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Use of Wrangell's former Institute property continues to take shape after a pair of town meetings last week. Acquired by the city in 1995, the 134-acre property has potential for residential development, and the city last year commissioned a team of architects, statisticians and engineers to begin looking into a master plan. The public meetings on Feb. 29 and March 2 were the first step in that process, "I think they went really well," economic director Carol Rushmore said of the sessions. "Ther...
Wrangell Public Schools has initiated a search for a new secondary schools principal, after receiving notice from current principal Kendall Benson late last month that he would not be seeking a second year. Hailing from Utah, Benson had been hired last summer to administer the high school and Stikine Middle School after the departure of predecessor Colter Barnes. Traveling to Sitka for Region V basketball this week, Benson was unavailable for comment. School superintendent Patrick Mayer announced on Friday that an interview committee has been...
The City and Borough Assembly approved a multimillion dollar infrastructure plan put forward by Wrangell Municipal Light and Power on Tuesday, which is set to tackle a half-dozen deficiencies over as many years. The decision follows a utility study commissioned last year which identified a startling number of infrastructural needs the community will need to focus on in the near future. The two largest problems it identified were Wrangell’s many aging utility poles and its insufficient backup power capabilities. As presented, the utility’s pla...
The Forest Service's Wrangell district will be reexamining the future of its recreation program, hosting a conversation with the public on March 15. Part of the Tongass National Forest, the ranger district manages USFS lands and amenities on Wrangell Island, the mainland and a number of surrounding islands, and includes the Stikine River and Anan Wildlife Observatory. Ranger Bob Dalrymple explained his district will be looking at the current recreation program across the board, and that the...
Monday, February 29 Parking Complaint. Report of Assault. Report of Scam. Driving Complaint. Agency Assist: Smoke Alarm. Tuesday, March 1 Civil Issue. MVA: Vehicle rolled and hit another vehicle. Citizen Assist. Trespass Warning given. Wednesday, March 2 Theft Reported. Agency Assist – Fire Department. Report of Intoxicated Person. Suspicious Circumstance. Disturbance. Citizen Assist – Alarm going off on boat. Owner was notified. Thursday, March 3 Report of Criminal Mischief. Citation issued to Trevor Guggenbickler, 12, for Dog at Large. Thr...
Stopping in Wrangell last week, District 36 Rep. Dan Ortiz (I-Ketchikan) was able to share with the Sentinel some his perspectives on how the state's current budget negotiations are headed. House Bill 256 and Senate Bill 139 are each chamber's proposal for a state budget, which currently is set to exhaust the Statutory Budget Reserve and draw from the Congressional Budget Reserve, which at current spending levels may run out by 2019. The CBR fund is where all oil tax settlement revenues are...
Monday evening’s meeting of the Port Commission was spent largely on discussing rate increases, with an hour-long workshop focused on moorage fees. The way harbormaster Greg Meissner figured it, stalls at the moment are not paying nearly enough for themselves, which will be a problem further down the line. At the present, dockside moorage fees are at a flat $25 per foot, a cost which has not changed for the better part of a decade. More than half of fees collected go into savings for deferred maintenance, which in turn gets used toward the purc...
Garrett Miller shoots from the three during Wrangell's game against Metlakatla on Friday. The Wolves lost to the visitors 30-44, but fought hard again in the next afternoon's game for a 56-52 win over the Chiefs. The team heads to Region V this week in Sitka, where they are set for a rematch with Metlakatla in the semifinals. Playing in Metlakatla, the Lady Wolves won both of its matches against the home team, 45-32 on Friday and 39-35 on Saturday. The girls finished off their season on a...
Wrangell’s Parks and Recreation Department will be changing up the fee assistance program, its advisory board decided. Meeting on March 2, the board examined the program since its redesign last year. “What we found there is, we are going to eliminate the option for people to get annual passes,” explained parks director Kate Thomas. With the pass rate increases which also took effect, someone applying for assistance could get upwards of $700 off of a family pass. The program only budgeted $1,800 to start with, so an application or two could take...
Fish stomachs could help solve the mystery of why Alaska halibut are so small for their age. Halibut weights are about one-third of what they were 30 years ago, meaning a halibut weighing 120 pounds in the late 1980s is closer to 40 pounds nowadays. One culprit could be arrowtooth flounders, whose numbers have increased 500 percent over the same time to outnumber the most abundant species in the Gulf: pollock. Fishermen for decades have claimed the toothy flounders, which grow to about three feet in length, are blanketing the bottom of the...