Sorted by date Results 2006 - 2030 of 2344
You know it’s getting close to summer when the Bearfest bears are back in town. This trio of bears currently stands watch outside the Nolan Center. Bearfest 2013 is scheduled for July 24-28....
The former general manager of Thomas Bay Power Authority is asking the utility’s Board of Commissioners for a severance package that was denied upon termination earlier this year– and has retained legal counsel in order to do so. The Commission terminated Paul Southland as the head of TBPA on April 26 after Commissioner Dave Galla moved to relieve him of his duties. That motion passed 5-2 among the commissioners, with members John Jensen and Robert Larson voting no. Southland, who said at the time he planned on returning to work in the com...
The City and Borough of Wrangell has received a payment of $250,000 in the settlement with former Wrangell Medical Center DEO Noel Rea – except Rea didn’t make the payment. The payment, in fact, came from the insurance company that indemnifies WMC and its officers, the Chubb Group Insurance. Borough Manager Tim Rooney said the checks, which were drafted in March, were received by city attorney Bob Blasco and forwarded to City Hall. “The money was deposited and now, any money that we spent on le...
In the Sentinel 100, 75, 50 and 25 years ago. June 26, 1913: Yesterday was a red-letter day in Wrangell. For weeks the citizens have been hearing that soon the Alaska Bureau of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce contemplated a trip through Alaska and their itinerary would bring them to Wrangell. They were also informed that many notable men of the newspaper would come as guests but were not prepared fully for the great surprised that awaited them. At 9:30 o'clock last night the Jefferson steamed into port conveying 125 of the “liveliest bunch” tha...
The Wrangell Ferry Terminal will be out of commission for three days in June to replace a portion of the underside of the ramp leading to the vessels when they are berthed. The closure is set for June 18-20, affecting ferry traffic during those days by prohibiting use of the dock for Alaska Marine Highway System ships. According to Jeremy Woodrow, a communications officer for the Alaska Department of Transportation, the work involved includes a complete replacement of critical infrastructure...
Wrangell not only has a new medical clinic, but a brand new physician added to the staff of the Alaska Island Community Services location on Wood Street. Dr. Laura Dooley, who has been affiliated with Bartlett Regional Medical Center and Southeast Regional Health Consortium, began work this week and will be seeing patients at the new facility. Dooley, who just arrived in town with her husband, said she has been here in the past during her travels throughout the state. “It’s good to be here in...
A former administrator at Wrangell Medical Center has been named as the new head of Providence Valdez Medical Center. Officials with Providence Health and Services said last week that Barbara Bigelow will begin her new job at the hospital on Aug. 5. She was named as the interim administrator at WMC after the departure of Kendall Sawa, who announced in October his desire to make a move to Washington State. Sawa replaced former CEO Noel Rea after the former WMC Board of Directors terminated him....
The proposed Mariner’s Memorial at Heritage Harbor is one step closer to becoming a reality as the Wrangell Port Commission has released a professional design document showing what the structure might look like once built. A set of elevation drawings and a floor plan completed by Corvus Design of Anchorage is now in the hands of the city – plans that show an octagonal design with some sides of the memorial open to the air and to allow visitors to enter the gazebo-styled structure. Port Com...
For Alaska Natives, food is essential – and traditional foods are of extreme importance to the indigenous people of the Last Frontier as they choose to live their history and culture in the modern age. In Wrangell, the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium leads the way with its traditional foods program, under the direction of Ken Hoyt. Hoyt moved to Alaska in 2012 to take over the program and has, in the past year, introduced a variety of projects to the Natives and non-Natives of W...
After more than a year of planning, design and construction, the brand new Alaska Island Community Services clinic held an open house to show off the multi-million dollar building, its technological innovations and ways its new floor plan would assist clients in the medical and counseling process. The new facility, located on Wood Street, opened on June 5 and has nearly doubled the number of examination rooms available to patients. It cost nearly $4 million to build and is now prepared to offer...
In the Sentinel 100, 75, 50 and 25 years ago. June 12, 1913: Tom McGrath of Victoria, who with his wife and 11-year-old son went into the Silver Creek, B.C. region in the Cassiar via Atlin last March, returned to Wrangell by way of Telegraph Creek on the Port Simpson Sunday last. Mr. McGrath says that they “mushed” 176 miles from Atlin with a dog team with supplies enough to last through the season. The trail was a hard one but after reaching their destination he discovered that he and the many others who had made the trip in, had been giv...
There was a time when the front page of the Wrangell Sentinel was bracketed by the phrase “Founded in 1902 – Lumber capital of Alaska.” Those days ended in the 2000s, when Silver Bay’s operation at 6 Mile Zimovia Highway shuttered its doors for good, and with the demise of the mill site came a downturn in the industry that built Wrangell – timber. Even though the industrial side of logging is long gone in the Borough, the memory of what came from our forests still lives on in the Chuck Oli...
The City and Borough of Wrangell faced a check up from Alaska Mental Health Trust senior resource manager Paul Slenkamp after a report of excessive tree removal near the end of the road at 12.5 Mile Zimovia Highway last month. In what was defined as a timber cut to remove dangerous trees near the power line extension between Pats Lake Road and McCormack Creek, the city electrical department was issued an authorization to trim the area to remove dying or decaying trees that were threatening the...
Rolland Wimberley graduated from Truman State University, in Kirksville, Mo., on May 11 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Justice Systems. He is a 2009 graduate of Wrangell High School and is the son of Benn Curtis and Shirley Wimberley. He plans to return home to Wrangell to work for a year before he enters law school. Ford Curtis will graduate from the Oregon Coast Culinary Institute at Southwestern Oregon Community College in Coos Bay, Ore., June 14. He received his Certificate in Culinary Arts in August of 2012 and his Associates of...
Ethan Pempek graduated Cum Laude from the University of Hawai`i at Mânoa with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Information and Communications Technologies. Upon graduation, Ethan placed in the top fifteen percent in the nation among ROTC cadets, earning recognition as a distinguished military graduate and receiving a commission as a Military Police officer in the United States Army as a Second Lieutenant. His first duty station is Camp Darby, Livorno, Italy. Ethan is the son of Mark and Therese...
The deadline for registration in the popular Summer Reading Program is set for June 30 at the Irene Ingle Public Library. This program is held annually beginning June 1 and runs through the end of July. All students in Kindergarten through Grade 9 are eligible to attend. The basis of the program, which began in 1998 is simple – after reading a book, students take a retention test on a computer, which is graded and provided to the school district at the end of the program. Each book is worth a certain amount of points and students receive v...
The Royalty Court for the 2013 Wrangell Fourth of July celebration was officially presented last Friday night, May 31, at the Stikine Inn – and the month-long push toward a fundraising goal of $100,000 began in earnest. The three young women taking part this year, Darian Meissner, Kayla Rooney and Jennifer Ludwigsen, were all present as Queen Mother Jill Privett introduced them to the audience. Afterward, she commented on what it meant for the large crowd to come out and support the trio taking...
Heavy rains took out the first day of the City Market Golf Tournament last weekend at Muskeg Meadows golf course – though the second day saw a combination of Wrangell and Petersburg players finish at the top of their game. The team of Robbie Robinson, Ray Pederson, Greg Scheff and Eric Kading finished Saturday with a net score of 33, while the straightest drive went to Robbie Robinson at 7-feet. Glacier Larsen took the closest to the pin honors with a distance of 23-feet, 4-inches. Course manager Shannon Booker said the tournament, which was a...
With eight words – and the stroke of a pen – Superior Court Judge William B. Carey dismissed the lawsuit against former Wrangell Medical Center CEO Noel Rea and six former members of the WMC Board of Directors that were recalled last year, along with a counterclaim brought by the defendants. “The complaint and counter-claim are dismissed with prejudice,” Carey wrote in his April 29 order. The lawsuit stemmed from the actions of the former board in their firing of Rea on June 20, during their las...
You know it’s getting close to summer in Wrangell when the boats and skiffs of locals are on the water looking for King Salmon – and especially when the Wrangell Chamber of Commerce puts out their scale to weigh the incoming fish for the annual King Salmon Derby. The 61st annual derby began on May 11 and will run through June 9, with a total of $30,000 in cash and prizes available to the winners, including a $6,000 first place award. Chamber of Commerce manager Cyni Waddington said the eve...
In the Sentinel 100, 75, 50 and 25 years ago. June 5, 1913: On account of the inclement weather pm Friday last, the program for the afternoon exercises had to be changed somewhat. Instead of holding the services on the wharf as expected, they were held in Red Men's Hall and were largely attended. The following program was given: Song- Battle Hymn of Republic. Invocation- Rev. H.P. Corser. Address- M.F. Inman. Flower Song and Strewing of Flowers- Margaret Grant, Gussie Leonard, Viola Walsh, Hannah Smith, Mary Smith and Andrew Engstrom. Evening...
A former Wrangell resident who was convicted in 2011 of being part of a drug distribution operation in the Borough and sentenced to more than three years in prison has asked a judge to review evidence in his case. Marcelo Soria, 48, pled guilty in June of 2011 to one count of Misconduct Involving a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree – Delivery or Possession with Intent to Distribute a Schedule II or III drug. Soria was indicted after information came to light that he was sending large amounts of cash to Mexico via City Market’s Wes...
