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Georgia-based real-estate developer Wayne Johnson has rescinded his offer to purchase the former Wrangell Medical Center property and six adjacent lots from the borough. Johnson had negotiated a new purchase agreement covering the parcels, but said he withdrew his proposal due to community concerns over the new deal. He blamed a Sentinel headline for stirring up concerns. Johnson notified borough officials on Friday, June 28, of his decision to walk away from the project. The Sentinel reported on Johnson’s requested changes to the l...
The Petersburg-based seiner Pamela Rae took on water and rolled over in Anita Bay the morning of June 25, but the five people on board all made it safely off the vessel. “When we first got there, the vessel was already underwater and appeared to be sitting on bottom,” said Jordan Buness, chief of the Wrangell Volunteer Fire Department, which responded to the call. “It was probably in less than 15 feet of water.” Anita Bay, off the east side of Etolin Island, is about 16 miles south of downtown Wrangell. “We found that everybody was already off...
Wayne Johnson, the real estate developer planning to purchase the former Wrangell Medical Center property, won the GOP nomination for U.S. Congress in Georgia’s 2nd District on June 18. Johnson said in an interview on June 20 that his election campaign won’t affect his plans for building a condo development on the former hospital property. He is still committed to Wrangell, he said, adding that he hopes people will like the idea of having someone in Congress with a special interest in the community. With the campaign slogan “Stop the stupi...
Monday, June 17 Summons service. Agency assist: Hoonah Police Department. Agency assist: Transportation Security Administration. Tuesday, June 18 Domestic dispute. Citizen assist. Courtesy transport. Wednesday, June 19 Agency assist: Hoonah Police Department. Domestic disturbance. Thursday, June 20 Agency assist: Wrangell Medical Center. Traffic stop: Citation issued for expired registration and driving while license suspended. Found property. Parking complaint. Traffic stop: Verbal warning for driving habits. Friday, June 21 Agency assist: Amb...
At age 94, longtime resident Elmer Mork was reunited with an old Army buddy after 71 years with no contact. "He got homesick for (me)," Mork said of his friend Harold Esmailka, age 93. "My little brother." Esmailka's son-in-law, Dale Erickson, had recently gotten a boat in Seattle and wanted to base it in Wrangell. When Erickson found out that one of the town's residents was Esmailka's often-talked-about Army friend, he contacted his father-in-law. Esmailka remembered Erickson's phone call, "He...
The SEARHC community wellness team is using a mobile kitchen to hold classes on healthy cooking in Wrangell and around Southeast. A session is available to the public at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 14, at the Wrangell Medical Center. Seating is limited. "It was bought to just be another resource to talk about health and wellness," department case manager Kathryn Nuckols said of the mobile kitchen. "A fun way to participate in some education (on healthy eating)." Over the past week, she has hosted...
The state capital budget approved by the Alaska Senate last week includes $200,000 for the borough to start planning an emergency access route for when Zimovia Highway is blocked by landslides or other disasters. The route would connect the old logging road at Pats Creek on the west side of Wrangell Island to the Spur Road on the island’s east side. The borough estimates the total cost of design and construction at roughly $5 million, and requested $500,000 in state funding to start planning and design work. The Senate approved the capital proj...
The borough’s economic development board voted unanimously March 5 to recommend the assembly approve the sale of the former hospital property for $200,000 to Wayne Johnson, a Georgia-based real estate developer. Johnson is planning to demolish the building and construct up to 48 units of condo-style housing, with covered parking. He also wants to purchase six borough-owned vacant lots behind the hospital property, which the borough manager has said would be sold at their appraised value. Regardless of some concerns, economic development b...
A Georgia-based developer who has taken a liking to Wrangell has offered the borough $200,000 for the former hospital property, with plans to tear down the building and construct as many as 48 new housing units. Wayne Johnson’s offer on the 2-acre property is contingent on striking a deal to purchase six smaller borough-owned lots behind the hospital building, adding an additional 1.3 acres to the development site. The purchase price for the hospital property, which has been vacant since SEARHC moved into its new Wrangell Medical Center t...
Feb. 7, 1924 Wrangell’s Town Team triumphed over their rivals, the American Legion, in a fast and rough game at the rink on Tuesday night, 25-12. The basketball game was played as a benefit for the high school team which was leaving the next day for Seattle. Nearly a hundred dollars was garnered from the game. Speed once more won out over brawn when the two teams met. The floor work of Scribner, the 230-pound fairy, Totts Lewis and Mickey Prescott was too much for the big men on the Legion team. The first half of the game was close and e...
TK's Mini Mart, located near the Wrangell Medical Center, now has two 15-foot U-Haul trucks for rent. Owner Alesa McHolland said she had been approached by a U-Haul sales representative who wanted to rent space at her store's location to park the trucks; the arrangement to offer rentals evolved from there. On Jan. 31, McHolland walked across the parking lot to show where the U-Hauls are stationed next to the freight vans that the Mini Mart uses for storage. "I actually rented (one truck) out for...
Zoey Grace Clark has the honor of being the first baby born this year to a Wrangell couple. She was born Jan. 7 at the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage, weighing in at 7 pounds, 11 ounces and measuring 21.5 inches for the happy parents, Jason and Michelle Clark. The dad works as a station agent at Alaska Airlines. Mom is a kindergarten teacher and has been with the school district about 10 years. The family returned to Wrangell on Jan. 12, Jason Clark said. "We just beat the weather,"...
After sitting vacant for almost three years — spending about half that time on the market — the borough is finally seeing interest from private parties in buying the former hospital property on Bennett Street. Three parties have expressed interest, said Interim Borough Manager Mason Villarma, adding he anticipated at least one offer by the start of the new year. Hopefully, the borough could sell off the 1.94-acre parcel by February, he said. “The value is getting rid of the property,” Villarma said in an interview before Christmas. The borough...
Wrangell could get off to a good start for 2024 if one of the three interested parties makes a reasonable offer to buy the borough-owned former hospital building, which has sat vacant for almost three years. Most any offer would be reasonable, considering that keeping the building dry and insured is costing the borough tens of thousands of dollars a year. And any offer would be improvement over the no offers that have come in since SEARHC vacated the property for its new medical center in 2021. “The value is getting rid of the property,” Int...
Therapy dogs Cupid and Tia calmly waited with their handlers Margaret Griffo and Terry Yeomans, greeting arrivals before class in the high school courtyard on Friday, Dec. 8, after starting their morning with the coffee crowd at the Stikine Inn and Restaurant. The dogs had arrived in Wrangell the day before, coming to town from their Anchorage-area homes for a few days to help people coping with the tragedy of the deadly landslide and the stress of the search and uncertainty, the loss and the...
Christina Florschutz, an aide at Evergreen Elementary School, survived the 11-Mile landslide that killed at least four people Nov. 20 - even after debris destroyed her home and trapped her overnight. The evening of the slide, Florschutz went upstairs to take a shower. After she got out, she heard "a horrible noise, a very loud noise." Before she could react, the landslide slammed into her house, tossing her "like a piece of weightless popcorn" around the room until she lost consciousness. When...
Counseling and behavioral health services are available as the community comes together to help those in need after the deadly landslide. SEARHC has been providing counseling at no cost, and a private practitioner in Haines also is offering free assistance. Former Wrangell resident and therapist Riley Hall, who is offering free counseling to community members, was living in Haines in 2020 when a landslide killed two people there. The rain continued after the slide, adding to people’s anxiety. “It was really difficult for people to feel saf...
A SEARHC patient benefits staffer will be in Wrangell Monday through Thursday, Nov. 27-30, to assist people who have questions about health insurance and need help signing up for low-cost coverage through the Affordable Care Act federally operated online marketplace. The annual enrollment period is open through Jan. 15, but people need to sign up by Dec. 15 for their coverage to start Jan. 1, according to Susan Briles, the SEARHC patient health benefits manager in Sitka. One of her colleagues, Hillary Russom, comes to Wrangell twice a year to...
Multiple resources are responding Tuesday to help people affected by the massive landslide at 11-Mile on Monday night that killed at least one person, with five others still missing. The growing list includes food, temporary shelter, or just a warm place to spend the day with family and friends. Angela Stires, an evacuee and a nurse at Wrangell Medical Center, said she and her family were provided rooms at the Stikine Inn, which has been offering shelter to people displaced by the landslide....
Myrna Torgramsen dresses for the occasion at the long-term care center on Friday, Oct. 27. Wrangell Medical Center staff carved, painted and decorated a wide array of spooky and silly pumpkins for residents to judge. Torgramsen's favorite entry - and the first-prize winner - was "Betty Bacon," a pumpkin dressed up as a pig and surrounded by small pumpkin piglets....
SEARHC is offering a flu vaccination clinic from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 4, at the Wrangell Medical Center. People are encouraged to pre-schedule a time slot to help reduce wait times, but walk-ins are welcome, said Randi Yancey, medical office coordinator at the clinic. Influenza vaccines are available for everyone ages 6 months and older, and high-dose vaccines formulated for people 65 and older will also be available. “To schedule a time slot, or to schedule an appointment for an alternative date and time if you are unable to a...
Monday, Oct. 9 Dog complaint. Tuesday, Oct. 10 Agency assist: Division of Motor Vehicles. Agency assist: Wrangell Medical Center. Bear complaint. Suspicious circumstance: Violating conditions of release. Citizen assist. Assault. Wednesday, Oct. 11 Disturbance. Thursday, Oct. 12 Trespass. Agency assist: Ambulance. Violating conditions of release. Agency assist: Division of Motor Vehicles. Shots fired: Unfounded. Trespass and arrest. Friday, Oct. 13 Traffic stop: Arrest for driving under the influence. Trespass. Barking dog. Stolen wallet....
The SEARHC Wrangell Medical Center wants to help the community prepare for the respiratory illness season and will offer flu and COVID-19 vaccination clinics this fall and also provide RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) vaccine shots as soon as they become available. Flu shots, including a supply of high-dose vaccines for people 65 and older, will be provided at the annual community flu clinic Saturday, Nov. 4, reported Randi Yancey, medical office coordinator at the SEARHC facility. The clinic will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. “Patients can c...
Wages rose and job opportunities increased across much of Southeast through 2022, but problems such as the lack of affordable housing and child care remain persistent throughout the region, an economic consultant told the annual gathering of the Southeast Conference. Meilani Schijvens gave Southeast’s economy an overall grade of A, the highest rating she has ever assigned for the region in her annual report, now in its 10th year. “Why did our economy earn an A? … Number One — our jobs were up by 5%,” she answered. “That’s an increase of 2,200 j...
After a period when COVID-19 restrictions halted the spread of other respiratory diseases, Alaska had a big increase in influenza cases last fall and winter, state data shows. The overall influenza case load during the 2022-23 season was much higher than in prior years, reports a new bulletin issued by the epidemiology section of the Alaska Division of Public Health. Most notably, cases spiked much earlier in the season, in November and December, before dropping. There were five influenza deaths over the season, all among adults, according to...
