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After four breakdowns of the state ferry Matanuska in a little over two months, the Department of Transportation is considering its options to ensure more reliable service as the heavier summer travel season approaches. "In light of the mechanical issues on the Matanuska, we are evaluating and considering alternatives to improve system reliability,” department spokesman Sam Dapcevich said April 29. The department provided no further information. “Will get back to you on this question,” Dapcevich said. The Alaska Marine Highway System’s five op...
The Wrangell Chamber of Commerce is making plans for the community’s 66th king salmon derby to open June 15. It’s not exactly the 66th annual, since the derby was canceled 2018-2020 due to weak runs, but after that three-year wait the 66th derby could finally happen. The chamber is planning for a shorter derby this year, ending June 30, to make way for the community’s Fourth of July celebration and to ease into the event, which in the past ran an entire month, said Kimberly Cooper, of the chamber. “More details are on the way,” she said last Fr...
Crews working in the remote Northwestern Hawaiian Islands last month gathered up 47 tons of marine plastic and abandoned fishing nets, including this haul brought in by Joao Garriques (left) and Matthew Chauvin. They were delivering their load to a ship near Kure Atoll on April 11. The debris threatens marine animals, birds and the ecosystem. Click here for the story....
Rich with oil dollars, the Alaska Legislature in 1980 abolished the state’s annual $10-per-person tax that went to help support schools. More 41 years later, with North Slope oil production at its lowest level since the giant Prudhoe Bay field went online, and the state facing chronic budget gaps, a House committee this week is holding hearings to bring back the tax. The proposed tax would bring in an estimated $65 million a year, less than 10% of annual state budget deficits in recent years, but it’s a start, said Anchorage Rep. Ivy Spo...
Watershed-protection advocates told Alaska lawmakers that the three transboundary rivers crossing from Canada into Southeast need more protection from the risks created by mining operations in British Columbia, including more data on water quality. Tracking and ensuring the health of the waterways and their salmon runs, including the Stikine River, requires more monitoring over a wider area for more years, research scientist Chris Sergeant testified at the House Fisheries Committee on April 27. “The good news … is they’re still thriving watersh...
May 5, 1921 The ladies of the Presbyterian Aid Society have secured the Rex Theater for tomorrow (Friday) afternoon and evening, and will give a tea and goody sale from 3 to 5 p.m. and a program at 8 in the evening. The program includes a farce in two acts and vocal and instrumental selections and readings. The admission to the evening entertainment will be 35 cents for adults and 20 cents for children. The proceeds will be used for furnishing the new manse. In addition to the program as printed last week, Mrs. Towers has consented to sing a...
A few volunteers and city parks and recreation staff have started the work, but the big push to clean up, restore and replant downtown garden beds -and generally spruce up Front Street - is this weekend. The work project stretches down Front Street from the Stikine Inn to Rayme's Bar, said Kate Thomas, parks director. "I am not going to turn down help, ever." Volunteers can sign up and pick up tools, supplies and assignments at the downtown pavilion 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m....
The police department wants to get public feedback before its officers start wearing body cameras. The borough assembly took a first look at a draft policy for using the sound and video recording devices at its meeting April 27. The policy is under review by the borough attorney before it can go out for public comment. “This is kind of a document in motion,” Police Chief Tom Radke told the assembly. “We’re looking forward to community input. I think the community really needs to be involved in this process as we roll it out.” Radke reviewed...
The last time Alaska changed the state tax on motor fuel, gasoline cost about 36 cents a gallon at a Lower 48 pump, the average home price in the United States was $24,000, and the average price of a new car was about $3,500. The motor fuel tax rate in Alaska in 1970 was 8 cents a gallon, about half the price of a cup of coffee. Gasoline now runs about $2.50 a gallon in the Lower 48, $3 in Anchorage, and closer to $4 a gallon in California. The average home price in the country is over...
The Matanuska is old, no question about it. Even after a $47 million rebuild in 2018-2019, it will continue to suffer from the ailments of age as a 58-year-old ship in salt water. But Alaskans should question why the ship keeps coming out of service with mechanical problems. Sadly, the ferry has become as undependable as Democrats and Republicans working together. What are the state's costs of repairs and lost revenue from the service outages? What are the costs to people and businesses of...
Federal bailout does not build an economy The news story on Page 3 of the April 22 Wrangell Sentinel, “Federal aid helps Southeast second time in 25 years,” compares apples to oranges (comparing federal aid for the timber industry 25 years ago with federal aid for the tourism industry during the pandemic). More than 200 full-time jobs were lost at the sawmill. Some workers were retrained for other fields of work, or left town. The independent logger received nothing, nor the tugboat companies and its full-time employees, which outnumber the...
Despite rainy weather, Wrangell's Little League season opened Saturday morning. Players on the league's sole junior league team for 13 to 14 year olds, and two major league teams for 10 to 12 year olds, were introduced in the opening ceremony at Volunteer Park. Afterward, the major league teams, the Cubs and the Wolverines, held their first game. "It's my favorite sport," said Kai Wigg, of the Cubs. "I'm excited, it's going to be fun," said Brody Hommel, of the Wolverines. "This is my first...
Wrangell Sentinel reporter/photographer Caleb Vierkant won second place for best sports photo in the 2020 Alaska Press Club competition. The photo in the March 5, 2020, Sentinel, “Wolves host Haines for last home games of the season,” features the basketball team cheering and high-fiving Hank Voltz as he walks onto the court. Voltz, a now-graduated senior, has a heart condition that kept him from playing. He served as team manager but was brought onto the court for the opening of the final home game of his career. Voltz went on to score the...
Lucy Moline-Robinson is organizing her “finale” fun run for Southeast Beasts May 22. Robinson has been organizing events for Wrangell’s running group since 2012, she said, and it is time for her to step away from the work. “It’s been a wonderful time and I’ve enjoyed it, but I’d just like to take a break,” she said. “It’s a lot of work and a lot of effort. … I am looking for folks to organize the main runs, because I think they have some value in our community.” The main events put on by Southeast Beasts are the Thanksgiving Turkey Tro...
The producers of Magnetic North, a series of historical documentaries on interesting and important Alaskans, is calling on Wrangell for photos or home movies of the community and Ed Rasmuson, who managed the town’s only bank branch 1965 to 1967. Rasmuson may be best known as chairman of the Rasmuson Foundation, the largest philanthropic organization in the state, with almost $700 million in assets as of Dec. 31. Before that, though, he was in the “family business” of banking, said producer Marla Williams. His grandparents took over the then-fai...
Sabrina Yoder and her 2-year-old daughter Addy are just starting on their bird feeder project, arranging the pre-cut pieces in a workshop held as part of the annual Stikine Birding Festival last Saturday. Sponsored by the U.S. Forest Service and Angerman's, the event in front of the Nolan Center provided the wood and tools, along with help, for people to build a bird feeder, while also learning more about feathered fliers. (Photo by Caleb Vierkant)...
The Wrangell Elks Lodge hosted a hamburger dinner last Thursday to award participants in the annual Hoop Shoot contest. Due to the pandemic, the Elks did not hold a regional or national Hoop Shoot this year. Instead, lodges that participated in the contest at the local level had their scores compared, and statewide trophies were given out. Wrangell's state Hoop Shoot winners included (left to right, top row) Aadyn Gillen, Keaton Gadd, Brody Knecht, Paige Hoyt and Haidyn Gadd; and (bottom row)...
Born to Les and Reita Olds in Tillamook, Oregon, on June 4, 1960, Clinton Thomas Olds was the youngest of three sons. Clint passed away on April 30, 2021, due to complications of pneumonia. He was 60. For a boy of 7, a trip to Alaska in 1967 was an adventure when he, his mother, father and two brothers embarked on the state ferry Malaspina with a short stop in Sitka and then on to permanent residence in Wrangell. Clint thrived in the small town, hunting and fishing with his family and...
The state Commercial Fisheries Division budget is facing no cuts for the upcoming fiscal year that starts July 1, assuming the current numbers make it through the Legislature and any gubernatorial vetoes. The budget approved by the state House on Sunday includes funding to reopen the Fish and Game Wrangell office, which the Dunleavy administration closed a year ago. The office was not in the governor’s budget proposal this year either, but was added in the House Finance Committee through the work of Ketchikan Rep. Dan Ortiz. The spending p...
Delilah Roane (left) and Maria Holder look over a hermit crab they caught in a tide pool at the Sea Day event last Friday at Shoemaker Park. The Wrangell Cooperative Association and the U.S. Forest Service sponsored the event for the community's homeschool kids. The day featured arts and crafts, education on the plants and animals that can be found near the water, and a potluck lunch for several dozen homeschoolers....
Monday, April 26 Traffic stop: Verbal warning for driving habits and expired plates. Disorderly conduct/complaint from neighbor of loud music. Tuesday, April 27 Agency assist: Fire Department. Motor vehicle accident. Dog at large. Summons served. Citizen assist: Vehicle unlock. Wednesday, April 28 Agency assist: Honnah Police Department. Citizen assist. Trespassing. Disabled vehicle. Thursday, April 29 Traffic stop. Welfare check. Parking complaint. Found property. Driving suspended. Friday, April 30 Agency assist: U.S. Forest Service. Welfare...
HONOLULU - A crew returned from the northernmost islands in the Hawaiian archipelago last month with a boatload of marine plastic and abandoned fishing nets that threaten to entangle endangered Hawaiian monk seals and other animals on the uninhabited beaches stretching more than 1,300 miles north of Honolulu. The cleanup effort in Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument lasted three weeks and the crew picked up more than 47 tons of "ghost nets" and other marine plastics such as buoys, crates,...
JUNEAU (AP) - Alaska U.S. Rep. Don Young said he will seek reelection to the seat he has held since 1973. The Republican, in an April 28 statement announcing his reelection plans, said with the challenges facing Alaska, this is “not the time to take risks on someone untested and unproven.” Young, 87, is the longest-serving Republican in the U.S. House. He won his latest reelection bid in November, with 54.4% of the vote, against Alyse Galvin. Galvin also lost to Young in 2018, losing by a wider margin in 2020. The incumbent’s closest reele...
A bill moving through the state House would require state recognition of Alaska’s 229 federally recognized tribes. Supporters say the measure is needed to encourage better collaboration and consultation between the state and tribes; formally acknowledge Alaska tribes’ sovereignty, history, culture and contributions; and potentially allow them to access additional resources. “By supporting this bill, you are uplifting these unique and resilient people that have been here for 10,000 years,” Brooke Woods, of the Athabascan Interior communi...
ANCHORAGE (AP) - Federal agents served a search warrant at a small resort in Homer last week, saying they were looking for a laptop stolen from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office during the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, one of the Homer Inn and Spa owners said. Agents on April 28 confiscated laptop computers and a cellphone, owner Marilyn Hueper said. A cellphone belonging to her husband, Paul Hueper, was also searched by agents but not confiscated, she said. Marilyn Hueper said agents also claimed there was photographic evidence that she w...
