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While many are thankful 2020 has come to an end, it does not necessarily mean an end to 2020's problems. Wrangell, like many other communities around the world, has struggled through the COVID-19 pandemic and economic uncertainties. With the start of the new year, city officials, businesses and other community members are looking toward 2021 with cautious optimism. "I think it's going to be a very mixed bag, to be quite honest with you," said city Economic Development Director Carol Rushmore....
Early last week, Wrangell Municipal Light & Power repaired an issue involving one of its newer diesel generators. Light & Power Director Rod Rhoades said a computer controlling the generator's output was refusing to detect the generator in question. It was a difficult problem for them to figure out, he said, but was relatively easy to fix with just a simple wire replacement. Rhoades said all of the city's generators are expected to work together, matching their voltage and frequency to meet...
The aluminum can recycling bins next to Wrangell IGA are under new management. Kim Wickman, with the Wrangell Cooperative Association's IGAP department, said the Wrangell Swim Club will handle the can recycling moving forward. The club is hoping to use the recycling for fundraising, she said, though no major goals have been outlined at this time. Aluminum can recycling has been used by a variety of Wrangell sports teams to fundraise, Wickman said. Before the swim club, the Amateur Athletic...
January Jan. 2: Along with the lights, trees and carolers, the Salvation Army's red Christmas kettles are a common sight during the holiday season. Lt. Jon Tollerud, Wrangell's new corps officer, said the red kettles brought in $10,469. Jan. 9: The Nolan Center celebrated the new year Dec. 31 with a murder mystery party. As this new year marks a new decade, a return to the '20s, the party had a 1920s theme to it. With jazz music, themed costumes and masks, partygoers had the chance to return to...
Wrangell Public Schools reopened their doors Tuesday at the end of winter break, sitting down students back in the classroom. "I love school," said second grader Hailey Bartlett as she stood outside Evergreen Elementary, waiting for the doors to open. Third grader Quinton Davies also said he is excited to be back at Evergreen. Kindergartener Jackson Gellatle said "homework" is the most enjoyable part of school for him. Students are not the only ones who are happy to be back at school. Special...
Wally Smith, 83, a retired industrial arts teacher in Anchorage, donated $1,000 to Haines disaster relief efforts last month because he “had a kindness to repay to those who were kind to me” during a trip to the Southeast community in 1964. Smith was responding to the Dec. 2 mudslide that killed two people, damaged homes and stunned the Lynn Canal community. Back in 1964, Smith was on his way to the Haines ferry terminal bound for the Lower 48, where he would attend graduate school in Colorado. While driving through Canada, a fellow tea...
WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. Rep. Don Young of Alaska issued a call for bipartisanship among his congressional colleagues while giving the oath of office to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Jan. 3. As the longest-serving member, Young, a Republican, is dean of the House and has the responsibility of swearing in the speaker. Pelosi, a California Democrat, was reelected to the role she’s held since January 2019. Young used the occasion as an opportunity to try to bring together the political parties that have become more deeply divided during Donald Tru...
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump vetoed a bill Jan. 1 that would have gradually ended the use of large-mesh drift gillnets deployed exclusively in federal waters off the coast of California, saying such legislation would increase reliance on imported seafood and worsen a multibillion-dollar seafood trade deficit. Trump also said in his veto message to the Senate that the legislation sponsored by Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., “will not achieve its purported conservation benefits.” Feinstein iss...
JUNEAU (AP) - The Alaska Legislature has required all lawmakers and staff to wear masks during the upcoming session in a bid to stop the coronavirus from spreading. The Legislative Council passed the mandate 11-1 in a virtual meeting the last week of December that determined the rules and guidelines for the session beginning Jan. 19 in Juneau. Only Palmer Republican Rep. DeLena Johnson voted against the policy. Lawmakers and staffers who refuse to have their temperature taken or answer health screening questions will not be allowed to enter...
A few minutes before 1:30 p.m. Saturday, an 87-year-old driver pressed the gas pedal instead of the brake on his truck and launched from the parking lot into the water of Heritage Harbor. The driver was helped from the truck and did not appear seriously injured, said Police Chief Tom Radke. The chief said it was his understanding that the driver hit the wrong pedal, and a medical incident may have led to the accident, but the exact cause was uncertain Saturday afternoon. The vehicle pushed through a barrier of boulders between the parking lot...
Over the past few days, people have been hard at work in and around the WCA carving shed on Front Street, constructing smokehouses. These smokehouses are part of the cooperative association's COVID-19 pandemic response, according to Tribal Administrator Esther Reese. They are using a portion of their CARES Act funding they received for this and other projects, Reese said, to promote food self-sufficiency and a return to a traditional lifestyle among tribal citizens. About 70 smokehouses are...
The year has come to a close, and a new one looms. Many are likely happy to see 2020 go, just as many are also likely eager to see what 2021 has to offer. In either case, this Friday afternoon offers a chance to celebrate in Wrangell fashion; with the annual Polar Bear Plunge. The event will take place at Shoemaker, at 1 p.m. The plunge has been a local tradition for over 20 years now. It had humble beginnings, long ago in the year 2000. In an interview with the Sentinel, Clay Hammer said that...
Groundwork for the Wrangell Mariners' Memorial has come to a halt for winter, but progress has still been made recently. Jenn Miller-Yancey, with the Mariners' Memorial board, reported that work is being done for the memorial's walls, where plaques will one day be hung to commemorate Wrangell sailors who have passed away. "There will be four walls within the memorial, three walls meant to hold plaques that are 26 feet long, curved and vary in height from 42 inches to 8 feet," Miller-Yancey wrote...
Construction of the new Wrangell Medical Center, ongoing since a groundbreaking ceremony in May of 2019, is nearing completion. According to a Dec. 22 press release from the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium, the project has reached 95 percent completion. "WMC staff are excited to begin caring for patients in the new facility," said SEARHC Vice President and WMC Hospital Administrator Leatha Merculieff in the press release. "Select staff have already relocated to completed...
On December 22, the first allocations of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccination arrived in the communities of Wrangell, Klawock, Haines, Hoonah, Kake, and Angoon. SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC) providers and staff are working with medical leaders to coordinate vaccine protocols in respective communities. The shipments were delivered to SEARHC facilities just four days after the vaccine received an emergency use authorization (EUA) from the Food and Drug Administration. "We are...
Led by the Alaska Congressional Delegation, the U.S. Congress has approved more than $3.62 million for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to continue baseline water quality monitoring at the international border for Southeast Alaska’s transboundary rivers, and to shore up U.S. Department of State involvement on the issue of British Columbia (B.C.) mining, and mining contamination, near rivers that flow into the United States. The funding was included as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, and approved by Congress on December 2...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Alaska Airlines has said it intends to purchase 68 new Boeing 737 MAX planes despite the model having been grounded in 2019 after a pair of high-profile crashes that killed 346 people. The company said in a statement Tuesday that it would only fly the aircraft after its “own assessments, verifications and internal reviews determine that the aircraft is safe throughout our network for our guests and our crews.” The aircraft took its first commercial flight in almost two years with a journey from Sao Paulo to Porto Alegre in...
KODIAK, Alaska (AP) – The Coast Guard has said it responded to a report of an oil spill from one of its own ships off the coast of Alaska. The Coast Guard said in a statement on Sunday that the 180-foot (55-meter) buoy tender boat started to discharge hydraulic oil on Saturday around 9:40 a.m. in Womens Bay, about 420 miles (675 kilometers) south of Anchorage. It was not immediately clear how much oil had spilled, but the tank involved has a maximum capacity of 914 gallons (3 kilolitres), officials said. Crews from the Marine Safety D...
There were no sled dogs, and Nome is far away from Wrangell, but last week's delivery of COVID-19 Pfizer vaccines was still very Alaskan. Wrangell received its first batch of vaccines for the virus Wednesday, Dec. 16. The medicine was flown in from Sitka on a float plane. Steve Kamm, with Sea Wind Aviation, landed at the harbor a little after noon with two boxes of vaccines. They were delivered to SEARHC staff Aaron Angerman and Kathy Jo Blackburn. Angerman did not say how many vaccines were del...
By Caleb Vierkant Sentinel writer Family, friends, students, and coworkers gathered online and in the WHS gym last Thursday, Dec. 17, to surprise teacher Jack Carney. Carney was named "Assistant Wrestling Coach of the Year" for the 2019-2020 school year. This award came down from the National Wrestling Coaches Association. Activities Director Trisa Rooney said, in an email, that this award is normally presented during the state championship in Anchorage. However, as wrestling season had not yet...
Dr. Anne Zink, Alaska's chief medical officer, called in to a special meeting of the Wrangell Borough Assembly last Friday afternoon, Dec. 18, to give a brief update on the COVID-19 situation across the state. In her update she said that she is "cautiously optimistic" about the future, with vaccinations being rolled out and a slowdown in rising case numbers. "Across the state, as a whole, we're starting to see a tentative decline in the acceleration, which has been fantastic," she said. "We are...
The City and Borough of Wrangell gave the public an update on the city's drinking water quality in a press release on Dec. 18. A few months ago, it was reported that Wrangell's drinking water contained excessive amounts of Haleoacetic Acids, or HAA5. Since then, the city has taken steps to bring the levels of HAA5 back down to allowable levels. According to their recent press release, acid levels have decreased, but still above allowable maximums as of October. "The elevated level of HAA5s do...
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed a lot when it comes to day-to-day life, especially at the Wrangell School District. Some things remain the same, however, even if they look different. Last Wednesday, Dec. 16, the district held its annual Christmas concert. The concert brought together students from Evergreen Elementary, Stikine Middle School, and Wrangell High School to perform songs and music for the holiday season. What was different this year was that the concert was not live, but instead...
The Wrangell Borough Assembly met last Friday afternoon, Dec. 18, for a special meeting. They convened to approve of a final spending plan for the city's remaining CARES Act funding before the close of 2020. Wrangell, and many other communities, received government funding to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic under the CARES Act. The borough received approximately $3.85 million to use in response to the pandemic near the beginning of last summer. Wrangell has used this funding for a variety of...
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