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A total of just 15 salmon were caught and entered the past two weekends for Wrangell’s 68th King Salmon Derby. The top three adult entries won cash prizes, as did the top three kids ages 12 and under. In the adult category, John Fernen caught the biggest king at Point Ward on June 25, weighing in at 42.5 pounds. Second place went to Mark Soeteber with his 30-pound king, caught at Burg Bay on June 17. Neal Soeteber landed in third place with a 27-pound king caught at Kindergarten Bay on June 25. The prizes were $800, $400 and $200, r...
Delayed a day last week for COVID testing after leaving Juneau, the Polynesian Voyaging Society vessel Hōkūle’a was scheduled to arrive in Wrangell for a traditional Tlingit welcome and community reception on Tuesday, June 27. Wrangell Cooperative Association and clan leaders planned to take the visitors on Wednesday aboard charter boats to see Old Town, WCA Tribal Administrator Esther Aaltséen Reese said Monday. The original Tlingit village is about 13 miles south of downtown. The 65-foot, twin-hulled sailing craft left Juneau on June 18,...
The state ferry Columbia, after a week in the shop to repair leaky pipes and its bow thrusters, was expected back at work starting Wednesday, June 28, with its regularly scheduled run from Ketchikan to Bellingham, Washington. The vessel was pulled from service on June 20, missing two southbound stops and one northbound stop in Wrangell. The 50-year-old Columbia left Haines that day — without any passengers — and headed straight for the Vigor shipyard in Ketchikan for repairs, canceling all stops along the way. “There’s a manifold down in the...
Gov. Mike Dunleavy on Monday vetoed half of the $175 million increase that legislators appropriated for school districts across Alaska — cutting back the first boost in state funding for K-12 public schools in more than six years. The Wrangell School District had expected to receive an additional $425,000 in state aid for the 2023-2024 school year under the Legislature’s budget plan. The governor’s veto cut that by 50%. State funding covers about 60% of the district’s roughly $5 million operating budget, with the rest from the borough and fed...
After a multiyear effort to develop the site of the former Wrangell Institute for residential lots, work is slated to start later this summer. Bids are due to the borough by June 27 for an estimated $700,000 to $750,000 in groundwork at the future Alder Top Village (Keishangita.’aan) subdivision. Once parcels are ready for purchase, the 134-acre property will constitute the borough’s largest land sale in decades. In its first phase of development, the site will make 20 new lots available about five miles from town, complete with utilities and...
Volunteers are still being sought for Fourth of July events scheduled July 1 to 4. The chamber of commerce needs people to assist in setting up, running and taking down the 17 events that are set to take place over the celebratory weekend. Chairpersons for all the events except the log rolling competition have been recruited, but those chairpersons need help. Meanwhile, a past event that wasn’t held last year is returning much to the delight of its volunteer chair, Adrienne McLaughlin. She will oversee the greased pole competition, something h...
The Department of Economic Development is conducting an online survey to learn more about what the community would like to see at the former 6-Mile sawmill property, which the borough purchased last summer for $2.5 million. “Can we narrow in on aspects of development,” Economic Development Director Kate Thomas said last week. The 10-question survey follows up on a town hall meeting last December — attended by close to 40 people — at which community members tossed out and tossed around multiple uses for the waterfront property. The borough...
The U.S. Forest Service again this year is making available permits for unguided visits to the Anan Wildlife Observatory, limited to four per day. The permits must be requested in person at the Wrangell Ranger District office, up to one week in advance. Permits, at $10 each, are required for visiting Anan from July 5 through Aug. 25, when the popular bear-viewing site is limited to 60 visitors a day on guided tours. The four unguided visitor permits are in addition to the 60. “These (four) permits are for people arriving with their own means o...
The annual Wrangell King Salmon Derby is tentatively set for June 15 through July 2. Though the chamber of commerce, which is still organizing the event, hasn’t officially set the dates or prizes, the derby typically runs for about two weeks, with prizes for the largest fish and other categories. Entry fees also have not yet been determined. In past years, there has been a kids 12-and-under category, and the adult category encompasses ages 13 and up. Entrants need to have a state sportfishing license and a state king salmon stamp. Alaska r...
Bring a fishing pole and plenty of enthusiasm to Pats Lake for an annual event sure to lure in the whole family. Family Fishing Day on June 24 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., will have something for everyone, from lure making to casting practice and even a free lunch. The U.S. Forest Service Wrangell District is hosting the event along with the Wrangell Cooperative Association’s Indian General Assistance Program and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Special youth fishing regulations will be in place the third and fourth Saturday and Sunday at P...
The siding on the exterior of the pool building is deteriorating and local contractor Johnson Construction and Supply has been awarded a contract to take on the repairs. The $474,497 contract is funded through a combination of borough funds and state grant money from the Lost Revenue Relief Grant. The state distributed the federal money to Alaska municipalities as a form of pandemic relief, to help compensate for reduced sales tax and other revenues. It can be used for maintenance of old infrastructure and new builds. The siding project will...
The borough’s contract with waste disposal company Republic is up for renewal and the company has proposed a 25% price increase for its services to Wrangell. Other Southeast communities have contracts with Republic that are set to expire next year, so Wrangell hopes to join with them and bargain collectively for a more affordable contract. “We talked about partnering with them to get a bigger contract and have a little more negotiating power,” said Borough Manager Jeff Good. However, that approach won’t be possible for Wrangell in the short t...
An Airbus H130 helicopter takes off from the back of the Scenic Eclipse in front of Wrangell on May 15. The helicopter is one of two in the Scenic Luxury Cruises and Tours fleet and can be added to a tour package. The Scenic Eclipse, which can host up to 200 passengers for Arctic tours, is billed as the "world's first discovery yacht" by its operators and is designed for scenic luxury cruises and tours. It travels throughout the Americas, Antarctica and the Arctic. It has a crew of up to 192,...
Wrangell Sentinel staff won five awards in the annual Alaska Press Club competition, with radio station KSTK bringing home four honors in the statewide contest for journalists. Marc Lutz won second place in the Best Feature Story category (small newspapers) for his report in the Sept. 21, 2022, Sentinel about retired teacher Jacquie Dozier’s 1965 lunch with Queen Elizabeth II while in the U.K. on a teacher exchange program. The judge commented on Lutz’s work: “A timely memory of QEII, published just after the monarch’s death. The reporte...
After being delayed one week and one day to reopen, Sweet Tides will again welcome customers on Thursday. The bakery has been closed since early March to expand its storefront and offer specialty coffees in a café atmosphere. Due to a backlog in permitting through the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, it was unknown how long the business would be delayed in reopening. Owner Shawna Buness posted on Facebook last week that the permits were approved the day after a Sentinel story reported she didn’t know if it would take a week or...
The Southeast Conference is conducting its annual survey of business owners and managers, looking to gauge the economic outlook and priorities for the region. Last year’s business climate survey collected 440 responses, including 26 from Wrangell. Nearly two-thirds of survey respondents had a positive view of the Southeast business climate, and half expected that business would be better than the past year as tourists returned to Alaska and travelers put COVID-19 behind them. Business leaders last year reported that the lack of available h...
For the seventh year in a row, federal managers have closed the Stikine River chinook subsistence fishery to help preserve weak runs of the returning salmon. The U.S. Forest Service, under authority delegated by the Federal Subsistence Board, last week announced the closure to run May 15 through June 20. “The preseason forecast for the Stikine River is 11,700 large chinook salmon (greater than 28 inches in length), which is below the escapement goal range of 14,000 to 28,000 large chinook,” the Forest Service statement said. Though this yea...
Drifting ash from a volcanic eruption in the Russian Far East forced Alaska Airlines to cancel more than 100 flights last week, including its northbound and southbound jets through Wrangell and Petersburg last Thursday and Friday. Flights throughout Alaska had largely returned to normal by Saturday, other than a couple of missed flights to Sitka that day as a portion of the ash cloud hung around the community. Although a “very large area” of gas left over from the ash cloud still hovered over the eastern Gulf of Alaska near Sitka by Sat...
The shelters at Shoemaker Park and City Park were damaged by fire and vandalism last week in two separate incidents. On April 3, the south-end shelter at City Park was used by a group of youths to camp overnight. Food, garbage and human waste were left behind, the Parks and Recreation Department reported. On April 6, more destructive damage occurred at Shoemaker Park as two fires were built inside and outside the shelter. The inside fire, caused by burning a pallet in the fireplace, scorched...
While the high school state championship tournament in Anchorage was attracting a lot of hoopla, the Stikine Hoops Invitational was netting plenty of its own excitement back home, including a big win. Team Wrangell Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) Girls Basketball Club hosted teams from Petersburg, Ketchikan and Juneau and won first place in the A Team category over the weekend. Three teams competed in each the A and B divisions, which were set up as a round-robin, double-elimination bracket....
Randy William Churchill Jr., 39, died Feb. 22 after a tree fell on top of him near Pats Lake. Wrangell Police Department received a 911 call at 5:59 a.m. from Churchill’s companion, requesting an ambulance. Police arrived on the scene to assist with removing the tree and emergency medical services personnel began performing lifesaving procedures. Churchill was transported to the hospital, where he passed away. Police Chief Tom Radke could not confirm the exact time of death but said Churchill did not regain consciousness after the accident. ...
The Alaska Marine Highway System has released its draft summer schedule for coastal communities, proposing a similar level of service to Wrangell as last year. The largest vessel in the fleet, the Columbia, coming out of a three-year tie-up, is scheduled to make weekly voyages between Bellingham, Washington, and Southeast Alaska, stopping in Wrangell northbound on Sundays and southbound on Wednesdays. It is replacing the Matanuska, which is out of service indefinitely for extended repairs. Wrangell would see a second ferry the second week of ea...
It took several years after Abigail Armstrong first had the idea, but a three-day conference to train musicians, artists and others in sharing and spreading a religious message is planned for Feb. 3-5 in Wrangell. “It’s a Southeast-wide conference,” she said. Actually, it reaches farther than that. About 10 Hawaiians are coming to town to help lead the sessions, Armstrong said last week. She met the Hawaiian teachers at a 2021 conference of the University of the Nations’ Youth with a Mission, which started Armstrong’s planning work to bring...
The Sentinel and the Wrangell Convention and Visitor Bureau are joining together to put out a more comprehensive booklet to help draw visitors to town, guide them when they are here, and help promote the community’s businesses. The Sentinel has been publishing a free annual visitor guide for decades. The Convention and Visitor Bureau, which has published its own, smaller guide for years, is almost out of copies and needed to print a new version this year. Rather than continue with two separate publications, the borough’s advisory board dec...
Shoppers who have items shipped via FedEx can probably assume higher charges come the end of the month. On Jan. 30, a surcharge of $13.25 per package will be added to any delivery the company has deemed “remote.” The fee applies to FedEx Express and FedEx Ground services and covers Wrangell and most of Alaska outside of Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau and Ketchikan. Rival delivery company UPS last year instituted its own remote-area surcharge, which increased to $13.05 per package in the Lower 48 on Dec. 27, up from $12 last year, and as much as...
