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Last Saturday at the Sharing Our Knowledge Conference, a “Break the Silence” panel discussion highlighted a wide range of perspectives on and experiences with Alaska Native boarding schools. Some panelists identified with the term “boarding school survivor;” others did not. Some lost their language while attending a church- or government-run institution; others did not. Even the act of recounting boarding school experiences, while healing for some, was exhausting for others. “We have different experiences. We’re different people,” sa...
Three years after adopting a pricing plan that adds a surcharge for passenger, vehicle and stateroom fares on popular sailings, the Alaska Marine Highway System has decided to suspend the program for its fall/winter schedule. The ferry system’s “dynamic pricing” added 5% to 50% to ticket prices, depending on the percentage of a ship’s capacity already booked — similar to airlines raising prices as flights fill up. The Alaska Department of Transportation announced the decision last Friday to suspend the surcharges. “Dynamic pricing works when...
It only took one week in mid-August to demolish five vessels that were impounded by the harbormaster over the course of 10 years. Typically, the number of impounded vessels to be destroyed and shipped out isn’t so high, but the demolition funds weren’t in the budget and the vessels had to wait, said Harbormaster Steve Miller. Since taking the helm two years ago, Miller has “been adding more and more money into our derelict vessel fund because also that money isn’t used for crushing boats and shipping them out,” he said. “It’s also in case...
Twenty-six places in Alaska received a new name Sept. 8 as part of the Interior Department’s initiative to remove a derogatory word for Indigenous women — a change that affects more than 650 sites and geographic features across the country. Of those, 26 sites are in Alaska. The official name change process has been almost a year in the making. In November 2021, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland unveiled an order to remove the word squaw, a slur for Native women, from federal lands. Many Indigenous organizations, including the Alaska Fed...
Gov. Mike Dunleavy last Friday vetoed a bill that would have raised the minimum age to purchase and legally possess tobacco products from 19 to 21 years old. The bill also included a tax on electronic smoking products that contain nicotine, which is what Dunleavy took issue with. Currently, Alaska has a cigarette tax of $2 per pack. Other tobacco products, like cigars, are taxed at 75% of the wholesale price. Electronic smoking products like vape pens that contain nicotine are not subject to tax at the statewide level, though some...
It’s been more than 60 years since “The Sound of Music” debuted on Broadway and more than 20 years since Wrangell staged a community play, and organizers hope that the years have not diminished the appeal of either. Auditions for a community production of the famous musical will be held at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 20 and 21 at the Nolan Center. The performance is planned for the first weekend of December, said Cyni Crary, Nolan Center director. She and Tom Jenkins are the organizers of the theatrical production. “We’ve had a huge interest,” Crary said...
Democratic candidate for governor Les Gara and independent candidate former governor Bill Walker said that the best candidate is the one who shows up for public forums. The two had the stage to themselves at a Sept. 7 event sponsored by the Kenai and Soldotna chambers of commerce. The other two candidates did not attend. Incumbent Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy was absent, as was Republican Charlie Pierce, who last month resigned his job as Kenai Peninsula Borough mayor at the request of the borough assembly after an investigation determined...
Grants totaling $12.4 million for Southeast Alaska projects ranging from a greenhouse in Yakutat to workforce development in forestry-related fields in Hydaburg were announced Sept. 6 by U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, the final portion of $25 million in Southeast Alaska Sustainability Strategy Investment Projects announced this year. Vilsack, in an online news conference with Alaska Native and other regional leaders, said the awards are intended to maximize the area’s sustainability and self-reliance through its n...
Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Charlie Pierce, one of four candidates for Alaska governor, was asked to resign as mayor after an investigation determined a harassment complaint against him was credible. Pierce, a Republican, announced on Aug. 26 that he would resign as mayor at the end of September to focus on his gubernatorial campaign. He has refused to discuss reports that his resignation was motivated by a harassment complaint filed by a borough employee. Members of the Kenai Borough Assembly, who were briefed about the complaint on Aug. 23,...
A statewide coalition of fisheries and economic development organizations, led by the Southeast Conference, has won a $49 million federal grant to help build up Alaska’s mariculture industry. “This is a moon shot,” Robert Venables, executive director of the Southeast Conference, said of the challenges ahead and the potential rewards of growing the industry to raise and harvest shellfish and seaweed in larger commercial quantities. “It’s a big deal,” said Wrangell’s Julie Decker, executive director of the Alaska Fisheries Development F...
Less frequent service and the loss of about 6,000 ferry travelers a year over the past decade has cut deeply into Wrangell’s visitor industry. “People view Wrangell as hard to get to,” and the significant cuts to state ferry service perpetuate that image, said Marjy Wood, owner of Tyee Travel. After ferry service dropped from several port calls a week 10 years ago to one a week and developed dependability issues, travelers have booked ferries less frequently, she said. “It’s hard to schedule (trips) very far in advance and feel comfortab...
Two of the races on the Oct. 4 municipal election ballot are contested: There are two candidates for mayor and three candidates to fill two three-year terms on the borough assembly. The other three races on the ballot — for port commission, a one-year school board term and two three-year school board seats — are all uncontested. Absent a surprising write-in turnout, the candidates on the ballot will win those elections. Patty Gilbert and Terry Courson are competing to succeed Mayor Steve Prysunka, who decided not to seek reelection to a thi...
Twenty years ago, the Central Council of Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska asked the Portland Art Museum to return nine objects that were taken from the Naanya.aayí clan in Wrangell almost 100 years ago. Among them are a mudshark hat and shirt, killer whale stranded on a rock robe, killer whale hat, killer whale with a hole wooden fin, killer whale flotilla Chilkat robe, two mudshark shirts, and a headdress the clan says was captured from the Tsimshian during a battle near the mouth of...
Items 1-3: X’átgu S’aaxw/mudshark hat; X’átgu Koodás’/mudshark shirt; Ditlein X’oow/killer whale stranded on a rock robe. According to Portland Art Museum records, former Schools Superintendent Axel Rasmussen obtained the hat and shirt in 1930 from a family member of Chief Shakes VI who died in 1915, and in 1934 he obtained the robe from another family member in Wrangell. According to oral traditional information presented by the Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes, these items were removed by Wrangell police after the de...
The borough’s Sunny Bay property, a parcel of land on the Cleveland Peninsula about 37 miles southeast of Wrangell, is a potential candidate for a helicopter logging sale someday, though no definitive plans have been made to harvest timber at the site. On a trip to Sunny Bay with the U.S. Forest Service in late July, Borough Manager Jeff Good learned there are valuable red and yellow cedar trees on the property. However, these trees are sparsely distributed. Helicopter logging, also known as aerial timber harvesting, entails attaching cables t...
Jim LaBelle entered the Wrangell Institute in 1955 at the age of 8. Over the next 10 years, he would lose his hair, large portions of his memory, and the ability to speak Inupiaq. He has spent his life trying to understand what happened, and he will tell his story Saturday morning at the Sharing Our Knowledge conference. For LaBelle, storytelling is an essential part of the healing process. As one of the keynote speakers at this week’s Sharing Our Knowledge conference of Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian tribes and clans, LaBelle will relate his e...
Last Thursday, the port commission unanimously voted down a motion that would have recommended the borough lease a portion of the 6-Mile mill property to Channel Construction. Commissioners said they need more information before forwarding a recommendation. Juneau-based Channel Construction, which is owned by William “Shorty” Tonsgard Jr., requested to lease a parcel of waterfront property at the former sawmill site for scrap metal recycling. According to its application, the company seeks to establish a “prominent recycling yard” at the loc...
As a young teenager growing up in Bethel, Nikki Corbett got her first paid gig from Mary Peltola. "I babysat her oldest," said Corbett, who took care of Peltola's eldest son. Corbett, who lives on the Kenai Peninsula and is raising children of her own now, was one of the many Indigenous Alaskans from around the state who flooded social media with exuberant messages, reflections and recollections in the hours after Peltola's victory in Alaska's special U.S. House election was announced. The...
Incumbent Ketchikan Rep. Dan Ortiz, who also represents Wrangell, grew his lead over Republican challenger Jeremy Bynum, also of Ketchikan, with the final batch of state primary results released Aug. 31. Ortiz leads Bynum 2,174 to 1,812. The latest results include 890 absentee, early and questioned ballots that state election officials had not tallied on the night of the Aug. 16 primary. Ortiz, an independent, is seeking his fifth term representing southern Southeast in the state House. The two will face off in the Nov. 8 general election for...
The story of a 1908 shipwreck near Wrangell that killed 111 of the 138 men on board – mostly Asian cannery workers returning home after the salmon season had ended – is narrated by current and former residents in a five-part podcast series that started last week. Produced by former resident Ronan Rooney, the series will air at 11 a.m. every Thursday in September on KSTK radio, or people can go to Rooney's website wrangellhistoryunlocked.com to hear the episodes. The first episode aired Sep...
Ever wanted to bend light? Build a wall-climbing gecko robot with air-suction toes? Control a bipedal, ultrasonic droid using your smartphone? These activities may sound like the work of a mad scientist, but thanks to the Irene Ingle Public Library, Wrangell youth don't need a subterranean lair and an army of minions to explore the wonderful world of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, also known as STEM. Starting in early 2020, the library began offering STEM kits for kids and families...
Vibrant laughter and fresh scents emanating from the shop on Lynch Street let visitors know this wasn't just a place for cookie-cutter souvenirs and run-of-the-mill art prints. For five and a half years, Shop Groundswell provided residents and tourists with fresh floral arrangements, locally sourced foods and Southeast artistry. Now, the shop and social hub is closing its doors. Though it will be a loss to many in the community, it is a chance for owner Mya DeLong to finish the chapter on what...
In their first time sharing a debate stage, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski and her Trump-backed challenger Kelly Tshibaka presented their visions for representing Alaska as Republicans. And the differences were just as pronounced in style as they were in policy. Murkowski highlighted her 20-year tenure as a moderate dedicated to advancing resource development while maximizing federal funding for Alaska. For Tshibaka, it was a vision of resisting the Biden administration’s energy policies and federal largesse, epitomized by this year’s inf...
In Chris Bye’s preferred campaign photo, the Libertarian U.S. House candidate is ripping open his dress shirt to reveal a T-shirt that says, “Do Good Recklessly.” After fourth-place finisher Republican Tara Sweeney abruptly withdrew from Alaska’s November U.S. House race, Bye, who placed fifth in the Aug. 16 primary, moved into the state’s top-four ranked-choice election. That puts him alongside Democrat Mary Peltola and Republicans Sarah Palin and Nick Begich III in the race for a two-year term in the House. Bye, a fishing guide from Fair...
A couple armed with bug nets wading through roadside fireweed were searching for bumblebees in the Chilkat Valley north of Haines earlier this month as part of a research effort to see if the Western Bumblebee’s range includes Alaska. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service scientists are considering proposing that the species be added to the endangered species list. “It’s disappeared over a big chunk of its former range which stretched from California out to some of the western states and all the way up into British Columbia at about 55 degrees north...
