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  • Roppel running first time for port commission

    Sentinel staff|Sep 30, 2021

    Frank Roppel has served the past year on the port commission, but this is the first time he is running for elected office. He was appointed last year to fill a vacant seat, and has decided to seek a one-term term in Tuesday's municipal election. He is unopposed for the seat. Roppel, 84, has a lot of experience in marine transportation and docks, working more than 40 years in the Southeast timber industry, including about 20 years as an executive with Alaska Pulp Corp. until his retirement in...

  • Buness wants to see more boats using Wrangell's services

    Sentinel staff|Sep 30, 2021

    Chris Buness describes herself as a "self-propelled boater" - a kayaker and canoer - but that does not diminish her interest in providing services for motorized boaters and working to attract more of them to visit Wrangell. Buness is running for a three-year term on the port commission in Tuesday's municipal election. She and incumbent John Martin are the only candidates on the ballot for the two three-year terms. "I'd love to see more folks from other communities" moor their boats in Wrangell o...

  • Borough Manager Von Bargen resigns

    Sentinel staff|Sep 30, 2021

    Borough Manager Lisa Von Bargen has resigned, effective Oct. 29. No reason was given in the City Hall announcement, issued shortly before 2 p.m. Wednesday. Von Bargen started as borough manager in July 2017. "The strain of the past year and a half has helped me realize I need to take a pause and focus on the needs of my family and myself. It has been a privilege to serve this community and the assembly," Von Bargen wrote in her resignation letter. “We're saddened that she's decided to leave,” Mayor Steve Prysunka said in an interview an hou...

  • High winds expected to hit Southeast; residents urged to stay safe

    Sentinel staff|Sep 30, 2021

    The National Weather Service has issued a high wind warning for the Southeast due to a storm moving through this weekend. The storm will be bringing winds from 24 to 45 miles per hour, with gusts up to 75 mph from 3 p.m. Friday until 6 a.m. on Saturday, the NWS reported. “Damaging winds will blow down trees and power lines. Widespread power outages are expected. Travel will be difficult, especially for high-profile vehicles. Aviation and marine transportation will be impacted,” the report read. Though the report said the main wind gusts will be...

  • WCA takes on multiple programs to help tribal citizens during pandemic

    Larry Persily|Sep 23, 2021

    From building smokehouses and gardens to assisting with utility and food bills, the Wrangell Cooperative Association has been working to help its tribal citizens make it through the financial and emotional stress of the pandemic. "We took a hard look at what the WCA citizens were facing with the pandemic," said Esther Ashton, tribal administrator. That included financial needs and helping to build food self-sufficiency, she said. The eight-member elected tribal council last year considered how...

  • Wrangell will receive additional $604,000 in pandemic aid

    Larry Persily|Sep 23, 2021

    The borough expects to receive an additional $604,000 in federal pandemic relief aid through the state, and will move cautiously as it considers how best to use the money for the community’s benefit. The assembly will need to decide “what is the best long-term investment for us,” Borough Manager Lisa Von Bargen said last Friday. The administration will present recommendations to the assembly for its consideration after staff have reviewed federal guidance on spending the funds. The $604,000 is part of American Rescue Plan money directed to the...

  • ­Issues with water delivery system need costly solutions

    Marc Lutz|Sep 23, 2021

    Wrangell's water supply has its troubles. From the source reservoirs to the end users, the system for filtering and delivering water to businesses and residences needs some major overhauls -and they won't be cheap. The problems, officials say, start at the top at the lower reservoir and dam, which send water into the treatment plant where it goes through multiple phases of filtration and then is piped to customers. At an assembly meeting on Sept. 14, Public Works Director Tom Wetor presented a...

  • Growing number of produce farmers cropping up throughout the community

    Marc Lutz|Sep 23, 2021

    Wrangell is seeing some positive growth. The number of farming operations is on the rise throughout the community, and it's contributing to a healthier economy. There are two farms in Wrangell that grow a variety of fruits and vegetables and sell to residents and businesses, no less than nine residents that grow for their own consumption, and even Evergreen Elementary has a small farm. According to the Alaska Farmland Trust, the number of farms in the state increased by 30% from 2012 to 2017,...

  • Alaska COVID-19 case count highest per capita in the nation

    The Wrangell Sentinel and The Associated Press|Sep 23, 2021

    While Wrangell did not report a single COVID-19 infection between Sept. 10 and 21, the state tracking website reported almost 8,000 new cases over that period. Alaska’s numbers are so bad lately that the state’s average rate of daily new infections over the past week is more almost triple the national average — and higher than any other state — as reported on The New York Times COVID-19 tracking page. Alaska is facing “one of the sharpest surges” in the country, the state epidemiologist said Sept. 16, adding that it’s not clear when the situ...

  • Tlingit language class for adults will start this fall

    Larry Persily|Sep 23, 2021

    Virginia Oliver has been teaching Tlingit at Wrangell schools since 2016, and this fall will expand her student body to include adults in a new twice-a-week program at the WCA Cultural Center on Front Street. The classes will include a monthly bingo event, with a fluent Tlingit elder calling out the game. Gift cards to local businesses will be awarded the winners, and “everybody is welcome to come,” Oliver said. The language class will be held at noon Tuesdays and Thursdays, with a bag lunch provided. The program will be funded by a grant from...

  • Correction

    Sep 23, 2021

    A story in the Sept. 16 issue of the Sentinel incorrectly reported there is no real estate agent based in Wrangell. Kathleen Harding with MoveToWrangell.com is based here....

  • Ground search at former Institute property on hold

    Larry Persily|Sep 23, 2021

    The borough is waiting on further guidance from the U.S. Department of the Interior on the agency’s nationwide initiative for researching and even searching the sites of former Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding schools, including the former Wrangell Institute property. The borough plans to subdivide the property for residential development, turning the 134 acres into 40 building lots. While waiting on the Interior Department, borough officials are talking with the State Historic Preservation Office and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to ensure t...

  • Southeast visitor industry looks forward to 2022

    Larry Persily|Sep 23, 2021

    About 200 people convened in Haines last week - in-person and virtually - for the annual Southeast Conference, and much of the discussion among municipal and chambers of commerce officials focused on the region's economy, in particular the tourism outlook for next year. Cruise industry and airline officials talked optimistically of strong visitor travel next year, maybe even a record for cruise ship capacity, as the country emerges from the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic. "Right now, let's be positive ... this actually could happen," said Wendy...

  • Tent City Days to become celebration of 'all things Wrangell'

    Marc Lutz|Sep 23, 2021

    Event organizer Jill Privett is looking to make a positive change with Tent City Days. In the past, the event celebrated the gold rush era, but Privett wants to focus more on “celebrating all things Wrangell, whether that be your love of the land, people, fishing, berry picking, etc.,” she said. From Oct. 14-17, various in-person and virtual events will be held, such as the Gold Nugget Open Swim, Alaska Day Fun Run, Tent City Steak Night, a food cache contest, Shady Lady Saturday Night, Zoom Story Time, Fisherman’s Crawl and the Wild Woman...

  • Borough to consider its own resolution on B.C. mining

    Larry Persily|Sep 23, 2021

    Acknowledging it is a “polarizing and divisive issue in Canada,” the Wrangell borough assembly will proceed “somewhat cautiously” in drafting a resolution on mining in the Stikine River watershed, Borough Mayor Steve Prysunka said. “Of course, we don’t want salmon impacted” by mining, he said. “We’re actually uniquely positioned, we’re at the outflow.” The Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission has asked the Wrangell assembly, and other elected bodies in the region, to adopt a resolution calling for a pause on new mining permits...

  • Board candidates express frustration over school communications

    Marc Lutz|Sep 23, 2021

    Six candidates are vying for three seats on the Wrangell school board. Angela Allen, Alex Angerman, Brittani Robbins and Elizabeth Roundtree are running for two open three-year terms. The top two vote-getters will win the election. Julia Ostrander and Jessica Whitaker are competing to fill one seat for an unexpired one-year term. Although each candidate has similar goals they want to achieve during their term if elected, they all have varied backgrounds and experience they believe would lend a...

  • Powell wants to see more borough land in private ownership

    Larry Persily|Sep 23, 2021

    One of the bigger issues that got David Powell interested in serving on the assembly several years ago was his belief that the borough needs to get out of the real estate business. He wanted Wrangell to sell off more of its property for private development, and to do it at a faster pace. He also wanted to serve because "I was interested in how things work with the city," he said. "In a roundabout way, I found it doesn't work as everybody thinks it works." Powell is running for a one-year term to...

  • McConachie believes employee relations are a problem for borough

    Larry Persily|Sep 23, 2021

    Don McConachie Sr. served on the assembly or as mayor between 1998 and when he resigned as mayor in 2013 for health reasons. He's ready now to get back to work at City Hall. McConachie, 75, who is retired, is running against incumbent David Powell for a one-year term on the borough assembly. "Our city has changed an awful lot. It has deteriorated a substantial amount," McConachie said. He was reluctant to provide specific examples, explaining, "The best way to understand what's going on is to...

  • State offers another business relief program

    Sentinel staff|Sep 23, 2021

    The state has opened up another round of federally funded pandemic aid for businesses, though this latest program is different from past assistance efforts: The money will be awarded based solely on financial need, not on the date of application. The state has set aside $90 million for the program, which is being administered by the Juneau Economic Development Council under contract to Alaska Department of Commerce. The application deadline is 8 a.m. Oct. 17. The money is from the American Rescue Plan Act, which Congress approved and the...

  • Anchorage military base declares public health emergency

    Sep 23, 2021

    ANCHORAGE (AP) - Military leaders on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson have declared a public health emergency and encouraged all personnel to avoid places that do not require masks or social distancing in response to increasing COVID-19 cases in Alaska, officials said. “We’ve all seen COVID-19 cases continue to spread rapidly across our nation, the state of Alaska and in our local community,” U.S. Air Force Col. Kirsten Aguilar, 673d Air Base Wing and JBER commander, said in a statement Sept. 17. “After close consultation with JBER mission...

  • Idaho, Montana hospitals implement crisis controls

    Sep 23, 2021

    BOISE, Idaho (AP) - In another ominous sign about the spread of the delta variant, Idaho public health leaders on Sept. 16 expanded health care rationing statewide and individual hospital systems Montana have enacted similar crisis standards amid a spike in the number of unvaccinated COVID-19 patients requiring hospitalization. The decisions marked an escalation of the pandemic in several Western states struggling to convince skeptical people to get vaccinated. The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare made the announcement after St. Luke’s H...

  • Plan will restrict West Coast chinook fishing to protect orcas

    Sep 23, 2021

    SEATTLE (AP) - Federal officials have approved a plan that calls for cutting nontribal salmon fishing along the West Coast when the fish are needed to help the Northwest’s endangered killer whales. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries adopted the plan Sept. 14 as recommended by the Pacific Fishery Management Council. It calls for restricting commercial and recreational salmon fishing when chinook salmon numbers are especially low. It’s one of the first times a federal agency has restricted hunting or fishing one spe...

  • Just 520 salmon return to river in Maine

    Sep 23, 2021

    BANGOR, Maine (AP) – Maine’s Penobscot River is on track to see the fewest Atlantic salmon in recent years, state officials said. According to a trap count report provided by the Maine Department of Marine Resources on Aug. 23, 520 salmon had passed through the Milford and Orono dams this year. Returning salmon are hampered by hydroelectric dams on the Penobscot and Kennebec rivers that reduce their ability to reach spawning grounds upstream. The total is the fewest fish counted, as of the same date, in four years and is the fourth-lowest tot...

  • Protestors turn out against proposed Maine salmon farm

    Sep 23, 2021

    BAR HARBOR, Maine (AP) — More than 125 boats participated in a protest against plans for a salmon farm in waters near Acadia National Park in Maine. Commercial and recreational vessels comprised the “Save the Bay” flotilla that motored around Frenchman Bay on Aug. 29. Some people on land also participated by holding signs stating their opposition. American Aquafarms has proposed raising 66 million pounds of Atlantic salmon annually at a pair of 15-pen sites off the coast of Gouldsboro. Ted O’Meara, of Frenchman’s Bay United, likened the scope o...

  • Lawsuit alleges dams in Maine threaten salmon

    Sep 23, 2021

    AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) - Environmental groups contend four Kennebec River dams in Maine are violating federal law by harming endangered Atlantic salmon. The dam operator, Brookfield Renewable U.S., is violating the federal Endangered Species Act because an exemption spelling out limits on the death and injury of salmon expired in 2019, according to a lawsuit by the Natural Resources Council of Maine, Atlantic Salmon Federation U.S., Conservation Law Foundation and Maine Rivers. The lawsuit, filed...

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