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The Wrangell High School swim team traveled to Sitka last Friday and Saturday to compete in the town’s invitational swim meet, turning in three personal bests, four season bests and eight top 10 finishes. Head coach Jamie Roberts said the team has been working on breathing patterns and other techniques, and “sometimes, it takes a while for their practice patterns to translate into race patterns, as muscle memory can be challenging to overcome.” Despite that, the individual swimmers did well in their categories. Wrangell didn’t have a men’s r...
The chamber of commerce’s annual Pumpkin Patch event will start at 11 a.m. Saturday at the downtown pavilion. In addition to orange, white, blue and pink pumpkins for people to pick up and take home, the event will include a bake sale, chili feed and face painting, said Luana Wellons, of the chamber. Lynch Street will be closed to traffic and the pumpkins set out in the street for kids to make their selections. They will be sold by weight. The Girls Scouts will run the bake sale and Saint Frances Animal Rescue will staff the chili feed, both a...
As of last week, “The Sound of Music” cast was short just one male actor and will need some extras, partygoers and dancers as it gets closer to the Dec. 2 and 3 stage performance. “It’s hard to find male actors in town,” Cyni Crary, one of the show organizers, said last Friday. She described the open part as “kind of like a bad guy,” though he doesn’t have many lines. The cast already includes almost 20 Wrangell volunteers, plus about a dozen singers, musicians and a choreographer. About five more volunteers are helping behind the scenes with s...
Patty Gilbert was sworn in as mayor last Thursday, and in her first days in office plans to “(continue) the heavy work.” She hopes to revitalize the borough’s economic development committee, support local businesses and promote new ones. “It’ll be a full agenda,” she said. The borough assembly certified the election results last Thursday. The ballot proposition to issue $8.5 million in bonds for Public Safety Building repairs failed 259 to 324 in the Oct. 4 election. Since the building is still in need of costly repairs, the assembly wi...
The public can now provide comments on more than 50 cabin projects proposed by the U.S. Forest Service in the Tongass and Chugach National Forests. The comment period is open until Oct. 31. A page on the Forest Service website found at bit.ly/3Cc8PPr allows visitors to review options where new cabins could be built, existing cabins fixed up and sites where existing cabins could be moved. “We want to hear from the public about what they want to see,” said James King, Alaska Region director of recreation, lands and minerals, in a statement. “Kn...
Patricia Gilbert is the likely winner in Tuesday’s mayoral election against Terry Courson, leading the in-person vote tally 275-219. With slightly more than 100 absentee and early votes still to count, Courson would have to win those votes by more than a 3-to-1 margin to overtake Gilbert’s 56-vote lead. Voters approved by a wide margin, 311-to-170, approved borrowing $3.5 million for repairs to all three school buildings, but a proposed $8.5 million bond issue for repairs to the Public Safety Building appears headed to defeat. That ballot pro...
Tribal members from both sides of the U.S.-Canada border — the headwaters and downstream region of the Stikine River — talked about strengthening their relationship when they met at the recent Sharing Our Knowledge conference in Wrangell. One of the common interests bringing the Indigenous people together is their concern for the river — protecting and preserving its salmon runs that have fed tribal members for generations. The discussions during the conference were about “connecting and cementing those relationships,” said Christie Jamieson,...
The Wrangell High School boys cross country team ran into a third-place finish last Saturday in Juneau at the Capital City Invitational. Eight runners made up the group, with sophomore Daniel Harrison leading his team, finishing fifth out of 143 competitors. The team finished behind Sitka (first place) and Juneau-Douglas (second place). Harrison finished with a time of 16:59.27. Senior Ethan Blatchley finished 11th at 17:48.17; senior Devlyn Campbell finished 12th at 17:49.11; freshman Boomchain Loucks finished 14th at 17:50.92; senior Elias...
Wrangell will be without ferry service from Jan. 10 to Feb. 3 under the fall/winter schedule released by the Alaska Marine Highway System last week. The rest of the seven months covered by the schedule includes a weekly stop in each direction in Wrangell, with the bonus of a second northbound and southbound sailing one week a month when the ferry travels only as far south as Prince Rupert, British Columbia, instead of the longer round-trip voyage to Bellingham, Washington. The three-week break in service to Wrangell in January is scheduled as...
The Wrangell High School cross country boys team placed second at the Ketchikan Invitational at Ward Lake last Saturday. Sophomore Daniel Harrison once again led the Wolves, coming in fourth place overall with a time of 16:44.91. Harrison was outpaced by just over a second by Sitka's Trey Demmert, who placed third at 16:43.20. First and second place went to Sitka's Silas Demmert and Annan Weiland, respectively. Wrangell's Boomchain Loucks placed ninth at 17:40.25 out of 88 runners, followed by...
The Wrangell High School swim team competed in two meets at the Ketchikan Invitational competition last weekend, with junior Jack Roberts leading the team with a first-, second- and fifth-place finish. Competing against eight other high schools from throughout Southeast, Wrangell's swimmers had many personal bests and cut down their times significantly, coach Jamie Roberts said. "I'm proud of their performances," she said. "They posted some nice times for an early season meet. They are excited to see what they can do with nine more days of work...
Three years after adopting a pricing plan that adds a surcharge for passenger, vehicle and stateroom fares on popular sailings, the Alaska Marine Highway System has decided to suspend the program for its fall/winter schedule. The ferry system’s “dynamic pricing” added 5% to 50% to ticket prices, depending on the percentage of a ship’s capacity already booked — similar to airlines raising prices as flights fill up. The Alaska Department of Transportation announced the decision last Friday to suspend the surcharges. “Dynamic pricing works when...
Items 1-3: X’átgu S’aaxw/mudshark hat; X’átgu Koodás’/mudshark shirt; Ditlein X’oow/killer whale stranded on a rock robe. According to Portland Art Museum records, former Schools Superintendent Axel Rasmussen obtained the hat and shirt in 1930 from a family member of Chief Shakes VI who died in 1915, and in 1934 he obtained the robe from another family member in Wrangell. According to oral traditional information presented by the Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes, these items were removed by Wrangell police after the de...
Whether Alaskans and the other 434 members of the U.S. House will be addressing Rep. Sarah Palin or Rep. Mary Peltola likely will be announced late Wednesday. State elections officials plan to announce that day the final vote tally and election winner under Alaska’s new ranked-choice voting system — it’s the deadline for any absentee ballots from overseas to arrive and be added to the count. In-person voting for the election was held Aug. 16. With a near-final ballot count released last Friday evening, more than 190,000 votes had been cast...
At the start of the final week to file for borough assembly, school board or port commission, Wrangell was still short of candidates to fill half of the open seats. The deadline to file for the Oct. 4 municipal election is 4 p.m. Wednesday. As of Monday afternoon, candidates had filed paperwork for four of the eight races on the ballot. Patty Gilbert, who serves on the borough assembly and previously served on the school board, has filed to run for mayor. Steve Prysunka, in his sixth year as mayor, has decided not to seek another term....
Patty Gilbert, who serves on the borough assembly and previously served on the school board, has filed her candidacy papers to run for mayor in the Oct. 4 municipal election. Steve Prysunka, in his sixth year as Wrangell mayor, has decided not to seek another term. Gilbert currently serves as vice-mayor on the assembly. Her term ends in October. She served on the school board 2019-2021, and served on the borough assembly 2016-2019. The deadline to file for municipal office is 4 p.m. Aug. 31 at City Hall. In addition to the mayor’s job, two b...
Wrangell’s two state legislators both received more votes than their challengers in last week’s primary election. With only two candidates in each race, the Aug. 16 primary was a preview of the Nov. 8 general election, when voters again will choose between the same two candidates for the House and Senate seats. Under Alaska’s new elections system, the top vote-getters in the primary, regardless of political party, advance to the general election. Republican Sen. Bert Stedman, of Sitka, in his 19th year in the Legislature, outpolled his Repub...
Online student registration began Monday at wrg.powerschool.com/public for elementary, middle and high schools. For those who need help registering, in-person registration will be held Wednesday at the high school commons from 10 a.m. to noon and from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. Fees for elementary registration are $10 for tech and $10 for books. Fees at the middle school are $80 for individual student tech or $125 for families. The activity card for sports participation is $25 per student. Yearbooks are $50 per student. Fees for the high school are $80...
After a mid-July surge to 1,021 COVID-19 infections among tourists at sea in a single week, the state Health Department reports the case count the past two weeks fell to an average of 550 per week. The record number of infections among non-residents, which the state refers to as “at-sea, purpose tourism,” was reported July 20. The July 27 count was down to 517, then 583 on Aug. 3. The state reports COVID statistics once a week, every Wednesday. At-sea cases averaged less than 450 a week from the start of the cruise ship season to mid-July. In...
There are three weeks remaining for candidates to file for election to the borough assembly, school board and port commission, and as of Monday no one had submitted their paperwork to run for office, with most incumbents reporting they were still undecided. The deadline to file is 4 p.m. Aug. 31 at City Hall for a spot on the Oct. 4 municipal election ballot. Mayor Steve Prysunka has announced he is not seeking a third term. In addition to the mayor’s job, two borough assembly seats, three school board seats and two port commission slots w...
Students return to school soon, and Alaska’s larger districts are facing a shortage of school bus drivers. The Anchorage School District was short 75 bus drivers less than two weeks before classes begin on Aug. 18. The shortage could lead to some bus routes being suspended, the superintendent said. The Fairbanks North Star Borough School District contractor was short bus drivers last month to cover 115 routes, and as of last week was advertising: “We need bus drivers and attendants!” The district last week announced reduced service when class...
Candidates have until 4 p.m. Aug. 31 to file their declaration and signature petition at City Hall for a spot on the Oct. 4 municipal election ballot. The offices of mayor, two borough assembly seats, three school board seats and two spots on the port commission will be on the ballot. Mayor Steve Prysunka, who has served two terms (four years), said last week he is not seeking reelection. Before winning his first term as mayor in 2018, Prysunka served three years on the borough assembly. The mayor’s job is a two-year term. The terms also expire...
The Sealaska Corp. board of directors last Friday endorsed Bill Walker for governor and Sen. Lisa Murkowski in her reelection bid for U.S. Senate. The board also announced its opposition to the measure on the Nov. 8 statewide election ballot that would call a constitutional convention to consider revisions to Alaska’s founding laws. “Reassessing Alaska’s constitution could fundamentally endanger not just the rights of all Alaskans, but specifically Native sovereignty,” Jaeleen Kookesh, Sealaska vice president of policy and legal affairs...
The state ferry Tustumena was tied up in Homer for several days last week, lacking enough crew to operate. Due to crew shortages, the Tustumena’s sailings were canceled as of July 26, and were scheduled to resume seven days later on Tuesday, according to an announcement from the Alaska Marine Highway System. “A critical crew shortage required the vessel to stay in port for safety reasons,” the state reported July 28. “We ran out of stewards,” Alaska Department of Transportation Commissioner Ryan Anderson said during a presentation to the Junea...
From Wednesday through Sunday, the schedule for BearFest is loaded with something for all ages, whether games and art workshops or food and educational symposiums. Since the event is focused on bears, there will be bear safety classes, a look at the new Anan Wildlife Observatory for bear viewing, a history of bears in national parks, and bear conservation among other bear-related topics. BearFest organizer Sylvia Ettefagh said in an interview earlier this month that the mission of the five-day...
