Sorted by date Results 1 - 21 of 21
Lisa Von Bargen, Wrangell's city manager, has recently been elected to sit on the board of directors of Southeast Conference. Southeast Conference was originally founded in 1958 as a network of organizations to advocate for the Alaska Marine Highway System. Today, though, it is a collection of municipalities, nonprofits, businesses, and other groups working together for economic development in Southeast Alaska. As the newest member of the board, Von Bargen said that she wants to help continue...
October 7, 1918 Fred Watson, a recent arrival from the West Coast but well known in Wrangell, had a very narrow escape from a watery grave last Saturday. Mr. Watson has recently purchased a boat from G. H. Tozier and while walking along its side holding onto a slender handrail, the latter broke and Mr. Watson found himself in the briny deep. A pair of high top boots made swimming difficult and he went down the proverbial three times. Instead of staying down as he expected to do according to precedent, he rose again to the surface and this time...
With polls closing at 8 p.m. Tuesday night, preliminary results for Wrangell’s city election have come in. The election saw seats open for the positions of mayor, the borough assembly, school board, port commission, and hospital board. Also on the ballot was Proposition 1, which would allow for the lease of the Wrangell Medical Center and construction of a new hospital. There were 649 ballots cast on election day, with an additional 117 absentee ballots. The preliminary results of the election are as follows: There were two candidates for m...
September 20 – Scott M. Hall was accused of reckless driving and vehicle theft. However, the case has been dismissed by prosecution. September 25 – Justin Barker pleaded guilty to theft between the values of $1,000 and $24,999. He has been sentenced to 12 months imprisonment, with 12 months suspended. He has been ordered to pay restitution and will also be on probation for three years. He was also found guilty of violating his probation from a previous case, for which he will serve one day of imprisonment....
September 24, 2018 Illegal parking: Officer made contact with person. Agency assist: AST. Domestic-verbal: Unfounded. Traffic stop: Verbal warning for failure to maintain lane of traffic. Citation issued: Jim Fenton, 16. Failure to stop. September 25, 2018 Two - Citizen assist: Vehicle unlock. Illegal parking: Officer notified. Citation issued: Dylan Franks, 28. Dog at large, 4th offense- mandatory court appearance. Two-86’d letter served. September 26, 2018 Harassment. Vacation patrol. Suspicious incident. Report of theft. Traffic stop: V...
The 2001 Roadless Rule, covering 58 million acres of National Forest Land, including the Tongass and Chugach National Forests, was pushed through the entire national rulemaking and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) processes in 15 months. The 2001 Roadless Rule was promulgated by the outgoing Clinton Administration just eight days before President George W. Bush was inaugurated. The Roadless Rule was justified by the Clinton Administration’s claim that a national level “whole picture” review of National Forest roadless areas was neede...
Southeast Conference held its 60th annual meeting last month in Ketchikan. The conference is a gathering of municipalities, businesses, nonprofits, and other interests across Southeast Alaska for the purpose of economic development in the area. During their annual conference, the organization named the city of Kake as the community of the year. Kake City Administrator Rudy Bean said that the recognition comes as a result of community-wide efforts to improve the city from several organizations....
PETERSBURG – After mercury leaked out of a package at the Petersburg Post Office and closed the facility for just over a week, the post office reopened September 28. "[Post office staff] handled it great and they adapted to the changes as necessary to make sure that we could keep serving our customers," said Postmaster Mark Eppihimer. Environmental contractors and regulators were flown into Petersburg to clean the facility of the mercury, though the amount that was exposed wasn’t harmful, according to a release from postal service offi...
Jennie Ridgeway said she fell in love with Wrangell when she came to town while visiting her daughter, who moved to the area. She came up here from Knoxville, Tennessee, where she had lived since 1992. Now, as one of Wrangell's newest residents, she has found work at the Nolan Center as its new facility manager. The facility manager is a new position for the Nolan Center, Ridgeway said. She was hired on Aug. 30 and had her first day of work Sept. 15. As facility manager, she will work closely wi...
The Wrangell High School wrestling team has begun training for another season. The team’s first tournament will be in Petersburg on Oct. 12 and 13. According to Assistant Coach Jack Carney, this year’s team is younger but very experienced. “After losing three seniors last year, we have a fairly young team,” he said in an email. “We have two seniors, three juniors, one sophomore, and six freshmen. Even though the team is young, most are experienced wrestlers that have placed at state-level tournaments and what we’re seeing in practices is very e...
PETERSBURG – The Petersburg Medical Center board of directors passed a motion on Sept. 19 to invest up to $1.5 million at the CFO and CEO’s discretion in bonds and treasuries. The decision came at the suggestion of hospital CFO Doran Hammett. He said that PMC’s operating cash in an account at First Bank was increasing at a rate of .5 percent in interest per month, but the bank was only crediting the hospital a sufficient amount to offset bank charges. “Over the last 13 months, we earned almost $11,000 in excess of our bank charges, and that’s...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP)– The Juneau International Airport will receive nearly $10 million in federal transportation grant money that it will use to address “serious life safety hazards.’’ KTOO-FM reports the Juneau airport was one of the 37 small airports around the country that will receive a part of the $205 million in supplemental airport infrastructure grants. Federal Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said on Thursday that the improvements will not only expand airport capacity, but improve safety as well. The Juneau airport’s grant app...
Salmon that begin their lives in Alaska hatcheries often save the day for thousands of fishermen when returns of wild stocks are a bust. This year was a prime example, when pinks and chums that originated in hatcheries made up for record shortfalls for fishing towns in the Gulf of Alaska. “This year Kodiak hatchery fish added up to more than $6 million for fishermen, and also for sport fish, subsistence and personal use fisheries,” Tina Fairbanks, director of the Kodiak Regional Aquaculture Association, said in testimony to the Kodiak Isl...
Liana Carney, Wrangell High School freshman and member of the cross country team, went to run in the state competition at Bartlett High School this past Saturday. Carney qualified for state in the regional competition at Juneau on Sept. 22. She came in fourth place at Regionals with a time of 25 minutes and 51 seconds in the race. "I am proud of the team and so excited for Liana," Coach Jen Davies wrote in an email. "These athletes work hard and are dedicated. Hopefully we come back next season...
The Wrangell High School swim team was in Juneau this past weekend for an invitational tournament. Wrangell was one of seven schools represented at Juneau. According to the team’s coach, Jamie Roberts, it was an eventful meet. Team member Renee Roberts took first place in two events, the 50 and 100-yard freestyles. Jimmy Baggen became the first member of the swim team to compete in all eight events offered in high school swimming. These events are the 50, 100, 200, and 500-yard freestyle, the 100-yard butterfly, the 100-yard breaststroke, t...
The Wrangell High School volleyball team travelled to Tok this weekend for their first tournament of the season. Coach Jessica Whitaker said that she decided to take her team beyond Southeast Alaska this year to play against teams they otherwise wouldn’t have as much contact with. At the 2A tournament, the team played against Tok’s volleyball team, but also against schools from Nenana, Kenny Lake, Cordova, and Glennallen. The team came home to Wrangell in third place, behind Glennallen in first and Cordova in second. Whitaker said she was pro...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – A female bear and her two cubs mauled and killed a young man working at a remote mine site on a southeast Alaska island with one of the highest bear densities in the state, authorities said Monday. Anthony David Montoya, 18, a contract worker from Hollis, Oklahoma, died at a remote drill site accessible only by helicopter, according to Hecla Greens Creek Mine and authorities. Mine officials said workers receive training on how to deal with bears because of the large n...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – A judge said Monday he wants both sides to submit additional briefs before deciding whether to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Gov. Bill Walker’s plan to pay Alaska’s oil and gas tax credit obligations. The state wants the case brought by Juneau resident Eric Forrer to be dismissed. Superior Court Judge Jude Pate said a decision probably would not be made until early November. The Legislature earlier this year passed a bill, proposed by Walker, to establish a new state corporation that would be em...
