Sorted by date Results 1 - 19 of 19
Eight recall petition applications to remove all but one member of the Wrangell Medical Center (WMC) Board of Directors have been filed with the City and Borough of Wrangell. WMC Board members included in the petitions are WMC Board Chair Mark Robinson, Vice Chair Jim Nelson and Linda Bjorge, Sylvia Ettafaugh, Jake Harris, Lurine McGee, Dee Norman, and LeAnn Rinehart. The sole WMC Board member not included in the petitions is Dorothy Hunt-Sweat. Wrangell resident Gary Allen, Sr. is the main sponsor of the petitions, and Michael V. Ottesen,...
The city has seen an increase in the number of appliances left at the outdoor shooting range in Wrangell. Those who manage the range say if the problem continues, public access may be restricted. People are taking TVs and microwaves to the shooting range and using them as targets, then leaving the busted appliances there, said Kim Covalt of the Wrangell Parks and Recreation Department. “If we can’t get a grasp on this, then we’ll have to be restricting access to it,” he said. The City and Borough of Wrangell owns the shooting range, said Ci...
Over 50 people participated in Wrangell’s “Choose Respect” last week. Wrangell was among 123 Alaskan communities that held events March 29 to raise awareness of domestic violence and sexual abuse in the state. Participants marched from Evergreen Elementary School to the ferry terminal and back along Church Street in Wrangell, holding “Choose Respect” signs and bracing the rain. Public Health and the Healthy Wrangell Coalition sponsored the march, which is part of the Gov. Sean Parnell’s...
April 4, 1912: The results of the municipal elections Tuesday placed the business of the town of Wrangell into almost entirely new hands. The list of the seven highest who will constitute the Common Council of the town for the 1912-13 term is as follows: C.H. Horch, Chas. Benjamin, D. Lewis, L.M. Churchill, C.A. Emery, A.T. Spader, I.M. Wheeler. C.M. Coulter received 69 of the 78 votes cast for school director. The old saying, “Of those that hath, much is expected,” can be applied in this case, for some very material improvement will be exp...
As crews continue to move further down Front Street working on the road and utility improvement project, some are wondering how the construction will affect Fourth of July festivities in Wrangell. At a construction update meeting March 29, project leads were asked about the possibility the annual, multi-day celebration would be interrupted. A large section of Front Street — from approximately Federal Way to Campbell Drive — is unpaved from crews excavating the road to dig trenches and install new water and sewer lines. The majority of that sec...
The Wrangell Sustainable Outdoor Recreation Action Plan outlines a dozen priority projects aimed at enhancing local recreation opportunities for residents and visitors. Last week, a public meeting was held on the final drafted plan, and those who helped form the plan expressed hopes of how it will be used in the community. Borough Economic Development Director Carol Rushmore, also a member of the Wrangell Sustainable Outdoor Recreation Core Team, said she hopes local organizations and groups will endorse the plan to help move it forward. Ideal...
Monday, March 26 -Person reported trees had fallen on lines and agency was notified. -Officer responded to illegal dumping. -Report of suspicious behavior. Tuesday, March 27 -Person reported harassment. -Person reported suspicious circumstance. -Officer responded to report of possible child abuse. -Traffic stop. -Officer called about criminal mischief. -Citation issued to Robert Wickman 66, for failure to provide insurance and verbal warning for driving habits and failure to carry and show. Wednesday, March 28 -Caller reported concerns about no...
To the Editor; I believe that the self-professed CEO of WMC and his board get out of politics. They need to put their energy towards patient care and staff needs. Having a doctor on the Board would be a great idea, if you could find one to run. Who would be more qualified to judge a doctor’s actions and qualifications than another doctor? Apparently the board didn’t accept their recommendations of their Chief of Staff and keep a very qualified emergency care doctor on staff, Dr. Salard. While in the University of Washington Medical Center two...
At the Wrangell Medical Center Board meeting March 28, local physician Greg Salard told board members he has no intention of leaving town despite his hospital privileges being revoked. “I have full intentions of getting my credentials back one way or the other, and my wife and kids and I are not going anywhere,” he said. WMC board members, acting as a separate committee, voted in early March to deny Salard the right to continue to work at the city-owned hospital. Salard is a physician employed by Alaska Island Community Services, and was pre...
Wrangell High School seniors started their senior activities Monday, April 3 with the traditional kidnap breakfast. The unsuspecting students were roused out of their beds at 6 a.m. by volunteer parents then taken to Harbor Light Church for breakfast. The students still have senior sneak day and the senior football game to look forward to before graduation ceremonies on May 18....
The 18th annual Health Fair will be held in Wrangell on Saturday. This year’s event will offer an additional blood test used for diabetes management. Called hemoglobin A1c, the blood test will show how well diabetes is being controlled in a patient who has already been diagnosed with the disease, said Health Fair Organizer Cathy Gross. The blood test can also be used as a screening test for pre-diabetes, she said. The test helps patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes monitor blood sugar levels, as it provides information about such levels ove...
As a result of the City and Borough of Wrangell hosting two days of classes last month on the Alaska Open Meetings Act, some local boards have proposed revisions to charters and operations. Borough Clerk Christie Jamieson said the city’s municipal code needs to be revised and updated. State laws change year to year, and Wrangell’s charter and 20 titles of the municipal code should be in sync with those laws, Jamieson said. “I think it’s definitely needed, some things just need to be cleaned up,” she said. Ideally, the municipal code would be...
Goldie Sivertsen, Wrangell’s oldest resident, has left Southeast Alaska for Port Angeles, Wash. Siversten, 102, was raised in Petersburg, where she graduated from high school and met her husband. She moved in to Wrangell’s long-term care facility at the Wrangell Medical Center when she was 99 years old. During her time in Wrangell, she has been the Grand Marshal for the Fourth of July parade. She is also popular for her beadwork, which is on display at the art gallery in downtown Wra...
For the first time ever, seafood industry reps were invited to brief policy makers in Congress on jobs and economic opportunities. Last Thursday the group presented a panel discussion called ‘Seafood Jobs in America’ to the Senate Oceans Caucus and an audience of 80 people. According to Seafood.com, it included representatives of twelve senators and even one from the White House, plus a large contingent from the environmental NGO community. Alaska Senators Lisa Murkowski and Mark Begich both made opening remarks at the event. “Nobody else...
Hello again from the Legislature. Now that we’re down to the last two weeks of session, the pace is really picking up and the hours getting longer. I was very pleased that my resolution to recreate the state’s dedicated transportation fund received approval of the House on Friday. House Joint Resolution 4 would put a constitutional amendment before the voters in November to amend the Alaska Constitution - reinstating a dedicated Alaska Transportation Infrastructure Fund (ATIF). As the state’s po...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – A proposal requiring that most students stay in school until they turn 18 passed the Senate Wednesday. The bill by Sen. Bettye Davis, D-Anchorage, would require Alaska children to attend school from ages 6 to 18. Current law requires attendance from ages 7 to 16. Davis said her goal is to ensure that learning starts early and that parents have something to fall back on should their kids want to drop out before graduating. “The Alaska compulsory school age has not changed since territorial days,” Davis said in a floor speec...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – A derelict Japanese ship dislodged by last year’s massive tsunami was drifting toward Alaska Monday, the U.S. Coast Guard said. The shrimping vessel was floating slowly northwest in the Gulf of Alaska about 125 miles west of the nearest point of land, Forrester Island outside the Dixon Entrance, a maritime transportation corridor separating U.S. and Canada jurisdictions. The ship is heading in the direction of the southeast Alaska town of Sitka 170 miles to the north, traveling at about one mile per hour, Coast Gua...
Oral arguments were heard in Wrangell’s courtroom Tuesday afternoon regarding local physician Greg Salard’s request to be allowed to work at the Wrangell Medical Center (WMC) pending his appeal to a previous hospital board decision. The WMC Board notified Salard in early March that his request for permanent privileges at the hospital had been denied. Salard is employed through Alaska Island Community Services and was previously contracted to practice at WMC on a temporary basis. A week after the March 2 WMC Board decision, Salard filed an app...
