Sorted by date Results 126 - 150 of 163
Voters will decide Oct. 1 whether the borough should borrow $3 million to repair the Public Safety Building, and also whether to amend the municipal charter so that assembly members could eventually receive compensation. The charter currently prohibits compensation for the mayor and assembly members; the Oct. 1 vote could change that. The assembly voted Aug. 27 to place both questions on the municipal election ballot. The bond proposition passed unanimously, while the compensation ordinance passed 6-1. Assembly Member Bob Dalrymple was the...
Ann Hegney will be the school district's new counselor this year, but not until she can catch a state ferry to town. The school board approved her hire on Aug. 19, but due to a lack of car deck space on the weekly ferry from Bellingham, Washington, she will not arrive in Wrangell until Sept. 15. From there, she will have a quick turnaround: Her first day of work is the very next morning. She is driving cross country from upstate New York and plans to stop in Wyoming and Montana for some...
Jackson Pool loves solving problems. As Wrangell's new finance director, he is excited to do just that. He joined the borough last week after working as an accountant for the Ketchikan Gateway Borough for just over a year. His hire ends a run of nine months without a finance director for Wrangell. Borough Manager Mason Villarma has been doing both jobs since last November. Pool's hire is a relief for Villarma; not only will the borough manager now be able to direct all his attention toward his...
If you’ve enjoyed City Park’s newly refurbished pavilion this summer, you might be twice as happy now. The borough recently approved a construction contract for a new pavilion in City Park, and the best part: Wrangell hardly has to pay anything for it. The new pavilion replaces the structure that was destroyed in a November 2021 windstorm. It will be built exactly where the old one stood, a couple hundred feet south of the pavilion upgraded this summer. Following the storm, the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management all...
Damage to the outfall line, a plastic pipe that moves Wrangell’s treated sewage 1,200 feet out to sea, caused a temporary backup in the wastewater treatment plant on Aug. 30. To prevent wastewater overflow at the plant, borough workers dug up and cut the line on the beach. The short-term solution resulted in treated sewage deposited directly on the beach between City Park and the Mariners’ Memorial at Heritage Harbor. Wrangell’s primary treatment plant removes all solid waste before it is discharged. The borough on Sept. 3 announced the immed...
After five years, Wrangell High School will have a new elevator, at last. The new elevator will be installed next summer after the borough assembly approved a construction contract last week. Demolition will begin toward the end of the current school year, and Capital Projects Director Amber Al-Haddad hopes construction will be completed by the time students walk in on the first day of school in August 2025. After an oil leak was discovered at the bottom of the existing elevator’s hydraulic ram in March 2020, the school shut down the e...
“Deadpool & Wolverine” isn’t a great movie: Many of the jokes went on a little too long; the story was all over the place; the ubiquitous cameos felt forced and often unnecessary. But you know what? I had such a blast! I giggled pretty much the entire movie, and I’m proud to say I liked “Deadpool & Wolverine” — even if it’s not winning any awards any time soon. The movie screened at the Nolan Center over the weekend, giving Wrangell an option of indoor entertainment amid an otherwise rainy weekend. Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman headlin...
The Alaska Department of Transportation installed a ridgetop weather station near 11-Mile earlier this month. The station will allow scientists and DOT officials to further monitor the area affected by the November 2023 landslides. Standing 18 feet tall, the structure will report data such as air temperature, precipitation, wind speed and direction, and snow depth. Notably, it is the only snow depth monitor on the island other than the airport weather station, according to Pat Dryer, an...
Cell phones won’t be the only things that need charging before a school day. Wrangell could need to plug in its bus too. The school board moved closer on Aug. 20 with plans to purchase an electric school bus. Most of the $423,000 cost would come from a $378,000 federal Environmental Protection Agency grant the school district received in 2023. The rest of the funding would likely come from the district’s reserve fund. Superintendent Bill Burr estimates the bus could arrive sometime in 2025. The board is scheduled to consider the purchase con...
Tracey Martin wants to bring everyone together. After working in classrooms for three decades, she found her way back to her hometown three years ago. She retired from teaching this past spring and began her new role as executive director of the Wrangell Chamber of Commerce on Aug. 13. After working with students for 30 years, Martin hopes to apply what she learned in classrooms to her new role working with small businesses. "There is so much planning that goes into teaching," she said. "I want...
When the borough went out to bid to replace the dilapidated Meyers Chuck dock, there were four or five interested parties. When bids closed on Aug. 13, however, the borough received not a single one. After some delays in the project, the borough hoped to begin procurement for the dock’s new floats late this year. Ideally, construction and installation of the new 200-foot dock would take place next summer. The two-part project was estimated to cost $2.5 million, of which Wrangell would only have to pay $1.4 million thanks to a $1.1 million s...
The cross-country season is officially underway. The boys team finished second overall in the team score, with Boomchain Loucks taking first handily. On the girls side of things, Kalee Herman was Wrangell's highest finisher, with Bella Ritchie crossing the finish line just behind her. The girls finished in 11th place at the race Saturday, Aug. 24, in Petersburg. Wrangell raced against all Southeast schools in the 5K race. And though head coach Mason Villarma saw the meet as a "test effort,"...
When Alaska Rep. Mary Peltola visited Wrangell on Aug. 9 on a reelection campaign stop, she did more than just meet with supporters at the Marine Bar. In a private meeting with borough officials, Peltola received multiple community project funding requests. As a member of the U.S. House, she is permitted to submit 15 requests every appropriation cycle, and Borough Manager Mason Villarma hopes she will consider Wrangell’s requests during this process. The borough proposed two items. The first, and largest of the two, is $5.5 million to build a...
While finding the money to fix everything wrong with the rot-damaged Public Safety Building is far outside the budget, the borough hopes that it can replace the deteriorated roof, siding, windows and doors. At an Aug. 12 meeting, the assembly unanimously approved moving to the next step — a public hearing — toward putting a $3 million bond issue before voters on the Oct. 1 municipal election ballot. This funding, if Wrangell also receives the $2.4 million it has requested in federal assistance, would provide the borough with enough money to com...
Medals made of pieces from the Eiffel Tower may not be up for grabs in Southeast Alaska, but the Wrangell High School swim team is just as motivated as ever. Another swim season is underway as practices began earlier this month. The team trains five days a week and will travel to its first meet of the season in Petersburg on Sept. 6. For Jamie Roberts, the team's head coach, the upcoming season has some sentimental value. After eight years on the job, this season will be her last. Roberts...
Amid the sizzle of halibut in the deep fryer, the methodical pounding of James George's knife against the cutting board and the fervent chatter of the Zak's Cafe lunch rush, there was one noise that eclipsed all others: Norman Greenbaum's 1969 hit "Spirit in the Sky." Katherine and James opened Zak's Cafe in the summer of 2001, a year after getting married. James handles the back of the house and Katherine the front. As for everything else - such as dishes, cleaning and any tasks required to...
Where there's smoke there's fire, and on Woronkofski Island, there's both. The fire began near Circle Bay on Friday, Aug. 16, and as of Monday was less than an acre in size. While the fire has grown at roughly 0.1 acres per day, the U.S. Forest Service - which is monitoring the fire - is not concerned about the risk of widespread damages. Circle Bay is about 6 miles southwest of Wrangell, with smoke from the fire visible in town. The closest infrastructure that could be at risk is a power line...
When Gene Meek started as police chief last month, he probably didn’t expect such a lively first month on the job. Around the time of his arrival, police officers voted to unionize, a decision that will see the department’s staff join employees of other borough departments as members of IBEW Local 1547. Additionally, the borough budget for the fiscal year that started July 1 reduced full-year funding for two police officer positions. The money-saving cutback, proposed by the borough manager, would have trimmed back 24-hour staffing due to lig...
On Thursday, Aug. 15, Wrangell police officers detained William Nakamura, 43, after he assaulted two officers and violently resisted arrest. The following day, Nakamura pleaded not guilty in state court to three charges of third-degree assault, two charges of fourth-degree assault, two charges of harassment and one charge of resisting arrest. The court set Nakamura’s bail at $25,000, and he will likely be held at the state Department of Corrections facility in Ketchikan, with his next court appearance scheduled for Aug. 26, according to P...
“Twisters” (2024) picks up right where “Twister” (1996) left off: a team of meteorologists, Dorothy the tornado-monitoring system, and a high-flying F-5 tornado. Though “Twister” fans’ hearts will break when they learn the tornadoes are now measured on an EF scale rather than the beloved F scale. But instead of just trying to measure tornadoes, we are now trying to defeat them. “Twisters” progresses beyond the 1996 film in every facet: The music is better, the tornadoes are cooler, the stakes are higher; hell, even the cast is hotter. And th...
A team of experts has been conducting research in Wrangell this week, hoping to pinpoint the cause of last November's landslides. As a part of its visit, the group gave a well-attended presentation on Saturday evening at the Nolan Center to keep the community informed on their findings. The team's research is funded by a National Science Foundation rapid response research grant, known as RAPID. Led by Margaret Darrow, a professor in geological engineering at the University of Alaska Fairbanks,...
School is back — at least it will be in a week. On Aug. 22, students will walk through the doors of Evergreen Elementary, Stikine Middle and Wrangell High, marking the start of the 2024-2025 school year. Superintendent Bill Burr said this year’s projected enrollment of 260 students is an estimate, nearly identical to last year’s average daily tally of 259.5. Though school might not feel all that different for students walking the halls, the upcoming school year will not be without some changes. In personnel, Jamie Wollman and Greg Clark will...
It never hurts to get more gigahertz. The Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida’s broadband service, Tidal Network, will build a 5G cell tower at 3-Mile this winter for its wireless internet service. Eventually, Tidal Network plans to build a second tower on the island, but plans are not finalized, said Tidal Network Director Chris Cropley. These projects all come on the back of a $50 million federal grant as part of the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program. In total, Tidal Network will build over 20 towers in 20 Southeast communities w...
Too busy to vote? That’s now less of an excuse. Early voting, in addition to voting by email, was unanimously approved by the borough assembly last month. The ordinance only affects municipal elections, not state elections. It will take effect for the borough election on Oct. 1. Both vote-by-email and early voting are just as secure as traditional election day voting. Early voting opens 15 days before an election and takes place in Borough Clerk Kim Lane’s office at City Hall. Voters need only to provide a form of identification, sign the...
It's safe to say that City Park received quite the facelift this summer. Thanks to work from the Parks and Recreation Department, new stairs, a refurbished pavilion and even a pair of horseshoe pits are the freshest features of Wrangell's often-frequented City Park, about a mile south of downtown. Parks and Rec Director Lucy Robinson began planning the project earlier this spring with the hope of contracting out work to exclusively local contractors, as opposed to putting the projects up for...
