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The Wrangell School Board held their first meeting since last week's election on Monday, Oct. 12. This was the first meeting for Laura Ballou, recently elected to the school board. The first order of business was to nominate new officers for the board. Other appointments were also made. School Board President Aaron Angerman was nominated back to his position as president. This was unanimously approved by the board. Patty Gilbert was named school board vice-president, and David Wilson was named...
Wrangell’s Tent City Days Festival kicks off this week. The festival, celebrating the city’s history from the Alaska gold rush, has been a long-running tradition in the community. However, it has seen a decline in public interest in recent years. Jillian Privett, one of the organizers behind the event this year, said she hopes to help revitalize the festival. “Tent City Days has been going on for over 30 years, since I was a little kid,” she said. Privett said that Tent City Days usually...
The Wrangell Borough Assembly met Tuesday evening, Oct. 13. During this meeting, they voted to extend a resolution allowing them to forgo in-person meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic. This resolution was approved back in March when COVID-19 was beginning to impact Alaska. The resolution allowed for the suspension of in-person assembly meetings until Oct. 17, unless extended. According to the meeting's agenda packet, the city is working on plans to return to in-person meetings, but for the...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan and challenger Al Gross met in a debate focused on fisheries policy that ended up focusing on other issues including federal COVID-19 relief funding and Pebble Mine. The candidates for Sullivan’s seat in the U.S. Senate squared off Saturday in the 90-minute debate on Zoom, The Anchorage Daily News reported. Sullivan, the Republican incumbent, repeatedly characterized Gross as a threat who could hand Democrats control of the Senate. The debate was hosted by ComFish Alaska and the Kodiak Cha...
Applications for Thanksgiving and Christmas baskets are now open, according to Lt. Jon Tollerud of the Salvation Army. The Salvation Army and the Wrangell Ministerial Association are partnering to provide the baskets for Wrangell families in need of assistance during the holiday season, he said. The application process is simple. There is only one form to fill out, he said. "If all they want is Thanksgiving, or all they want is Christmas, they just circle one," Tollerud said. "Or they circle...
Tuesday, Oct. 6, was election day for Wrangell. Polls closed at 8 p.m., with the preliminary count showing a total of 419 voters participating on election day. Wrangell voters chose the community's leadership in a variety of positions this year, as well as whether or not Wrangell should leave the Inter-Island Ferry Authority. Below are the preliminary election results. Preliminary winners are marked with an asterisk (*). Borough Mayor, one two-year term *Steve Prysunka, 304 Write-ins, 54...
About two weeks ago, the Wrangell Sentinel received an email regarding a weather transmitter at Cape Fanshaw that was not operating. The email claimed that the transmitter has not been in operation for over a year, and is supposed to provide weather and navigation information for Frederick Sound and Stephens Passage. The email went on to say that it was the responsibility of the Coast Guard to repair the transmitter, which they have not done. Cape Fanshaw is located north of Petersburg, along a...
The Wrangell School Board was going to hold a workshop last Monday evening, Oct. 5, for budget training. However, it was rescheduled on short notice. There were three main items on the workshop’s agenda: Where to find the district’s Chart of Accounts, how to read the Chart of Accounts, and examples using the district’s financial reports. These items were to be followed up with a Q&A session, and suggestions for future training. The meeting was originally set to begin at 7 p.m. on Oct. 5. The W...
In last week’s paper, two stories were incorrectly attributed to Caleb Vierkant. The articles regarding human error causing a brief power outage, and water overflow at Swan Lake, were written by Brian Varela....
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – A state court judge on Monday ruled enforcement of witness requirements for absentee ballots in Alaska during a pandemic “impermissibly burdens the right to vote” but did not immediately put into effect an order eliminating the requirement for the general election. Superior Court Judge Dani Crosby gave the parties until late Tuesday to propose how the Division of Elections should communicate the message and said she would later issue an order “specifying how to implement elimination” of the requirement for the Nov. 3 el...
In last week's assembly meeting, Borough Manager Lisa Von Bargen reported that the city had recently been informed by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation that they had surpassed allowable levels of HAA5 in the water supply. HAA5, or Haloacetic Acids, is a byproduct of organic material in the water being treated with chlorine during the disinfection process. "It is important to remember organic material is always present in the source water treated for Wrangell's drinking water,"...
During Southeast Alaska's record breaking rainfall this summer, the Swan Lake hydroelectric facility reached its full capacity for the first time since the project was upgraded three years ago, according to a press release from Sen. Bert Stedman's office and Southeast Alaska Power Agency. Water levels reached the flashboards and forced a reservoir spill on July 24. The upgrade expanded the capacity of the hydroproject from 86,000 acre-feet to 111,800 acre-feet, according to the press release. Th...
The Freeberg family moved to Wrangell in April of 2019. Kyle Freeberg moved here to take a position as the town's state wildlife trooper. He has a total of three years of experience as a state trooper, the previous two spent in Fairbanks. His year as state trooper in Wrangell involved enforcing state laws, educating the public about important hunting and fishing regulations, and as he said in a July 2019 interview, working to increase collaboration between himself and the community. This...
Construction on the Wrangell Mariners' Memorial is coming along well, according to Mariners' Memorial Board Treasurer Jeff Jabusch. The steel for the memorial's walls themselves has been ordered, he said. The walls, once complete, will be where the plaques will eventually be placed. "We're hoping to get at least one wall actually finished and up before winter, and then get these three walls poured," Jabusch said. "Then we'll get everything leveled off to grade with gravel, and then probably won'...
The new Wrangell Medical Center is nearing completion, according to a press release from SEARHC. Several crews are on-site working on siding, concrete, drywall, and other aspects of the construction project. According to the press release, the facility is 80 percent complete. Installation of exterior siding is nearly complete, with only the courtyard walls and south-facing side of the facility left. The majority of plumbing has been completed, as well. Electric crews are currently installing...
Wrangell Parks and Rec announced a new photo contest for the public to participate in last Tuesday, Sept. 22. The "Pups In Parks" contest will give Wrangell dog owners a chance to go enjoy the great outdoors with their canines, and take a few pictures while they're out there. There will even be a chance for their dogs to be featured in a new parks and recreation calendar. Wrangell is a rather dog-friendly town, Parks and Rec Director Kate Thomas said. There are somewhere around 550 dogs on the...
The Public Safety Building has been a topic of much discussion and concern to city government. The building, which houses Wrangell’s police department, fire department, court, and DMV, is in disrepair. It was first constructed in 1987, according to Capital Facilities Director Amber Al-Haddad. Much of the discussion has been whether or not replacing the entire building would be cheaper than renovating it, and about the growing list of issues present in the building. Another problem has recently been added to the list, according to Borough M...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska reported six more deaths from the coronavirus — the highest number of deaths in a single day since the pandemic began, according to the state Department of Health and Social Services. The state also reported 128 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Friday, the most recent available data. The deaths include three men in their 60s, one man in his 50s and two men in their 70s. The state had previously reported a high of four deaths on Aug. 25. As of Friday, there were 4,424 active cases of the coronavirus in the sta...
A contractor at Southeast Alaska Power Agency’s Tyee Lake hydroelectric facility accidentally entered an incorrect control system input, resulting in a power outage in Wrangell and Petersburg Saturday morning, said SEAPA CEO Trey Acteson. SEAPA staff were conducting a training session associated with recent control upgrades when the error was made. Tyee Lake generation was lost at 9:15 A.M. on Sept. 26, said Robert Siedman, an electrical engineer with SEAPA. Power was restored 25 minutes later at 9:40 A.M. All the Wrangell and Petersburg c...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A federal appeals court will not hear an Alaska absentee ballot lawsuit before the Nov. 3 general election. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals denied a request Tuesday for an emergency order ahead of the election. The decision likely eliminates the possibility a judge will require the state to send absentee ballot request forms to all voters before November, which was the goal of the lawsuit by the Disability Law Center of Alaska and other plaintiffs. Alaska voters must request absentee ballots to vote by mail. The state p...
As discussed over several Economic Development Committee meetings, the City and Borough of Wrangell announced last Tuesday morning changes to existing COVID-19 relief programs, as well as a new program available to the public. As part of their response to the pandemic, the city has put together a variety of grant opportunities and other assistance programs to help businesses and community members get through these tough times. In a previous interview with the Wrangell Sentinel, Economic...
The Wrangell Borough Assembly met Tuesday night to hold a public hearing on a Community Development Block Grant. In 2018, according to the meeting's agenda packet, the borough received a block grant for the purchase of a new fire truck. The grant was for $337,500, with the total estimated cost of the fire truck at $450,000. Per the requirements of the grant, two public hearings were held about the grant, one for the public to suggest projects and another to serve as a status report on the grant...
The local Unified Command continues to meet weekly to consolidate the local COVID-19 response. During the meeting on Wednesday, September 16, local representatives expressed concerns for gatherings, provided updates on flu clinic preparations, and shared information on local testing programs. The Emergency Operations Center (EOC) continues to monitor large gatherings, according to EOC Director Dorianne Sprehe. She stated that such crowds are currently not an issue but concerning. Sprehe urged...
Election Day is just around the corner, on Oct. 6. Wrangell residents have the opportunity to voice their support for several candidates, seeking various leadership positions across the borough. Mayor, one two-year term Stephen Prysunka is seeking re-election to the position of mayor for a two-year term. He has served as Wrangell's mayor since 2018. He is seeking re-election because Wrangell is going through some hard times, he said, and it would be important to keep people with experience...
The Wrangell School Board met Monday, Sept. 21. Two major topics of discussion during this meeting were the high school swim team, and whether or not students could travel for activities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Several people spoke at the meeting, calling for the school district to fully fund the swim team, to add the coach's position to the schedule of extracurricular activities, as well as to remove the schedule of extracurricular activities from the negotiated agreement process. Jamie...