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Oct. 13, 1921 An enormous rutabaga, grown on the Kirk ranch near Telegraph Creek, British Columbia, appeared in the Coulter Meat Market window this week. It was brought down the Stikine River to Wrangell on the Hazel B on Sunday by D. W. Kirk, and weighs 27.5 pounds. Mr. Kirk had a 56-pound rutabaga ready for shipment, but a horse discovered it as it lay drying after having been washed and displayed. The horse showed its appreciation of its quality by sampling it and making it unfit to send away. Several 35-pound rutabagas have been raised on...
The school board on Monday night reviewed an updated COVID-19 mitigation plan which now allows student-athletes to go mask-free during training and while competing against other schools. Mask-wearing and social-distancing guidelines remain in place if athletes are sitting on the sidelines or not actively engaged in play. The updated policy does not change the requirement for face masks in classrooms and elsewhere in school buildings. “The mitigation plan … we are looking at it and making adjustments as we move forward as situations cha...
Mason Villarma is good at math. "It's therapeutic, in a way. It always works out," Villarma, the borough's new finance director, said. The Gonzaga 2020 grad has plans to work out the borough's books after filling the position - which was vacant for about eight months - in September. After he snagged an internship with Big Four tax audit firm KPMG in Spokane, Washington, last year, the firm hired Villarma to work in Seattle. Then the pandemic struck right in the heart of his employment. Like so...
A group of Wrangell High School students saw a problem and decided to do something about it. Those students wanted to make the school warmer and more inviting. They created BASE - Building A Supportive Environment - a program aimed at inclusivity and helping each other. It's grown from decorating the halls to making sure other students get needed food, recognizing staff, and even securing money to make microloans on a global scale. The year before COVID-19 hit, several students attempted or...
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A customs dispute at the U.S.-Canada border in Maine is threatening America’s supply of Alaska pollock used for popular products such as fish sticks and fast-food sandwiches. The pollock has a complicated supply chain. After being caught offshore Alaska, the fish are transported by ship to New Brunswick, Canada, near the border with Maine. Then they’re loaded onto rail cars for a brief trip down 100 feet of track in Canada, before being put on trucks and crossing the border into the U.S. for processing. U.S. Custo...
The borough assembly approved a one-acre tidelands lease to Canoe Lagoon Oysters at its Tuesday night meeting. Co-owner Brian Herman said the business would use the intertidal area in front of the former airplane pullout at 4 Mile Zimovia Highway to raise oysters in floating containment bags and hold them for sale. Having the site in Wrangell would allow the operation to bring maturing oysters over in good weather from the existing farm on the Blashke Islands, established in March 2020, making it easier to harvest the oysters when bad weather...
None of the four contested races in last week’s municipal election were close, though the number of voters who cast ballots compared to last year was about as close as it can get. Last year’s municipal election tallied 485 voters. This year’s total was 486. “Yes, you are reading that correctly, we had one more voter this year than we had last year,” Borough Clerk Kim Lane reported to the assembly this week. The assembly certified the results Oct. 7, after the canvass board had counted early and absentee votes and resolved several questione...
By the time they are done touring the state on Nov. 1, the Alaska Redistricting Board will have visited 24 communities to gather public comments on six proposed maps for redrawing boundaries of every legislative district in the state. On Oct. 7, four of the five board members met with community members in Wrangell at the Nolan Center to explain the maps and how the boundaries were determined. The board will consider the information from its community meetings to decide on its final maps by the Nov. 10 deadline. When completed, each of 40 state...
Wrangell’s Tent City Days start Friday and run through Sunday, with 20 events scheduled for the fall festivities that come a day before Alaska Day on Monday, which celebrates the U.S. purchase of the territory from Russia in 1867. In keeping with the historical theme, there are some gold rush-named activities among the varied three-day schedule. And in keeping with COVID-19 safety, organizers advise on the event’s Facebook page: “Please mask up. Follow state/local health mandates. Don’t feel well? Stay home and call your medical provide...
Many thanks to our St. Philip’s family for the caring tribute to honor the memory of Leonard on Oct. 8. Our family and friends extend a sincere thanks to the nurses at Wrangell Medical Center for the wonderful care they provided, the over-the-top service from the dietary team, Dr. Lynn Prysunka for her years of care and more recently Dr. Victor Harrison, the CNAs plus the kindness of the hospital staff. The family is humbled by the cards, food donations, support from friends, and the Wrangell Fire Department for their presence in our lives. K...
The unvaccinated are not idiots. They have been conned, and I feel sorry for them. There are a few who have legitimate health reasons to not get vaccinated, but that number is far fewer than the number of unvaccinated. The reasons most have for not getting vaccinated are rooted in the fear of the unknown and misinformation. I am unfortunately limited by 400 words, and cannot cover all of the science and history here, but I will highlight a few points. Vaccines as a technology have been around for more than 200 years, and have come a long way...
Thanks to Haig Demerjian for his many years of volunteer service on the Wrangell Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. Cindy Martin...
Doctors at the Alaska Psychiatric Institute are there to help make people think and feel better about themselves, to overcome the troubles that disrupt their lives and sometimes endanger the public. They are not there to make a governor look good, or to pledge allegiance to whatever agenda a new governor wants to promote. Good that a federal judge could see the difference. The judge last Friday ruled that two psychiatrists were wrongfully fired for political reasons when Gov. Mike Dunleavy took office in 2018. Their offense, according to the...
Every kid should learn from their parents the modern way to avoid responsibility for misdeeds and missed homework. When you fail or do something stupid or dishonest or regretful, or just don’t like the way the world is spinning that day or how the spicy chili went down, deny you’re at fault and deny the heartburn is self-inflicted. Instead, blame the news media. No one ever believed the dog ate your homework anyway. If you disagree with the facts of science, economics, the law or elections, accuse reporters and editors of making it all up. And...
Monday, Oct. 4 Agency assist: Department of Transportation. Agency assist: Borough water. Tuesday, Oct. 5 Dead deer. Theft. Agency assist: Ambulance requested. Agency assist: Hoonah. Agency assist: Fire Department. Paper service. Wednesday, Oct. 6 Disabled vehicle. Suspicious circumstance. Lost property. Traffic complaint. Fight. Thursday, Oct. 7 Citizen assist. Hit and run. Parking complaint. Friday, Oct. 8 Agency assist: U.S. Forest Service. Civil matter: Property. Parking complaint. Agency assist: Hoonah Police Department. Saturday, Oct. 9...
JOB ANNOUNCEMENTS Wrangell Public Schools is accepting applications for multiple positions. All positions are open until filled. Business manager: A 12-month position with benefits paid on the exempt employee salary schedule. Responsibilities include oversight of the school budget using a uniform chart of accounts coding, maintaining financial records, conducting all banking, payroll, accounts payable, annual audit preparation and advising the superintendent in all matters that are financially relevant for the district. Degree in business...
Dialing a number within the 907 area code will soon require all 10 digits of a phone number — that’s the number along with the area code. Starting on Oct. 24, under a new federal requirement, it will be mandatory to dial all 10 numbers for calls within the same area code in more than six dozen area codes around the country. Although people can already dial all 10 digits to complete a call, the requirement won’t be hard-coded until the mandatory date. After Oct. 24, callers may not be able to complete a call by dialing only seven digits and c...
Leonard Charles Angerman was born at home June 12, 1935, and died Sept. 22, 2021, at Wrangell Medical Center. "His 86 years were full of bumps and obstacles, which he met with courage, hope and a positive attitude," the family wrote. One of the toughest was the death of his 51-year-old father. His mother had $500, four children, and a cab business to run. His parents, Fritz and Helen, had emigrated from Austria and were hard workers who successfully instilled that into their children Fred,... Full story
Devyn Johnson grew up playing sports in Wrangell. She didn't think about fitness until she was an adult – who, like a lot of people, gained the "Freshman 15" after high school, that bit of extra weight which comes after college starts, the responsibilities of adulthood creep in and high school gym class and sports are in the rearview mirror. So, she started to jog. A half mile at first, and then it stretched out from there into longer distances. Jogging turned into a love of working out. "I l...
Melissa Curttright has been a registered nurse for 16 years - the past two weeks in Wrangell. Like so many other hospital workers, the pandemic changed her plans. The 52-year-old RN from Oklahoma City said she saw 75% of her hospital's intensive-care unit staff leave, and then she took to the road. She's been traveling now for almost a year. Wrangell is her latest assignment through SnapNurse, an Atlanta-based nurse staffing agency, after Los Angeles. Alaska has contracted with an Atlanta...
Cases are starting to come down in Alaska after weeks of record-setting COVID-19 infections across the state. After averaging almost 1,250 new cases a day Sept. 21-27 — far above the numbers of the previous record of last December — the statewide average was just over 800 a day Oct. 5-11, according to the state’s COVID-19 data dashboard. That’s still significantly above the average of the past three months, when 560 new cases a day were reported. Alaska had low case counts in May, June and July, until infections increased with the spread...
Ann Hilburn began learning American Sign Language for an elective course in college, thinking it would benefit her aspirations of becoming a nurse. That class led her to change her career field entirely. "I had just fallen in love with sign language," she said. She's passing that love on to a dozen Wrangell High School students taking her class for their foreign language requirement. Hilburn is new to the district this year. It is a language unto itself, 17-year-old senior Caleb Garcia-Rangel...
I have long said that if I were conducting job interviews for any position in Southeast Alaska, my first question would be, “Do you like black and white photography or black and white movies?” These art forms are not stark black and white; what makes black and white movies and photos so striking is the interplay of gray. Seeing and celebrating the variety, contrasts and beauty in the range of the gray tones is critical for appreciating life in Southeast. Last week, I sat on a bench overlooking the water, and the bright, flat expanse of nic...
A Delta Junction resident upset over the impeachment of former President Donald Trump, illegal immigration and the direction he thinks the country is headed is accused of threatening the lives of Alaska’s two U.S. senators in a series of profanity-laced voicemails that included saying he would hire an assassin to kill one. “Your life is worth $5,000, that’s all it’s worth,” the message left at the office of Sen. Lisa Murkowski said. “And as you let in these terrorists, assassins, guess what? I’m going to use them. I’m going to hire them.” Som...
JUNEAU (AP) — Two Alaska state senators have tested positive for COVID-19 and a third was not feeling well, Senate President Peter Micciche said Tuesday. The senators who tested positive are Republicans David Wilson, of Wasilla, and Lora Reinbold, of Eagle River, according to the Anchorage Daily News. Reinbold has been the Legislature’s loudest critic of masking, testing and vaccinations during the pandemic. Sen. Click Bishop, of Fairbanks, said he is feeling ill but has tested negative for COVID-19 and believes he has a cold or the flu, the ne...
