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Wrangell's former head librarian recently received an appointment by Gov. Bill Walker to sit on his Advisory Council on Libraries. Kay Jabusch will serve on the 12-person council through the end of 2016. She will help coordinate the state's five-year plan to implement the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) slated to take effect after the current one expires in 2017. The LSTA provides over $150 million to state systems across the nation, with Alaska State Libraries receiving $2.4 million...
The school year came to an end for Wrangell students on May 21, and while they’ve said “so long” for the summer to teachers and homework, they are still invited to pick up a book or two in the interim through the annual summer reading program. The program—hosted by the Irene Ingle Public Library—is already under way, encouraging kids to continue reading while on break with a variety of prizes and cash drawings for participants. Its purpose is to help curb summer reading loss, where students lose some of their newly learned or developin...
The Stikine Sportsmen Association raised $48,000 at this year’s annual fundraiser dinner, about $7,000 more than the previous year. Its 35th Annual Game Dinner was held in Wrangell’s American Legion Hall on Feb. 28, and the money was raised through a combination of raffles, auctions, admission and donations. “We give all of it away,” explained Mike Otteson, on the group’s board. Stikine Sportsmen Association is a private organization that directs its funding toward a wide variety of programs and causes. “All our money is spent in town,” said...
A bit short-handed at its regular Tuesday-night meeting, Wrangell City and Borough Assembly nonetheless reviewed the first readings of several ordinance revisions. Members Becky Rooney, David Mitchell, Daniel Blake and Mayor David Jack discussed a proposed ordinance No. 893, relating to weapons and discharge of firearms within the Borough limits as well as adding a section regarding abuse of the 911 emergency system. The proposal would strike much of the rules previously on the books relating to concealed weapons and carrying loaded firearms,...
Kicking things off with a new borough manager in Jeff Jabusch, 2014 for Wrangell was not only a period of changes, but also one of building and continued development. Pavement was poured at the Marine Service Center, a number of roads were resurfaced or due to eventually see improvement, and the city was able to showcase itself to other regional communities by hosting several prolific functions. January Wrangell Cooperative Association collected 210 registrations for Tlingit-Haida members at...
More children than ever before were able to enjoy this year's annual Christmas celebration at the Irene Ingle Public Library. "It's something we've done for years," explained head librarian Kay Jabusch. For 20 years, Wrangell's library has hosted its pajama story time every first week of December, with treats to enjoy and a visit from Santa Claus. Due to rising participation, library staff decided to approach the tradition in a new way this time around. "We broke it up this year," Jabusch said,...
At its Nov. 12 meeting, the Wrangell City and Borough Assembly approved its list of capital project requests for the 2015-16 fiscal year. Assembled by city staff and Assembly members, the annual list prioritizes projects in order of importance and gets circulated in Juneau and Washington D.C. by the borough's lobbyists, also serving as a target for finding funding opportunities. Topping the list are pool facility improvements, which could be as high as $1.5 million. Borough Manager Jeff Jabusch...
Work on Cassiar Street is at a temporary standstill as contractors and Wrangell Public Works wait for a spot of clear weather to finish pouring concrete. As of Tuesday, the block behind Irene Ingle Public Library was finished and crews were working their way down from the street's north end. Estimating the paving to be about a third done, Borough Manager Jeff Jabusch expected workers need a three-day window of clear weather to finish pouring concrete. They are hoping such an opportunity comes...
Scores of families came to the gym at Evergreen Elementary School Saturday morning for this year's Wrangell Early Childhood Coalition – Best Beginnings Children's Fair. "It's going very well," said Krissy Smith, the coalition's executive director. Manning the door, by midday she figured it was rivaling last year's turnout. "It's been too busy to count them at the door," she said. Later in the day, she was able to calculate that 364 participants of all ages had attended. In addition to handing o...
After nearly 34 years of service, Irene Ingle Public Library will be getting a new head librarian after Kay Jabusch retires at the end of this year. She began there in June 1980, working closely with Irene Ingle – the previous head librarian for whom the library was renamed – before taking over her position after Ingle's retirement on Jan. 1, 1981. When Jabusch retires from the position on Jan. 1, 2015, assistant librarian Margaret Villarma will likewise assume the post. "I think the tra...
Hospice of Wrangell reports it is kicking off a campaign this week to collect advance directives, educating local residents about them and assisting in their completion. Advance directives are legal documents that include both a living will and a durable power of attorney for health care. A living will conveys a person’s wishes about end-of-life care decisions to their family and medical providers. A durable power of attorney allows a designated person to receive medical information and make health care decisions either now or at a time of f...
August 10, 1914: The Winifred left early yesterday for Telegraph. She has a good load of freight but no passengers. On the last trip down, the crew reported seeing two moose, both of them swimming in the river. The first was seen just above the canyon and the other at Clearwater. The moose are getting further down every year and before long they will be all over the islands in this section of the country, and for this reason the new law was passed last spring prohibiting the killing of them. Although the law was made fun of by several papers...
It began, in part, with a dance. In 2004, Alaska's first lady and many residents of the town attended the ribbon cutting for the newly constructed James and Elsie Nolan Center. Amid the festivities and speeches of thanks, then-city manager Bob Prunella called Dorothy Ottesen in front of nearly 450 attendees, according to the July 8, 2004 edition of the Wrangell Sentinel. Ottesen had often vowed to dance in the museum, were it ever constructed. "The two danced a two-step in front of a clapping...
If past years are any indication, more than 100 students will complete the public library’s summer reading program this year. For the first time this year officials at the Irene Ingle Memorial library have opened the reading program to include high school students, according to Librarian Kay Jabusch. “There seems to be a lot of interest there,” she said. “These kids have grown up with the program. We’re actually expecting a lot more participation this year.” Registration for the program started last week, and continues until June 30, Jabusch...
Library staff at the Irene Ingle Memorial Library will begin participating in a series of webinars intended to evaluate ways to improve service for local patrons. The online meetings, known as the Edge Initiative, are part of a push to promoting best technology practices among the staffs and facilities at 20 libraries across Alaska, said library director Kay Jabusch. “Some of the things you do well, you want to do more of that,” she said. The Initiative involves a questionnaire about how technology is used at the library, Jabusch said. A slew o...
The deadline for registration in the popular Summer Reading Program is set for June 30 at the Irene Ingle Public Library. This program is held annually beginning June 1 and runs through the end of July. All students in Kindergarten through Grade 9 are eligible to attend. The basis of the program, which began in 1998 is simple – after reading a book, students take a retention test on a computer, which is graded and provided to the school district at the end of the program. Each book is worth a certain amount of points and students receive v...
The Irene Ingle Public Library has added a new system to enhance the reading and learning experience for younger users of the library. The Early Literacy Station is a computer-based educational tool that contains more than 55 educational software titles for children ages 2-8. It is a standalone computer system that is not connected to the Internet, affording privacy and safety for some of Wrangell’s youngest library users. Some of the titles included in the software package include La Casa de Dora, ABCs and 123s, Kid Pix 3D, Math Doodles, K...
Sentinel writer When you look at a website, a business card, or just about any sign or graphical image you can imagine, you can expect to see information. That information is usually one-dimensional and does not extend beyond what you might see with your own eyes. A group of students from Wrangell High School are working to change that, however. An after-school “AVATAR” club led by WHS teacher Michele Galla has been working on developing a technology that will “augment” the reality of images...
With the stroke of a pen and a handwritten letter addressed to Mayor David Jack and members of the Borough Assembly, longtime member and Vice Mayor Bill Privett resigned his position with the quorum at their April 9 meeting. “Please consider this my formal letter of resignation, effective immediately,” Vice Mayor Privett wrote. “My grandson has applied for employment with Castle Mountain Entertainment and cannot be hired because of my Assembly position. Maybe again in the future I will be able...
A new mayor, renovations to the Shakes Island Tribal House and Marine Service Center, and the ongoing Wrangell Medical Center debate – all of these stories were newsmakers in 2012. Let’s take a look back at some of the biggest stories in Wrangell over the past year. JANUARY A late night blaze destroyed a trailer and sent a woman to Wrangell Medical Center with severe burns on Dec. 22. The fire, which began at 10:30 p.m. in a small pull-behind trailer near the top of the park, severely inj...
The City and Borough of Wrangell is asking its citizens for help in lobbying Governor Sean Parnell’s office to help get a public works project in downtown back on track. A proposed renovation of Evergreen Road beginning at the Alaska Marine Highway System ferry terminal, and extending north and then east from the city center, has been a priority item on the Alaska Statewide Transportation Improvement Program since 2008 – holding down the top spot on that list since 2010. Last week it was str...
Sarah Merritt shows Clara and Jackson Carney a book focusing on the alphabet and teaching about different kinds of fish during the Irene Ingle Public Library Storytime on Thursday, Nov. 8. Storytime is held every Thursday at 10 a.m. at the library, with this week’s focus being “A Time for Feasting....
During the next few weeks, the Irene Ingle Public Library will be offering a new service – e-books. Library patrons will now be able to browse a website, check out an electronic book with a valid library card, and download its contents to a PC and many other types of mobile devices. According to library director Kay Jabusch, patrons will need to load software on their devices such as an iPod, Sony Reader, Nook, Kindle or computer. Titles will automatically expire at the end of the lending period and there will be no late fees. The first year o...
