Articles from the December 14, 2017 edition


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  • Boat parade lines up for return

    Dan Rudy|Dec 14, 2017

    By popular demand, the Chamber of Commerce will be bringing the holiday spirit back to Wrangell's shores next week with its annual boat parade. Once a tradition every Christmas season, mariners of every stripe would string up lights and decorations on their vessels for a floating parade. The event started with physician Wayne "Doc" Davenport, who arrived to the island to practice medicine during the mid-1970s. Just before the holiday he would decorate his boat, and had afterward encouraged...

  • CVB building new website to showcase community

    Dan Rudy|Dec 14, 2017

    Board members on the Wrangell Convention and Visitor Bureau last week approved funding site construction for a new web page showcasing the community to potential visitors. The borough’s current page for tourists, WrangellAlaska.org, has proven a pain to maintain. Economic development director Carol Rushmore explained that site had been designed some years ago primarily with conventions in mind. The information it does have to share is limited and mostly links over to the city’s formal Wrangell.com site. “It’s an old design. We can’t get in th...

  • Wrangell Island sale announced, fraction of expectation

    Dan Rudy|Dec 14, 2017

    The regional forest supervisor with the United States Forest Service issued a final decision on the Wrangell Island timber sale project on Monday. Addressing a number of objections to the project as it was proposed last year, the scope of the sale approved by the Tongass National Forest supervisor’s office in Ketchikan will be but a fraction of what it had been. Among five alternatives presented, it was Alternative 2 which the USFS opted for. Of the plans, it had the greatest amounts of acreage and timber deemed to be sustainably harvested, a...

  • The Way We Were

    Dec 14, 2017

    December 20, 1917: A sale of doll clothes and candy will be held at the city hall Friday (tomorrow) afternoon for the benefit of the Red Cross. Tea and chocolate with the proper accompaniments will be served from 3 to 5 for the sum of 15 cents. And it is hoped that as many of the people of Wrangell as possible will patronize the affair. The idea for this sale originated in the fertile brain some children playing together one day last summer. The regular games had failed to interest and the suggestion “let’s have a sale and give the money to...

  • Support group to hold public reading for transgender youth

    Dan Rudy|Dec 14, 2017

    A Wrangell organization will this evening hold a storybook reading along with other communities across the country, to support transgender and non-binary youth. The book is I Am Jazz, a children's book written by transgender teen Jazz Jennings, an online and television personality and youth ambassador for the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. Her book's intent is to introduce the concept of gender identity to young audiences. "It's a good way to start the conversation, expose people to different...

  • Police Report

    Dec 14, 2017

    Monday, Dec. 4 Agency Assist: Report of boat on grid partially underwater: Harbor, owner and officer notified. Theft: Caller reported item missing: Later found. Suspicious circumstance: Officer responded. Citizen Assist: Unlocked vehicle. Agency Assist: Report of half submerged boat. Agency Assist: Traffic: Info given to driver. Suspicious circumstance: Officer responded. Criminal Mischief: Casey R Seimears, 35, was arrested on charges of Domestic Violence. Tuesday, Dec. 5 Report of suspicious activity. Suspicious smell: Report of burning...

  • Wrestlers taking all hands to State this weekend

    Dan Rudy|Dec 14, 2017

    Wrangell’s wrestlers took third at Region V in Ketchikan over the weekend, and will be sending all seven of its students to state-level competition in Anchorage this weekend. The team brought six boys and one girl for the tournament, and between them took third place overall. Four wrestlers took championship titles for the region and the other three were runners-up. “Extremely good tournament for all our wrestlers,” Wrangell coach Jeff Rooney said afterward. “They were all standouts. They wrestled hard, and they wrestled smart.” JD Barratt s...

  • Basketball bouncing into action for new season

    Dan Rudy|Dec 14, 2017

    After volleyball's silver-place showing at State last month and as the wrestling team wraps its own season, Wrangell High School's basketball program is already practicing for its new year. After bidding goodbye this spring to its coach of 30 years, the boys team will be headed up by a new coaching staff this season. Cody Angerman will be replacing retiring Ray Stokes as head coach, and Graham Gablehouse has been hired as assistant coach. Both men grew up in Wrangell, and are familiar faces on...

  • 44 participate in 2017 Elks Hoop Shoot Competition

    Dec 14, 2017

    Forty-four Wrangell kids took part in this year’s Hoop Shoot, the Elks Lodge’s annual December basketball free-throw competition. Held at the community center court Saturday morning, participants shot their best of 25 and will be competing against other lodges across the state. Best shooters there then compete at the regional and national levels. 8 and 9 year-olds Girls 1st – Alana Harrison – 8/25 2nd – Sophia Martinsen – 6/25 3rd – Jenna Eastaugh – 6/25 Boys 1st – Aadyn Gillen – 14/25 2nd – Jackson Carney – 7/25 3rd – Gavin Hunt – 7/25 10...

  • Chinook outlook not so good for 2018

    Dan Rudy|Dec 14, 2017

    A preseason forecast for next year's king salmon return to the Stikine River has come up worryingly short, boding ill for local fisheries. Released last week by Alaska Department of Fish and Game, the preseason terminal run size forecast for the Stikine River was at only 6,900 fish, less than half the lower threshold of the stock's escapement goal range. The Stikine EGR is between 14,000 and 28,000 Chinook salmon, and such a low forecast does not allow for an allowable catch under treaty...

  • Fish Factor: Alaska pollock is the nation's largest food fishery

    Laine Welch|Dec 14, 2017

    Alaska pollock is the nation’s largest food fishery, usually producing more than three billion pounds each year. The flaky whitefish dominates in fish sticks, fast food sandwiches and surimi “seafood salad” blends - but most Americans don’t even know what a pollock is. Trident Seafoods is intent on changing that by bringing the fish directly to the people. “It is the most abundant, certified sustainable species in the world. It’s our mission to show how this delicious, cousin to the cod fish can be enjoyed one serving at a time,” said Lo Reich...

  • Wrangell swimmers make December meet in Ketchikan

    Dan Rudy|Dec 14, 2017

    A dozen members of Wrangell Swim Club joined swimmers from six other clubs around the region in Ketchikan earlier this month. Entering its second year of competitive swimming, the Wrangell group saw some first and second place finishes from its kids during this year's Mike Smithers Southeast Championship. There were 144 swimmers in all, coming from Juneau, Sitka, Craig, Haines, Petersburg and Ketchikan. Wrangell coach Bruce McQueen explained the meet is equivalent to the league's regionals,...

  • City still scrapping for fight over yard debris

    Dan Rudy|Dec 14, 2017

    In an effort to curb roadside eyesores around town, Wrangell Public Works announced at last week’s meeting of the Borough Assembly its intention to allow people to dispose of their excess scrap metal for free through the end of December. The twice-extended arrangement was initially meant to last through mid-November, when a construction firm was expected to bring a barge to retrieve the city’s scrap. Channel Construction of Juneau had previously removed tons of the stuff earlier this April, in an arrangement where it charged no fees for the...

  • US petroleum reserve lease sale in Alaska draws just 7 bids

    Dec 14, 2017

    ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – President Donald Trump’s efforts to make the United States “energy dominant’’with help from Alaska got off to modest results Wednesday. The Interior Department made its largest-ever lease offering within the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska: 900 tracts covering 16,100 square miles (41,700 sq. kilometers), roughly the size of New Hampshire and Massachusetts combined. But oil companies submitted bids on just seven tracts covering 125 square miles (324 sq. kilometers). The bids totaled $1.16 million, to be split bet...