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By Sam Pausman Sentinel senior reporter If you weren't at the Nolan Center on Saturday afternoon, you must have been out of town. It seemed all of Wrangell piled into the center to witness the blessing of the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree. Led by the Wrangell Cooperative Association, the event was moved indoors after a persistent storm turned a cloudy afternoon into a rainy one. The event was attended by folks from Wrangell, folks from throughout Alaska and folks from Washington, D.C. Even Smokey...
Wrangell voters have walked into City Hall in record numbers to cast early ballots for the Nov. 5 statewide election. As of the end of the day Friday, Oct. 25, 147 people had cast ballots, said Sara Whittlesey-Merritt, who manages voting in town for the state Division of Elections. “It’s been a record for Wrangell,” said Whittlesey-Merritt, who has been working elections in the community for 30 years. The early voting numbers equal more than 20% of the town’s total turnout in the statewide elections of both 2020 and 2022. Wrangell is not alo...
On a cold and cloudy Friday afternoon, Oct. 25, Tlingit clan leaders stood ready to welcome guests to Angoon. For millennia, the Tlingit have lived on Admiralty Island, or Xootsnoowú, the Fortress of the Bears. Adorned in regalia, clan leaders performed a traditional Tlingit welcoming ceremony to their ancestral lands. “We welcome you with open arms,” said Daniel Johnson Jr., a leader of the Deisheetaan clan. Facing the Tlingit was Rear Adm. Mark Sucato, commander of the Navy Region Northwest, along with a handful of uniformed Navy personnel. ...
The four seniors on Wrangell's girls volleyball team had but one chance. Just one. A single night to play in front of their classmates, their loved ones, their families and friends. Though the match's outcome contributed nothing toward Southeast seeding or state tournament qualification, the crowded high school gym told another story: This match mattered. Following an emotional senior night, the high school girls volleyball team defeated Ketchikan 3-2 on Oct. 24. In their only home match of the...
FALL STORYTIME for children 10 to 11 a.m. Fridays at the Irene Ingle Public Library. Stories, crafts and snacks. This week’s theme is learning differently. NOLAN CENTER THEATER presents the comedy play “You Can’t Take It With You” at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Nov. 1 and 2. Doors open 30 minutes before the show. Tickets are $20 and available online at bit.ly/4f56UOv or in person at the Nolan Center. ALASKA DAY FUN RUN starts at 8:30 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 3, at Muskeg Meadows, hosted by Parks and Recreation. $10 fee; pay at the event. All ages we...
Oct. 30, 1924 H. A. Kuehl of the Pendleton Gold Mining Co. was among those who came down the Stikine this week on their way Outside. Mr. Kuehl reports his company made good progress during the past season considering the numerous difficulties encountered, such as having to build a stretch of road in order to get machinery and supplies to the property. They were very hopeful that they would be able to get their dragline into operation before the close of this season but the freeze-up came the day they started operations. However, they are now...
Though the Wrangell School District has had its challenges filling various positions throughout the years, one position ⎯ the activities director ⎯ has seen yearly turnover with four people in the position in the past three years. Lifelong resident X'atshaawditee Tammi Meissner is the latest hire for the part-time contract, and she is committed to staying in the job "for the foreseeable future." Meissner, who also works as the community navigator for the Central Council of the Tlingit & Hai...
In an effort to recognize the building’s impact on the town, Parks and Recreation staff will dedicate the community center to Wrangell athletes of the past, present and future. The event will take place at noon on Nov. 9 and will be sandwiched between the fourth and fifth grade all-star basketball games against Petersburg. Devyn Johnson, Parks and Rec’s recreation coordinator, said that after the department’s recent upgrades and capital improvement projects, dedicating the community center felt like the right thing to do. “We’ve been putting a...
Though voters should remember that campaign signs, flags or banners are prohibited within 200 feet of a polling place — and that applies to T-shirts, hats and buttons, too — there is one very good sign to hold up for this year’s state general election: Wrangell voters have cast a record number of early ballots. As of last Friday, 147 residents had cast early ballots in the election. That’s just in the first five days of voting, with several more days remaining before the early voting station at City Hall closes at 4 p.m. Monday, Nov. 4. Elec...
It’s not only the fault of the people who post insults on social media, who embrace the politically inspired lies and accept the politically driven threats of violence as a necessary means to the end they favor. Nor is it only the fault of people on the other side of the political world who lecture but don’t listen, who can’t understand why so many Americans are drawn to the ever-expanding lies and ever-cruder insults yet sit by all too quietly, waiting for the turmoil to pass. It’s like the entire nation is living through a Florida hurricane,...
I have worked for hourly wages and also for many years operated restaurants paying hourly wages. During college and around and about my service in the Army, including a tour in Vietnam, I worked as a roughneck on oil rigs throughout the west. After graduation in 1968 I roughnecked in California for the “high” wage of some $3.50 an hour before the new oil discovery in Prudhoe Bay enticed me to move to Alaska. There I found employment roughnecking on the North Slope for the even higher wage of about $4.50 an hour until I decided to try my han...
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Wrangell community on this year’s anniversary of the tragic event that changed many lives forever. Nov. 20, 2023, is a date we will never forget. No one wasted a minute responding after the slide. Many of you touched my family’s hearts in a positive way. Or they touched your heart. They lived with the values of being kind, honest and hard working — and family. Education was at the top, with dedication to each child first and foremost. Beth and Tim had a lot on the plate, and they made me so...
Borough officials hope to go out for bids as soon as this week for repairs to the sewage treatment plant deepwater outfall line which was damaged by a boat anchor in September. State and federal environmental officials “seem agreeable” to the borough’s plan to cut out the short, damaged section of 12-inch-diameter plastic pipe, then reconnect the undamaged pieces to restore flow, said Tom Wetor, Public Works director. Until the line is repaired, the borough will continue with its temporary solution of dumping treated water from the sewag...
This year’s take of 131 moose in the Wrangell-Petersburg area was down by 10 kills from last year’s harvest. But 131 was still good enough to rank as the third-highest harvest on record for the area, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The season ran Sept. 15 to Oct. 15. Last year’s take of 141 moose in the Wrangell-Petersburg area was a record, passing the previous high of 132 in 2021, according to Fish and Game. The five-year average is just over 120 moose a year. Of this season’s 131 moose, 120 were legal and 11 illegal...
In the Wrangell High School swim team’s fourth meet of the year, the water-bound Wolves keep getting quicker. The Sitka Invitational took place on Oct. 25-26 and served as a final regular season opportunity for swimmers to compete against Southeast rivals before this weekend’s regional championships in Petersburg. Of the 24 individual events Wrangell swimmers competed in, they walked away with nine personal-best times. Even better, the Wolves’ relay team finished with season-best times in all four events they competed in. Andrei Bardi...
The Wrangell High School wrestling team secured six podium finishes at the Juneau Southeast Showdown on Oct. 26-27. Senior Vanessa Johnson finished first in the girls 165-pound bracket while sophomore Jackson Carney continued his unbeaten season, finishing first in the boys 140-pound class. Ben Houser, Della Churchill, Cody Barnes and sophomore Hailey Cook all finished second in their respective events. Senior Kyan Stead came in fourth place for the boys 125-pound weight class. Of all the...
The assembly unanimously voted to raise annual boat launch fees for Wrangell’s harbors at the Oct. 22 meeting. The fees — which have remained stagnant for years — now mirror other Southeast towns’ equivalent fees. The annual launch permit for those with a boat stall will increase from $28 to $35. For those without a stall, the fee will increase from $55 to $70. Per the borough’s figures, the average annual Southeast launch fee for those without a stall is just over $74. The borough is also eliminating the commercial launch permit category...
There can be a lot of numbers in music. This is the 50th year of the Southeast Honor Music Festival and Tasha Morse's 17th year as Wrangell music teacher. More than 110 students from around Southeast spent 19 hours in full rehearsals at Music Fest. Three Wrangell students were selected for the event held Oct. 20-22 in Petersburg. All had to audition to win a spot, Morse explained. There is no judging at the annual fall event. "This one is just making music for music's sake," she said. Wrangell's...
The spring chili cook-off went so well, The Salvation Army decided to stack up the bowls and spoons and get ready to do it again Nov. 9. There will be prizes for the best chili. And while the event is a fundraiser for the community food pantry, it also is an opportunity for people to get together and socialize, said Salvation Army Capt. Chase Green. “There was a lot of excitement” at the April cook-off, which drew 18 entries, he said. “People asked, ‘When are you going to do it again?’” He hopes for 25 chili entries this time. The event is set...
Jeremy Bynum, Grant EchoHawk and Agnes Moran are running to fill the state House seat vacated by 10-year incumbent Dan Ortiz, who decided not to seek a sixth term. The election is Tuesday, Nov. 5. If no candidate gets more than 50% of the votes in the first count, the third-place finisher will be eliminated and voters who picked that candidate as their top choice will have their votes recounted using their second choice. Whoever has the most votes in that second count will win the seat...
Rosita Worl, president of the Sealaska Heritage Institute, an anthropologist and cultural leader, is one of 10 Americans to receive the 2023 National Humanities Medal. Worl, 87, who is Tlingit, is a longtime leader in Alaska’s Native community, advocating for subsistence practices and promoting cultural traditions on a national level. Born in Petersburg, she has conducted research throughout Alaska, including fieldwork in the Arctic. Worl has also taught at University of Alaska Southeast. She has a Ph.D. in anthropology from Harvard U...
President Joe Biden on Oct. 25 formally apologized to Native Americans for the “sin” of a government-run boarding school system that for decades forcibly separated Indian children from their parents, calling it a “blot on American history” in his first visit to Indian Country. “It’s a sin on our soul,” said Biden, his voice full of anger and emotion at the event in Laveen Village, Arizona. “Quite frankly, there’s no excuse that this apology took 50 years to make.” It was a moment of both contrition and frustration as the president sought to...
The differences between Democratic incumbent Rep. Mary Peltola and her Republican challenger Nick Begich were on full display Oct. 21 during the final planned debate of Alaska’s U.S. House race. The Anchorage Chamber of Commerce sponsored the debate. Begich, a businessman who lost to Peltola in 2022, is again vying for Alaska’s lone U.S. House seat against Peltola, a former state legislator who won the seat in 2022 after leading an intertribal fish commission for several years. The outcome of the race could have far-reaching impacts in det...
The Alaska Federation of Natives voted to endorse the reelection of Democratic U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola and to oppose the ballot measure that would repeal the state’s open primaries and ranked-choice voting. The votes came Oct. 19, the last day of its annual three-day convention in Anchorage, which had the theme this year of “Our Children, Our Future Ancestors.” The delegates from tribes, nonprofit tribal organizations and regional and village Native corporations passed 18 resolutions on issues ranging from a call for Congress to amend feder...