Sorted by date Results 4481 - 4505 of 7980
City officials, community members, and local business owners met at the Nolan Center last Tuesday evening, Dec. 17, to discuss Wrangell's tourism industry. This meeting was to cover the recent tourist season, as well as projections for the next one around the corner. The city also wanted to hear people's concerns and priorities when it came to Wrangell tourism. "It's a community discussion because ultimately our docks and our Front Street are community assets," said Mayor Steve Prysunka,...
On Dec. 20, NOAA issued a press release stating they had given a Notice of Violation Assessment to Wrangell resident Sylvia Ettefagh. She was given a fine for failing to offload and report the entirety of a halibut catch. "Officers from the Alaska Division of NOAA's Office of Law Enforcement in Petersburg conducted an investigation," the press release reads. "It revealed that Ettefagh and crew retained 600 pounds of Pacific halibut that was not deducted from their IFQ permit or documented on...
Back at the end of August of this year, Alaska Natives Without Land visited Wrangell to hold a presentation on their organization and mission. The group represents five Alaska Native communities in Wrangell, Petersburg, Haines, Ketchikan, and Tenakee Springs. According to their website, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act was passed in 1971. This returned 44 million acres of land and $963 million to 13 newly organized native corporations. However, for no discernible reason according to a...
SITKA, Alaska (AP) – Sitka is considering getting into the tiny home movement. The Daily Sitka Sentinel reports the Sitka Planning Commission got its first look Wednesday at how city code could be amended to make room for tiny houses, specifically those on chassis allowing the structures to be moved. “We’re looking to hear from tiny homes advocates in the community,” city special projects manager Scott Brylinsky told the newspaper Thursday. Brylinksy and another planning official plan to reach out to tiny home advocates before the next meeting...
Governor Mike Dunleavy's administration released a proposed budget for FY 2021 on Dec. 11. Total revenues for the state of Alaska would be about $8.77 million, and expenditures at $10.18 million. A press release from the governor's office highlights a few items of interest with the budget, such as fully funding K-12 education and the court system, as well as providing for a full PFD payment. This new budget would also fund 15 new State Trooper positions, and increases general fund spending on...
Members of the Wrangell Fish and Game Advisory Committee and other local organizations met at the Salvation Army building on Dec. 11 to discuss how best to distribute this year's collection of moose meat. As hunters in the area may know, moose are legal to hunt with proper permits, but only certain types of moose are legal to kill. If an "illegal" moose is killed, the meat is confiscated and the hunter is fined. An email from Chris Guggenbickler, with the advisory committee, reported that they h...
The Wrangell Planning and Zoning commission held their monthly meeting last Thursday, Dec. 12. It was the first meeting for Commissioner Jillian Privett, who was just appointed by the borough assembly on Dec. 10. There were only three items on the agenda for the commission's meeting. The first item was a conditional use application by the Miller family, for a vacation rental. The Millers are purchasing a lot near the intersection of Reid Street and St. Michael's Street, according to the agenda...
On 12-4-19, Alaska Wildlife Troopers in Wrangell, investigated a moose that was taken on Wrangell island after the registration moose season had closed. Anyone with information regarding this incident is urged to contact the Wrangell AWT office at (907) 847-3215 or Wildlife Safeguard at 1-800-478-3377...
The Wrangell School Board met last Monday evening, Dec. 16, for several important topics. Two of the topics covered in the meeting were a look at the district's 2021 budget assumptions, and a formative evaluation of Superintendent Debbe Lancaster. The FY 2021 budget will be based on 316 students, according to information attached to the meeting's agenda. For the next budget the district is expecting flat funding from the state, as well as the same local contribution from the city as FY 2020....
There are many different ways to celebrate the coming new year. People go to parties, make toasts, agree to new resolutions. In Wrangell, a new tradition that will be kicking off this New Year's Eve will be a murder most foul. Not an actual murder, of course, but a murder mystery masquerade ball at the Nolan Center. For those who are unfamiliar with how a murder mystery works, Nolan Center Director Cyni Crary described it like a live version of the board game "Clue." It is similar to a play,...
The City and Borough of Wrangell released a statement last Friday, Dec. 6, in response to several complaints about residents' electric bills suddenly increasing. A Facebook post by Edward Rilatos on the Wrangell Community Board, asking if anyone else had received a big increase on their electric bill, received over 200 responses. Many of them were responses that their bills had, indeed, gone up. "33% increase over last month with the same usage [sic]," reads a comment by Kimberly Szczatko....
The Borough assembly had a busy night during their meeting on Dec. 10. The meeting opened with a report from State Representative Dan Ortiz. Ortiz said he is going around to the communities he represents, ahead of the next legislative session, to give an update on things in Juneau and to listen to the priorities of his constituents. The next legislative session will be opening on Jan. 21, 2020. Ortiz said that the financial situation for Alaska is largely unchanged from the previous legislative...
School officials recently announced that Evergreen Elementary is one of two Alaskan schools to receive national recognition from the ESEA Distinguished Schools Recognition Program. Evergreen is being recognized for "Excellence in serving special populations of students." The other school receiving recognition is Tustumena Elementary, in the Kenai Peninsula Borough, for "exceptional student performance for two or more consecutive years." "It is an honor to recognize these two outstanding schools...
The Wrangell Port Commission met last Thursday, Dec. 5, for a relatively brief meeting. A workshop was held beforehand to continue ongoing discussions on the cruise industry in Wrangell, and potential changes to vessel classifications in the harbors. As this was a work session, no action will be taken yet on these items. The main piece of business during the meeting was a plan to change future meeting times. Port commission meetings have usually had a start time of 7 p.m. However, as the...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – More than half of Alaska’s ferries will be out of service amid a lack of funds to repair the vessels, transportation officials said. The state Department of Transportation and Public Facilities announced this week that the Aurora and the LeConte will be pulled from service after inspections revealed required steel replacement, the Juneau Empire reported Friday. About 24 employees of the Aurora were already notified they would be relieved of duties effective Jan. 14, officials said. The Aurora is set for long-term layup mea...
For the next three months, Wrangell will be experiencing above normal precipitation levels and temperatures, according to the National Weather Service in Juneau. The Climate Prediction Center is showing a 33 to 40 percent chance of perception levels being above average both in Wrangell and throughout Southeast Alaska this winter. During the same period, Wrangell will also be seeing a 33 to 40 percent chance of warmer than normal temperatures. "Although this time period is too far out to give...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Free to a good home: One newspaper. Not a single edition of a paper but the entire newspaper.Publisher Larry Persily is willing to give away The Skagway News to the right person or couple who are willing to move to Skagway, Alaska, a cruise ship town that once boasted four newspapers during the height of the Klondike Gold Rush days. "The only way this paper has a long-term future, and anything that I've ever seen that works with small town weeklies or bi-weeklies is...
I would like to update the community on my recent trip to Washington DC. It was an excellent opportunity to represent the needs and concerns of our community as well as highlight the challenges we share with all rural communities across America. I was asked to testify in front of the Senate Resource Committee about the importance of the Secure Rural Schools Program (SRS) and the Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) programs. Combined these programs bring in well over a million dollars of increased...
PETERSBURG – Garitt Johnston, 30, was indicted by a Grand Jury on Nov. 21 for his involvement with Eric Jennings, who had received a package with heroin, methamphetamine and gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) in it on Nov. 9. Johnston was indicted on one count of aiding or abetting the manufacturing or delivery of a schedule IA controlled substance with intent to manufacture or deliver and one count of aiding or abetting the possession with intent to manufacture or deliver any amount of a schedule IIA or IIIA controlled substance, according to t...
Mayor Steve Prysunka travelled to Washington D.C. last week to speak before the Senate Committee on Energy and National Resources. He was invited to speak on behalf of the National Association of Counties, an organization that works to advocate county priorities in federal policymaking. Prysunka spoke last Thursday, Nov. 21, on the importance of the Payment In Lieu of Taxes (PILT) Program and Secure Rural Schools (SRS) funds. "We're somewhat unique because we're actually the third largest city...
Earlier this month, on Nov. 5, several Wrangell High School cheerleaders helped SEARHC employee Tammi Meissner pick up cigarette butts on Front Street. In an email to the Sentinel, Meissner said that they managed to clean up 13.4 pounds of cigarette butts from the street and sidewalks. This was done ahead of the Great American Smokeout, which is celebrated annually on the third Thursday of November. The GASO is hosted by the American Cancer Society to promote the risks of smoking and ways to...
Plans are in motion to subdivide the old mill property around 6.5 mile Zimovia Highway, according to Terri Wenger with Anchor Properties. The property, currently owned by Betty Buhler, has been on the market for quite some time. On the Anchor Properties website the almost 39-acre lot is listed at $2.7 million. Wenger said that the plan is to subdivide the land into 11 lots, ranging in size from one to three acres. "I could be wrong, but I think that it could be possibly the biggest private land...
Some Wrangell residents may remember Tod Jones. He was a Wrangell resident for about 20 years, from the '70s to the '90s. He first moved to the area to help start a fish hatchery in the Burnett Inlet with the Alaska Aquaculture Company. Wrangell resident Brian Ashton was his former operations manager, Jones mentioned. When the hatchery closed down around 1995, Jones moved away. After leaving Wrangell, Jones said he spent four years in Israel, then came back to the United States and settled down...
Construction of the new Wrangell Medical Center remains on schedule and on budget, according to SEARHC Vice President and Hospital Administrator Leatha Merculieff. The future hospital will be about 44,500 square feet, attached to the AICS Clinic off of Wood Street, and cost about $30 million. Construction began in the spring of this year. Merculieff said that there have been some minor delays with getting trusses shipped to Wrangell, but now all major structural materials are on the island....
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