schools on a request bas...
It's an ambitious senior project that doesn't involve building something, volunteering, painting or reading to the sick or elderly. But it could help make Wrangell a better place to live. Will Ashton, 18, wants to gather the community's thoughts on the economic and social well-being of the town and use the collected data to help borough leaders improve the quality of life. He hopes to survey as many residents as possible covering the areas of subsistence economy, cash economy and the social...
Keely Good excitedly showed her friend Carter Hammer around the thrift store, pointing out where various items could be found. After that, she showed him how to ring up customers with the cash register. For the past semester, Keely and Carter have both worked at different businesses around town as part of Wrangell High School's special education class on-the-job training program to help them gain work and life skills for after they graduate. The schools have always had some form of job training...
For the 24th New Year's Day in a row, a group of intrepid people celebrated the new year by taking the plunge. Fifteen souls went bravely or insanely into the chilly waters of Shoemaker Bay, depending on how you look at it. Despite the warmer mid-40 temperatures, the wind was gusting through Wrangell, stirring up two- and four-foot waves. The tide was lower than it was at the same time last year, causing the dippers to make a slightly longer trek to the water over rocky terrain. Clay Hammer was...
Christmas morning is supposed to be a time of warmth, cheer and uplifted spirits. Unfortunately, for one Wrangell family, it was a morning where their spirits sank. Along with their boat. Benn Curtis, his wife Shirley Wimberley and their son Rolland Wimberley were enjoying the start to their day on Dec. 25 when they discovered their family boat submerged. "We were just sitting around and (Rolland) looks out and says, 'At least it's a white Christmas.'" Shirley Wimberley said. "I was thinking it...
I like to think I'm my own worst critic. Every word choice and every photo I run in print are reviewed, critiqued and deemed passable. For example, I rewrote this paragraph three times. When it comes to photography, I enjoy it so much that it's hard to boil down my choices for print. Sometimes, I'll take thousands of photos a month for news stories. Readers will maybe see 20 of those. My only hope is that what is printed has a positive affect for the most part. It doesn't always happen that...
Everything Nikolai Bardin-Siekawitch has learned about piloting a drone since 2021 will help launch his senior project. Not surprising, he is abuzz with excitement to use the flying technology any way he can. The overall goal Bardin-Siekawitch wants to achieve in his high school project is to provide some sort of drone-related service in Wrangell "because we don't really have one here and I want to be the first." That service could be anything from real estate photos to promotional videos or...
It's been 45 years since Dave Rak and his wife Paula came to Alaska. It's been 45 years since he accepted a job as a soils scientist with the U.S. Forest Service. And now, 45 years later, he's retiring. Rak's last day as a full-time employee with the agency was Dec. 31. In that time, he's held a few different positions, worked with many different people and seen the Forest Service change in lots of different ways. Fresh out of graduate school in 1977, Rak applied with the Forest Service to be a...
After 20 years of working in the U.S. Forest Service, Tory Houser is taking on a new role, albeit a temporary one. While Ranger Clint Kolarich is away on another assignment for four months, Houser is filling in as the acting ranger for the Wrangell district of the Tongass National Forest. The biggest change in Houser's duties is that she will be the decision maker for the district. "All of the recommendations, all of the projects and things that come through here and need a signature, a 'yes'...
Two senior wrestlers went to Anchorage as regional title holders. They returned to Wrangell with another title to their names: State champions. Ethan Blatchley and Randy Churchill each took on four competitors in their respective weight classes from across Alaska to win the Division II state championship title on Saturday night. Blatchley won for the 171-pound weight class and Churchill won for the 160-pound weight class. Over the course of Friday and Saturday, Blatchley grappled with Memphis...
One of the senior projects taken on last year was refurbishing benches in the high school and middle school courtyard. James Shilts and Rowen Wiederspohn cleaned, sanded and repainted the benches. Though it helped beautify the open space, it still needed something. This year, Nick Allen chose to add to the courtyard by building a table and attaching benches that students could sit at to eat lunch or do homework or just relax when the weather permits. Allen got the idea for a table and benches wh...
The Wrangell Wolves had a preview of what's to come in this season's basketball tournaments, and the team has its work cut out for them. In competition that spanned three days, the Wrangell High School boys basketball team traveled to Sitka to take on three different teams. They won two games and lost two games in fierce opening play. On Thursday, the team was supposed to compete against Kodiak High School, but the Bears were canceled by foul weather. Instead, the Wolves took on the Sitka...
Word of River's Mouth is spreading, just like one of their locally made jams. It's only been a little over a month since River's Mouth Trading Co. opened in the former GCI storefront on Front Street, but customers have already taken advantage of the permanent space. The company has existed since 2017 and has found success through selling at the monthly community market, but as the product line increased, the once-a-month market became harder to sustain. "I started making too many things to pack...
Finding the perfect tree in Wrangell isn’t as easy as driving to the nearest lot and picking out a Christmas conifer. But, like many other pastimes in Alaska, one can be hunted down in the Tongass National Forest, as long as the rules are observed. The U.S. Forest Service doesn’t have regulations or require a permit for private household use on Christmas trees, but it does have some guidance for people to follow to help keep from damaging the forest’s ecosystem. According to the guidelines, trees may not be cut from any of its developed recre...
Leroy Wynne knows the value of volunteering and has experienced its rewards on the hardwood. Throughout October and into November, Wynne helped coach fourth and fifth graders in basketball, giving them a social outlet and a way to learn teamwork. The coaching was his high school senior project and a natural fit for the student-athlete. Wynne and a few other volunteer coaches, worked with 20 children to teach them the fundamentals of basketball, instill a love of the game, build teamwork and...
There was plenty of tough competition last Friday and Saturday as the Wrangell High School wrestling squad attended the Southeast Division II regional championship competition in Ketchikan. Head coach Jack Carney's strategy to curb any risks of injury over the previous weeks paid off as grapplers brought home six first-place wins, one second-place finish, four third-place, two fourth-place, one fifth-place and one sixth-place win. The Wrangell squad placed second overall behind Mt. Edgecumbe...
"Remember, ladies," head coach Christina Good yells to her players from across the high school gym, "stretch really good. Hammies. Quads." Good moves about the hardwood, keeping an eye on the players' forms, with one bare foot. As players arrived for practice last Wednesday night, one had forgotten a single sock. Good lent the player hers. It's an example of how dedicated the coach and her team are toward making the most of the season. "That's what coaches do," Good said with a shrug. Last...
An incredible run of wins took the Wrangell High School girls volleyball team all the way to the state championship playoffs at Palmer High School last Thursday and Friday. Even with their signature ability to come back from losses and overcome the competition to win matches, it wasn’t enough for the Lady Wolves, whose bid for the state title ended after three hard-fought games. Wrangell versus Dillingham Play started Thursday morning with Wrangell facing the Dillingham High School Wolverines. Early on, it was evident the kind of competition W...
