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Like eight-track, cassette tapes and VCRs, cable TV will soon be a piece of entertainment nostalgia — in Alaska anyway. GCI announced a year ago that it would cease providing cable television service, and has introduced its streaming app, Yukon TV, to replace it. The company had set Dec. 31 as the deadline for customers to turn in their cable boxes and sign up for the new service, but later extended the deadline to March 31 — though fewer channels will be available on cable as the company transitions its service. “The whole industry is movin...
As the holiday season is upon us, people who leave town or receive visitors are hoping for an easy, breezy ride. No overheads or ferry breakdowns. But it doesn’t always go that way. Residents were happy to share their holiday travel stories, from heartwarming to humorous. Brittani Robbins, executive director of the Wrangell Chamber of Commerce In 2013, her grandmother Marian Robbins, in her 70s at the time, came to visit for Christmas from Tacoma, Washington. There had been a blizzard the day before and she overheaded Wrangell to Ketchikan. J...
The board that oversees Alaska’s multibillion-dollar investment portfolio has fired Angela Rodell as chief executive officer of the Permanent Fund Corp. Legislative leaders and Finance Committee members are upset at the surprise decision and plan to hold hearings to ask questions. The fund this past fiscal year grew more than 25%, with record returns on its investments. The board on Dec. 9 voted 5-1 to remove Rodell. The five votes came from members last appointed by Gov. Mike Dunleavy. The board did not disclose a reason for the decision, whic...
Responding to the loss of power at the airport during the windstorm which tore through the community on Nov. 30, the borough assembly has voted to spend $80,000 in federal funds to install a backup generator for the airport runway lighting. At its Tuesday meeting, assembly members approved using money from a CARES Act grant fund for the generator purchase and installation. The capital facilities department will order the generator this week, and expects delivery in four to five months. The generator would solely be for the runway lighting,...
Dec. 15, 1921 J. P. Ludwig has opened a shoe repair shop in the Pioneer Building opposite the Wrangell Hotel. Mr. Ludwig is an experienced shoemaker whose work is of a high order of excellence and speaks for itself. Mr. Ludwig is now equipped to do all kinds of repairs and in a short time he will receive additional machines and will be ready to make shoes to order. Watch for his ad next week. Dec. 13, 1946 The city council announced today that it had set two streets aside for coasting. Great danger to the lives of children has been experienced...
Wrangell's community garden has a chance to grow once more. On Dec. 8, eight people gathered in the community gym classroom to discuss forming a committee to oversee the direction the project will take. "That's really what tonight is all about, is not making any decisions or appointing anyone to a position exactly, but we really just want to find out who is serious about being on the committee and if you don't want to be on the committee, that's OK, there's plenty of volunteer (opportunities)...
Early last January, our weekly papers included very nice Mark Kelley 2021 calendars as we welcomed Larry Persily’s return as the Sentinel’s owner and editor. I have enjoyed my calendar all year, along with our improved, expanded local paper. Thanks for a great first year, and for the calendar! Alice Rooney...
I admit it, I’ve gotten old. Never thought it would happen to me. Certainly not in the ‘60s, when I was in college. Not when my wife and I moved from Chicago to Wrangell in 1976 and thought we’d never run out of energy working seven days a week at the Sentinel. Not even when I broke a leg playing softball in 1999 or shattered a kneecap in 2001. It’s not that I believe in eternity. Rather, I knew I would age, but never expected I would get cranky about “the way things used to be,” much like how your favorite uncle makes everyone listen to h...
Letting politics influence management decisions of the Alaska Permanent Fund is like inviting an acquaintance with COVID-19 to dinner. You may get lucky and nothing bad happens, but the possibilities for misery are real. One of the tenets of an endowment fund is to minimize risk, or at least measure the risks against the potential gains. It’s unclear whether the Permanent Fund’s board of trustees were thinking about that when they voted 5-1 last week to fire Angela Rodell, who has served as executive director the past six years. During her ten...
Bob Davis, assistant principal of Wrangell’s high school and middle school, has submitted his resignation and plans to retire at the end of the school year. The resignation was on the agenda for Monday’s school board meeting and will take effect next June. “When I took this job, I made it clear that I had a maximum expiration date of three years,” Davis said. “This is my second. From the time I signed my contract this last spring, I’ve made it clear that this would be my last year.” Davis has been a teacher at the middle school since 1994. He b...
Julia Ostrander was voted in to fill a short-term vacancy on the school board on Monday. The vacancy was created when Laura Ballou resigned from the board in early November. The board received two applications to fill the position — from Ostrander and Alexandra Angerman, both of whom ran for seats on the board in the October municipal election but lost. At Monday’s meeting, board president Don Wilson announced that Angerman had withdrawn her submission, citing other responsibilities. Ostrander, a parent and small business owner, was asked to...
It’s the holiday season and all through town, more people need to get a-stirring and pick up their packages. That’s the word from the post office. Postmaster Dorothy Gladsjo declined an interview last week, and said another time maybe, when she wasn’t “covered in sweat.” Gladsjo and a co-worker had just dumped another orange bag full of packages flown into town onto a pushcart at the post office. The shelves were already stuffed full, but they had to find room to add the latest additions. Tommy Brown, who has lived in Wrangell for 18 years, ca...
Friday night drumming at the Wrangell Cooperative Association's carving shed on Front Street brings together Tlingit elders and teens, different generations forming a circle around an overhead projector as instructor Virginia Oliver guided the group through the pronunciation of Tlingit song lyrics. Oliver's son Tommy Rooney Jr., Luella Knapp and Tom Gillen Sr. were among the adults on drums, accompanied by children that included 14-year-old Keaton (Saak, "hooligan") Gadd, 13-year-old Boomchain...
The annual Elks Hoop Shoot is back on schedule this year. The event is set for Saturday morning at the community gym, with staggered times for different age groups. Last winter’s shoot was postponed to January, to stay away from holiday events amid concerns over COVID-19’s impact on the community. Each participant Saturday will receive a free basketball to use in the Hoop Shoot — and will get to keep the ball. A hamburger lunch at the Elks Club for all participants will follow the competition. Boys and girls ages 8 and 9 will shoot at 9 a.m.,...
When Amber Al-Haddad inherited the public safety building project as the borough’s capital facilities director in 2018, she was told the building simply needed a paint job. The now 34-year-old building needed, and still needs, much more than that. The assembly convened in a work session Monday night to discuss a phased rehabilitation plan for overhauling the water- and rot-damaged building, a plan it had requested of Al-Haddad at its Nov. 9 assembly meeting. The latest proposal comes with an estimated price tag of at least $14.7 million, in t...
JUNEAU (AP) — The U.S. House has passed legislation to extend a year-end deadline for Alaska Native corporations to use federal coronavirus relief funds. The U.S. Supreme Court in late June ruled the corporations were entitled to receive the CARES Act funds, but delays in disbursing the money have been many corporations in a bind to spend the funds by Dec. 31. The House bill, however, isn't the same measure that earlier passed the Senate. For the bill to become law, the same version has to pass both chambers before going to the president for s...
The first known case of the Omicron variant in Alaska was reported on Monday, according to the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services. The variant case was identified in an Anchorage resident. “The case was identified today through genomic sequencing performed at the Alaska State Public Health Laboratory from a person who recently tested positive in Anchorage following international travel in November,” the statement read. “Alaska now joins at least 30 other states and more than 60 countries that have already identified the varia...
Wrangell Medical Center will get an extra month of help from three traveling health care professionals, as the state has extended its contract for the workers. Alaska is adding to its $87 million contract that brought in about 470 out-of-state health care workers to assist hospitals, clinics and schools stressed this fall by the heavy workload of COVID-19 patients and testing, and to provide relief for overwhelmed medical staffs in multiple communities. In September, the state signed up Atlanta-based DLH Solutions to bring the workers to...
A new year, a new coach and new attitudes are propelling the high school girls' basketball team into the new season. After just four games, last season was cut short due to COVID-19. But the players have shaken that off and are in the winning mindset. "I think it's looking really good. I'm super excited to see what our team can do," said junior Kiara Harrison. The team looks at last season as an opportunity to learn, practice and grow, which is already making a difference in this year's...
Wrangell's wrestlers secured more first-place wins during regional championships than any other high school at the meet. Athletes from Mt. Edgecumbe, Craig, Petersburg, Sitka, Haines, Thorne Bay, Ketchikan and Juneau's Thunder Mountain came to Wrangell to compete in the Southeast regional championships last Friday and Saturday. In the girls division, two-time state champion senior Liana Carney bested Ruby McCue of Ketchikan in the 135-pound weight class. Carney pinned her opponent in 30 seconds...
JUNEAU (AP) — A U.S. District Court judge has rejected a challenge by Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration to a special subsistence hunt authorized for a Southeast Alaska tribe by a federal board last year. The Organized Village of Kake in spring 2020 requested an emergency hunt, citing food security concerns amid the pandemic. The Federal Subsistence Board granted a limited season of up to 60 days, and the harvest was distributed to 135 households in the village, according to filings with the court. The normal hunting season doesn’t begin...
After a courageous four-year battle with cancer, Mark Dwayne Seimears passed away on Nov. 26, 2021, in Wrangell, at age 65. Mark was born on Feb. 20, 1956, in Everett, Washington, to Margaret and Robert (Bob) Seimears. He grew up the youngest of three children including Gail Ottesen and Robert Seimears. In 1960, the family headed north to Alaska along the Alaska and Cassiar highways to Telegraph Creek, British Columbia. From there, they boarded his grandfather's riverboat, the Judith Ann, to...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly has voted to extend an emergency ordinance requiring masking in indoor public buildings. The Petersburg hospital reported 230 COVID-19 cases in November — infecting more than 7% of the community’s population. An emergency face mask ordinance adopted Nov. 5 was set to expire Dec. 6. The assembly voted 6-1 on Dec. 6 to extend the masking requirement to Jan. 3. The ordinance requires masking in public and communal spaces, other than private residences. Phil Hofstetter, chief executive officer of the Petersburg Med...
While Petersburg continues to endure limited hours at the post office service window, long lines and a lack of masking enforcement in the building, the borough assembly is considering asking the U.S. Postal Service to offer home delivery. A draft resolution was presented to the assembly at its Dec. 6 meeting, with further consideration planned when the assembly meets Dec. 20. The Petersburg Chamber of Commerce wrote a letter in support of home delivery. The post office has been a common frustration among businesses, said Jim Floyd, chamber of...
SEATTLE (AP) - Two Washington state artists are facing federal charges that they faked Native American heritage to sell works at downtown Seattle galleries. Lewis Anthony Rath, 52, of Maple Falls, and Jerry Chris Van Dyke, 67, also known as Jerry Witten, of Seattle, have been charged separately with violating the Indian Arts and Crafts Act, which prohibits misrepresentation in marketing American Indian or Alaska Native arts and crafts. The U.S. Attorney's Office said Rath falsely claimed to be...