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Michael Hicks has something to shout about. It's Wrangell. "I'm loud about Wrangell right now," said the senior director of marketing for American Queen Voyages. The company operates the 342-foot Ocean Victory cruise ship, which last month made its first of 14 scheduled visits to Wrangell this summer. One of the reasons the cruise line comes to town is jet boat tours. "Wrangell and the jet boats fit so well into what we're doing," Hicks said. "Ocean Victory is only 186 guests. A lot of our...
Running has provided Mason Villarma with the discipline needed to set and achieve goals, not only with the sport but in other aspects of life. It's training he will lean on as he is taking on two new part-time jobs in addition to his full-time work as the borough's finance director. On June 20, the school board voted to accept two contracts for Villarma: One as the high school assistant cross country running coach and another as the activities director for the school district. Villarma sees...
The fun is returning with four days full of games, music, food, booms, pops, pows and wows. In addition to all the popular events held at last year's Fourth of July celebration, six more have been included in the schedule after being on hiatus for a couple years, and three new events have been added. For a full schedule of events for Friday through Monday, see Pages 8 and 9. Returning favorites include the fireworks show Sunday evening, Monday's parade, Saturday's fish derbies and several waterc...
Most will recognize Joshua and Clarissa Young as the owners and operators of the popular lunchtime spot J&W's Fast Food. Now the couple are tackling another business: Innkeepers. Most will recognize the inn they are keeping as the Sourdough Lodge at 1104 Peninsula St. Under their ownership, the lodge is being renamed the Cedar House Inn. The 15,000-square-foot building has been in the Harding family since it was built by Lloyd Harding and his sons in 1984. It's now owned by Bruce and Darlene...
A babbling creek and screeching eagles weren't the only music that could be heard among the swaying trees at Shoemaker Bay. The first Music in the Parks concert was held at Shoemaker Park last Wednesday evening, with about 200 people listening to the tunes played by artists Kaylauna Churchill-Warren and The Powers. First Bank and Alaska Marine Lines sponsored the free concert, which was organized by the Parks and Recreation Department. The Wrangell Police Department donated 250 hamburgers and...
Plans to make the almost-century-old U.S. Forest Service Chugach Ranger workboat a permanent display at the Nolan Center are slowly moving forward, but until then the 62-foot wooden vessel will be temporarily on display for the Fourth of July weekend. The protective wrapping on the boat will be removed by next Sunday so the vessel can be inspected and assessed in order to proceed with plans to eventually build a protective shelter and walk-around ramp for easier viewing. Those who want to see th...
August Schultz Jr. was born June 23, 1960, in a hospital that's now an apartment building in Wrangell. He grew up in a house up behind that hospital, surrounded by family. Schultz, known to friends as Augie, still lives in the same house, though alone, being the last living member of his immediate family. Though it's been hard, he has found healing through the town's history in the form of a Facebook page. At his therapist's suggestion, Schultz created "Wrangell yesterday - place where old...
A group of 6-, 7- and 8-year-old kids poured over the rocky beach near City Park on June 8 like a bunch of young Indiana Joneses, looking for artifacts. But this group, unlike Dr. Jones, was looking for shells as part of a Beach Explorers program to use in a science experiment. During last week's exploration, children were given a cup, guided to the beach, and instructed to find two intact seashells. "It's fun," said Bo Ritchie, 6. "We find stuff like glass. That's what my sister does. She...
Imagine clothes made of plastic bags, playing cards or crab shells. Now imagine pulling a rabbit out of a tinfoil hat or yodeling while wearing a shirt of decoupage or any of the materials mentioned. Such whimsy is the basis for Express Yourself! a talent show combined with wearable art planned for 6 p.m. on July 3 at the Nolan Center. Organizers Cyni Crary and Bonnie Ritchie said it's been five years since they held the first combo event, and they feel it's time to bring it back, reintroducing...
Fitness buffs looking to challenge themselves in Wrangell don't have far to go to go far. Two different events in July will test the mettle of endurance athletes seeking to swim, bike, run and run some more. The Tongass Toughman Triathlon on July 2 pits people against sea, pavement and dirt in a combined 1.2-mile swim, a 56-mile bike ride and a 15-mile run. The Bearfest marathon on July 31 gives racers the option of running a full marathon (26.2 miles), a half (13.1 miles) or a 5k (3.1 miles)....
A mass casualty exercise June 7 was the first one held at the Wrangell Medical Center in its 16-month-old facility. The drill, which simulated a plane crash, was used to see where improvements could be made in the emergency operations plan. It involved about 70 staff members from the hospital, EMTs and volunteer firefighters. Eleven community volunteers of various ages were made up to resemble victims with head wounds, lacerations and other traumas requiring stabilization, medevac or blood...
It was the fundraiser that almost wasn't until one ambitious teen decide to set another goal. Each year, the chamber of commerce uses the Fourth of July royalty contest to raise money to pay for the following year's events. Nobody had entered this year's competition until Tyson Messmer stepped up mid-May to help. Messmer, who graduated high school this year, will attend the University of Miami in Florida. Though the school awarded him a scholarship, he still needs to raise money for his schoolin...
Don’t let this be the one that got away. The Wrangell King Salmon Derby gets underway on June 15 and runs through July 3. At stake is $7,900 in cash prizes. The heaviest king salmon will get the biggest prize, as first place in the derby wins $3,000; second place wins $2,000; and third place wins $1,000. If two people land fish that weigh the same, the person who gets it weighed first will win. There will also be a $500 prize for the biggest fish caught on opening day, a $500 prize for the biggest caught on Father’s Day, two $250 random wei...
If you're a regular reader who peruses the pages of the Sentinel each week, and if you're not a humorless sourpuss who avoids the comics, you've no doubt seen "Ritter's River," which debuted last week The comic strip is something that's been in development since I joined the Sentinel last year. I've created many comic strips over the years and one of the hardest parts is coming up with character names. This is where you, dear reader, come in. In today's strip, you'll notice the main character,...
Hunters no longer need to hunt the web or search for printed copies and anglers no longer need to fish for necessary information, especially when they're in the field. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game recently launched an app for mobile phones running on Apple or Android operating systems. It gives users instant access to their licenses, permits, tags and information like regulations and boundaries. Since launching the app in late May, there have been 14,000 downloads of the app on the...
Devyn Johnson watches as her son, Nolan, 5, steps down from the cab of a Hitachi backhoe during the Touch a Truck event at Volunteer Park last Saturday. Johnson began the event a few years ago, getting the idea from her sister, who takes her children to a similar event in eastern Washington state. "I figured, my husband is on the fire department and does construction, so my kids have the opportunity to check those vehicles out all the time," she said. "We know kids in town who don't have that...
Claire Houlton, of Tucson, Arizona, prepares to paint a portion of the seiner Norsel in Heritage Harbor last Friday. Houlton, 28, has worked on tenders and other fishing vessels in the past but this is her first time on a seiner. Skipper Amy Schaub said she and her four crewmembers will set out for Sitka to pick up the Norsel's skiff, net and power block before going out fishing....
Above: Caroline Bangs, left, narrowly avoids Mitchell Ludwig as he slides into second base during the next-to-last adult softball game of the season last Friday. Tristan Botsford looks on from the outfield at the Volunteer Park baseball field. Right: Issabella Crowley, of team Slug-n-Chug, swings at a pitch last Friday during their final game of the adult softball season against Wrangell IGA, which won the game 13-4. IGA then played Vicious & Delicious, which defeated the grocers...
Pickling and fermenting, pressure-canning and freezing were among the topics covered over three days of courses last week as members of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service taught food preservation classes in Wrangell. Wrangell Extension Days were held from May 24 to 26 and offered nine workshops and a Certified Food Protection Manager exam. Attendees at each workshop varied in skill level, with some just beginning their preserving journey to others who have been...
It's a story more than 100 years in the telling. Finally, a book that started being written last century is finding new progress at the hands of an Anchorage author. Patricia Neal is undertaking the publishing of a book that the late Joel Wing began writing about his family's adventures at the Cassiar Mining District before he retired as the Wrangell magistrate in 1973. Neal, who's written books about Wrangell history, met Wing in 1981 when she was the curator for the museum. As they got to...
Alaska Seaplanes landed on the idea of offering service to Wrangell about two years ago, and its inaugural flight touched down last Thursday. "One of our anchor (clients) is SEARHC," said Andy Kline, marketing manager for Juneau-based Alaska Seaplanes. "They've been wanting to have more connectivity between Wrangell and Sitka, especially with the new (medical) facility here." The airline will run an afternoon flight from Sitka to Wrangell and back, seven days a week. Kline said the airline...
Wondering if that cluster of mushrooms found on the roadside are safe to pick and eat? Odds are they're OK, and so are others. To that end, the Friends of the Library is holding an event Sept. 9 to 11 at the Irene Ingle Public Library to inform foragers what mushrooms can be eaten again and again, and which ones should not be eaten even once. Kitty LaBounty, a Sitka-based professor with the University of Alaska Southeast, is scheduled to share her knowledge on safe versus unsafe mushrooms when...
The U.S. Coast Guard will conduct operations with a couple of smaller boats for a few months between Wrangell and Petersburg, with an emphasis on safety checks. From June until August, two 29-foot Coast Guard Maritime Safety and Security boats will patrol the region for search-and-rescue missions, vessel inspections and protecting marine life. The two smaller vessels will be handling operations since Coast Guard Cutter Anacapa, which usually patrols the area, is being relocated to Washington state. There will be a gap in coverage until...
By 8 p.m. last Friday, the Wrangell High School class of 2022 had graduated and each member was embarking on the next chapter of their life. The evening honored the 15 graduates in front of a full auditorium of friends, family and educators with heartfelt speeches and videos showing how far they've come. "This is the first open and normal graduation we've had in ... (three) years," said Kendra Meissner in her salutatorian speech. "(Instead) of watching us take the next steps into our future...
Two of Wrangell's lead educators are closing the books on their lesson plans and graduating to retirement. In June, Bob Davis, assistant principal of Wrangell High School and Stikine Middle School, and Jenn Miller-Yancey, assistant principal of Evergreen Elementary School, will say farewell after more than 30 years each in education. Davis, 64, who was raised in Alaska and came up through the public school system, swore as a young man that he would never set foot into a school again after...
