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The borough has cut the salary of the Irene Ingle Public Library’s head librarian as it seeks to replace outgoing Library Director Margaret Villarma. At its May 23 meeting, the assembly voted to reduce the position’s salary by roughly $10,000 a year, depending on where the employee falls on the pay scale. The change will make the library director Wrangell’s lowest paid department head. The job’s duties, responsibilities and qualifications have not changed — only the compensation. Villarma plans to retire this summer and though the pay cut will...
Every homeowner, car and boat owner knows that maintenance is expensive. It’s also necessary. Particularly so in Alaska, where the weather is unkind to most everything except solid rock, and even that can erode away given enough time. Maintenance is a smart investment. It preserves the value of the property, whether stationary or motorized, and keeping up with repairs is the best way to avoid even more expensive rebuilds, restoration and replacement later. It’s especially true for borough property, which is why it’s heartening to see borou...
Alysa Horn, center, instructs students Boomchain Loucks, left, and Jackson Pearson last Friday during drills at a three-day basketball camp at the high school gym over the weekend. Horn is the owner of Anchorage-based Make Yourself, a strength conditioning and performance coaching business, which holds about 10 basketball camps throughout the state each year. "I feel like there aren't as many opportunities for Alaskan kids up here as there are in the Lower 48, so I'm making sure I'm doing my...
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...
The budget that legislators approved last week and will send to the governor for his signature into law or veto would provide about $425,000 in one-time additional state funding to the Wrangell school district for the 2023-2024 classroom year. That would deliver almost a 9% boost to the district’s total operating budget revenue, which is comprised of state money (more than 60%), a borough contribution (32%) and federal dollars. “It will still need to pass the governor, so it’s not guaranteed,” Bill Burr, Wrangell schools superin...
There were plenty of smiles, hugs and tears of joy in a ceremony lasting nearly two hours. Not a moment of the Wrangell High School 2023 graduation was wasted as speakers and video presentations reflected on the lives of 20 seniors taking the step into the next phase of their lives. Salutatorian Brodie Gardner and co-valedictorians Nikolai Bardin-Siekawitch and Kiara Harrison focused on the positive traits of their classmates and the dedication of their teachers. "They go above and beyond for...
Alaska lawmakers reached a compromise on the state budget and adjourned after a one-day special session last week, approving a $1,300 Permanent Fund dividend for this fall with the possibility of a second, smaller payment next year if oil revenues exceed projections. The amount of the PFD and the capital budget — construction and maintenance projects in legislators’ home districts — were the final items that forced legislators into a special session after the regular session ended May 17 without a budget. The governor called them back to work...
As Wrangell prepares for its biggest event of the year - the Fourth of July - one teen has taken it upon himself to ensure that the celebration will be prosperous for years to come. Though Ander Edens is the only contestant in this year's royalty fundraising competition, he is setting his sights on a record-breaking run. The ticket sales are the main fundraiser for the chamber of commerce, which organizes the holiday festivities. The current fundraising record is $126,408 in raffle ticket sales...
May 24, 1923 The health center is now established in the quaint old building which has stood for more than half a century on the government reserve near the courthouse, and which during the past 10 years was used for a time as a U.S. Commissioner’s office and later as a hall for the American Legion. This historic building, which is constructed of logs, was built in 1867 by Capt. Bancroft who built Fort Wrangell. With the exception of the customs house, it is the only one left of the eight buildings which comprised the garrison. The garrison w...
The Legislature earned a passing grade for approving a substantial increase in state funding for public schools — the first since 2017. Think of it as a small gold star for effort, but they still will need to retake the class next year. Rather than permanently raise the per-student funding formula in state statute, lawmakers voted for a one-time boost in funding for the 2023-2024 school year. Helpful, but it does not solve the perennial problem of inadequate funding for public schools. The 15% increase is good for only one year and does not c...
Look out, Martin Scorsese You've got some up-and-coming competition on your hands. Stikine Middle School students spent the past two weeks recording video footage and conducting interviews as part of the See Stories project, which creates documentaries to tell the stories of Alaska. What began 10 years ago as a way to tell Alaska's diverse stories through videos and podcasts from a youth perspective has grown into an award-winning program that has produced 150 short documentaries and podcasts by...
Mike Lewis, the owner of Tiny's Taxi, is committed to offering 24-hour, seven-day-a-week service, even if he has to sleep with his phone and headset to do it. The new business has been giving rides around town since it opened April 13. After graduating from Wrangell High School in 1988, Lewis spent about 30 years moving around the western United States doing construction jobs. He lived in Anchorage, Soldotna, Washington state, Colorado, Los Angeles and Palm Springs in California, Hawaii, Arizona...
At a time of year when most students are more concerned with sunshine and playing than with academia, one class is giving them the ability to plan for their future so they don’t miss out on sunnier days. A job skills and career planning and exploration class taught by Julie Williams, the Wrangell High School counselor, teaches students how to map out a path to prosperity. According to the U.S. Department of Education, about 8.3 million high school students took some form of career and technology education (CTE) class in the 2020-2021 school yea...
As the school year wraps up and learning winds down, students were recognized for their outstanding achievements. The annual academic and scholarship award ceremony held on May 16 in the Wrangell High School gym highlighted the hard work put in by eighth through 12th graders. Teachers, administrators, community and business leaders gathered to present the students with certificates, plaques and checks. Awards were given in the areas of general education, shop class, finance, student government...
Alaska lawmakers have been spending the final days of the 121-day legislative session disagreeing over the amount of this fall’s Permanent Fund dividend. As of Monday afternoon, the House and Senate appeared unable to agree on state spending for the fiscal year that starts July 1, likely pushing lawmakers into an overtime session. This would be the fourth year of extra session time since the cost of the dividend put a strain on tight state finances in 2017. The Republican-controlled House wants a $2,700 PFD this fall and is willing to draw hund...
The honesty of the younger generation reminds us of what is important in life. It should prompt everyone to pay attention to what teenagers say. It will be their community and their world, so their opinions matter. Wrangell High School seniors are certainly not unanimous in their favorite subjects, the value of homework or what they want to do next year. Yet, it’s clear that a lot of them think about the weighty issues facing the nation and the world, judging from their answers to a Sentinel pre-graduation questionnaire. Leroy Wynne wants to s...
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...
It is with immeasurable sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Mother, Grandmother, Great-Grandmother and dear friend Constance (Connie) Mae Buness on April 14, 2023. Born to Bonita (Bunny) and Hugo Stoke on January 16, 1934, in Tomahawk , Wisconsin, Connie was raised primarily in Tacoma, Washington, with her older brother James (Jimmy) Stoke. After high school graduation, Connie entered nursing school, but her newly discharged Army fiancé Oliver (Ole) had other ideas, which...
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...
Since 2019, Caitlin Cardinell has worked as the liaison between members of the Stikine River Jet Boat Association and cruise lines to schedule tours and advocate for the organization. After 10 years in Wrangell and seeing the SRJBA through the COVID-19 pandemic, Cardinell is resigning her position as executive director and returning to Minnesota. Though the position has been a challenge, her reasons for leaving are to spend more time with her aging parents. She will maintain a home in Wrangell...
After 12 years of studying, paying attention, taking notes, playing sports and, in some cases, goofing off, Wrangell High School's senior class will receive their diplomas on Friday night. The final two weeks of school for the graduates have been filled with finishing their senior projects, making sure other work is complete and taking time out for a sanctioned skip day up the Stikine River. Nineteen students will walk to the pomp and circumstance at 7 p.m. Friday at the high school gym, make...
Stacey Wayne, Wrangell High School class of 1982, said it was an honor and a blessing to work as drama and debate coach with Sitka students for a quarter-century. The Alaska School Activities Association added to the honor this month when it inducted Wayne into the Alaska High School Hall of Fame. "Wayne started coaching and teaching drama at Sitka High in 1987 and took two students to the state championship event in that inaugural year," the May 7 awards ceremony program said. "The next year...
Wrangell High School graduate Kayla Hay was always interested in learning German. Her great-grandparents emigrated from Austria to Alaska in the 1920s, she said, and she was intrigued by different cultures and wanted to be able to communicate with her relatives who remained in Austria. Hay didn't have the opportunity to take German as a student in Wrangell (class of 2018), but when she enrolled at Montana State University in Bozeman that fall, she signed up for a basic German language class her...
May 10, 1923 At the meeting of the town council last Thursday night, the application of J. K. Nevill for a telephone franchise came up for final action. The council voted unanimously to grant Mr. Nevill a franchise for the installation of a telephone system in Wrangell, lasting 10 years. May 7, 1948 A paper on “How I Can Improve My Home,” by Mrs. G. C. Crowell, made up the program at the monthly meeting of the Women’s Civic Club on Saturday. Mrs. Crowell’s contribution was filled with ideas for the homemaker and was greatly enjoyed by the 20...
At its special meeting May 1, the borough assembly unanimously approved $266,920 for engineers to assess the condition of Wrangell’s three school buildings, in hopes of making the list for millions of dollars in state funding to repair and refurbish the decades-old structures. The borough is hoping to get the repairs on the Alaska Department of Education’s list of major maintenance projects at school buildings throughout the state. However, making the list is a highly competitive process that requires districts to demonstrate their need. The...