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One of a pair of pipers play the first few verses to "Amazing Grace" on May 20, following a Blessing of the Fleet jointly held during a Mariners' Memorial fundraiser. Straddling an overlook between Heritage Harbor and Zimovia Strait, organizers for the new memorial hope to see ground broken by next year....
The steering committee for an upcoming mariners’ memorial will be holding its first spring fundraiser this weekend. Taking advantage of the warmer weather, an outdoor fish fry event has been scheduled for 5 p.m. this Sunday at Heritage Harbor. The meal will also feature a silent auction for a number of submitted items. A monument dedicated to Wrangell’s seafaring traditions and its community members lost at sea has been a goal for a decade and a half. After financing designs for a memorial at Heritage Harbor, by early 2017 the Port Commission e...
The organizing committee for a planned mariners’ memorial will be holding a winter fundraiser this weekend. A monument dedicated to Wrangell’s lost mariners has been in the making for over a decade. The Port Commission took off with it in 2009, and helped shepherd the concept through the drafting stages, which were completed in 2015. An independent steering committee was subsequently organized, and after receiving tax-exempt status last fall has begun raising money from individuals and businesses to construct the memorial. Committee member Bre...
Another year begins this week, and 2018 both holds promise and poses challenges to Wrangell residents. Economic trials will perhaps be of the greatest concern as state coffers seem set to dry up and fishing forecasts continue to disappoint. Limits to funding sources will be of particular bother as the borough continues to address an aging infrastructure, though securing state funding for the Shoemaker Bay Harbor refurbishment and an expected start to the belated Evergreen Road repaving should...
Celebration of the state’s sesquicentennial anniversary next week in Wrangell will be on the quieter side, with the 16th annual senior luncheon and yearly flu clinic both scheduled. Island of Faith Lutheran Church is inviting area seniors to join them for lunch next Wednesday at noon. “We kind of started it when our church was newly built,” said Joan Kading, a parishioner. “It seemed like a way to honor the senior citizens of Wrangell.” The informal meal has featured homemade soups and bread, with both a vegetarian and carnivorous option to...
A steering committee for a proposed memorial is seeking out public support for the project. A memorial dedicated to Wrangell's lost mariners has been a longstanding ambition for a number of residents. The current project took off over a decade ago, after a group of high school seniors worked on identifying a location and a design for a memorial. Their effort was prompted by the death of Ryan Miller, a local fisherman whose vessel capsized while in Clarence Strait back in 2005. Wrangell's Port Co...
Before summer gives way to autumn, several Wrangell business owners decided to have one more hurrah downtown with food and live music. Set for Sunday afternoon, "Warm August Nights" was thought up by Heidi Milazzo, Clay Culbert, Lucy Robinson, Brooke Leslie and Brenda Schwartz-Yeager. "All of us have been working on it together," said Milazzo. "We just wanted to have a fun family event." Culbert pointed out the lull in local activities around August, with not much by way of entertainment...
Senior students at Wrangell High School presented their end-of-year projects for parents, faculty and other passersby last week at the school gym. Twenty-four members of this year's graduating class worked on a variety of assignments to meet their core requirements. School activities director Bill Bradley explained the projects are self-driven, and encourage students to give back to the community as best they can. Projects are at least 25 hours each, which can be difficult to arrange when...
Going on six years in the making, a steering committee has been assembled to develop a memorial dedicated to Wrangell mariners, and is starting to solicit donations for its construction. The five-member committee was assembled at the behest of the Port Commission, which after commissioning designs for the new memorial thought the next step would be best handled by a private corporation rather than the city. Memorial committee member Brennon Eagle explained taking that route would make it easier...
Wrangell’s Port Commission gave its go-ahead to a tidelands purchase proposed by the Stikine Inn’s owners. Bill Goodale, who jointly manages the dockside hotel with his wife, Cheryl Goodale, appeared at the February 2 meeting to explain his proposal. He wishes to purchase from the city 25,450 square feet of submerged tidelands and 2,000 square feet of uplands to the north and west of the hotel’s current property line, with the intent of expanding and adding to the building. “We’re hoping for 30 rooms, plus retail space on the lower floor,” G...
Things are coming together for a planned memorial dedicated to Wrangell's seafaring community. The Port Commission last week named two more people to the steering committee tasked with fundraising and contracting for the Mariners Memorial's construction. Fishermen Brennon Eagle and Gig Decker will be joining commission members John Yeager and John Martin on the committee. A fifth position is still vacant, and interested applicants are invited to submit a letter to the city clerk's office. The...
Students in Wrangell High School's marine fabrication class are putting the finishing touches on some new designs. A longstanding program continued under current industrial arts teacher Drew Larrabee. The course gives high schoolers the opportunity to design and construct aluminum boats for themselves, applying the math and physics skills they've learned in the process. Third-year student Brian Schwartz is welding the hull on a 17-foot jet scow of his own design, which should be finished by or...
Meeting last week for the first time since June, Wrangell’s Port Commission set some priorities for its coming sessions. “We have a number of items we’re going to have on our plate,” explained commission president Clay Hammer. Of these, the three largest issues will be organizing a steering committee for construction of a new mariners memorial, reassessing the duration of lot leases at the Marine Service Center, and managing public access to the boatyard. The longest in the works, construction of the memorial weighed highly among commiss...
The City and Borough of Wrangell has officially endorsed a plan being put forward by the United States Forest Service concerning future timber sales on the island. In a special meeting on July 15, the Borough Assembly gave its input on a letter of support being drafted by economic development coordinator Carol Rushmore. A final copy was formally submitted to the Wrangell Ranger District on Monday, the last day of the public comment period for its Wrangell timber sale’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement. The DEIS puts forward five alternative... Full story
The Borough Assembly received a disappointing update that plans to pave Evergreen Road this year have been delayed until at least 2017. The news came while the Assembly considered a proposal to amend the design contract for Wood Street improvements, which was previously expected to be bid ahead of the Alaska Department of Transportation’s Evergreen project. The city had hoped for efficiencies in equipment costs by having both projects undertaken at around the same time. First expected complete in 2013, the Evergreen paving project would r... Full story
In the midst of rate increase talks and utility concerns, Wrangell’s Port Commission approved the renewal of three leases at the Marine Service Center during its Feb. 18 meeting. The lease lots of welder Chuck Jenkins, shipwright Tyler Thompson and contractor Steve Keller were up for their five-year renewal. Commissioners had previously approved Jenkins’ renewal in December at its $0.08 per square foot monthly rate. On Jan. 12 the Assembly decided to return Jenkins’ request for renewal to the commission, reasoning it might want to update lease...
The Wrangell Port Commission will move ahead with plans to reexamine rates, it decided at its regular meeting on Jan. 7. The meeting was prefaced by a rate change workshop, where commissioners pored over sheets comparing local lift, storage, work and moorage fees with other communities. The sheets were put together by harbormaster Greg Meissner, who made the case for an increase. The commission had previously considered a 50-percent raise in work area rates to 75 cents per square foot, but decided last March to wait amid concerns from contracto...
The year 2015 was largely a good one for Wrangell, with the appearance of several new businesses, large infrastructural developments undertaken by businesses, the formal opening of the Tribe's cultural center, and a balanced financial outlook for the city despite tumultuous budget negotiations in Juneau. The state deficit will remain the largest issue moving ahead into 2016, as will continued mining developments in Canada along shared waters. January On Jan. 12 and 14 the first of three sets of... Full story
The plan to build a memorial dedicated to Wrangell's mariners is now shovel-ready – organizers now just need to pull together the funds to buy the shovels. The Port Commission has been spearheading the memorial project, and accepted completed designs from Corvus Design's principal landscape architect Chris Mertl during its Dec. 3 meeting. "I'm really happy with the progress we've made," said commissioner Clay Hammer. "Stuff's about to get real here." A draft design was last presented to the p...
A project to renovate the facilities at Wrangell's Shoemaker Harbor seems well-placed to receive state assistance, the Port Commission learned this month. Harbormaster Greg Meissner told commissioners at their Nov. 4 meeting the Tier I capital project being proposed to the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (DOT) was ranked second for consideration, after a proposal by Kodiak. The DOT 50/50 matching grant program was first approved by the Alaska Legislature in 2006, and... Full story
Clay Hammer, running uncontested for re-election to the Port Commission, three-year seat Occupation: Electrical superintendent for the City and Borough of Wrangell Why would you like to sit on the commission again? "I enjoy sitting on the Port Commission as it gives me a chance to give back to a community that has given me so much. I have four children, all born here, and I hope that as they 'leave the nest' that they and all our children will have as good a chance at making it here as we all...
A pair of projects have moved toward their next phases after a special midday meeting of the Wrangell Port Commission Tuesday. Commissioners approved plans to finance float reconstruction at Shoemaker Bay Harbor, as well concepts for a mariners memorial at Heritage Harbor. The current concept for updating Shoemaker features four fingers built using polyethylene tubs as floats rather than wood and metal. Three of these envisioned fingers will be enough to accommodate the currently berthed boats, with the fourth offering space for longer, wider c...
Wrangell's Port Commission got to take a look at preliminary designs for a new float system at Shoemaker Bay Harbor at its April 2 meeting. Designed by PND Engineers of Juneau, projected costs for the redesign are currently at around $10 million. Harbormaster Greg Meissner presented the concept, which will feature four fingers built using polyethylene tubs. Three of these envisioned fingers will be enough to accommodate the currently berthed boats, with the fourth offering space for longer,...
There was a good turnout for the boatyard storage fees workshop before the Port Commission's monthly meeting Feb. 5. Wrangell's Harbor Department is looking at altering two fees, for both storage and work spaces at its Marine Service Center. At the moment, ground rates are per diem set at 50 cents per square-foot. The department has been looking at raising this to 75 cents. “I think that's too big of an increase,” said one local vendor, Don Sorric. “That's not small potatoes.” He was concern... Full story
