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A Georgia-based developer who has taken a liking to Wrangell has offered the borough $200,000 for the former hospital property, with plans to tear down the building and construct as many as 48 new housing units. Wayne Johnson’s offer on the 2-acre property is contingent on striking a deal to purchase six smaller borough-owned lots behind the hospital building, adding an additional 1.3 acres to the development site. The purchase price for the hospital property, which has been vacant since SEARHC moved into its new Wrangell Medical Center t...
The Wrangell school district is proposing to draw down about half of its reserves to balance the upcoming year’s budget, and Schools Superintendent Bill Burr warns that the solution is not sustainable for the long term. The school board at its Feb. 26 meeting reviewed with district business manager Kristy Andrew the first draft of the budget for the 2024-2025 school year. The budget shows general fund revenues of approximately $5.2 million — of which about 60% is from the state foundation funding formula — and expenses of more than $5.8 milli...
The state is working toward a possible timber sale at Earl West Cove in 2025 or 2026, with the borough hoping it could piggyback on the effort and put up its own acreage in the area to increase the logging work and generate revenue for the municipality. A state timber sale of approximately 160 acres is part of the state’s five-year plan covering 2023-2027. But there is work to do before the state timber could go out for bid. The Department of Natural Resources, Division of Forestry and Fire Protection hired a consultant two or three years a...
For Dorthea Rooney, her appeal to the borough assembly was born out of a personal tragedy. She requested some form of animal control that could provide euthanasia for pets in cases of illness or injury. Her sister's large, 13-year-old dog Lilly, who served as their mother's emotional support animal, had become unable to move her back legs. "She was basically paralyzed," she said. The house where Rooney's sister and mother lived had 40 stairs, and with Lilly's size and 100-pound weight, it was im...
March 6, 1924 The leap year edition of the Stikine Messenger, published on the 29th of February by the girls of the high school, was a splendid six-page paper and reflected much credit on the girls and their adviser, Miss Alice Carlson, teacher of English and history, and could be shown with pride by any school. When it is considered that the total enrollment of the high school is only 25, the achievement of the girls is even more remarkable. The high school boys will issue the March edition of the Messenger and they make no secret of the fact...
While it’s uncertain if the state could transfer funds to the borough for maintenance work at Petroglyph Beach, the more immediate concern is that neither the borough nor the state have any idea how many visitors commercial tour operators bring to the site each year. The state this year is requiring tour operators to buy a license and pay a per-visitor fee, which had been required under state law for more than 20 years. But the fee was never enforced for Petroglyph Beach because the Alaska Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation essentially l...
The state, which administers the federally funded Community Development Block Grant program, has awarded Wrangell $695,000 toward a new roof at the middle school. The borough assembly designated the school roof — most of which is almost 30 years old — as its top priority for the grant program this year. The project is estimated at about $1.4 million. “We would have to provide the balance to make it a whole project,” Amber Al-Haddad, the borough’s capital facilities director, said Feb. 28. “It’s possible we can get the (middle school) roof done...
Monday, Feb. 26 Agency assist: Ambulance. Found property. Tuesday, Feb. 27 Agency assist: Ambulance. Agency assist: Petersburg Police Department. Motor vehicle accident. Agency assist: Ambulance. Wednesday, Feb. 28 Agency assist: Harbor Department. Traffic stop. Found dog: Returned to owner. Thursday, Feb. 29 Found property. Traffic stop. Friday, March 1 Letter served for removing person from a licensed establishment. Unattended death. Disturbance. Traffic stop: Citation issues for failure to register vehicle. Saturday, March 2 Agency assist:...
Don’t think of it as selling the borough-owned former hospital building and it’s almost two acres of land for a steep discount to its appraised value. Think of it as potentially getting an immense amount of future value from an unused liability that is costing the borough about $100,000 a year to heat and insure. When you look at the math that way, a developer’s offer to pay the borough $200,000 for the hospital property looks pretty reasonable. Borough code allows the municipality to sell property at less than its appraised value if the sale w...
It was a perplexing week in the Legislature. While the Senate Finance Committee was reviewing honest numbers about real budget needs hitting up against the limit of available state revenues, the House was debating whether the exalted Permanent Fund dividend belongs in the Alaska Constitution, putting the PFD above all else in life. The Senate committee last week was doing the math, realizing the state would not have enough money for a fat dividend this year, no matter what the governor and too many legislators may pledge, promise and promote....
As Ken Hoyt prepares for the Tlingit canoe paddle making workshop at the high school shop room Friday through Sunday, March 8-10, he explained how there are two different types, depending on its intended use. "Real canoe paddles ... never have relief carving," he said. "They don't have inlays. They don't have anything ornate. They're utilitarian. People will sometimes be disappointed when they see old canoe paddles have a lot of geometric designs, straight lines, way different from the...
High school wrestler Keegan Hanson, a state champion in the Division II tournament this past December, chose for his senior project to help grade school kids in the Wolfpack Wrestling program with Parks and Recreation as an assistant coach. "Basically, just helping the kids out with their technique and break down the moves, step by step," he said. He's been volunteering, coaching elementary school and middle school students in wrestling throughout his high school years. "In Craig, my freshman an...
State senators heard last week that based on current revenue forecasts, legislators will struggle to balance the budget with several big-spending items still to be considered. The nonpartisan Legislative Finance Division explained that items currently pending, like benefits for low-income seniors, funding needed to start upgrading the Railbelt’s electrical grid and a large increase in state money for public education, were not included in the governor’s proposed budget. Other spending, such as Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s insistence on $55 milli...
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Kim Tyner (House) passed away unexpectedly in Sisters, Oregon, on Feb. 17, 2024. "Her absence leaves a gaping hole in the hearts of the countless people she touched," her family wrote. A celebration of her life will be announced at a later date. Kim was born July 25, 1951, in Wrangell to Donald and Margaret House. "She was a restless spirit right from the get-go. To the horror of her father, she bought a Honda 90 motorcycle as soon as she was old enough. Later, she sold it and acquired a 150...
A pair of citizen-backed initiatives will likely appear on the general election ballot in November, including one seeking to repeal Alaska’s voting system, state election officials said Feb. 27. After a monthlong review, the state Division of Elections made the initial assessment that separate groups had gathered enough signatures to place the two questions on the ballot. Voters will be asked if they want to overturn Alaska’s ranked-choice voting and open-primary system; and whether they support increasing the minimum wage and amending sta...
As of last week, anyone caught throwing trash into a harbor dumpster, other than household garbage by a boat owner, could face a $150 fine. The borough assembly on Feb. 27 adopted two ordinances: One which specifies in municipal code that the port and harbor dumpsters are for use by vessel owners only, and a second ordinance that imposes the $150 fine. Assembly members voted unanimously to adopt the new rules. No one from the public testified on either ordinance. The port commission had recommended the new provisions in borough code in hopes...