Sorted by date Results 1 - 24 of 24
At last week’s Borough Assembly meeting, members discussed stepping up abatement of public nuisances around the island. The item came up as a priority during last month’s goal-setting workshop with recently hired city manager Lisa Von Bargen. Returning to the Assembly last Tuesday, she put it to members that she would like to see removal of junk vehicles management take higher priority. She called back to the borough’s recent experience with the former Byford property, a privately managed junk site which after several decades of use was signi...
The last ballots were cast and polls closed Tuesday evening on the 2017 municipal elections. Turnout was low in a relatively low-key election, with no ballot measures to consider and candidates running for six of the eight available seats uncontested. No letters of interest were put forward to be considered as a write-in candidate, and one unexpired term on the Wrangell Medical Center Board garnered no interest. The only race in contest was for an unexpired two-year term on the Public School...
October 11, 1917: An erroneous impression prevails in Wrangell that the town is likely to be left without a doctor. This condition has been anticipated by the War Department. When a physician offers his services to his country and receives a call it is on condition that he does not leave his community without a doctor. Dr. Pigg is seeking a commission in the reserve. He has not been accepted yet. Should he be called, he could not respond until another physician had located here. Consequently there is no excuse for anyone in Wrangell not...
Night owls may have noticed their power go out late Sunday evening after a bird strike took down service for an hour. A problem was reported to Wrangell Municipal Light and Power by police dispatch at around 11:20 p.m. Checking the substation behind the Public Works Department yard, electrical superintendent Clay Hammer explained one of the feeder relays was down. Feeder 4 provides power to utility users from one end of Peninsula Street down to the end of service along Zimovia Highway. A potentially blown generator had been reported by a Penins...
September 9 Eric Castro, age 35 from Petersburg, cited for sport fishing without a license in possession. He was issued a $210 citation in District Court at Wrangell. September 11 Bruce Balan, age 57 from California, issued a $210 citation for Sport Fishing without a License in Wrangell District Court. September 17 Leonard Gribbons, age 53 from California, cited at Berg Bay for duck hunting without a Federal Duck Stamp. Gribbons was issued a $85 citation at the District Court in Wrangell. September 23 At approximately 3 p.m. Alaska Wildlife...
Monday, September 25 Found: Recovered Property. Traffic Stop: Verbal warning for driving habits. Tuesday, September 26 Parking complaint. Subpoena Service. Wednesday, September 27 Disturbance: Officer responded. VCOR: Unfounded: Civil matter. Thursday, September 28 Agency Assist: Assist in locating relative. Missing: Lost wallet. Citizen Assist: Porcupine quills removed from dog. Friday, September 29 Agency Assist: OCS. Agency Assist: AST. Agency Assist: Random breath test. Found Property: Owner came and claimed property. Citizen Report of...
In the September 21 issue’s story on Page 5, it should be noted the United Tribal Transboundary Mining Work Group has since been renamed, to the Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission. Contrary to what was reported in the story, the group was actually formed by a coalition of tribal groups prior to the Mt. Polley disaster, in March 2014....
Laurel Anne Floor, 35, passed away on September 19, 2017 at Providence Hospital in Anchorage, Alaska with her mother and sister by her side. Laurel passed away from an abrupt illness. She was born in Ashland, Oregon on June 20, 1982. She was preceded in death by her father David Lee Aldredge and grandmother Anne Westensee of Talent, Oregon. She left behind two daughters, six year old Miss Alexandria Marie Floor of Talkeetna and 14 month old, Miss Patricia Joy Hern of Anchorage; her mother Jamie...
Lance Eugene Ingle, 78, passed away quietly with his family around him in Ketchikan, Alaska on July 14, 2017. He was born to Sharky and Irene Ingle on May 25, 1939. He grew up in Wrangell, Alaska and lived there until locating to Ketchikan for health reasons. Lance did many things in his lifetime. He ran for political office, was the manager of the Alaska Lumber and Pulp Wrangell Mill as well as the 6 mile mill in Wrangell. He sat on the Alaska Airlines Board until he retired from the mill. He...
Richard William Larson, 77, of Wrangell, Alaska, passed away on September 4, 2017 after a short bout with cancer. He died in a Las Vegas hospital after being airlifted from Arizona. He was born in Wenatchee, Washington on November 17, 1939 to Arthur Wm. and Lillian Marie Larson. When he was six, they moved to Prescott, Arizona, along with his younger sister. He grew up there fishing, hunting, and riding his horse. He even delivered newspapers on horseback. He loved telling the "story" that in...
David L. Martin, 72 died September 28 in Anchorage. Legacy Funeral Homes of Anchorage is handling arrangements....
The local Tribe has received a substantial grant from the Administration for Native Americans to address outmigration over much of the past several decades. Wrangell Cooperative Association began applying for the grant in April, putting forward a project proposal to the federal agency, part of the Department of Health and Human Services. The two-year grant is for $200,000, with the first year’s allotment set at $110,916. With those funds, WCA will be hiring one full-time and one part-time staff member to handle the project. “They’re going...
The Alaska Marine Highway System needs forward funding. I don’t think I need to say it twice. If money is allocated to the AMHS for its future expenses, the AMHS can properly plan sailings which would: capture revenue from tourists (including those considering traveling with their RVs or vehicles), allow businesses to send employees to neighboring islands, and provide more advance planning options for Alaskans. Of course, the ferry system would also benefit from being more insulated from political influence. Currently, support for the marine h...
The local Friends of the Library have acquired a new resource for research at Irene Ingle Public Library. The web-based reference tool, ProQuest’s Ancestry Library Edition, helps users trace family trees more easily. The program maintains millions of family records dating as far back as the 15th century. In a news release late last week, the library explained the new resource responds to local interest in family history. “More and more of our patrons want to explore their past, and these resources make it easy and convenient,” explained Wrang...
The Petersburg-Wrangell area moose harvest seems set to break 100 again this year, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. So far 67 moose have been checked in during the first 18 days of the monthlong hunt. Petersburg ADFG wildlife biologist Rich Lowell explained that generally the larger share of bulls are killed during the first half of the season. Over the past eight years the final two-week average has seen around 45 moose harvested, ranging from a low of 36 to a high of 57. The number of moose taken illegally in the district...
In a media release from Wrangell Medical Center, the hospital announced that for the month of October it will be discounting mammograms. Nationally, October is informally recognized as Breast Cancer Awareness month, during which women are encouraged to focus on this important healthcare issue. Outside of skin cancers, behind that affecting the lungs, breast cancer is the second most common form of cancer among American women. According to the American Cancer Society, the average rate of risk over a lifetime is 12 percent, or one in eight...
Chum salmon returned home to Alaska this year in numbers never seen before from Southeast to Kotzebue, and set catch records statewide and in many regions. Chums, also called dogs because of their long use as a prime food source for Alaska Native dog teams, are the most widely distributed of all Pacific salmon and occur throughout Alaska. The fish usually comprise about 15 percent of the total salmon catch, and this year’s tally of almost 25 million is the biggest harvest since 2000. At Kodiak, for example, a chum catch of nearly two million w...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – The first-ever passenger jet converted for cargo use was unveiled Monday in Alaska, and the arrival spells the end for a unique plane configured for the nation’s largest state. Alaska Airlines spent $15 million to convert three 737-700s to carry diverse cargo – everything from animals to seafood to groceries to tires – to rural hub communities in this state with few roads. The two additional cargo planes are still undergoing the conversion process in Tel Aviv. The new planes increase the cargo capacity load for Alaska b...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Alaska state Sen. Mia Costello is trying to repeal a sweeping reform of the state’s criminal justice system that she supported in 2016. In the year and a half since the change, Alaska crime rates have increased, The Juneau Empire reported Wednesday. The new system promotes counseling, treatment and other alternatives to jail for low-level nonviolent crimes. “We need to clear the deck and start from the beginning,” said Costello, a Republican. The reform’s supporters have said it’s inappropriate to link the uptick in c...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP ) – Southeast Alaska was hit hard in 2016 by government job losses and a lull in fishing production, but the tourism industry continues to grow, a state economy expert said. Economic development officials with the Southeast Conference found that the region lost 750 state jobs throughout the past three years, a nearly 15 percent drop, CoastAlaska News reported. Meilani Schijvens, who wrote the report for the conference, said that loss of wages is similar to a large mine being shut down in Southeast Alaska. “It’s actua...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – The National Park Service can ban hovercraft operating on Alaska rivers that flow through national preserves, a federal Appeals Court ruled Monday, in a case that has implications for who will manage state waterways. A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals concluded said the Park Service has regulatory authority over a river in a preserve even as Alaska since statehood has owned the riverbed. “On remand from the Supreme Court, we again conclude that the federal government properly exercised it aut...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) _ Alaska marijuana grower Mike Emers has been losing sleep with a vote fast approaching that he says could shutter his family’s business and financially ruin them. The statewide initiative that legalized recreational marijuana in 2014 allows local governments to ban pot businesses within their borders. And on Tuesday, voters in two of Alaska’s major marijuana-growing areas - including the Fairbanks area, where Emers operates Rosie Creek Farm - will decide whether to do so. If the proposed bans on marijuana growing, man...
Around 40 residents came together last week for dinner, drinks and a presentation about mining issues at the Stikine Inn. Campaigners with advocacy group Salmon Beyond Borders hosted the event, one of a series being held last month around Southeast communities. Meeting in Wrangell on September 27, one of its purposes was to bring residents up to speed with recent developments in the mining industry in neighboring British Columbia. There are three rivers of primary interest, being the Stikine,...