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The borough-owned hospital property on Bennett Street has been vacant since March 2021 and on the market for about a year. Though the borough has received one development proposal for the land, it is contracting with a realtor to attract more buyers and expand its options. At its June 13 meeting, the borough assembly approved a contract with Petersburg-based real estate agent Anchor Properties to try selling the 30,000-square-foot building and 1.94 acres of land. Assembly Member Jim DeBord was the only opposing vote. The appraised value of the...
UPDATE: The vessels have been delayed in Angoon and their arrival in Wrangell is postponed. The new tentative arrival date is Tuesday, June 27. Next Monday, a nearly four-year journey continues when the Polynesian Voyaging Society lands on Wrangell's shores, bringing the Hawaiian culture to Southeast. The sailing vessels Hōkūle'a and Hikianalia are scheduled to arrive at approximately 11 a.m. on June 26, coming to the north side of the island. After three days in Wrangell, the boats and crew w...
Sealaska Heritage Institute has honored 10 educators from throughout Alaska and Washington for their culturally relevant lessons. Among those is Wrangell's Virginia Oliver, who teaches Tlingit language in the Wrangell School District. She was one of seven given the Distinguished Educator Award, "which recognizes educators who intentionally weave cultural knowledge throughout their lessons and classroom and use approaches that reflect Native students' identity and values through place-based and...
The U.S. Supreme Court on June 15 rejected a challenge to a federal law aimed at keeping Native American children within the foster care system in Native American homes. The Supreme Court in a 7-2 decision upheld the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act, which established federal minimum standards for the removal of Native American children from their homes. The law also prioritized placing children into homes of extended family members and other tribal homes — places that could reflect the values of Native American culture. ICWA was enacted in an e...
June 21, 1923 At a meeting of the town council last week, consideration was given to the matter of entertaining the President Warren G. Harding during his brief visit in Wrangell on Sunday, July 8. After some discussion, it was decided that a reception committee composed of men and women should be appointed, and that the Wrangell Commercial Club would be requested to name the men on the committee for general supervision of the town’s reception for the president. It was further decided to request the Ladies Auxiliary of the American Legion to n...
After an uptick in thefts at Wrangell harbors in recent years, the borough is moving to install security cameras and improve lighting at all the facilities to help keep users’ property safe. At its June 13 meeting, the borough assembly unanimously approved a nearly $500,000 contract with Juneau-based Chatham Electric to install security cameras at the eight port and harbor sites around Wrangell. Starting around 2020 and 2021, there has been an increase in theft at the harbors, explained Harbormaster Steve Miller. About five boats were hit d...
Gov. Mike Dunleavy on Monday vetoed half of the $175 million increase that legislators appropriated for school districts across Alaska — cutting back the first boost in state funding for K-12 public schools in more than six years. The Wrangell School District had expected to receive an additional $425,000 in state aid for the 2023-2024 school year under the Legislature’s budget plan. The governor’s veto cut that by 50%. State funding covers about 60% of the district’s roughly $5 million operating budget, with the rest from the borough and fed...
After launching salmon people into the skies, Crystal Kaakeeyáa Rose Demientieff Worl is hoping to fill Alaska's roads with whale tails. Worl, a Juneau artist who earned national fame for her "Salmon People" artwork featured on an Alaska Airlines jet unveiled last month, is among six semi-finalists in the state's 2023 Artistic License Plate Competition open for the public to vote on until July 31. In an interview June 15, Worl said she's observed the license plate competition the past couple...
It took the community several years of pushing, pleading and politics before it succeeded in convincing the state to restore the Office of Children’s Services caseworker position in town. The job had been eliminated more than a dozen years earlier before it was restored in the 2021-2022 state budget. The caseworker has been on the job since February 2022. But now the borough, which agreed to cover half of the expense of the reopened office, is questioning whether the town is getting its money’s worth in the cost-sharing deal with the sta...
All I did was supply a pen and a writing tablet. Other than that, I was useless. Everyone else did the real work that made a difference. A woman two rows ahead of me suffered a seizure on an Alaska Airlines flight to Anchorage last Saturday evening. The man next to her quickly brought over the flight attendants, who called out to ask if there were any medical personnel on board while they tried to comfort the woman until help arrived. Fortunately, there was a doctor, a physician’s assistant and at least two nurses among the 178 passengers on t...
I congratulate the Permanent Fund trustees for adopting Resolution 23-01 at their April 12 meeting to limit additional investment in the in-state investment program in which Barings and McKinley Capital Management have each been given $100 million to place in Alaska investments. The decision appears to have been made in part because of the dismal rate of return received from the in-state investments by the two managers. The decision was also made to see whether the poor performance improves over time. I fully support the trustees’ decisions not...
Wrangell Sentinel publisher Larry Persily’s reaction to former President Donald Trump’s latest indictment was as predictable as the rain in Wrangell. He always seems to have something negative to say about Trump, but when past accusations proved to be false, he never set the record straight. The last line from his June 14 opinion piece, “Their defense is as offensive as the crime,” looks like a Freudian slip. It says, “No reason to keep an open mind when politics rule the day,” which explains a lot. Being a fan of freedom, democracy a...
Paint, used cooking oil, pesticides and more can be safely disposed of on Thursday. The borough is sponsoring a household hazardous waste event from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the transfer station on Evergreen Avenue on the north end of the island. Fees are waived up to 200 pounds in materials and will cost $18 per load for anything over that weight, said Tom Wetor, Public Works Department director. Only household waste can be brought to the collections event; no commercial waste. The site will be closed for lunch from 11 a.m. to noon. It’s t...
Alaska Native leaders and the state of Alaska have hailed the U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding the constitutionality of the Indian Child Welfare Act. The ruling preserves a 35-year-old law intended to address the harm caused by the federal government’s boarding school program by prioritizing the placement of Alaska Native and American Indian children into tribal homes. “Like most Alaska Native and American Indian tribes from across the country, we have been anxiously awaiting this decision,” Julie Kitka, president of the Alaska Feder...
Rooney Schafer, 6, sits in a Caterpillar TH83 Telehandler - a forklift with a 41-foot boom in back - at the Touch-a-Truck event last Saturday. Horns blared, sirens wailed, lights flashed and children giggled and smiled as they were able to experience what it's like to be inside different heavy equipment and emergency vehicles. Organizer Devyn Johnson said the event is the sixth one that's been held in Wrangell, with one year as a parade due to COVID-19 precautions. She began holding the event...
St. Philip’s Episcopal Church may be a small building, but it played a large role in Wrangell’s history. Founded in 1903, the unassuming structure tells the story of the Klondike gold rush and the fight for Alaska Native rights. On June 29, historian and podcaster Ronan Rooney will share his research on this nationally recognized historic landmark with the Wrangell community. Though he will be speaking at the church, the talk won’t be a sermon — history buffs of all denominations or no denomination at all can enjoy the story of St. Philip...
After a multiyear effort to develop the site of the former Wrangell Institute for residential lots, work is slated to start later this summer. Bids are due to the borough by June 27 for an estimated $700,000 to $750,000 in groundwork at the future Alder Top Village (Keishangita.’aan) subdivision. Once parcels are ready for purchase, the 134-acre property will constitute the borough’s largest land sale in decades. In its first phase of development, the site will make 20 new lots available about five miles from town, complete with utilities and...
Volunteers are still being sought for Fourth of July events scheduled July 1 to 4. The chamber of commerce needs people to assist in setting up, running and taking down the 17 events that are set to take place over the celebratory weekend. Chairpersons for all the events except the log rolling competition have been recruited, but those chairpersons need help. Meanwhile, a past event that wasn’t held last year is returning much to the delight of its volunteer chair, Adrienne McLaughlin. She will oversee the greased pole competition, something h...
For many, classical music evokes images of evening gowns, baroque concert halls and impassioned, white-gloved conductors. Its mood is reverent, its audiences are serious and ever-so-slightly snobbish. But concert pianist Roman Rudnytsky has set out to buck classical piano’s black-tie reputation. The music, he argues, is not only for a knowledgeable few — its beauty can be appreciated by everyone, regardless of whether they know a “madrigal” from a “minuet.” Rudnytsky, a professional musician and professor emeritus, travels the world perfo...
Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s office says it didn’t review an incendiary video address prepared by the adviser he had put in charge of the state’s new Office of Family & Life. In the video presented May 11 to the Alaska Family Council, Dunleavy’s then-pro-family policy adviser Jeremy Cubas described supporters of abortion rights as “seemingly demonically possessed” and claimed they were motivated by a “primal urge” to “sacrifice a child at the altar of their false idols.” The video, obtained last week in response to a public records request, raises new...
The group that brought ranked-choice voting to Alaska elections is now seeking to restrict big campaign donations after a federal appeals court erased the state’s prior limits. Alaskans for Better Elections submitted a proposed ballot measure to the Alaska Division of Elections in May. If approved by the division, and if the group gathers sufficient signatures, Alaskans will be asked in 2024 whether they want to limit the amount of money a donor can give to a politician running for office. The proposal, modeled after a bill from Anchorage R...
WASHINGTON — The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs has advanced a bill to establish a federal “truth and healing” commission to examine Indian boarding school policies. The bill is part of an effort to reckon with the United States’ history of government-run boarding schools that forcibly removed Native children from their homes. The schools subjected Indigenous youths to physical, sexual and emotional abuse, and last year a federal study identified hundreds of deaths of Native Americans, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians associated with th...
Gov. Mike Dunleavy and Sen. Dan Sullivan, both Alaska Republicans, criticized the Biden administration for filing federal charges against former President Donald Trump. Dunleavy’s statement was issued before the indictment was unsealed June 9 by the U.S. Department of Justice. In an interview later that day, Sullivan said he stood by his statement, though he hadn’t yet read the indictment. Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a frequent critic of Trump, said the indictment needed to be taken seriously. The former president is accused of ret...
Alaska’s legislative session ended last month, and Gov. Mike Dunleavy has yet to consider most of the 31 bills passed by both House and Senate this spring. The Legislature’s 31 bills are the third fewest of any first-year session since statehood. The biggest bills of the year are the budget bill and the annual mental health budget. Dunleavy could veto or reduce line items within the budget before the start of the state’s fiscal year on July 1, but with a couple weeks to go, he hasn’t given any clues about his thinking. Other bills waiting...
Alaska’s state school board has voted almost unanimously to advance a proposed regulation that would bar transgender girls from playing on girls’ high school sports teams in the state. The vote opens a 30-day public comment period. After that period, the board will consider amending, rejecting or adopting the proposal. The decision comes amid a nationwide, Republican-led movement to restrict transgender rights. Felix Myers, a non-voting student member of the school board, suggested that the board’s action was part of that movement. Other membe...
