Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 94
The borough is planning to move the senior center from its longtime but aging location at Church and McKinnon streets to the community center’s multipurpose room. The new space, directly across the hallway from the community gym, will receive several upgrades to accommodate its new use, including a full kitchen remodel and new furniture, according to Borough Manager Mason Villarma. The borough also plans on reserving parking at the community center for the senior center bus, which is used for taking seniors to medical appointments, the post off...
The borough wants a data center to plug into Wrangell. Better yet, it could even move into the unused formal hospital property. Data centers are large hosting sites for multiple servers that provide computing power and storage for cloud-based service providers. While at Southeast Conference, held in Ketchikan last month, borough representatives spoke with Sam Enoka, founder and CEO of Greensparc — a San Francisco-based technology company that specializes in setting up modular, small-scale data centers for cloud computing. Enoka grew up a...
The debate between the school board and the School Advisory Committee (SAC) ended how many bureaucratic disputes end: in a compromise. On Oct. 7, the school board unanimously voted to adopt revisions to Board Policy 1220, which serves as the governing document for the secondary schools’ advisory committee. This policy, which also dictates the committee’s access to the school board, was the epicenter of a lingering dispute between the two parties. According to committee members, their recommendations to the school board often went unanswered by...
Head coach Brian Herman has been confident about the girls volleyball team all season long — like, really, really confident. After this week, one thing is clear: Herman has every right to be. The team won eight matches in half as many days, including a seven-match stretch at the Southeast seeding tournament where the Wolves did not drop a single set. The seeding tournament was a three-day affair, with the first match on Oct. 10 before competition wrapped up on Saturday, Oct. 12. It was the first of two seeding tournaments the team will play in...
At 3:44 p.m. on Oct. 3 Rocky dipped her flippers back into the shoreline by Petroglyph Beach. She waded out into the stone-laden shallows, turned back to the crowd as if to say goodbye to the Wrangell residents who saved her life four months ago, and then swam out to sea. Rocky had been in the care of marine biologists at the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward since June. On June 20, Wrangell resident Dan Trail found her wedged between two rocks on Petroglyph Beach. She was just a week old. At the...
The Wrangell birthday calendar is reborn for 2025. After a one-year hiatus the chamber of commerce — under new leadership from executive director Tracey Martin — is bringing back the printed birthday calendar, which had been a community tradition since the 1950s until it was dropped for 2024. It costs just $1 to reserve a date on the calendar. Anyone can reserve a listing for a birthday, anniversary or to memorialize someone’s passing. Families do not need to pay more than $15 for listings, meaning that if a family wants to reserve 20 or 30 spo...
The Wrangell boys cross-country team finished third in the state championship meet while the girls finished eighth on Saturday, Oct. 5, at Bartlett High School in Anchorage. For the boys, Daniel Harrison was Wrangell's highest finisher. The senior finished just outside the top 10 with a time 18:41.0. Junior Ian Nelson and sophomore Jackson Carney crossed the finish line one after the other in 14th and 15th. Jackson Powers finished 31st of the 85 runners with a time of 20:00.04. Everett Meissner...
The Wrangell girls volleyball team attended its first tournament of the season over the weekend in what head coach Brian Herman called a “hit and miss” series of six matches against five opponents. Hosted by Juneau-Douglas High School, the Juneau Invitational Volleyball Extravaganza gave Wrangell a rare peek outside the Southeast conference during pool play on Friday, Oct. 4, and the subsequent seeded tournament on Saturday, Oct. 5. The wolves opened their season with a 1-1 split against Metlakatla, before Mount Edgecumbe “handed them their hat...
Third-year head coach Jack Carney feels good about his team, and he's got his eyes fixed on a handful of state titles. "We're in a high point," he said. Carney expects 22 wrestlers for the 2024 season: eight girls and 14 boys. There will be just three seniors on the roster, including returning standout captain Della Churchill. A two-time region champion, Churchill was voted Outstanding Female Wrestler of the tournament at the Southeast championships last year. This year, her coach hopes she can...
Most Wrangell students are insufficient in English language arts, math and science, according to the state standardized test scores that the Alaska Department of Education released over the summer. The results are an amalgamation of two tests: the Alaska Science Assessment, which assesses fifth, eighth and 10th graders science skills; and the AK STAR, which assesses third through ninth grade students in their English and math proficiency. The Wrangell school district’s proficiency levels are 10 percentage points above state average in both m...
“I’m picturing a fall Fourth of July,” Borough Manager Mason Villarma told staff during a planning meeting for the event. Last week, the borough released the schedule of events surrounding the harvest of the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree, also known as “The People’s Tree.” Festivities will begin on Friday, Oct. 25, and will continue for three days over the weekend. The borough, the Nolan Center, chamber of commerce, U.S. Forest Service and many local businesses all are helping to organize the weekend’s activities. The tree, which comes from a...
For the third year running, the Wrangell boys cross-country team is the Southeast Division III champion. Boomchain Loucks won the race for the second year straight as the Wolves' eyes turn toward the state championship meet in Anchorage this Saturday. The boys team eclipsed Petersburg by just two points to claim the championship at the Sept. 28 competition in Ketchikan, solidifying their dynasty status with three Southeast titles in as many years. Loucks continued his winning ways when the...
Damon Roher is transforming the old gym from a place of swishes and buckets to a chamber of skeletons and bats. Roher, an officer for the Wrangell Police Department, is organizing a haunted house that will run from 7 to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Oct. 11-12, in the community gym. There is no required admission fee, but Roher recommends a $5 donation. All proceeds will go to the Wrangell Salvation Army’s youth programs. For the haunt, Roher and his team of volunteers are going all out. He custom built two 10-foot spiders, an eight-foot grim r...
These Wolves just keep getting quicker. At the Ketchikan Invitational on Sept. 20-21, Wrangell swimmers claimed 14 new personal-best times — 12 at the individual level and two by the relay teams. The trend pleased head coach Jamie Roberts, who at the start of the season told the Sentinel that incremental improvement is her No. 1 priority for the 2024 swimmers. Roberts said swimmers often see quick improvement after the first month of practice as their endurance levels reacclimate to in-season swimming. But as the team wraps up its second m...
Borough Manager Mason Villarma stopped his truck at the top of St. Michaels Street when a car driving down Church Street whizzed by him going 40 miles per hour - 15 mph over the speed limit - in a school zone, nonetheless. "We need to slow things down here," Villarma thought to himself this summer. In response, he reached out to other borough officials to see what could be done. The result is a four-way stop at the intersection of St. Michaels and Church streets, next to the Stikine Middle...
In January, the School Advisory Committee (SAC) asked the school board to provide an explicit and direct pathway of communication between the two entities. The school board responded with a proposed policy that limits the committee's access to exclusively working through the secondary school principal. The SAC is a community-run group that provides recommendations and suggestions to school administrators. Membership is open to the public, allowing parents, families and community members to ask...
Wrangell is trading in the stormy skies of Seattle and heading east, hoping for favorable tourism trade winds in Chicago. For the first time in two decades the borough will not send any representatives to the Seattle Boat Show. Instead, the Economic Development Department has elected to attend the Travel and Adventure Show in Chicago. The two-day event kicks off on Feb. 1 of next year. Economic Development Director Kate Thomas said she expects an audience as large as 19,000 travel enthusiasts and an additional 2,000 to 3,000 attendees who work...
The results from Petersburg are in and head coach Jamie Roberts is feeling good. The Wolves competed in the Petersburg Invitational Swim Meet on Sept. 6-7. Wrangell swimmers raced against Southeast rivals Ketchikan, Petersburg, Sitka, Juneau and Craig, and boasted impressive times considering it was the first meet of the season. By structuring the two-day competition as two separate meets - one on Friday and one on Saturday - swimmers were able to compete in different events on both days. Amura...
Contrary to mud-caked impressions, the Capital City Invite was not an officially organized mud run, but it certainly wasn’t a fast and dry high school cross-country meet either. Held in Juneau on Sept. 21 with teams from 10 Southeast high schools, the Capital City Invite went forward as scheduled despite the slow and muddy conditions. In speaking to the Juneau Empire, Sitka senior Marina Dill reflected on the course’s condition. “Through my entire years of running, I’ve never run on something this muddy,” she said. Over 200 runners competed...
After much public scrutiny, the school board voted against accepting an Environmental Protection Agency grant that would fund the purchase on an electric school bus. The board voted 3-2 against the purchase at a special meeting Sept. 9. The district had selected Georgia-based manufacturer Blue Bird for the electric vehicle, which would have arrived in town next year. The bus’s $423,000 price tag exceeded the $378,000 in federal grant money, meaning the school district would have had to dip into its reserve fund to cover the remaining $...
Wrangell’s moose season opened last week. The one-month window runs from Sept. 15 through Oct. 15. Those hunting on Wrangell, neighboring islands and the mainland are permitted to harvest one bull this fall. There are no regulation changes from last hunting season, and Frank Robbins, Petersburg-Wrangell area biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, said he has not seen any notable changes to the health of the central Southeast herd. Last year’s Petersburg-Wrangell area harvest was a record 141 moose, exceeding the previous hig... Full story
In their third race of the season, the Wrangell cross-country team boasted several personal-best times at the Sitka Invitational on Sept. 14. Standout junior Boomchain Loucks was the boys highest finisher, crossing the line in second place with a personal best of 16:42.46. Loucks, who won the season’s previous two races, has improved on his time every race so far this year. The boys team finished third behind the much larger schools from Ketchikan and Sitka — which won their home race. The boys bronze medal finish was spurred on by Ian Nel...
After 58 years in Wrangell, nine years on the assembly and two separate stints as vice mayor, David Powell decided now is the time to run for Wrangell's highest elected position. And while he is up against incumbent Patty Gilbert, Powell wants it known that he is not running against Gilbert in a typical fashion. When asked why voters should check the box next to his name on Oct. 1, he hesitated to give a response - not because he wasn't sure why people should vote for him - but because he...
Mayor Patty Gilbert ran for the office in 2022 with two goals in mind: economic development and improvements to the community's infrastructure. As she looks to win reelection this year, her goals haven't changed. Before becoming mayor, she served on the city council and borough assembly for 14 years. She also served on the school board between 2020 and 2022. A lifelong teacher with a classroom career spanning across six decades, Gilbert is confident she can continue to move Wrangell forward in...
If she wins a second term as school board member, Angela Allen said she wants to go after specific grants, encourage homeschooling parents to enroll their children in the public school system, and open the doors for communication between parents and the school board. She is up against fellow incumbent Brittani Robbins and newcomer Dan Powers. The seats will go to the two candidates with the most votes in the Oct. 1 municipal election. Terms will run through 2027. Allen moved to Wrangell for her...
