Sorted by date Results 4183 - 4207 of 7980
The City and Borough of Wrangell announced that a new case of COVID-19 was confirmed this evening, Aug. 21. The announcement came in a press release from the city at 5:10 p.m. The new case, No. 16 in the community’s total case count, was reportedly discovered in a routine employee testing program. The patient is asymptomatic, the press release reads, and they are in isolation. Of Wrangell’s total cases, 10 have been locals and the other 6 have been non-locals. The press release also reminds readers that free asymptomatic testing is ava...
St. Frances Animal Rescue is beginning plans to relocate. The shelter was first established in 2009 by Rick and Dolores Klinke according to a PSA from the organization. Joan Sargent, lead shelter volunteer and adoption/foster coordinator, said in the PSA that the animal rescue was created in response to a feral cat problem in Wrangell. For years since the rescue shelter was first established, the Klinke family and other volunteers have worked to care for and find homes for cats, dogs, and...
The Wrangell Borough Assembly met last Friday, Aug. 14, to consider amendments to the job description of the Facilities Maintenance Specialist. This item was originally considered in their meeting on Aug. 11, but was postponed due to an error in the previous agenda packet making the proposed changes not visible. The changes were also reviewed by the IBEW, the electrical workers' union, and according to the packet no concerns were raised regarding them. The assembly also approved of the...
The Wrangell Planning and Zoning Commission met last Thursday evening, Aug. 13, to cover several items on their agenda. The first item they covered was a preliminary plat review of the D&P Ellis Subdivision. Nobody was present to speak during the public hearing portion of this item. The commission approved the plat review under two conditions: The covered walkway between proposed lots 16A and 17A must be removed, and the applicant should work with the harbor department to resolve the issue of...
Monday morning, at about 10 a.m., a large rock fell from the bluff and landed on Zimovia Highway, around 8-mile. Lt. Bruce Smith, with the Wrangell Police Department, said that it was only one rock initially, but when it landed it broke up into lots of pieces. Nobody was hurt in the rockslide, he added. The debris blocked both lanes of traffic for some time. Smith said that he and others who got to the scene early were able to clear the road enough for people to drive on through. The Department...
For several years, the Wrangell School District has had its transportation needs met by the Etolin Bus Company. However, earlier this year company owner Greg McCormack announced his plans to retire. He sold his bus company to John Taylor, who took over the bus company and plans to keep it running. Now under the name Taylor Transportation, the company is preparing to serve the school district in its upcoming school year. "We bought it the day before COVID," John said, further clarifying that the...
The Wrangell School Board met Monday evening, Aug. 17. During the meeting, the board adopted a mandate requiring face masks be worn on district property. According to the mandate, masks must be worn while indoors, before entering buildings, before entering or leaving enclosed personal work areas, when walking to or from one's vehicle, or in other cases when social distancing of 6 feet cannot be maintained. There are some exceptions to the mandate. Masks will not be necessary, when social...
In March, when the COVID-19 pandemic first began to impact Alaska, many local businesses and organizations in Wrangell shut down. While many groups saw the time as an opportunity to wait and see how the pandemic would change things in the community, the Wrangell Salvation Army took the opportunity to renovate and upgrade. Now that they and other local groups are as close to business-as-usual as they can be in this time, the Salvation Army wanted to remind people struggling through the pandemic...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Alaska police are investigating racist graffiti in the woods near a Juneau middle school as a hate crime. The graffiti near Floyd Dryden Middle School is described by police as including “hateful and vulgar messages.” The markings were reported to the department on Wednesday, KTOO-FM reported. Retired teacher Janna Lelchuk and her husband were walking their dogs at Adair-Kennedy Park last weekend when they stumbled upon the racist and obscene graffiti in white spray paint on a bridge and trees. “There were horrible things...
About this time a century ago, eight members of the U.S. Army Air Service reached an important milestone of a long journey. Using DH-4 biplanes, used as bombers during World War I, several members of Black Wolf Squadron were attempting something never done before: To fly from New York City to Nome, Alaska. Their planes were among the first ever seen in Alaskan skies. The entire trip, there and back, was 9,000 miles and 112 hours of flying. On their way, this week 100 years ago, the city of...
Two weeks ago, it was announced that Hope Community Church of God would be hiring a new pastor, William Vorrasi. In a now-deleted post on the Wrangell community Facebook page, he introduced himself and family. His wife, Teresa, was born and raised in Wrangell and he said they were excited about the move. However, it came to light that Vorrasi is on the national sex offender registry. Backlash from the community has caused the church to take back its decision to hire him. Vorrasi said that his...
At approximately 10:35 a.m. last Wednesday, Aug. 5, the Wrangell Volunteer Fire Department was alerted to a fire alarm at the Wrangell Medical Center. Firefighters and EMS responded to the call within minutes, while hospital staff and patients waited outside. Upon investigation, it was determined that there was no danger. The fire department was unable to determine what caused the fire alarm to go off, however. "It could have been a procedure they were doing," said Chief Tim Buness. "It doesn't...
The Wrangell Port Commission met Thursday evening, Aug. 6, to discuss plans to relocate an old Forest Service vessel. The borough assembly adopted a memorandum with the Forest Service last November, regarding the M/V Chugach Ranger. According to a Nov. 14, 2019 article in the Sentinel, the ship was first constructed in 1925, and is one of the last wooden Forest Service ranger boats in existence. It currently resides in the boat yard. However, the plan is to move the boat over to the Nolan...
The Wrangell Medical Center construction project remains on budget, according to an update from SEARHC. Rainy weather this summer has been a challenge, according to the update, but progress is still being made on the new hospital. The update also adds that the project is actually ahead of schedule. Owner move-in activities are set to begin around mid-December this year. Full project completion is expected in early 2021. According to the update, interior metal framing is nearly complete. Drywall...
With a SMART Start plan in place, and a beginning to the year scheduled for Sept. 8, the Wrangell School District is now working to decide what risk level they should operate at for the upcoming school year. While the SMART Start plan on the district's website lists "medium risk" as the starting level for next year, a recent announcement by Superintendent Debbe Lancaster made the public aware this might not be the case. "The district will determine whether the schools will open at a medium or...
Work continues on the Wrangell Mariners' Memorial, a project to honor the memory of Wrangell seafarers who have lost their lives. As previously reported in the last construction update, the roof of the memorial's gazebo was recently installed. Jenn Miller-Yancey, with the Mariners' Memorial Board, said that more progress has recently been made. Some recent advancements in the project, she wrote in an email to the Sentinel, were made to help honor the memory of two local fishermen. Siguard and...
Alaska is ranked last among the 50 states in its response to the 2020 United States Census, as of Tuesday, Aug. 11. Only Puerto Rico is behind Alaska in its response to the census, according to Jeanette Duran Pacheco, media specialist with the U.S. Census Bureau regional office in Los Angeles. According to data from the United States Census Bureau, as of Tuesday, 50.1 percent of Alaskans have completed the 2020 Census. Petersburg residents are aligned with the state's participation rate, with...
The Wrangell Borough Assembly met Tuesday evening, Aug. 11. During this meeting, they appointed Bob Dalrymple to fill a vacant seat on the assembly. A seat was left empty after the resignation of Mya DeLong in June. Dalrymple was the only one to submit a letter of interest in the term, which expires this October. "I would like to be more involved in public service and I think my abilities and experience would complement the current Assembly," Dalrymple wrote in his letter of interest. During...
After June Leffler left KSTK to move back down south last month, the local radio station has operated without a reporter. Leffler's replacement, Sage Smiley, arrived in town last Sunday. "I'm really excited to be here," she said. "I think that Southeast is a beautiful place, and that Wrangell seems like a really wonderful and close knit community. I'm excited to be a part of it and get to report, do what I love here." Smiley got her start in radio in Utah. She said she has worked in a variety of...
Last week, four people died in a car wreck in Petersburg. Among them were two Wrangellites, Siguard and Helen Decker, 21-years-old and 19-years-old. Their deaths shook the community, which has come together in a variety of ways to express their grief and support for the Decker family. A GoFundMe page was put together by the United Fishermen of Alaska, to raise money in their memory. As of Tuesday morning, Aug. 4, $161,273 has been raised. "The initial $10,000 in funds raised will go towards...
Alaska State Troopers continue to investigate a fatal accident that claimed the lives of four seine boat crewmembers sometime after 10 P.M. on Monday, July 27. A Ford Excursion driven by Siguard Decker drove off the roadway near the 27-mile marker of Mitkof Highway at a high rate of speed, according to Alaska State Troopers. Megan Peters, communications director with the Alaska Dept. of Public Safety said Siguard Decker, who was driving, seems to have had lost control of the vehicle and then...
The Wrangell Borough Assembly held a special meeting Tuesday, Aug. 4. The only item on the agenda that evening was a discussion of a potential mandate requiring the public wear face masks. No formal action was taken in the meeting, as this was only a discussion item. The general consensus among the assembly was, while they strongly recommend and encourage the public to wear masks, they do not want to go all the way to mandating it. This discussion was brought up at the request of the Emergency...
Three new cases of COVID-19 were recently announced by city officials, bringing the total number of cases Wrangell has seen up to 15. Of these, six cases are considered active as of Aug. 3. The other nine are considered recovered. According to the city press release, nine cases are Wrangell locals, while the other six are non-locals. The first of these most recent cases was announced on Friday, July 31. This was followed by two other cases that were announced on Aug. 1. All three cases were...
A new Facebook page has been created for the Wrangell Sentinel, the oldest continuously published newspaper in Alaska. Around mid-June, the Sentinel's Facebook page became "unpublished" for reasons that are unclear to staff members. A notice from Facebook stated that recent activity on the page did not follow Facebook Page Policies. However, multiple attempts to contact Facebook for further information and to re-publish the page were unsuccessful. As such, a new Facebook page has been created....
The Wrangell Public School District recently published their SMART Start plan for next year. These are the guidelines the schools will be following to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 spreading amongst the student body and school staff. The plans differ school-to-school, and can also change depending on the level of risk of COVID-19. Stikine Middle School and Wrangell High School will begin the year at "medium risk," according to the plan. This will have a regular seven-period day Monday through...
