Articles from the August 6, 2020 edition


Sorted by date  Results 1 - 14 of 14

  • Community comes together in memory of Deckers

    Caleb Vierkant|Aug 6, 2020

    Last week, four people died in a car wreck in Petersburg. Among them were two Wrangellites, Siguard and Helen Decker, 21-years-old and 19-years-old. Their deaths shook the community, which has come together in a variety of ways to express their grief and support for the Decker family. A GoFundMe page was put together by the United Fishermen of Alaska, to raise money in their memory. As of Tuesday morning, Aug. 4, $161,273 has been raised. "The initial $10,000 in funds raised will go towards...

  • State Troopers say driver may have lost control of vehicle

    Brian Varela|Aug 6, 2020

    Alaska State Troopers continue to investigate a fatal accident that claimed the lives of four seine boat crewmembers sometime after 10 P.M. on Monday, July 27. A Ford Excursion driven by Siguard Decker drove off the roadway near the 27-mile marker of Mitkof Highway at a high rate of speed, according to Alaska State Troopers. Megan Peters, communications director with the Alaska Dept. of Public Safety said Siguard Decker, who was driving, seems to have had lost control of the vehicle and then...

  • Mask mandate discussed in assembly meeting

    Caleb Vierkant|Aug 6, 2020

    The Wrangell Borough Assembly held a special meeting Tuesday, Aug. 4. The only item on the agenda that evening was a discussion of a potential mandate requiring the public wear face masks. No formal action was taken in the meeting, as this was only a discussion item. The general consensus among the assembly was, while they strongly recommend and encourage the public to wear masks, they do not want to go all the way to mandating it. This discussion was brought up at the request of the Emergency...

  • Three new COVID-19 cases, 15 total

    Caleb Vierkant|Aug 6, 2020

    Three new cases of COVID-19 were recently announced by city officials, bringing the total number of cases Wrangell has seen up to 15. Of these, six cases are considered active as of Aug. 3. The other nine are considered recovered. According to the city press release, nine cases are Wrangell locals, while the other six are non-locals. The first of these most recent cases was announced on Friday, July 31. This was followed by two other cases that were announced on Aug. 1. All three cases were...

  • New Facebook page for the Wrangell Sentinel

    Caleb Vierkant|Aug 6, 2020

    A new Facebook page has been created for the Wrangell Sentinel, the oldest continuously published newspaper in Alaska. Around mid-June, the Sentinel's Facebook page became "unpublished" for reasons that are unclear to staff members. A notice from Facebook stated that recent activity on the page did not follow Facebook Page Policies. However, multiple attempts to contact Facebook for further information and to re-publish the page were unsuccessful. As such, a new Facebook page has been created....

  • A look at the school district's SMART Start plan

    Caleb Vierkant|Aug 6, 2020

    The Wrangell Public School District recently published their SMART Start plan for next year. These are the guidelines the schools will be following to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 spreading amongst the student body and school staff. The plans differ school-to-school, and can also change depending on the level of risk of COVID-19. Stikine Middle School and Wrangell High School will begin the year at "medium risk," according to the plan. This will have a regular seven-period day Monday through...

  • School board approves calendar for new year

    Aug 6, 2020

    The Wrangell School board unanimously approved of a new calendar for the next school year, during a special meeting on Aug. 3. The primary difference between this new calendar and last year is a later start date. The 2020-2021 school calendar will have students' first day of school on Sept. 8. Last year's calendar had students returning to class on Aug. 27, 2019. The extra days before students begin the year will be inservice days and teacher work days, according to the calendar, followed by Lab...

  • The Way We Were

    Aug 6, 2020

    August 5, 1920 The Wilson & Sylvester mill, located in the heart of the Tongass forest reserve at Wrangell, has secured from the department the largest cutting right ever given an Alaskan sawmill concern. The cutting right will allow the big Wrangell Narrows concern to expand for the export trade, which has been the ambition of Alaska sawmill men for years. The Wilson & Sylvester Mill company is the pioneer lumber concern of Alaska. Starting over 20 years ago the mill continued until the death of the originators, when it was for several years t...

  • Police report

    Aug 6, 2020

    July 27 Agency Assist: Wildlife Trooper Fireworks Complaint July 28 Agency Assist: Petersburg PD Vandalism Dangerous Play Agency Assist: Telephone Subpoena Service July 29 Abandoned Vehicle Citizen Assist Theft Subpoena Service July 30 Summons Served Traffic Stop Criminal Mischief Two Subpoenas Served DVO Violation Stranded Motorist Citizen Report DUI Hazardous Play Suicidal Person July 31 Agency Assist: USFS Paper Service: DVO Traffic Stop Traffic Stop Citation for speeding issued to Steven Marshall, 61 Motor vehicle accident: Zarembo Assault...

  • Obituary: Hollis Ellis Hayes, 47

    Aug 6, 2020

    Hollis Ellis Hayes, 47, died on July 18, 2020, in Ketchikan, Alaska. He was born on Sept. 26, 1972, in Wrangell, Alaska. He attended Wrangell Elementary School, Wrangell High School, Ketchikan High School and Juneau-Douglas High School. Hayes resided in Wrangell until 1989, when he relocated to Ketchikan. In 1990, he moved to Juneau for a few years before moving back to Wrangell. He then moved back to Ketchikan. He worked as a cook at Godfather's Pizza in the late 1990s before working for 15...

  • Editorial: Accident was newsworthy

    Aug 6, 2020

    We've had phone calls from a handful of people about our use of the photo and page one coverage of last week's fatal Mitkof Highway crash. It saddens us to have to report on such a tragedy that impacts the lives of so many in both Wrangell and Petersburg. We don't take pleasure in covering such stories. It wasn't covered to sell newspapers. We covered the story because it is our job to provide information about a tragic event that struck close to home. We placed it on page one because it was...

  • Letters to the Editor

    Aug 6, 2020

    To the Editor: I am appalled by what was displayed on the front page of Thursday Aug. 3rd newspaper. I understand that some see this as a news article, but for those who have loved the people in that horrific crash have some compassion, decency, and respect for those grieving such a terrible loss. A smaller blurp toward the back of the paper would have sufficed. Ava Hay To the Editor: This letter is voicing my concern about having the fireworks up in the ballpark area. This is right across from...

  • Thunder and lightning bolts

    Aug 6, 2020

    A thunderstorm passed over Wrangell last Saturday evening, Aug. 1. While Southeast Alaska sees rain rather frequently, thunder and lightning are less common. Many people sat outside or near their windows to watch the storm. Pictured here is a lightning strike, captured by Aleisha Mollen....

  • Seafood netted historic firsts in nation's new dietary guidelines

    Laine Welch|Aug 6, 2020

    It got little attention from the mainstream media but seafood netted some historic firsts in the nation’s new dietary guidelines. The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee submitted a report in July to the Secretaries of Agriculture and Health and Human Services that recommends what Americans should include in their diets from 2020 through 2025, a task it has undertaken every five years since 1980. “This is by far the strongest they’ve come out for seafood in all of the U.S. dietary guidelines history, and at virtually every point in the lifecy...