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Three photos won top honors for depicting values like friendship and goals in a themed photography contest held by the Wrangell middle and high schools. Little interest was shown in the contest when it was first announced last fall, said assistant principal Bob Davis, with only four photos entered. After extending the deadline, 50 photos were entered by 20 students. Eighth grader Ben Houser won first place with a photo of his brother in Death Valley, California; senior Jamie Early won second...
To say senior Liana Carney has a full plate is an understatement. Along with finishing her school sports career and keeping her grades up to remain the valedictorian, Carney also needs to put the finishing touches on her senior project. She tackled the brunt of her project before her final high school year even started, helping organize and put on the Bearfest 2021 Marathon last August. "I work for Alaska Vistas and they kind of run the whole Bearfest thing," Carney said. "The whole week of...
Business owners who qualify under certain IRS guidelines and want to help the community can skip a step when it comes to how they make donations. A change to the tax code a few years ago makes it possible for a business to donate items to a recipient without first moving it through a nonprofit organization. “After The Salvation Army combed through a lot of IRS stuff, what we discovered is we no longer have to take full possession of something before we can give it,” said Lt. Jon Tollerud, who runs the Wrangell Salvation Army. “Which is a very...
With a little digging and hard work, Wrangell High School students have unearthed a grant to help grow a project. Junior Rylee Chelette and sophomore Mia Wiederspohn used their grant-writing skills and were awarded funds to help special education teacher Ann Hilburn launch a life-skills project that revolves around starting an indoor garden and incorporating activity, science, math, planning and running a business. “(Basic) things that … our children learn, seems to be by osmosis, but for (the special education students) it has to be han...
Many may not know they can be taxed on their Permanent Fund dividend income. They may also not know their children can be taxed on theirs. Those are just a couple of the items that most people might not be aware of as they prepare to file their taxes for 2021. Thanks to AARP and a couple of local volunteers, Wrangell taxpayers need not worry. Every Saturday from now until April 15, Paula Rak and Nancy McQueen will be preparing taxes for those who wish to take advantage of the free service. Though they help everyone they can, Rak said there are...
A proposed rule change by the Federal Subsistence Board would allow for the harvest of an additional 20 moose in state Game Management Unit 3 on Kuiu and Kupreanof islands north of Wrangell. One group thinks it’s a bad idea. The Wrangell Fish and Game Advisory Committee sent a letter to the subsistence board in January opposing the change because “taking more bulls from the herd by drawing could be counterproductive to the intent of this proposal.” According to Frank Robbins, a wildlife biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in P...
The initial draft budget for the next school year shows a $370,000 deficit, which the school board will work to resolve over the next couple of months. The board met in a work session on Monday to review the draft, and will take public comment on the spending plan for the 2022-2023 school year in a Zoom meeting that starts at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. More board sessions will follow, as the school district works to match revenues and expenditures, or draw down on its reserves, while deciding on staffing levels and programs. “Input from the public h...
A different style of growing plants is budding in Wrangell, though it might take a while to bloom. Hydroponics, a technique that doesn't require soil, only water and nutrients, could be a more sustainable approach in places where viable soil and ideal weather are harder to come by. While some green thumbs on the island have tinkered with the method, one grower took hydroponics to a commercial level. Kelsey Martinsen, owner of Happy Cannabis, has used a flood-and-drain system to grow his...
Middle schoolers move in a circle while a woman beats a Tlingit drum, while just outside other students engage in a fierce and fun battle of warrior ball. Behaviors leading to suspension and other disciplinary actions have led school staff to apply a preventative approach. Activities, celebrations, contests and other methods have been implemented to help curb what appears to be a growing problem some have blamed on the COVID-19 pandemic. In the 2020-21 school year, there were 13 individual suspe...
Gone are the encroaching shrubbery and ramshackle structures. The first phase of a project to improve the Wrangell skeet range has been completed, and steps are being taken to fund the second phase. Improvements completed in November included cutting down trees and clearing debris and removing two dilapidated skeet-throwing houses and overgrown vegetation to install an aggregate surface for parking areas and the skeet range. The aggregate will also serve as a firm foundation for construction of...
Two close games led to one loss and one win by the Lady Wolves in Metlakatla last Friday and Saturday. Wrangell High School’s girls basketball team played the Miss Chiefs in highly competitive matches that left them with a 4-1 record so far this season. Coming off their first place win of the Rally at Denali in Talkeetna the previous weekend, the Lady Wolves brought their confidence onto the court. Assistant coach Anna Allen said before traveling to Metlakatla that the Miss Chiefs would be the toughest team Wrangell faced so far this year. A...
Last weekend’s games started with fouls and ended in near misses. The Wrangell High School boys basketball team traveled to Metlakatla for games Friday and Saturday in perhaps their toughest matchup yet, losing both games. Senior Ryan Rooney was fouled 90 seconds into the first quarter, hitting one of two free throws, putting the Wolves on the board first. Senior Daniel Harrison rebounded the ball and added to the points. Metlakatla drove the ball into home territory, but Rooney stole the ball and scored another two. The home hit a t...
The kids gathered atop the sledding hill across from Evergreen Elementary, next to a small fire in which they burned face masks. They carried signs reading "Unmask Wrangell Youth!!" and "Unmask our children! Let them be kids!" They chanted, "Burn the masks!" It was part of a walkout in which children and parents frustrated over wearing masks during school hours voiced their opposition to the districtwide rule. About 14 elementary and middle school students left the grounds at 10:30 a.m. last...
Feel like getting the royal treatment? Well, it’s going to take some hard work. Wrangell’s chamber of commerce has begun recruiting efforts for this year’s royalty competition, with winners announced during the Fourth of July festivities. The contest is a fundraiser for the chamber, which sponsors the annual July 4th activities, and for the candidates, who get to keep a share of their sales. The candidates sell as many raffle tickets as possible through door-to-door efforts or by including the tickets as part of food sales. Last year’s ticket s...
The Wrangell High School girls basketball team dominated their first three games of the season to win the Rally at Denali tournament last weekend. In three games over two days in at Susitna Valley High School in Talkeetna, the Lady Wolves defeated Birchwood Christian from Chugiak, Susitna Valley and Petersburg. At first it appeared Wrangell wouldn’t be able to make the tournament due to mechanical problems on the flight last Wednesday. The plane was grounded in Petersburg and the team was returned to Wrangell the same day. The players made i...
A win, a loss and a win. The Wrangell boys basketball team had three vastly different games against three differently matched teams, ultimately winning third place at the Rally at Denali high school tournament in Talkeetna last weekend. The Wolves took on Birchwood Christian from Chugiak, Susitna Valley from Talkeetna and Hooper Bay from Western Alaska. Though Birchwood won the tip-off in the first game on Friday, driving the ball into home territory, the team could not score on Wrangell, who...
Wrangell High School seniors have potentially more than $70,000 in higher education scholarships available to them from local organizations. Funds range anywhere from a one-time $100 award to $5,000 per year for four years. Though application deadlines for some are already past, many are still available for seniors looking to pursue a postsecondary education such as college or trade school. “These scholarship opportunities are vital to our students,” said counselor Addy Esco. “The world of postsecondary education and training has changed drast...
The number of students enrolled in Wrangell Public Schools has dropped by nearly half in the past 30 years. According to data from the Alaska Department of Education, enrollment for the 1991-92 school year totaled 527. The 2021-22 school year enrollment totaled 257 in the fall count. So where have the children gone? “I came in ’94 and the mill was still running,” said Bob Davis, assistant principal for Wrangell High School and Stikine Middle School. “The mill went down about a year later and things have been rough ever since. When COVID h...
The uptick in COVID-19 cases after the holiday season has caused businesses to alter hours or close for days at a time, borough government to reinstate safety protocols, and schools to postpone sporting events. As of Wednesday morning, the borough had reported 114 cases since Dec. 30, a one-month record for the community and one-third of all the infections tallied in the almost 2-year-old pandemic. Close contact with active COVID-19 cases for Brittani Robbins, executive director of the chamber o...
The school board on Monday approved changes to the district’s COVID-19 mitigation plan that would allow staff and students to return to school sooner after close contact with infected individuals or positive test results. Changes reflect the latest guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and in some cases cut isolation times in half. Masking and social distancing will still be required at all Wrangell schools. Schools Superintendent Bill Burr said the revised plan took effect Jan. 7, with staff and parents n...
Patrons of the Irene Ingle Public Library will now have more time to peruse the aisles, take advantage of the free Wi-Fi and checkout their favorite books. Thanks to a grant through the American Rescue Plan Act, last year's federal pandemic aid spending bill, the library is extending its hours to six days a week. The funds have also made it possible to hire a third person to help with the pages of responsibilities. Library Director Margaret Villarma said the $14,040 grant is through the...
Issabella and Tawney Crowley welcomed their first child - and the first baby born to a Wrangell family in 2022 - last week. Ryleigh Rowan Crowley was born at 3:30 a.m. on Jan. 4 at the PeaceHealth Ketchikan Medical Center. She weighed in at 8 pounds, 1 ounce. Issabella, 27, said they left for Ketchikan on Dec. 17 since the Wrangell Medical Center doesn't have the capability to deliver babies. Tawney was induced on Jan. 3 and gave birth 14 hours later. "Baby made her appearance rather quickly...
It took nearly two decades, but Larissa Siekawitch is now an American citizen. On Jan. 4, Siekawitch took a test in Anchorage that lasted an hour and included an interview, reading, writing and answering 100 questions. The process ended with an oath and a certificate. "But now I'm a U.S. citizen," she said. "I was so relieved. It's very sad that my husband did not see this. He applied three times for my documents. It was lost, it was something else, it was delayed." In 2000, Siekawitch was a vet...
With this week's warmer weather, the snow shovels may get set aside but the higher temperatures and rain can create their own set of winter problems. Last week's single-digit temperatures gave way to 30-plus degrees by Sunday and 44 by Monday afternoon. Heavy snow on Saturday totaled nine inches before transitioning into rain on Sunday. Such rapid changes in weather can be detrimental to anything carrying the weight of wet snow and efforts to drain off the mess. "The impacts of what could...
After about 10 candidates applied for the position of business manager with Wrangell Public Schools, a hiring committee chose Tammy Stromberg, of Anchorage, to fill the job. Citing the scarcity of qualified applicants, Schools Superintendent Bill Burr said Stromberg, a certified public accountant, will work full-time remotely. About half the applicants that applied would need to have worked remotely if hired. "We ideally would have liked to have a business manager in the office full-time in...
