Sorted by date Results 1 - 18 of 18
With recent national attention on the topics of racial bias and police brutality, the community of Wrangell met via web conference last Monday evening for a town hall meeting to discuss policing practices in their hometown. The meeting provided an opportunity for residents to ask questions of Chief Tom Radke and to share their opinions on the Wrangell Police Department. Those who spoke in the meeting, by and large, expressed support for the police and their current practices. "We had a handful...
While Wrangell is well known for its Fourth of July celebration, the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly altered the community's plans for Independence Day. While many popular and traditional events will not take place this year, such as the boat races or royalty contest, the public can still look forward to a fireworks show and parade. "Chamber leadership has weighed input from business membership and members of the community along with State and Local public officials," a community notice...
The latest cruise ship schedule, provided by Economic Development Director Carol Rushmore on June 23, shows that Wrangell can expect a total of less than 2,000 cruise ship visitors this season. This is a major decrease from estimates of 24,000 visitors this year, as well as roughly 20,000 visitors last season. The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically hurt the cruise industry across Southeast Alaska, including local businesses that rely on tourists to operate. "The only ships still on the schedule...
In early June, the Wrangell Sentinel received several emails regarding one of the city's police officers, Paul Jay Huerta. One of these emails linked to a news article and video, alleging that Huerta left his previous job in California for harassing a suspect. Recently, city officials informed the paper that Huerta was no longer employed by the Wrangell Police Department. However, the city has not provided information as to why he resigned. A July 9, 2018 article by the Desert Sun shares a...
We at the Pilot and Sentinel admit to including the occasional pink-tutu sighting or pooch-on-the-loose as some comic relief in the police report. But the real intent of the weekly police and court reports is not to fill empty space. Nor is it so that the Petersburg Pilot gets mentioned in Dave Barry's national humor column, as it was several weeks ago. Instead, the police and court reports are intended to briefly summarize legal matters and illegal activity in town. We have an established list...
The Wrangell School District held another SMART Start meeting last Wednesday, June 24, to continue discussing ways the district can safely reopen and operate during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Department of Education has come out with recommendations to determine what constitutes different risk levels for operation in Wrangell, according to the meeting's notes, so the group of school board members, district faculty and staff, and parents mostly concentrated their discussion around the possible...
Matt Gore has been with the Wrangell School District since 2011, and has been the technology director since 2015. In his time as technology director, Gore said he has worked to give the school district faster and more reliable internet access, to put better technology in students' hands, and help the district use all the tools they had available. It is time for him to move on, however. Gore has left his Wrangell position to take a new job with the Southeast Island School District, on Prince of...
As Wrangell residents may remember, the borough assembly held a vote early in June to appoint Ryan Howe to fill an empty assembly seat. There was some question about this vote and whether or not it violated the Open Meetings Act, as assembly members chose their candidate via text message. Borough Manager Lisa Von Bargen said in a June 18 article for the Wrangell Sentinel that the assembly does not believe anything incorrect occurred, and that she ran the idea by the city's attorneys before...
A group of approximately 50 people joined last Sunday afternoon to walk in support of the Wrangell Police Department. The group walked, or rode motorcycles, from City Dock up to the Public Safety Building. Many people carried signs in support of the WPD, and police in general. As this march took place in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, many participants in the march also wore face coverings, and everyone was encouraged to socially distance. Pictured here (left to right) are Wrangell...
July 1, 1920 That Wrangell is to have a crab canning plant is an assured fact, according to A. H. Range of Portland who was here last week working on the proposition. Mr. Range recently patented a machine for extracting crabmeat from the shells by means of compressed air. One of these machines will do the work of 15 hand pickers. This invention puts the crab canning business on an entirely new basis. After Mr. Range outlined his proposition, C. M. Coulter, the local fish buyer, was asked if he thought there was a plentiful supply in this...
June 22 Civil issue Civil issue: Child Custody Trespass Agency assist: AST June 23 Subpoena service Agency assist: AST Civil matter June 24 Nothing to report. June 25 Agency Assist: Public Works June 26 Suspicious activity Agency assist: Harbor Dept. Found property June 27 Arrested Joseph Volpi, 20, on Warrant Arrested Jessica Gaube, 28, on Warrant Agency assist: Public Works June 28 Agency assist: Wrangell Medical Center Agency assist: Hoonah Police Department Agency assist: Hoonah Police Department There were three ambulance calls, 11...
Happy Fourth of July! This year, we are celebrating 244 years as an independent nation. In 1776, our representatives from all 13 colonies declared our independence from the British monarch. The vote for freedom actually happened on July 2nd, and in the following two days, Congress, led by Thomas Jefferson, focused on writing and finalizing the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration was signed on July 4th, now known as our Independence Day. Thus began the ‘Great American Experiment’ to pursue “a more perfect union.” This Independence Day,...
Floyd Steven Ramsey, 61, died on May 25, 2020. He was born to Dudley and Esther Ramsey in Albuquerque, New Mexico on November 15, 1959. He was raised in Palm Springs, California and Newport Beach. He loved being a Cub Scout and worked in the food service industry and trained as a teenager to be a foreign auto mechanic by four German immigrants. His father was a chef at the Riveria which was a hotspot for the "Rat Pack," Peter Loftus, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis Jr. His mother...
George Albert Casey, 76, died on June 17, 2020 in Modesto, California. He was born on March 20, 1944 to Tatiana Sofia Ermeloff in Wrangell, Alaska. He met and married the woman of his dreams, Kristin (Peterson), in 1969. Shortly thereafter, they moved to Modesto where George worked various heavy equipment jobs and as a volunteer firefighter before being hired on at Modesto Fire Department in 1973 where he proudly served for 27 years. George was adept at keeping it light in the hardest of times...
Robert Marsh Nilsen. 87, died on June 19, 2020. His voyage began on October 21, 1932 on Lummi Island in Washington State. Bob was the third oldest of ten children born to Mathias (Matt) and Thelma Nilsen. Bob had six sisters and three brothers. Bob married the love of his life, Carroll on December 15, 1955 and they fished together some forty years, raising their five children on numerous boats. It was not unusual to see the Nilsen kids climbing over boats and roaming the docks during fishing...
To the Editor: What is the purpose of the weekly police report ? It seems to be a totally useless part of the paper. When we lived in Petersburg the police report was an interesting source of info and sometimes amusement. I save many of the best morsels like Ernie Haugen driving too slow, Lars Christensen driving a vehicle without a steering wheel , someone leaving Q tips outside her apt door, 2 youths racing in wheelchairs, cat has a can stuck over its head, 911 call accidentally dialed by a...
The biggest red salmon run in the world is building at Bristol Bay. Up to 50 million fish could surge into its eight river systems in coming weeks, on par with past seasons. When it's all done, the fishery will provide nearly half the global supply of wild sockeye salmon. But this summer is different. Not only due to the restrictions and fears and economic chaos caused by Covid-19. At the height of the fishery, fishermen will learn if a massive gold and copper mine that's been hanging over...
