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For the 10th year in a row, more Alaskans moved out last year than new residents moved in. That’s a draining fact, with no real plan to plug the leak. To confirm the Alaska Department of Labor’s statistics about population and persistent out-migration, drive no farther than U-Haul. America’s do-it-yourself movers reported this month on its annual numbers for traffic into states and one-way rentals leaving each state. The traffic count for Alaska is not good. The state fell 25 spots in the nationwide ranking of growth states, from 16th place...
Alaska’s population rose in 2022 according to new estimates released Jan. 5 by the Alaska Department of Labor, marking a second consecutive year of increases after four years of declines. The new Alaska population estimate, 736,556, is the highest since 2018, but the state continues to see more people moving out than moving in, and 2022 marked the 10th consecutive year of negative net migration, said state demographer David Howell. The state gained about 450 people despite that migration loss because the number of births was greater than the n... Full story
Monday, Dec. 12 Motor vehicle accident. Reckless driving. Agency assist: Petersburg Police Department. Tuesday, Dec. 13 Fire: Unfounded. Welfare check. Wednesday, Dec. 14 Agency assist: State Troopers. Parking complaint: Citation issued for parking in a red zone. Traffic: Two juveniles given warning for riding four-wheelers on roadway. Thursday, Dec. 15 Traffic stop: Citation issued for failure to provide proof of insurance and verbal warning for expired tags. Traffic stop: Citation issued for failure to provide proof of insurance and diving...
Ofelia Santiago-Ballou, 4, can barely contain her excitement last Saturday night as she tells Santa Claus (Andrew Zeutzius) what she wants for Christmas. Ofelia was one of a couple hundred children who stood in line at the Nolan Center to share their holiday wishes. St. Nick visited with kids from 4 until 8 p.m. - except for about 30 minutes to roast marshmallows and count down the Christmas tree lighting ceremony....
The borough has scheduled a public forum for 5:30 p.m. Dec. 14 at the Nolan Center to discuss a $2.5 million question: What would the community like to see done with the 6-Mile sawmill property which the borough purchased this summer? Sell the 39 acres, lease it in whole or in part, put public money into the development or let private dollars carry the cost of whatever may happen at the site are among the options. Tourism, industry, fisheries, storage — maybe some future use no one has ever really considered. Whatever may happen, next w...
Residents will gather for a “Christ-moose” potluck at the Nolan Center at 5:30 p.m. Dec. 18 to celebrate the holiday season through food and fellowship. All are welcome to the free event, which will feature moose meat prepared by Jake Harris of the Stikine Inn. Attendees are encouraged to contribute their favorite side dish to the spread. The potluck is the first of its kind in three years, explained event organizer Lovey Brock. A similar event was held in 2019 — before pandemic fears hit — and boasted around 150 attendees, plus a wide array o...
Monday, Nov. 28 Found property. Welfare check. Civil issue. Welfare check. Tuesday, Nov. 29 Welfare check. Agency assist: Pretrial. Agency assist: Pretrial. Agency assist: Hoonah Police Department. Criminal mischief. Suspicious person. Wednesday, Nov. 30 Agency assist: Transportation Security Administration. Harassment. Citizen assist. Thursday, Dec. 1 Agency assist: Nolan Center. Warrant arrest: Failure to appear. Suspicious activity. Friday, Dec. 2 Agency assist: Petersburg Police Department. Vehicle unlock. Civil issue. Saturday, Dec. 3...
Wrangell wants more visitors and the money they bring to town. But to compete against all the other Southeast ports that also want more tourism dollars to flow into their economy, Wrangell needs to provide accommodations and activities to help make visitors’ time in town enjoyable. That includes more public restrooms. Other than the two stalls in the small borough-owned restroom stop behind the Elks Lodge, and the facilities at the Nolan Center, there are no public restrooms in the downtown area. It’s not fair to expect businesses to pro...
More people moved out of Alaska than moved in every year between 2015 and 2021. If not for a healthy birth rate, the state population would have shrunk even more than it did. Wrangell has steadily lost population over the past 20 years, with the decline projected to continue. These are not good statistics. Even worse, these are self-fulfilling projections of future economic troubles. Fewer residents means fewer available workers, which means labor shortages for the goods and services people need. Business across the state already suffer from a...
Top photo, from left: Kastle Powers, Silje Morse, Brogan Booker, Alana Harrison, Clara Carney, Amura Roaher and Mariah Carney, as the Von Trapp children, listen to Sarah Scambler, playing Maria, as they rehearse for "The Sound of Music." It's been more than 20 years since Wrangell staged a community play. The musical will be performed at the Nolan Center at 7 p.m. Friday and 4 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are on sale at the Nolan Center or online at bit.ly/3ioydek. Bottom photo, from left: Ellen...
For the past seven years, the Alaska economy has performed “at or near the bottom” nationally in four key measures of economic health, according to a report released Nov. 17 by the University of Alaska Center for Economic Development. Taken together, the state’s poor performance between 2015 and 2021 — in employment growth, unemployment, net migration and gross domestic product — place Alaska’s economic health at the bottom of all 50 states and the District of Columbia, said Nolan Klouda, the center’s executive director and lead author of the...
In the Oct. 4 municipal election, Wrangell voters authorized the borough to sell or lease the 6-Mile mill site, a 39-acre parcel of land on Zimovia Highway. As they explore options for developing the land, borough officials will seek community feedback at an upcoming public forum. The forum represents an effort to “look at what the community would like to see out there,” said Economic Development Director Carol Rushmore. How does the community think the property can best be utilized for its benefit, she asked. At the Oct. 19 meeting of the bor...
Soon after Carol Rushmore stepped into her role as economic development director in 1993, Wrangell’s economic landscape changed forever. The sawmill, which had been the borough’s economic mainstay since the mid-1950s, shut down, setting off a chain reaction of job losses and business closures that affected the entire community. “We lost 20% of our workforce overnight,” Rushmore said. “It was extremely bad for a good 10 years.” But 29 years and countless grant applications, public forums and infrastructure projects later, Rushmore is planning...
World-renowned showtunes and brightly colored costumes, cute children dancing and Austrians romancing — if these are a few of your favorite things, then the Nolan Center’s upcoming production of “The Sound of Music” might be the perfect way to spend your weekend. Director Tom Jenkins praised the cast and crew for the “tremendous effort” they have put into the show over the past few months. The child actors, in particular, have impressed him with their “great memories” and their ability to nail complex singing and dancing numbers like “D...
From stained glass designers to wood carvers, Wrangell is home to a thriving creative community. But one of the most popular artists in town, whose work appears all over Front Street, is also one of the most anonymous. If you've ever gone on a Stikine Inn coffee run, eaten pizza at Nic's Place or looked up the weekend movie selection on the Nolan Center website, you've seen the artwork of printmaker and graphic designer Grace Wintermyer. When she isn't working at outdoor retailer 56° North or...
The entire Wrangell family — consisting of parents, kids, siblings, elders, community members and more — is invited to the Family Resilience Fair at the Nolan Center next month. BRAVE, a domestic violence prevention organization whose name stands for Building Respect And Valuing Everyone, is hosting the fifth-annual fair on Nov. 19 from 2 to 4 p.m. The event will feature prizes, family-centric games and informative booths from social service organizations in the area. The upcoming fair is “a way for … agencies to connect with the communi...
Wrangell registered voters have the option to cast their ballots early if they will be out of town on election day Nov. 8 or would prefer to get it out of the way in advance. Early voting opened Monday and is available 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays through Nov. 7 at City Hall. The state is offering early voting sites in more than 150 communities across Alaska. Election-day voting in Wrangell is set for 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Nov. 8 at the Nolan Center. Alaskans will be using the state’s new ranked-choice voting system, just as they did in the August s...
As of last week, “The Sound of Music” cast was short just one male actor and will need some extras, partygoers and dancers as it gets closer to the Dec. 2 and 3 stage performance. “It’s hard to find male actors in town,” Cyni Crary, one of the show organizers, said last Friday. She described the open part as “kind of like a bad guy,” though he doesn’t have many lines. The cast already includes almost 20 Wrangell volunteers, plus about a dozen singers, musicians and a choreographer. About five more volunteers are helping behind the scenes with s...
After a dismal 2020 and cautiously optimistic 2021, the economic outlook in Wrangell is improving, according to survey data collected by the Southeast Conference. Economic director Carol Rushmore presented the data at the chamber of commerce’s economic forum last Friday. The event was intended to bring Wrangell business leaders, state and municipal government officials, and concerned citizens into conversation about economic problems facing the community. Rushmore said her presentation offered a “30,000-foot summary of the economics of Wra...
Wrangell has received $291,566 that it was owed by the state but never expected to receive, and could hold it as a cushion to soften the debt payments on bonds to repair school buildings and the Public Safety Building. Borough Finance Director Mason Villarma said last week he would recommend to the assembly that it move the money into the debt service fund, keeping it there if needed to help with payments on the proposed bonds, easing the pressure on property tax payers. Wrangell voters are being asked in the Oct. 4 municipal election to...
It’s been 12 years since Wrangell voters were asked to approve the borough taking on debt, and next Tuesday’s municipal election ballot will include two such proposals to repair worn-down public buildings. The Oct. 4 ballot also will include the election of a new mayor, two borough assembly members, two port commissioners and three school board members. In addition, the ballot asks voter permission for the borough to sell or lease the former sawmill property at 6-Mile. The borough bought the property this summer for $2.5 million, and is loo...
Last Saturday at the Sharing Our Knowledge Conference, a “Break the Silence” panel discussion highlighted a wide range of perspectives on and experiences with Alaska Native boarding schools. Some panelists identified with the term “boarding school survivor;” others did not. Some lost their language while attending a church- or government-run institution; others did not. Even the act of recounting boarding school experiences, while healing for some, was exhausting for others. “We have different experiences. We’re different people,” sa...
It’s been more than 60 years since “The Sound of Music” debuted on Broadway and more than 20 years since Wrangell staged a community play, and organizers hope that the years have not diminished the appeal of either. Auditions for a community production of the famous musical will be held at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 20 and 21 at the Nolan Center. The performance is planned for the first weekend of December, said Cyni Crary, Nolan Center director. She and Tom Jenkins are the organizers of the theatrical production. “We’ve had a huge interest,” Crary said...
Two of the races on the Oct. 4 municipal election ballot are contested: There are two candidates for mayor and three candidates to fill two three-year terms on the borough assembly. The other three races on the ballot — for port commission, a one-year school board term and two three-year school board seats — are all uncontested. Absent a surprising write-in turnout, the candidates on the ballot will win those elections. Patty Gilbert and Terry Courson are competing to succeed Mayor Steve Prysunka, who decided not to seek reelection to a thi...
Jim LaBelle entered the Wrangell Institute in 1955 at the age of 8. Over the next 10 years, he would lose his hair, large portions of his memory, and the ability to speak Inupiaq. He has spent his life trying to understand what happened, and he will tell his story Saturday morning at the Sharing Our Knowledge conference. For LaBelle, storytelling is an essential part of the healing process. As one of the keynote speakers at this week’s Sharing Our Knowledge conference of Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian tribes and clans, LaBelle will relate his e...