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With the department heads scrambling to prepare budgets before the month’s end, rate discussions and spending plans seemed inevitable at the City and Borough Assembly’s Tuesday evening meeting. High up on its agenda was a continued discussion of the city’s residential and commercial water rates, which have lagged well behind covering costs. In light of looming supply problems (see water plant story), significant capital investments ahead for a new plant, and prospective development at the Institute and former mill sites, every penny count...
A pair of high schoolers announced plans to run for the crown in this year's Fourth of July Royalty competition. Each spring the competition raises funds for Wrangell's Independence Day celebrations, with candidates holding fundraisers and selling tickets. Last year's competition between Kyla Teat and Alex Angerman broke records, with the pair selling 126,408 tickets. Thirty percent of what contestants raise goes back to them as a scholarship, helping to pay for college or some other form of...
May 19, 1917: Miss Mary Louise Bihler, teacher of primary department of the Wrangell public school, gave an exhibit of the children’s work in her room last Friday afternoon. The four walls of the room were covered with written exercises, drawings, free hand cuttings, tablemats, caps, and various other articles made by the children. A number of miniature hammocks made by the different pupils were all so nearly alike, and the weaving so perfectly done, that they looked more like a factory product than the work of school children. May 22, 1942: T...
Staff numbers have been boosted for Wrangell’s ailing water treatment plant this summer in an effort to keep up with increased demand. Sedimentation has built up over the life of the 18-year-old plant’s slow sand filtration system, an increasing weight on efficiency, which last summer resulted in an emergency shortage of treated water. Measures to curb Wrangell’s usage were taken as a result, causing some disruption to the water-intensive seafood processors’ seasonal operations. Public Works director Amber Al-Haddad explained the plant was poor...
Monday, May 1 Disorderly conduct warning given. Tuesday, May 2 Agency Assist: FD. Found Property. Wednesday, May 3 Harassing phone calls: Officer spoke to individual regarding phone calls. Thursday, May 4 Found Property. Lost Property. Agency Assist: Caller reported water problem. Friday, May 5 Nothing to report. Saturday, May 6 MVA: Under $2,000 in damage. Citizen Assist: Unlocked vehicle. Agency Assist: Crossings. MVA: Caller reported damage to vehicle after hitting deer. Citation Issued: Logan Padgett, age 18 for no insurance. Traffic Stop:...
Players on Wrangell's little and minor league baseball teams doff hats out of respect during the Pledge of Allegiance Monday evening, at the season opener. Three tee-ball teams – the Thunder, Lightning and Falcons – and two minor leaguers – the Sharks and Rays – will be playing throughout the coming month. It being Southeast, despite a little bit of rain, the teams were still able to play their opening games....
Marian Glenz, 80, of Wrangell, Alaska died on April 26, 2017 at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle. She was born to Buckshot and Irene Woolery on August19, 1936, in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. She grew up in Port Protection, Ketchikan, Meyers Chuck and Wrangell. She graduated from Main School in Ketchikan and worked for her parents in Port Protection, fished commercially and ran the U.S Post Office in Meyers Chuck. She married Ed Glenz in 1958 in Ketchikan, and they were happily married for 54 years. Glenz was preceded in death...
The city will be collecting a variety of household hazardous waste items this weekend at its waste disposal facility on Evergreen Avenue. Public Works director Amber Al-Haddad said the doors at the center will be open to residents this Friday and Saturday, where up to 200 pounds of items per household can be disposed of free of charge. Hazardous wastes being sought include various cleaners, sprays, waxes, solvents, paints, pharmaceuticals, fertilizers, fuels and lubricants – anything that cannot ordinarily be thrown into the garbage or p...
Along with Penny Mazona from Peters Creek, Wrangell Unit 6 Auxiliaries Marilyn Mork, Zona Gregg, Barbara Hommel and Juanita Courson are recognized for their service within the American Legion at a meeting in Haines last month. Gregg was elected a Sergeant at Arms for the Alaska Department during the meeting, and Mork was named Woman of the Year. "My motto is 'the reward for work well done is the opportunity to do more,'" Mork commented. The group also visited the new Soboleff McRae Veterans...
A relatively recent resident to Wrangell took a novel view of the place, in February self-publishing a fictional adventure set here. K.E. Hoover’s book West of North follows character Josh Campbell, a man who has come to Wrangell looking for a new start at life. He makes some new friendships – and new enemies – in the process, learning to live in the Alaskan wilderness. “It’s a thriller in addition to an adventure story,” Hoover explained. One of the characters is loosely based on his own father, Jack Hoover, a resident of Wrangell. ...
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) – Hundreds of Alaska residents and students gathered in Fairbanks on Sunday to show support for schools facing heavy budget cuts. The rally happened two days after hundreds of high school and middle school students in the Fairbanks area left school early in protest of proposed cuts to music, arts, sports and other activities, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported. “The youth of Fairbanks have sent us an S.O.S message – save our schools – loud and clear,” said Montean Jackson, Fairbanks North Star Borough School Di...
The month-long King Salmon Derby will get to a start on Saturday, the 65th in Wrangell's long-running competition. Wrangell's annual derby is organized by the Chamber of Commerce, and during its month long run draws close to 1,000 participants. Last year's grand prize winner was Malia McIntyre, who brought in a 46.7 pound king salmon toward the end of the derby. As with last year, first prize for 2017 will yield a $6,000 jackpot. Additional prizes for second through fourth place are $4,000,...
Alaska’s salmon season officially gets underway in less than two weeks! The first fishery for sockeye and king salmon is set for May 18 at Copper River and the town of Cordova is buzzing, said Christa Hoover, executive director of the Copper River/Prince William Sound Marketing Association. “The mood changes at the start of May with all the folks back in town and boats going in and out of the water,” she said. Enthusiasm among the fleet of more than 500 drift gillnetters has not been dampened by a reduced harvest projection. Fishery manag...
The Federal Subsistence Board announced Monday that the Stikine River Chinook salmon subsistence fishery has been closed. Emergency Special Action Request FSA17-02 was approved, and delegation of authority given to the in-season manager to rescind the closure if an updated in-season abundance estimate is large enough to produce an allowable catch. Scheduled to run from May 15 to June 20, the subsistence fishery fell afoul of a low pre-season abundance forecast of the terminal area. The 2017 forecast is at 18,300 large Chinook salmon, measuring...
Bringing to a conclusion a writing grant received two years ago, local poet Vivian Prescott will be publishing a pair of works this summer. “The newest book that’s coming out in July is a poetry chapbook,” she explained. “So it’s small, about 30 pages. It’s more a hybrid so it’s a little bit of prose poetry. It’s called Traveling With the Underground People.” The subject matter focuses on the diaspora of the Sami people, a group indigenous to the northern parts of Finland, Norway, Sweden and nearby Russia. Though Alaska residents for about five...
Reversing Wrangell’s fortunes last year, the Ray Pederson Memorial Ryder Cup returned to Petersburg this weekend after its golfers edged out locals in a 5-4 win. Due to expected weather conditions Sunday, the usually two-day annual tournament was condensed down to cover Saturday. With nine participants from each community on hand, teams were made parties of three rather than the usual two, which Muskeg Meadows course manager Bill Messmer said worked out pretty well. The six teams were able to get in 27 holes in three categories of play, e...
Last week the United States Senate passed an omnibus bill to fund the government through the end of Fiscal Year 2017. A member of the Appropriations Committee and Chairman of the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) announced a series of provisions within the bill that will provide resources to support programs with significant impacts in communities throughout the state. “With our state in the midst of a fiscal crisis, this bill will provide a much-needed boost to our economy. The bill provides new investments f...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – An Alaska lawmaker who set off a firestorm by suggesting women try to get pregnant for a “free trip to the city” for abortions is a military veteran and first-year representative who has developed a reputation for being outspoken in his conservative beliefs. Rep. David Eastman, a Republican from Wasilla, is a firefighter and father of two young children. Eastman found himself in the hot seat last week when he discussed his concerns about the use of state funds and Medicaid for abortions. In an interview with The Assoc...