Sorted by date Results 76 - 100 of 497
Voters on Oct. 3 will choose between incumbent Esther Aaltséen Reese and challenger John DeRuyter for a three-year term on the school board. It is the only one of five school board seats on this year's ballot. Reese, tribal administrator for the Wrangell Cooperative Association, is finishing her first year on the board after winning election last October, when she was unopposed. DeRuyter, in his third year on the secondary school advisory committee, is making his first run for office in...
It appears that tour operators who bring visitors to Wrangell’s Petroglyph Beach will be required to pay a $350 annual fee to the state plus $6 per person starting next year. The fee for commercial use of a state park or historic site has been a provision in Alaska law since the 1980s but apparently never enforced for the Petroglyph Beach State Historic Site, which was designated in 2000. The fee structure was updated in 2021. The State Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation realized it had not issued any commercial-use permits or collected f...
Members of the Tlingit community gathered outside the Wrangell airport last Friday while chests carrying four objects -a mudshark hat, a mudshark tunic, a blanket and a blanket with a killer whale stranded on a rock while hunting - were carefully lowered back into their hands after 91 years of separation. The objects, which belong to the Naanya.aayí clan, were taken by Wrangell police from the home of Mary Kunk, Eva Blake and Betty Carlstrom in the 1930s. In an effort to right past wrongs,...
Voters will choose two borough assembly members, a school board member and a port commissioner in the Oct. 3 municipal election — but only one of the four seats is contested. There are two candidates for the one school board seat on the ballot. John DeRuyter, a clinical psychologist, is running for a three-year term on the school board. Incumbent Esther Aaltséen Reese, tribal administrator for the Wrangell Cooperative Association, is seeking reelection to the board. She was elected to a one-year term last year. DeRuyter is a self-employed cl...
Last Friday and Saturday, WCA, Tlingit & Haida and the American Legion distributed backpacks and other school supplies to help prepare the community's youth for the academic year. A long line of students and families snaked out of the WCA Cultural Center on Friday morning, Aug. 18, as parents and children geared up for the task of backpack selection. "This is an important program to make sure that we're supporting our children and also our tribal families with school essentials," said Tribal...
Ever wanted to learn how to hem a pair of jeans? Fix a bike? Patch a tire? Drain the fluids from an old car so that it’s ready for disposal? The Wrangell Cooperative Association’s upcoming fix-it clinic will help the community learn to maintain and repair household items, promoting sustainability and reducing waste. The event will be held at the covered basketball court on Monday, Aug. 28, from noon to 4 p.m. Marilyn Mork will be available to share her sewing and mending expertise, particularly hemming and attaching loose buttons. She pla...
Gary Albert Stevens, 53, passed away in June in his Las Vegas home of natural causes. His memorial service will be at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 31, at Chief Shakes House on Shakes Island in Wrangell, followed by a reception and potluck at the American Legion Hall. He was born to Gary James and Susan Georgina Stevens on March 28, 1970, in Wrangell. He was Tlingit and Haida of the Naanyaa.iee clan. His Tlingit names were Gush Tlein, Ts'eil and "Eagle Looking Out on the Ocean." He was the first gran...
The Wrangell Cooperative Association’s Tl’átk - Earth Branch is hoping to purchase a parcel of land next to the community garden from the borough to build a greenhouse. The greenhouse would provide fresh produce to the community year-round and create a space for people to learn about gardening and sustainable practices. The planning and zoning commission and Economic Development Director Kate Thomas both recommended approving the land sale. The port commission will discuss the issue at its September meeting before passing it along to the boro...
When a beloved pair of jeans rips or a wooden chair gets wobbly, it’s tempting to go shopping or log on to Amazon and order a replacement. However, mending and repairing old items is a cheaper and more sustainable alternative to buying them new. The Wrangell Cooperative Association’s upcoming “fix-it clinic” aims to create a space where community members can share their repair knowledge and where people can come to get well-loved items fixed. Volunteers with repair skills are needed, and the event is slated to take place in mid-August. More de...
We requested that the Sentinel publish a photo of the Wrangell Tlingit & Haida Community Council so that we could be transparent as leaders in the Native community. The reason I asked was because I recalled seeing a picture of the local tribal leaders in my youth and admiring them and thinking, “Maybe someday, I came accomplish the same status.” We were disappointed when we saw that only my picture along with Ed Rilatos was featured in a report in the June 14 Sentinel about totem pole work on Shakes Island. We work hard to accomplish pos...
As tribal members lined the shore on the backside of Shakes Island, dressed in regalia from their respective clans, one of their voices rang out. "Where do these boats come from?" "We are the children of Hawaii. We come from Hawaii," came the response from a canoe in Reliance Harbor. "Aahá. It is good to see you again. Aahá. Come on our land. You are welcome." From the moment the sailing vessel Hōkūleʻa appeared on the horizon June 27 to greet the Tlingit tribe near Petroglyph Beach for an esco...
The road along Pats Lake was lined with parked vehicles on Saturday, June 24, as parents, grandparents and kids of various ages turned out for Family Fishing Day. Staff from the U.S. Forest Service, Alaska Department of Fish and Game and Wrangell Cooperative Association Earth Branch (Tl'átḵ) ran lure-making stations, painting booths, a scavenger hunt and other fun activities for the young and young-at-heart. And there was fishing. Shirley Wimberley, the scoutmaster for Boy Scout Troop 40, he...
Delayed a day last week for COVID testing after leaving Juneau, the Polynesian Voyaging Society vessel Hōkūle’a was scheduled to arrive in Wrangell for a traditional Tlingit welcome and community reception on Tuesday, June 27. Wrangell Cooperative Association and clan leaders planned to take the visitors on Wednesday aboard charter boats to see Old Town, WCA Tribal Administrator Esther Aaltséen Reese said Monday. The original Tlingit village is about 13 miles south of downtown. The 65-foot, twin-hulled sailing craft left Juneau on June 18,...
UPDATE: The vessels have been delayed in Angoon and their arrival in Wrangell is postponed. The new tentative arrival date is Tuesday, June 27. Next Monday, a nearly four-year journey continues when the Polynesian Voyaging Society lands on Wrangell's shores, bringing the Hawaiian culture to Southeast. The sailing vessels Hōkūle'a and Hikianalia are scheduled to arrive at approximately 11 a.m. on June 26, coming to the north side of the island. After three days in Wrangell, the boats and crew w...
A nearly four-year sailing journey will launch on Thursday from Juneau - and Wrangell is part of the itinerary. The Polynesian Voyaging Society is setting sail in the Hōkūleʻa as part of its Moananuiākea circumnavigation of the Pacific Ocean, touring Southeast before continuing on. It will tentatively arrive in Wrangell on June 26. Members of the Wrangell Cooperative Association are preparing for the arrival of the 16-member Hawaiian vessel which will stop in Angoon, Kake and Petersburg bef...
Many of Wrangell's totems have fallen into disrepair and need rehab work or replacement. Thanks to a $20,000 donation from the Wrangell Tlingit and Haida Community Council, the Wrangell Cooperative Association tribal council will be able to move forward with plans to carve two new totems while repairing older ones. Last Saturday, Sue Stevens, president of the WTHCC, presented Edward Rilatos, WCA tribal council president, with a check that will go toward the work. The funds came through a grant...
Bring a fishing pole and plenty of enthusiasm to Pats Lake for an annual event sure to lure in the whole family. Family Fishing Day on June 24 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., will have something for everyone, from lure making to casting practice and even a free lunch. The U.S. Forest Service Wrangell District is hosting the event along with the Wrangell Cooperative Association’s Indian General Assistance Program and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Special youth fishing regulations will be in place the third and fourth Saturday and Sunday at P...
Denny Leak slowly carves a killer whale totem out of a tree trunk last Thursday behind the Wrangell Cooperative Association cultural center. The totem will be one of two that will replace the old carvings that were mounted on posts around the Chief Shakes gravesite on Case Avenue. Brodie Gardner, who graduated high school on May 19, cleaned up the site by power washing and painting the surrounding fence and cleaning the stairs leading up to the site as part of her senior project. The previous...
Wrangell’s recreational infrastructure is about to get a much-needed makeover in the coming months and years thanks to federal maintenance dollars from the Forest Service. The Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA), signed by then-President Donald Trump in 2020, directed $8.1 billion over five fiscal years — 2021 to 2025 — to fund maintenance and repair work that had been put off due to budget or workforce issues. The money is for projects on federal lands, like trails, bridges, monuments and campgrounds. In past funding cycles, the Wrangell Range...
Parents looking for someone to watch their children so they can earn a living may have to keep looking for the time being. Efforts to find solutions to a lack of child care locally and statewide continue to move forward, but providing the service is taking more time than most people might like. The number of child care providers has dropped by 11% throughout the state since 2021. In Wrangell, there have been some efforts to increase the number of child care options, though only one, through the Wrangell Cooperative Association, is moving...
How many times can you tell your kid to go play in the ocean and mean it? At least once a year for U.S. Forest Service and school staff. On May 9, teachers, parents and Forest Service employees taught 82 kindergarten through third grade students about tidepool sea life, tree identification, animal skulls and fur, digging clams and more at Shoemaker Bay during low tide. "Today, you guys are going to help me get some clams and we're going to send them out to have them tested (for toxins). Who's...
The Tlingit Nation has stewarded the land in and around Wrangell since time immemorial, and new biological research from the University at Buffalo New York adds further proof of the genetic continuity of coastal people over thousands of years. A 3,000-year-old bone fragment found years ago near Wrangell was recently identified as the remains of a woman. Researchers studying paleogenetics in the region collaborated with the Wrangell Cooperative Association to learn more about the early history of the Tlingit and their relationships to other...
Dennis Martin works his way through a drainage ditch last Saturday, picking up trash as part of the community-wide cleanup effort. Martin and many others focused on the Airport Loop, as a lot of trash collects along the roadside due to knocked-over garbage cans or refuse falling from vehicles on the way to the transfer station. A total of 69 volunteers collected 133 bags plus two trucks full of items too big to bag from throughout Wrangell, according to Kim Wickman, IGAP technician with the...
It is a voyage of 43,000 miles encompassing the Pacific Ocean, and it begins in Southeast. The Hawaiian canoe Hōkūleʻa and its crew will set sail from Juneau in June to circumnavigate the vast, blue body of water over the course of four years. On its way south, it will stop in Wrangell for a few days. The double-hulled plywood, fiberglass and resin canoe, which was built in 1975 and made its first voyage the following year, was lifted out of the waters of Honolulu Harbor and was scheduled to be delivered to Tacoma, Washington, last Friday. Fr...
Almost 33,000 visitors are expected to step off a ship or a plane this summer in Wrangell — more than in any year since 2005. But continuing that growth and building up the town’s tourism economy will require more side excursions and other attractions for cruise ship passengers and more overnight accommodations for independent travelers. The community makes its money — jobs and taxes — when tourists find goods or services to buy in town. “The visitor sector will need to make sure it has the capacity to provide sufficient tours to visiting...
