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After staging several musicals since the Nolan Center resurrected Wrangell’s community theater in 2022, this fall’s production is a romantic comedy about a man from a rich family who gets engaged to a woman from a very different family. “It’s high-energy hilarious,” co-director Kristen DeBord said of “You Can’t Take It With You.” Rehearsals are underway three days a week, with the cast and other volunteers working toward performances at the Nolan Center on Nov. 1 and 2, and maybe Nov. 3 if advance ticket sales are strong enough, said co...
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded a $15 million grant to the Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska to expand composting operations in five Southeast Alaska communities — and Wrangell could be one of them. The intent of the grant is to reduce organic waste in landfills, reduce greenhouse gas methane emissions generated from decaying garbage and promote local food production, said Brandi Tolsma, an environmental specialist with Tlingit & Haida in Juneau. The tribal council plans to expand its c...
Wrangell’s moose season opened last week. The one-month window runs from Sept. 15 through Oct. 15. Those hunting on Wrangell, neighboring islands and the mainland are permitted to harvest one bull this fall. There are no regulation changes from last hunting season, and Frank Robbins, Petersburg-Wrangell area biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, said he has not seen any notable changes to the health of the central Southeast herd. Last year’s Petersburg-Wrangell area harvest was a record 141 moose, exceeding the previous hig...
After 58 years in Wrangell, nine years on the assembly and two separate stints as vice mayor, David Powell decided now is the time to run for Wrangell's highest elected position. And while he is up against incumbent Patty Gilbert, Powell wants it known that he is not running against Gilbert in a typical fashion. When asked why voters should check the box next to his name on Oct. 1, he hesitated to give a response - not because he wasn't sure why people should vote for him - but because he...
Mayor Patty Gilbert ran for the office in 2022 with two goals in mind: economic development and improvements to the community's infrastructure. As she looks to win reelection this year, her goals haven't changed. Before becoming mayor, she served on the city council and borough assembly for 14 years. She also served on the school board between 2020 and 2022. A lifelong teacher with a classroom career spanning across six decades, Gilbert is confident she can continue to move Wrangell forward in...
Bob Dalrymple likes what the borough has managed to get done the past few years, particularly its focus on maintenance of public facilities and developing new capital projects, such as winning a federal grant to rebuild the downtown harbor floats. "I'd like to keep up with that momentum," said Dalrymple, who is running unopposed for a second three-year term on the assembly. "There are some real challenges coming up." He lists among the challenges finding a way to dispose of the former hospital...
Jim DeBord is running unopposed for election to a second consecutive three-year term on the borough assembly. He declined a Sentinel request for an interview. In addition to winning election to the assembly in 2021, DeBord served a one-year term 2018-2019....
If she wins a second term as school board member, Angela Allen said she wants to go after specific grants, encourage homeschooling parents to enroll their children in the public school system, and open the doors for communication between parents and the school board. She is up against fellow incumbent Brittani Robbins and newcomer Dan Powers. The seats will go to the two candidates with the most votes in the Oct. 1 municipal election. Terms will run through 2027. Allen moved to Wrangell for her...
Brittani Robbins is running for a three-year term on the school board in a contested election against fellow incumbent Angela Allen and newcomer Dan Powers. The top vote-getters will win the two seats. In addition to serving on the school board since 2021, Robbins also serves on the borough assembly, a seat she won in 2022. She has worked as executive director for Wrangell's chamber of commerce and served as chair of the school district's budget and finance committee. A graduate of the Wrangell...
Dan Powers does a little bit of everything. In the mornings he drives the school bus. During the day he owns and operates a local tour service called Experience Wrangell. Some days he is managing his rental properties and other days he is playing gigs alongside his wife and longtime musical partner Shelley Powers. And in the evenings, well, Powers has seven kids (and one on the way), so things can get unpredictable. But now, he just wants to make the peace. "I'm a peacemaker," he said before...
Though not yet final, the initial draft of the 2025 cruise ship schedule estimates around 40,000 passengers could arrive on cruise ships next year, an increase from just over 20,000 in 2024. Most notably, the number of larger ships (vessels that hold over 1,000 passengers) is expected to about triple. This summer, the largest ships made three port calls in Wrangell: the Nieuw Amsterdam once in May and the Queen Elizabeth twice in July. Both ships have capacity for just over 2,000 passengers....
Alaskans still making ornaments to hang on the Capitol Christmas Tree now have a little more time. The original submission deadline of Sept. 16 has been extended two weeks to Sept. 30. "Sept. 16 ... that was the deadline we were given about a year ago when we started planning this," said Claire Froelich, interpretation and education specialist with the U.S. Forest Service in Wrangell. "But because we are now working with Alaska Airlines, our shipping is going to take less time, so now we have...
After a prospective buyer bailed out on purchasing the former hospital in June, the property remains a burden for the borough. Currently, the building sits empty. It had been eating up nearly $100,000 a year to cover heat, insurance and maintenance. On Sept. 2, the borough’s Economic Development Board brainstormed some potential options for the building’s future. After a long discussion, the board established two priorities for the property: job creation and economic development. Board Chair Bob Dalrymple acknowledged that spinning the ailing p...
The borough hopes to learn this week the exact location and condition of the kinked blockage in the treatment plant outfall pipeline that has forced a temporary solution — discharging the wastewater on the beach near City Park. “It’s essentially been bent in half,” Public Works Director Tom Wetor said of the 12-inch-diameter plastic pipe, which was hooked Aug. 30 by a boat anchor and damaged as the anchor line was being pulled up. Repairs could take a couple of months, he said Sept. 6. It just depends on how much work is needed. The borough has...
As if the borough’s Public Works Department wasn’t busy enough last week with the damaged sewage outfall line, the crew was pressed into evening work to repair a broken water main on St. Michaels Street. The ductile iron pipe on the hill above City Market probably was 40 to 50 years old, said Public Works Director Tom Wetor. “The stuff was supposed to last 60 years,” he said, but poor installation likely led to deterioration of the pipe and the break. A lot of utility pipe was buried around town and throughout Alaska during the heavy flow of...
Trollers shoved off from docks across Southeast Alaska over the weekend, following an announcement from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game of a very limited 10-day commercial opening for kings. The brief window opened Sept. 1 and was scheduled to close Sept. 10, with a limit of 12 kings per troller. The department said it expects trollers will harvest the remaining Southeast allocation of about 4,000 fish. That’s what remains of the commercial net fisheries share of Southeast kings, as seine fisheries have wrapped up and gillnet fisheries a...
Southeast Alaska subsistence users who want current information on sockeye escapement numbers, deer seasons and detailed maps now have a single website providing all the information. The U.S. Forest Service on Sept. 2 went live with its new subsistence dashboard. “This tool was created in response to feedback and requests by tribal organizations and subsistence users throughout Southeast Alaska,” Tongass Subsistence Program Manager Robert Cross said in a prepared statement. “We heard how difficult it was to find subsistence data and under...
Assembly Member David Powell has filed to run for mayor, taking on incumbent Patty Gilbert in the Oct. 1 municipal election. Gilbert is running for a second two-year term as mayor. Powell is in his ninth year on the assembly. In another contested race on the ballot, Chris Buness is seeking a second three-year term on the port commission, with Tony Guggenbickler, Eric Yancey and Antonio Silva also on the ballot. The top two vote-getters will each win a three-year term. Guggenbickler has never held elected office in Wrangell, though he served...
Voters will decide Oct. 1 whether the borough should borrow $3 million to repair the Public Safety Building, and also whether to amend the municipal charter so that assembly members could eventually receive compensation. The charter currently prohibits compensation for the mayor and assembly members; the Oct. 1 vote could change that. The assembly voted Aug. 27 to place both questions on the municipal election ballot. The bond proposition passed unanimously, while the compensation ordinance passed 6-1. Assembly Member Bob Dalrymple was the...
Ann Hegney will be the school district's new counselor this year, but not until she can catch a state ferry to town. The school board approved her hire on Aug. 19, but due to a lack of car deck space on the weekly ferry from Bellingham, Washington, she will not arrive in Wrangell until Sept. 15. From there, she will have a quick turnaround: Her first day of work is the very next morning. She is driving cross country from upstate New York and plans to stop in Wyoming and Montana for some...
The borough is asking a military training program to help assess and clear out a sunken barge and tug offshore the former sawmill property near 6-Mile. It’s unclear how long the vessels have been stuck on the bottom but it’s likely been 25 or 30 years, according to current and past borough officials. Though the vessels do not impede access by the scrap metal salvage barge operator that has a five-year lease on the borough-owned property, the sunken vessels could become a problem if Wrangell is able to attract a long-term user or buyer for the...
Jackson Pool loves solving problems. As Wrangell's new finance director, he is excited to do just that. He joined the borough last week after working as an accountant for the Ketchikan Gateway Borough for just over a year. His hire ends a run of nine months without a finance director for Wrangell. Borough Manager Mason Villarma has been doing both jobs since last November. Pool's hire is a relief for Villarma; not only will the borough manager now be able to direct all his attention toward his...
If you’ve enjoyed City Park’s newly refurbished pavilion this summer, you might be twice as happy now. The borough recently approved a construction contract for a new pavilion in City Park, and the best part: Wrangell hardly has to pay anything for it. The new pavilion replaces the structure that was destroyed in a November 2021 windstorm. It will be built exactly where the old one stood, a couple hundred feet south of the pavilion upgraded this summer. Following the storm, the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management all...
Damage to the outfall line, a plastic pipe that moves Wrangell’s treated sewage 1,200 feet out to sea, caused a temporary backup in the wastewater treatment plant on Aug. 30. To prevent wastewater overflow at the plant, borough workers dug up and cut the line on the beach. The short-term solution resulted in treated sewage deposited directly on the beach between City Park and the Mariners’ Memorial at Heritage Harbor. Wrangell’s primary treatment plant removes all solid waste before it is discharged. The borough on Sept. 3 announced the immed...
The borough has started a newsletter, the first in a series of initiatives to provide more information for the public, particularly focused on promoting economic growth. The second initiative will be monthly informal discussions titled “Our Town, Our Future.” The “economic coffee chats” will be held the third Friday every month, starting Oct. 18, said Kate Thomas, the borough’s economic development director. The meetings will be held at a different location each month, she said, with the first location undecided as of last week. The series will...