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A bit short-handed at its regular Tuesday-night meeting, Wrangell City and Borough Assembly nonetheless reviewed the first readings of several ordinance revisions. Members Becky Rooney, David Mitchell, Daniel Blake and Mayor David Jack discussed a proposed ordinance No. 893, relating to weapons and discharge of firearms within the Borough limits as well as adding a section regarding abuse of the 911 emergency system. The proposal would strike much of the rules previously on the books relating to concealed weapons and carrying loaded firearms,...
KETCHIKAN (AP) – An autopsy has been ordered for a 20-year-old Wrangell man who died of injuries suffered in a Ketchikan jail. Alaska State Troopers say Brendon Sample on Thursday attempted to hang himself with a bed sheet while alone in a cell at Ketchikan Correctional Center. Corrections staff found him unresponsive. He was taken to Peace Health Ketchikan Medical. He stayed in the intensive care unit until 1 a.m. Friday, when he was flown to Alaska Regional Hospital in Anchorage. Sample was pronounced dead Saturday in Anchorage. Online c...
An ordinance amending Thomas Bay Power Advisory Committee's role in Wrangell's Municipal Code passed the Wrangell City and Borough Assembly on first reading. A second reading featuring a public hearing will be held on Jan. 27. The principal change would make the committee advisory to the Wrangell and Petersburg assemblies. This follows the transfer of Lake Tyee hydroelectric power management to Southeast Alaska Power Agency last summer. Borough Clerk Kim Lane explained the proposal was first drafted by Petersburg and submitted to Wrangell for r...
After spending seven terms in the Alaska State House, Wrangell's long-serving Rep. Peggy Wilson announced her intention to retire last April, declining to run for reelection in November's general election. "It's really family more than anything else," she explained. One concern is the health of her mother, who lives in Iowa. "I was only getting to see my mom twice a year. That really got me thinking." Wilson described politics as very time-consuming, limiting the time she had to spend with her...
Kicking things off with a new borough manager in Jeff Jabusch, 2014 for Wrangell was not only a period of changes, but also one of building and continued development. Pavement was poured at the Marine Service Center, a number of roads were resurfaced or due to eventually see improvement, and the city was able to showcase itself to other regional communities by hosting several prolific functions. January Wrangell Cooperative Association collected 210 registrations for Tlingit-Haida members at...
Wrangell Medical Center’s finances seem to be in a tight spot, its board of trustees learned at a Dec. 17 meeting. In an independent audit conducted by BDO USA in Anchorage, the hospital’s assets were totaled at $6.1 million, down from $10.4 million the previous year. The biggest loss was from $3.5 million in written-off costs relating to a previous effort to build a new hospital, in addition to those related to depreciation of property and equipment value. The hospital’s expenses are up as well, rising from $8.7 million to $10.4 milli...
Wrangell Borough Manager Jeff Jabusch presented a plan to streamline contracting for small projects to the City and Borough Assembly at its meeting Tuesday evening. The new policy being proposed would first create a pool of qualified contractors who can be hired by the city when needed, while also presenting them an equal opportunity to participate in public jobs. To accomplish this, the plan would call for contractors to be called up in rotation based on the kinds of projects they are capable of undertaking. Contractors wishing to be included...
Vernon Andrew Johnson passed away on Dec. 2, 2014 at the age of 94 at Wrangell Medical Center surrounded by his three daughters: Betty Jo Johnson of Anacortes, Wash., Judi Johnson Tsai of Mechanicsville, Md. and Susan Johnson Eagle of Wrangell, Alaska. Born as one of triplets on May 18, 1920 in Lexington, Neb., he grew up in Wheatridge, Colo. and Kirkland, Wash. He joined the U.S. Navy in 1941 and proudly served in WWII. He always had a wanderlust and survived numerous adventures including...
A new practitioner has been hired by Alaska Island Community Services in Wrangell. Cynthia Mattoni is the community health center’s new advanced nurse practitioner, specializing in family practice. Mattoni comes from Cleveland, Ohio, where she has five years’ experience in the emergency room. Her career in the medical field began in 1987, when she joined the United States Navy as a hospital corpsman. She then worked for 18 years in various critical and emergency care settings as a registered nurse. The addition of her position will help pro...
The trial of Greg Salard has been pushed back by seven weeks to Feb. 23, 2015, following a request for delay by his defense attorney. Originally set for Jan. 5, Salard's federal defense attorney Cara McNamara wanted the jury trial's date moved so an expert in computer forensics can review the evidence gathered by prosecutors. The former physician is facing two felony counts of sexual exploitation of a child after being arrested at his Wrangell home Oct. 15 by state, local and federal law...
Autumn came to a sudden end as a low pressure system swept Southeast over the weekend, bringing a heaping helping of snow to Wrangell. Forecasters with the National Weather Service issued a weekend winter storm warning Saturday for Juneau, Petersburg, Wrangell and Hyder. A low pressure system pushed across the Gulf of Alaska, bringing warm, moist air into the area and creating the potential for blizzard conditions. In Juneau and Petersburg, about ten inches of snowfall was recorded over the...
A pair of staff committees met this past month at Wrangell Medical Center, formed to improve response to patient falls on site and improve emergency preparedness. At the monthly meeting of its board of trustees on Nov. 19, hospital head Marla Sanger reported the falls committee was formed with representatives of the nursing, physical therapy, quality, and maintenance departments, as well as a community patient advisor. She said a federal follow-up visit the previous week confirmed WMC has dealt with a problem with its patient wheelchairs. The s...
Wrangell Medical Center staff released information Tuesday that it will be strengthening their preparations for handling infectious diseases on the island. While the Ebola outbreak in West Africa has brought the subject to the world’s attention, diseases that require similar infection control responses such as measles have been making a resurgence in the United States. The Center for Disease Control reports nearly 600 cases of measles since January, spread among 22 states including California, Oregon and Washington. Since this is more than t...
Former Wrangell physician Greg Salard appeared in U.S. District Court in Juneau on Oct. 28 to be arraigned for the alleged possession and distribution of child pornography. Salard was later indicted by a federal grand jury on two felony counts of sexual exploitation of a child, for distributing and possessing child pornography. According to a press release issued by the U.S. District Attorney’s office, if convicted of distribution Salard faces a maximum statutory penalty of not less than five and up to 20 years imprisonment. If convicted of pos...
On the morning of Oct. 15, Wrangell physician Greg Salard was arrested for the alleged receipt, possession and distribution of child pornography following a search of his home by law enforcement personnel representing federal, state and local agencies. According to an affidavit in support of application for an arrest warrant, the arrest came following a five-month investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) Anchorage office in which FBI Special Agent Anthony Peterson monitored...
Officer positions were decided at the Wrangell Medical Center Board's monthly meeting Oct. 15. Present were Judy Ellen, Barb Conine, Bernie Massin, Cori Robinson and Dorothy Sweat, while among those teleconferencing in were members Woody Wilson and Terri Henson. Wrangell Medical Center's executive Marla Sanger presided over the meeting to begin with, while the board elected its new officers following the Oct. 7 election. Henson nominated herself to again serve as board president, which was unanimously approved. Massin was nominated and elected...
The Wrangell School Board scarcely had a quorum at its Monday evening meeting when it reappointed its officers following the results of the Oct. 7 local election. Susan Eagle was re-elected by voters, and after a unanimous 3-0 vote was reinstated as board president. Board members Rinda Howell and Tammy Groshong were named as vice-president and secretary, respectively. The three then decided to appoint Aleisha Mollen to replace Krissy Smith who resigned last month from the school board. Mollen had run for the same seat as Eagle during the...
There was a good turnout for the Southeast Beasts' first-ever Alaska Day five-kilometer fun run and half-marathon Saturday morning, with around 65 participants. It was an almost perfect Alaska morning, with swiftly drifting clouds a creamy hue, a pair of ravens chasing after each other overhead, and not a drop of rain to be seen. Runners lining up at the starting line shuddered slightly as they were reminded of the season by a hearty gust. They seemed relieved when the air-horn finally sounded,...
Tuesday's Regular Borough Assembly meeting was preceded by a public hearing on Ordinance 887 being proposed, an amended section of the Wrangell Municipal Code largely dealing with the control of animals within City and Borough limits. The revised ordinance has already been sent back to the Ordinance Review Board before for retooling, and this latest appearance would be its second reading. A number of the island's residents showed up to express their concerns that the wording of several sections...
Members of the Wrangell Borough Assembly met Monday at a special midday session to formally approve election results certified by the Borough Canvass Board on Oct. 9. The official results included votes cast at the Nolan Center on election day, Oct. 7, as well as assisted and absentee ballots cast prior which were counted by the Canvass Board. For one 2-year term as Mayor, David Jack received 304 votes and Kipha Valvoda received 75. For two 3-year terms on the Assembly, Mark Mitchell received 27...
Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Dan Sullivan visited Wrangell Thursday as part of a broader tour of Southeast Alaska. "We're on a pretty big Southeast tour," he explained, visiting Ketchikan and Petersburg before moving on to Fairbanks and Barrow. Early in the day, Sullivan visited Wrangell's Marine Service Center, which he seemed impressed with during an interview before his evening meet-and-greet at the Stikine Inn restaurant. "That looks like a really impressive job creator," he...
In association with the Juneau Mendenhall Flying Lions Club, the Wrangell Lions will be bringing in a plusoptiX vision screener to the borough to mark World Sight Day and National White Cane Day this week. Tomorrow screening will be available to the children of Evergreen Elementary School. Screenings open to all comers Saturday at the Wrangell Children's Fair from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., also at the school. Adults can be screened, though the focus is on children ages six months and up. “It's an awesome tool,” Lions President Janet Strom explained. Th...
After several years of remaining unchanged, fee rates for using Wrangell’s Parks and Recreation facilities may soon see a readjustment. At its monthly meeting Oct. 1, the Parks and Rec Advisory Board examined a new fee schedule being developed. Explaining the proposed rates, board member Haig Demerjian said the current rates were last adjusted in 2010. Looking at rates for other communities in Southeast Alaska, he found that Wrangell’s rates tended to be considerably lower than the regional average. “We’re kind of toward the bottom,” he said....
Staff members at Wrangell Medical Center last month were awarded the 2014 Hospital Quality Award by Mountain-Pacific Quality Health Foundation, which supports healthcare groups in Alaska, Hawaii, Wyoming and Montana. The awards were presented at the annual Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association Conference in Girdwood on Sept. 11. WMC was one of six Alaska hospitals recognized for its dedication to ensuring high-quality care in seven national quality project areas. It was also one of...
