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Sentinel writer The first boat to come out of the water was named for the patron saint of lost causes. The new $1.3-million giant red boat lift pulled the Ketchikan-ported fishing tender St. Jude out of the water Saturday. Estimates of the 100-foot by 24-foot boat's weight range between 121 tons and 189 tons. The lower end of that range would have put the boat within the lifting capacity of the other machine, however, a weight reading of 198 tons meant harbor officials put the ASCOM lift in play...
A mix-up with the new 300-ton boat lift meant the five shipping containers with the unassembled lift were sent to Anchorage instead of Wrangell this week. The error apparently occurred sometime after the containers were off-loaded in Tacoma. Instead of being placed on a Wrangell-bound barge from Seattle, they were placed on an Anchorage-bound barge by a cargo subcontractor employed by AsCom S.p.A, the Italian-based manufacturer of the new lift, according to harbormaster Greg Meissner. The containers made it as far north as Juneau before being...
$4.6 million is definitely better than zero. The state’s proposed capital budget would set aside more than $1.6 million for Wrangell-based projects, up from nothing in Gov. Sean Parnell’s proposed capital budget announced Dec. 12. An additional almost $3 million in proposed infrastructure “reallocations” will also be headed to Wrangell, with some slight modifications to allow the use of the funds to be more flexible. The capital funds include: $615,000 for a Wrangell connection to the upper reservoir, which will allow the Department of Public...
A long-discussed lift doubling the capacity of the Wrangell boatyard could arrive by the end of the month, officials said. The lift, which Harbormaster Greg Meissner plans for the harbor to use in conjunction with the existing 150-ton lift, shipped from Italy in March and was set to arrive in Tacoma, Wash. by Wednesday, though harbor officials have revised estimates for the arrival in the past. "My hope is it'll get here on April 22," he said. That would put the arrival one day shy of a year...
The borough assembly held an almost hour-long closed-door executive session Tuesday to discuss litigation stemming from a suit involving borough police department personnel. Alesa and Jerry McHolland filed the suit in Wrangle Superior Court in November 2013. It alleges wrongful termination, “deliberate and incessant discrimination,” and “intentional infliction of emotional distress.” It accuses former borough Manager Tim Rooney, Police Chief Doug McCloskey, and Lt. Merlin Ehlers of harassing and terminating Alesa McHolland in 2011, when sh...
Hotel reservations and empty tables at local eateries may be a little hard to come by this fall. About 250 officials and leaders from all over Southeast will descend on Wrangell Sept. 16 to 18 as the annual membership meeting of the Southeast Conference comes to town. The Conference’s mid-session meeting was held March 12, 13, and 14 in Juneau. Wrangell’s role as host borough comes after a report issued by the 2013 session, which highlighted Wrangell’s success with the so-called blue economy, a combination of fisheries and marine servi...
The Chamber of Commerce honored Lucy Robinson with the Citizen of the Year award at Saturday's annual dinner. The event also honored new chamber members, the Business of the Year, retiring school system personnel, and distributed the Chamber Membership Appreciation Award. It drew more than 200 members and guests to the Nolan Center for dinner, drinks, dessert auctions, and games. The dinner is the sole event dedicated exclusively to Chamber fundraising, Director Cyni Waddington told the crowd....
The members of the Wrangell Economic Development Committee know they’re entitled to about 800 acres of land. The next trick will be figuring out which land to select. Discussion at the committee’s March 6 meeting focused around the land issue in general, a holdover issue stemming from the borough’s 2008 incorporation. The land is part of the borough allotment, originally set at about 200 acres, but increased to 800 acres after lobbying at the state legislature, said Economic Development Officer Carol Rushmore. Any land the borough doesn...
A Juneau designer presented three draft options on Monday for a potential layout to the Mariner's Memorial at a public workshop. An octagonal lighthouse pavilion is part of each design, but could be located toward the envisioned entryway for the memorial, at the memorial's midpoint, or at the end. All three drafts used landscaped vegetation to screen the memorial from the noise and bustle of nearby Heritage Harbor and the boat ramp, to create a solemn ceremonial air with a strong connection to n...
Eleven new seafood products from seven companies are set to be showcased at the upcoming Symphony of Seafood galas in Seattle and Anchorage. In its 21 years the event has introduced and promoted hundreds of new Alaska seafood items to the marketplace. “Developing new products is really hard,” said Julie Decker, new executive director of the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation which hosts the event. (Decker replaces Jim Browning who retired,) “It costs a lot of money, takes a lot of time and attention, and sometimes the products are wonde...
The Chief Shakes House rededication was easily the biggest event of 2013 in Wrangell. However, the year was filled with events and news stories big and small. On the first edition of 2014, the Sentinel pauses to recollect the stories throughout the year. January An electrical fire damaged the fish tank at the Nolan Center, causing it to be removed. A 7.5-magnitude earthquake struck off of Craig Jan. 4, rattling windows and nerves in town. The quake caused no major damage in town, but...
Alaska’s seafood industry worked hard again in 2013 to ramp up its message to policy makers, most of whom still tend to overlook the industry’s economic significance to the state and beyond. What is that message? That “the industry” is made up of thousands of small businesses – the fishing boats that each supports one or several families. That the seafood companies in coastal towns provide one of the state’s biggest tax bases. And together, fishing and processing provide more jobs in Alaska than oil/gas, mining, tourism and timber combined. S...
In the Sentinel 75, 50 and 25 years ago. November 18, 1938: The Hospital Auxiliary staged a very successful benefit for the Bishop Rowe General Hospital on Armistice Day when 65 persons registered between the hours of 3 to 5 and attended the annual silver tea, postponed from last May. Perhaps the greatest surprise to the tea patrons was the fact that quantities of garden flowers, particularly snapdragons, had been saved from the heavy frost of preceding days and were used to center the daintily arranged tea tables and wherever a vase could be...
Name: John Yeager Age: 45 Occupation: Fishing Guide and co-owner of Alaska Charters & Adventures. What is your previous experience on boards or other relevant experience related to the position you are seeking? I have been on the Port Commission for a few years now and have had the privilege of serving with some positive, community driven individuals. I like the diversity and combined years of experience our current Commission has. I feel that a Commission with members that represent all aspects...
ASSEMBLY Name: Julie Decker Age: 40 Occupation: self employed – commercial fishing and seafood development What background or experience do you have that qualifies you to be an Assembly member? I have served on Wrangell’s Economic Development Committee for the past seven years. I have also served on the Board of Directors of the Southeast Conference, which is the economic development organization that represents the municipalities and businesses of Southeast Alaska. Why are you running for the...
A series of capital projects led the way in Borough Manager Tim Rooney’s final report to the Borough Assembly last week as he highlighted the improvements on-going or planned in the Borough. Starting off, Rooney informed the Assembly about a number of projects related to the city’s Harbor Department, including upgrades at the Marine Service Center pier. “Pool Engineering has begun work on the pier upgrades and good progress is being made,” Rooney wrote. “The two new batter piles have been driv...
The Borough Assembly approved a change order in the amount of $34,600 for the 300-ton marine hoist purchased by the City and Borough of Wrangell this week. The city is under contract with Italian firm Ascom S.p.A. to manufacture and assemble the new 300-ton capacity vessel hoist. The bid documents required a backup control system for use in the case of failure of the wireless remote control, which Ascom is providing as a redundant, plug in, wired remote control. In a memo to the Assembly, Wrangell Public Works Director Carl Johnson explained...
The Borough Assembly officially accepted the resignation of Borough Manager Tim Rooney during their June 25 regular meeting and cleared the path for Borough Clerk Kim Flores to advertise the position both statewide and nationally. After a unanimous vote accepting the resignation, Assembly member Christie Jamieson spoke about her feelings on the tenure of Rooney as the administrative head during the past three-and-a-half years. “I would like to thank Tim for all of his hard work and efforts,” Jam...
Work crews fill a roadway with cement as a project to pave the Marine Service Center continued last week. The work is being done to accommodate a 300-ton marine hoist the City and Borough of Wrangell will install next year....
Anyone driving down Shakes Street during the past two months probably couldn’t help but notice the massive steel rebar structure going in at the Marine Service Center – a steel design that will reinforce massive slabs of concrete that a new marine hoist will ride on in years to come. The project, which is Phase II of the MSC renovation, includes two sections of rebar and concrete construction that was awarded by the Borough Assembly to Southeast Roadbuilders on March 12 as a base bid and alt...
The Wrangell Port Commission passed a resolution last week that will prioritize Shoemaker Bay Harbor as the next renovation and replacement project for the Borough’s Harbor Department. Shoemaker emerged as the lead candidate for replacement after a March discussion by commissioners. They weighed the issue of whether Shoemaker or Inner Harbor would be next on the list. Before passing the resolution, resident Frank Roppel spoke to the commission about his feelings on the harbor project. “I wou...
In the Sentinel 100, 75, 50 and 25 years ago. April 24, 1913: On the vote for passage for the third reading, the fish trap bill was killed in the Senate last Saturday. Sen. Sutherland, Tanner and Roden voting for passage and Freeling, Tripp, Millard and Ray against the measure. Sen. Sutherland, father of the bill, made a spirited talk in its defense and filed notice to reconsider when the reading had been voted. April 22, 1938: Official observation of May Day-Child Health Week will begin in Wrangell on Saturday April 30. On that day at 2:30...
The most recent Port Commission meeting discussed a number of issues related to the ongoing Mariner’s Memorial project, lease space at the Marine Service Center, and a determination of whether Shoemaker or Inner harbors would receive priority in renovation efforts. In harbormaster Greg Meissner’s report to the commission he caught the commissioners up to speed on issues regarding Heritage Harbor. “The signage will be going in soon,” Meissner said. “We’ll put the parking signs in and the rules signs for the boat launch and all that. It sounds l...
The Borough Assembly undertook one of their longest and most productive sessions in recent months this week as they attempted for a second time to form an “energy committee,” approved a number of contracts and construction projects, and took under consideration a recent protest over use of the former Wrangell Institute property for storage of timber from an Alaska Mental Heath Land Trust land sale. The formation of an energy committee, which would be tasked with looking at the possibilities of d...
After a civic presentation on “Lemonade Day 2012” by Wrangell teen Helen Decker, three attempts to pass a motion that would have set up an “energy committee” to study future divestiture plans from the Southeast Alaska Power Agency, the decision to form such a committee was halted after disagreement over membership was raised. Assembly member James Stough modified the original motion, saying he wanted to see membership in the committee include citizens or officials from Petersburg and Ketchik...