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Former Wrangell resident Elizabeth "Betty" Ann Twitchell Keegan, 90, passed away on March 31 in Moses Lake, Washington, following complications of a stroke. She was born April 19, 1932. As a child, Betty and her mother traveled the Lower 48 following Betty's father from Seattle to San Diego and Miami with stops in between while he served as a career sailor in the U.S. Navy. During World War II, Betty and her mother lived with her grandmother in Wilkeson, Washington, when her father fought in...
Margaret "Missy" Wright, president of the long-term care resident council at Wrangell Medical Center, cuts the ceremonial ribbon last Thursday for the four-room expansion at the facility, bringing it to 18 beds. "We are just so excited to be able to expand and provide additional services for our elders," said Kay Turner, the unit's administrator. "Long-term care is such a need in Southeast." The facility serves local residents and people from throughout the region. The unit includes...
Since the Wrangell Cooperative Association started offering e-waste recycling around 2016, IGAP technician Kim Wickman has been surprised to see growing demand for the service. “We thought we would have less,” she said, after a few major purges cleared most of the backlog of old electronics off the island. “But minus the COVID year, we’ve had a bit of a steady increase as people are realizing the importance of it. We get a lot of phone calls over the year about when our next e-waste event is.” Residents with old electronics crowding their close...
Wrangell’s economy has been in decline since long before the COVID-19 pandemic erupted three years ago. But the economy — meaning jobs, businesses and families — would be a lot worse off if not for federal assistance. Oppose federal spending if you want, but the $30 million or so in pandemic relief aid that the U.S. Treasury poured into Wrangell the past few years for the borough, schools, businesses, individuals and the tribal government made a huge difference in people’s lives. Criticize the IRS and income taxes if it makes you feel better,...
Zach Taylor of Muddy Water Adventures is a self-described "small-town person." He likes striking up a conversation with his barista and greeting the familiar people he passes on the street. However, he acknowledges that life in small towns like Wrangell may not be for everyone. "Folks who grew up here, (Wrangell) they either stay here and they really like it," said Taylor, or they "have never been back, not for any reason." The Alaska Department of Labor is interested in the factors that...
Due to an increase in respiratory disease rates —including COVID-19 — throughout Southeast and in Wrangell, the Wrangell Medical Center has re-implemented a mandatory masking policy for its visitors, patients and staff. “It was in response to what we were seeing as increased respiratory illnesses both in the community and in the region, COVID of course being one of those,” hospital administrator Carly Allen said last week. “We’ve also been following influenza A and B and RSV (respiratory syncytial virus), as well as … other respiratory i...
Pills laced with fentanyl are spreading through Southeast Alaska, and Wrangell authorities are doing what they can to address the health hazard and danger. “The buzzword right now is fentanyl,” said Police Chief Tom Radke. “The quantity that they’re recovering is exceeding what people thought was out there.” Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. The Alaska Department of Health reports fentanyl was responsible for almost 75% of opioid-related deaths in the st...
My mom, Marlene Clarke, was a long-term care resident at SEARHC in Wrangell from August 2022 until her recent passing on Feb. 7. I was so impressed by the skilled and compassionate care that she received from the nurses, nursing assistants and doctors. She never wanted to go to the long-term care unit, but in my opinion she received the best care of any nursing home anywhere. I have worked as a registered nurse in Oregon for 32 years. I originally trained as a nursing assistant at Wrangell Medical Center in high school in the early 1970s. At th...
Marlene Ann Clarke passed away Feb. 7 in the Wrangell long-term care facility. She was born on April 3, 1936, to Nellie Prescott and Howard Messinger in Wrangell. She spent most of her childhood in Wrangell except for short stays in Juneau, Haines and Anchorage. She came back in the third grade and graduated from Wrangell High School in 1954. Working summers in the shrimp and fish canneries gave her the push to move to California to try something different after graduation. She took business...
The Coast Guard rescued an 85-year-old overdue boater last Friday on a beach in Steamer Bay, after a Wrangell Search and Rescue crew located the man. A Coast Guard helicopter crew from Air Station Sitka landed on the beach about 20 miles southwest of Wrangell, picked up Larry Jacobson, of Point Baker, then flew him to Wrangell where he was placed in the care of emergency medical personnel in good condition, according to a Coast Guard statement. The Coast Guard received initial notification at about 3:30 p.m. Thursday that Jacobson, who left...
In a room decorated with bright, quilted wall hangings and filled with stacks of quilting pattern books, the Stikine Stitchers discussed upcoming projects, swapped tricks of the trade and displayed recently completed work at their monthly meeting last Saturday. Lisa Torgramsen unfolded a few of her massive, colorful quilts, covered in twisting vines, bright flowers and complex geometric designs. Chris Ellis shared work that was smaller but just as intricate. Her hand-pieced cloth coasters...
From impressive athletic successes and community celebrations to business closures and painful losses, Wrangell's 2022 was full of engaging stories, both triumphant and tragic. Last January was a month of new beginnings. Issabella and Tawney Crowley welcomed Wrangell's first baby of the year, Ryleigh Rowan Crowley, into the world on Jan. 4 at the Ketchikan Medical Center. The Decker family established a memorial scholarship fund to honor Sig and Helen Decker, two former Wrangell residents who di...
Health care services for Native Americans and Alaska Natives will be bolstered by a provision included in the government spending bill approved by Congress in the final hours of the 2022 session. The measure provides more certainty for a federal agency that delivers health care to more than 2.5 million people. A coalition of lawmakers from Kansas, Arizona, New Mexico, California, Alaska and elsewhere fought to include advance appropriations for the Indian Health Service in the bill, marking a first for the chronically underfunded agency as a...
The assembly has approved an ordinance allowing the borough to list the former hospital property with a realtor for the value of the land, half the price of the previous minimum bid. However, Borough Manager Jeff Good told the assembly at its Dec. 20 meeting that he plans to delay listing the property while he negotiates with a potential investor. The property was listed for its full appraised value of $830,000 — a price that encompassed the value of its land and building — on a public surplus website in April 2022. The borough, however, rec...
Though the combined impacts of COVID-19, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and influenza have burdened medical facilities nationwide, seasonal flu cases appear to be plateauing in Alaska, though activity remains high. Wrangell has largely managed to avoid the effects of the “tripledemic” predicted by White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha. Cases in Alaska started to rise steadily in October and hit pre-pandemic peaks in late November — months before the usual February peak for flu. As of the Dec. 24, the flu activity “is s...
The borough assembly is moving toward lowering the asking price for the former Wrangell hospital by almost half and hiring a real estate agent to sell the property. The assembly at its Nov. 22 meeting accepted an ordinance to reduce the asking price and set a public hearing on the ordinance for Dec. 20, at which time members could vote on the proposal. The Bennet Street lot has been vacant since the SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium’s new medical center opened in February 2021. The borough has been looking actively – and unsuccessfull...
After a boating accident near Point Baker last week, former Wrangell resident Kelsey Leak spent 24 hours on West Rock before being rescued by a fishing boat. Her boyfriend, 27-year-old Arne Dahl has not been found and is presumed dead. The morning of Nov. 27 was bright and clear. Leak and Dahl set out from their Point Baker homestead at 11 a.m. to collect firewood aboard Dahl's old wooden fishing vessel, the Randi Jo. The pair had been living off-grid at Point Baker, where Dahl was raised, since...
Readers can find both an optimistic view and gloomy numbers in the borough’s annual economic conditions report, issued last month. “With some of the lowest electrical rates in Alaska, the highest school district test scores, the potential to grow its visitor industry, the lowest unemployment rate on record, and a high level of entrepreneurship (more than a quarter of all workers are self-employed), Wrangell has potential to improve its prospects,” says the report, prepared by Juneau-based consulting firm Rain Coast Data. However, the repor...
Former Wrangell residents Kelsey Leak and Arne Dahl were involved in a boating accident late Sunday afternoon. By mid-afternoon Monday, Leak had been picked up by a nearby fishing vessel. As of Tuesday morning, Dahl had not been found. The couple was boating near Point Baker and Point Protection, roughly 40 nautical miles west of Wrangell. Leak, who survived the accident, spent Sunday night on one of the West Rocks, in the area around Point Baker and Point Protection. "That was a feat by...
Residents are invited to reserve a spot at the Wrangell Medical Center’s COVID-19 booster vaccination clinics planned for Dec. 9 and 16. Though infection rates in Wrangell and across Alaska have declined this fall, health officials are advising that case counts could rise as people spend more time indoors for holiday activities. The first clinic is planned for 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Dec. 9 for the Pfizer booster. Residents are advised to call 907-874-7000 and reserve an appointment. The third booster shot of the vaccine to help protect against C...
Ronald D. Kagee passed away Nov. 17 at the Wrangell Medical Center. Burial is planned for 1 p.m. on Dec. 6 at the Sunset Gardens Cemetery. No reception is planned. Ron was born to Bill and Toney Kagee on March 14, 1936, in Longview, Washington. He joined the U.S. Army shortly after graduating from high school in Castle Rock, Washington. He spent two years in the military in Germany and played the bugle. He then worked as a cutter in logging, working in Washington and Oregon before coming to Alas...
Ethel Aanwoogex' Lund, a pioneer of tribal health care, died in the early morning last Friday at the age of 91. She was instrumental in improving the quality of care for Alaska Native people and received national recognition for her contributions. Lund was born in Wrangell in 1931, where she witnessed firsthand the challenges that rural and Native Alaskans faced when trying to access health care. After tuberculosis devastated her community - and put her in the hospital for two and a half years...
At first glance, the water therapy class in the Parks and Recreation swimming pool might look like a group of people just standing around in the water. But, like ducks on a pond, there's much more going on beneath the surface. Every joint from head to toe is being exercised during the class, offering a low-impact workout for participants and providing relief from the effects of arthritis. Around 32.5 million adults in the United States suffer from some form of osteoarthritis, the most common...
Wrangell’s Native community is critical of last month’s chamber-sponsored economic forum for its lack of tribal presentations on the agenda and the offensive comment of a speaker. The chamber of commerce organized the five-hour session to spark a discussion about Wrangell’s economic future and create a space for business leaders to share their perspectives. However, key players in Wrangell’s economic landscape — particularly representatives of the tribal government — were not offered the opportunity to present. Esther Aaltséen Reese, triba...
Joint locks and compression locks might sound like the perils of getting old, but they are among hundreds of moves that are incorporated into Brazilian jiu-jitsu fighting. Though the sport can seem intimidating to first-time students, a group in Wrangell is working to welcome newcomers and highlight the many benefits. Jiu-jitsu was created over 100 years ago, originating from judo. Brazilian jiu-jitsu was created in the 1920s and has become one of, if not the fastest-growing martial arts in the...
