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The coronavirus led to many business closures in 2020. Of those that were able to adapt and weather the financial storm caused by the pandemic, many are still struggling to recover. To that end, the Central Council Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska has reopened its federally funded small business relief grant program to help small businesses owned by tribal citizens. The council also has introduced a grant program for 2022 start-ups. The relief grants have been awarded since 2021, with $200,000 total being awarded to 40 businesses in...
The Wrangell High School wrestlers traveled last weekend to compete in the Sitka Slam, with many team members placing high and turning in fast pin times. Although team scores weren’t kept at the tournament, the number of pins were tracked, with the Wolves turning in the second-highest number at 48 pins. Mt. Edgecumbe had the most with 52. Randy Churchill led the Wrangell team, winning first place in his weight class and placing third overall in the competition with five pins. Ethan Blatchley and Vanessa Barnes also won first place in their w...
The Wrangell High School swim team returned from Juneau last weekend with plenty of personal bests and one regional champion heading to state. Junior Jack Roberts won the regional championship in the 100-yard freestyle and will be heading to the state competition in Anchorage this weekend. He also won third place in the individual medley. Each heat was a personal best for the athlete. “Jack had phenomenal races this weekend,” said head coach Jamie Roberts. “He dropped almost seven seconds off his 200-yard individual medley, which is a lot o...
For about four and a half years, Twisted Root supplied Wrangell residents with organic and natural foods which could be difficult to find in larger grocery stores. That came to an end when the shop closed on Tuesday. The closure highlights the challenges of owning a small business. While the economic climate has led to some owners taking down their shingle, others have been able to open or expand. Twisted Root, owned by Sierra Roland, of Moose Pass, on the Kenai Peninsula, was open for almost...
"Guys! Stop real quick! We need to make one adjustment because I'm seeing people get behind them," Jack Carney broadcasts to the room as he weaves about the grapplers engaged in practicing moves. He scans each pair, somehow seeing every athlete, every stance all at once. He stops to give them direction and they all focus intently on his instruction. "See this shoulder? You're going to punch it right here. Boom. I punch him. All my weight's on him, then I can block his spin. Push, snap and then...
The Lady Wolves are howling with excitement over their multiple victories last week. Over the course of three days last week, the Wrangell High School girls volleyball team beat five teams in five matches to rank first in south seeding for regionals in mid-November. Craig, Klawock, Haines, Skagway and Petersburg teams came to Wrangell to battle it out in the high school gym. The competitions were delayed somewhat because poor weather conditions led to travel delays by some of the teams....
Because the hybrid cruise ship Roald Amundsen started coming to Wrangell this summer, projects based in town are now eligible for grant funds through the cruise line parent company’s nonprofit foundation. Norway-based Hurtigruten Group has been awarding grants through its foundation to projects in communities its cruise ships visit since 2015. It awards projects focused on preserving wildlife, battling plastic waste and marine litter, and supporting the communities Hurtigruten stops in. “Everywhere we operate, we see the negative effects tha...
With voter approval of a $3.5 million bond issue, the Wrangell School District wasted no time in moving ahead with its plan to go after a state grant as it works to fully fund needed repairs at its buildings. But before the district starts any work, it first must determine exactly what needs fixing so it can set priorities and assemble cost estimates. To that end, the school board voted Oct. 11 to appropriate up to $385,900 from the district’s major maintenance fund to pay for condition surveys of all three buildings. The fund has a current b...
I stood on the deck of my aunt’s house in Edmonds, Washington, last week while on vacation, overlooking Puget Sound. Whidbey Island could be seen off to the right through the haze of wildfire smoke on an otherwise uncharacteristically sunny day. “My former boss lives on Whidbey,” I told my Aunt Marie. I explained to her how he used to split his time between his home on the island and one in Angels Camp, California. I said I should reach out to see how he was faring since I had heard he had been diagnosed with cancer. Ralph Alldredge was a tri...
Child care has been a pressing need in the community for some time, and the Wrangell Cooperative Association is hoping to address the issue at least in some part. Starting last week, the WCA distributed surveys on bulletin boards around town, on its website and on Facebook. The survey will help the organization assess how great the need is. “We’re looking to assess the need in our community as a whole,” said Esther Reese, tribal administrator for WCA. The organization is asking how many families need child care, what days of the week are neede...
In a relatively short season, the Wrangell High School boys cross country team went from training to champions. The team won the Division III state title last Saturday at the ASAA/First National Bank Alaska Cross Country Running Championships in Anchorage, making it the first in the program's history. Assistant coach Mason Villarma predicted the runners had the potential to make history for the school after only a couple of meets earlier in the season. That prediction came true with the team...
The U.S. Forest Service spent last week showing that the wildlife at Anan Creek aren't your average bears. From the chilliest to the chunkiest, the inaugural Anan Bear Awards were posted via Facebook from Oct. 3 to Oct. 7, honoring nine bears for their unique personalities. Paul Robbins, public affairs officer for the Tongass National Forest, said the awards are modeled after the Katmai National Park and Preserve's Fat Bear Week held at the same time. In that event, National Park Service...
Several thousand people needed help after communities in Western Alaska were ravaged by the tail end of a typhoon in mid-September. Though the affected region is more than 1,200 miles away from Wrangell, residents here wanted to help however they could. With icier months fast approaching places like Hooper Bay and Nome, cold-weather gear will be necessary. "People called me and asked if we were going to do anything," said Jana Wright, Wrangell Cooperative Association staff member. Wright said...
Joint locks and compression locks might sound like the perils of getting old, but they are among hundreds of moves that are incorporated into Brazilian jiu-jitsu fighting. Though the sport can seem intimidating to first-time students, a group in Wrangell is working to welcome newcomers and highlight the many benefits. Jiu-jitsu was created over 100 years ago, originating from judo. Brazilian jiu-jitsu was created in the 1920s and has become one of, if not the fastest-growing martial arts in the...
No less than 100 people turned out on Sept. 26 right before sunset for the dedication of the Wrangell Mariners' Memorial at Heritage Harbor. What some said has been in the works for decades has finally been completed, honoring those who have lost their lives at sea and those who made their lives from the sea. "It's amazing (that it's finished)," said Jenn Miller-Yancey, president of the memorial board. "We stand out here and can't believe it sometimes." Miller-Yancey, who's late husband Ryan...
Josh Fish would like to see kids win at the game of life across the board rather than be pawns, so he took a gambit with a classic game. The first chess club will start after school next Monday at Evergreen Elementary, with Fish and helpers teaching students the rules of the game, with the hope of developing social skills and critical-thinking skills in the young players. Fish, 25, learned to play chess in Fayetteville, North Carolina, when he was a freshman in high school. The game turned his...
A U.S. Forest Service project to build new public-use cabins and refurbish some existing cabins is moving into the next round of public comment. The agency expects to listen to the public in the coming weeks to find out which areas would be best for new structures and which would be best to fix up within the Tongass and Chugach National Forests, it announced in a press release on Sept. 23. “As part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s investment in the nation’s recreation infrastructure, the (U.S. Department of Agriculture) is inves...
Despite a global COVID-19 pandemic the past two and a half years, influenza — the flu — is still among us. To that end, the SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium will hold a flu clinic from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 22 at the Wrangell Medical Center SEARHC is asking people to call and schedule a time slot to reduce wait time, however walk-ins are still welcome. The clinic was originally scheduled for Oct. 8 but was rescheduled due to a delay in the shipment of vaccines. Between 2010 and 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Pre...
The Wrangell High School boys cross country team came home from an eventful weekend in Sitka, taking many top spots at Southeast regionals. Once again, sophomore Daniel Harrison led his team, only this time he powered through to take first place out of 56 runners with a time of 16:50, nine seconds faster than senior Luke Davis of Haines. “Daniel had an incredible race,” said head coach Kayla Rooney. “He did exactly what we have been working on this season, pacing himself with other runners that we’ve been competing with every weekend and pus...
The Wrangell High School swim team dove into the competition in Petersburg last Friday and Saturday, with junior Jack Roberts winning the top spot in the 100-yard freestyle event. Four of the swimmers had nine top 10 finishes at the meet, and three had six personal bests. Roberts finished first in the 100-yard freestyle, third in the 200-yard individual medley and third in the 100-yard butterfly. Sophomore Max Lloyd finished fourth in the 50-yard freestyle, while junior Alisha Armstrong finished eighth in the 50-yard freestyle, 10th in the...
The 935-foot-long Holland America Noordam made a stop in Wrangell last Wednesday, bringing 1,664 passengers and 700 crew members to town. Curious travelers flooded along Front Street and walked as far down as Peninsula Street and out to the Volunteer Park Nature Trail, stopping in shops and taking as many photos as they could during the seven hours the ship was in port. The Noordam wasn't originally scheduled to stop in Wrangell; cruise lines typically schedule their routes about two years in...
Now that the community garden has put down roots and harvested a successful return, committee members are mulling over what comes next for the budding group. At its monthly meeting Sept. 20, a few members gathered at the community garden site at 1.5 Mile to discuss end-of-season plans, a final harvest wrap-up party and what will happen next year. Committee member and co-founder of the group Valerie Massie said there was still work left to do this season, such as building an eight-foot-high...
During its regular monthly meeting on Sept. 19, the Wrangell school board started discussions on revising its strategic plan. Strategic plans provide school districts with guidance on reaching specific goals over the course of five years. The current plan expires in 2023 but can be updated at any time. In its recent accreditation assessment of the Wrangell Public School District, Arizona-based company Cognia determined the strategic plan was too vague. Schools Superintendent Bill Burr said Cognia came to that conclusion because plan timelines...
What some would see as just a portion of muddy lawn at City Park, Angie Flickinger saw as an opportunity to better the environment. A couple years ago, Flickinger, who works on a part-time basis with the Southeast Alaska Watershed Coalition in Juneau, conducted a community watershed assessment to determine areas that would be ideal for a rain garden in Wrangell. Rain gardens act as natural filtration for rainwater that empties into streams and other waterbodies. "Basically, I went around on...
David Wilson has served two three-year terms on the Wrangell school board and is seeking re-election for a third. He is serving as board president during his second term. Since being elected to the board, Wilson, 67, said he believes the schools are "headed in the right direction," despite the challenges the schools face. When he originally ran for the board, the semi-retired cabinet maker said he was unhappy with how things were being run in the schools. "I wanted to see our education...
