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The Alaska Marine Highway System is now accepting summer travel bookings. The summer season for the state ferries runs from May 1 to Sept. 30. The schedule, which was released on Dec. 23 and opened that same day for online reservations, shows the same level of service to Wrangell as in recent years: A northbound stop in the afternoon or early evening every Sunday and a southbound morning stop every Wednesday. Wrangell will be served on the weekly run by the Columbia between Bellingham, Washington, and Southeast Alaska. Fares are the same as...
It was 1869 and smoke filled the winter air. Cannon balls ripped through Tlingit homes while U.S. Army shells shrieked across the sky. The same type of artillery used against the Confederates just four years prior was now turned on the Tlingit people of Wrangell, in their homeland which they called Ḵaachx̱aana.áakʼw. One hundred and fifty-five years later, the U.S. Army is apologizing. The apology is scheduled to take place in Wrangell on Jan. 11, 2025. Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Army repr...
Southeast Alaska’s population is expected to drop 17% between 2023 and 2050, far more than any other region of the state, according to the latest projections, with Wrangell showing the steepest decline at 33%, from 2,039 residents in 2023 to 1,988 in July 2025, 1,845 in 2030 and down to 1,349 in 2050. Wrangell’s population has been in a steady decline since the timber industry started cutting back in the 1990s and the mill closed down permanently in 2008, and with deaths outnumbering births. The state’s latest projections are not based on an...
The community theater team is gearing up for their spring production, the musical “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.” Auditions will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. on Jan. 6 and 7 at the Nolan Center. Everyone who tries out for the cast is encouraged to come prepared with a song to sing and to read lines for the auditions. First performed on Broadway in 1982, the musical tells the biblical story of Joseph, whose dreams of destiny and his father’s favoritism inspires jealousy among his 11 brothers. Set in Canaan and Egypt, it follo...
Heavy winds earlier this month caused several trees to fall near Zarembo Island’s popular public access point. One tree tore through the causeway that connects the dock to the island. Another barricaded a dirt ramp often used to load and offload vehicles at the beach landing. The nearby island is a hot spot for hunters and outdoor enthusiasts. U.S. Forest Service Wrangell District Ranger Tory Houser hopes to have the causeway repaired ahead of the 2025 deer hunting season, which begins Aug. 1. She said the Forest Service is actively working to...
The 18-year-old Marine Service Center, a mainstay of Wrangell’s waterfront economy, collects enough money in fees to cover its expenses — but there is nothing set aside to replace equipment, such as the boatlifts and hydraulic trailer that are essential to the operation. A 2022 economic analysis pointed out that if equipment replacement and other capital expenses were included in the math, the borough loses money on the service center. The port commission has started discussing possible rate increases to ensure there is sufficient money in a r...
The port commission is considering whether it can attract more boat owners to keep their vessels in the water during the winter if the monthly moorage rates were discounted. The idea is to generate revenue from unused moorage spaces. Even with a discount, the monthly short-term moorage rates would still be more expensive per month than the rate for boat owners who reserve a space for a full year. A seasonal discount to entice more owners to keep their boats in the water in the winter might work, said Winston J. Davies, port commission chair....
Ketchikan Rep.-elect Jeremy Bynum has decided to join the House Republican minority caucus. A narrow 21-member coalition of Democrats, independents and two Republicans are set to govern the 40-member House when lawmakers convene next month in Juneau. The majority coalition has been hoping to entice a couple more Republicans, including Bynum, to join their ranks. Bynum opted to stay with the Republicans, according to last week’s announcement by the minority caucus. The freshman legislator, who also will represent Wrangell, Metlakatla and C...
A Washington state-based bioenergy company is exploring potential development of the borough’s 6-Mile mill property. Next week, Dale Borgford and other members of Borgford BioEnergy will fly to Wrangell ahead of a Wednesday, Dec. 18, public workshop with borough officials. The workshop will explore whether Borgford is a good fit for the property and vice versa. The meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at City Hall. Since purchasing the mill site for $2.5 million in 2022, the borough has wanted to cater the property toward economic development. Bo...
Five, four, three, two, one - wooooooooooo. And just like that, the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree was alit. Adorned with 10,000 Alaskan-made ornaments and glistening with the power of 5,000 LED bulbs, the 80-foot-tall spruce will remain lit from dusk to 11 p.m. through Jan. 1. While the tree obviously headlined its own lighting ceremony, the Dec. 3 event was equally a celebration of Wrangell and the state. Members of Alaska's congressional delegation, Rep. Mary Peltola and Sens. Lisa Murkowski...
For the first time since it shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic, Wrangell's indoor shooting range is up and running. One might even say it's ready to go - lock, stock and barrel. The range's first day of operation was Dec. 3, and it will be open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5 to 7 p.m. (dependent on the availability of range safety officers). Eventually, the range, located in the basement of the Public Safety Building, will open on Saturdays from 2 to 4 p.m., but that will not begin until...
After more than five years of work, Wrangell's newspapers going back to the Fort Wrangel News in June 1898 (when the town was spelled with one l) are now available in a searchable online database. And it's free. The website, which went live on Wednesday, Dec. 11, is owned and managed by the Irene Ingle Public Library. "This incredible resource brings over 6,000 issues together in one convenient location, providing a powerful tool for researchers, families and anyone curious about Wrangell's...
Alaska Airlines has received a federal subsidy since 1976 to provide Wrangell with twice-daily jet service, and the mayor and chamber of commerce are rounding up community support to urge the government to issue a new contract after the current agreement expires in 2025. “I want to ensure it stays around,” Mayor Patty Gilbert said of her petition drive to show community support for Alaska Airlines under the U.S. Department of Transportation Essential Air Service program. Wrangell is one of 65 communities in Alaska — which includes 10 more...
This fall, social studies teacher Jack Carney hosted a mock election for his junior and senior students. The kids learned about the issues, ballot measures and candidates, asked questions and eventually cast mock ballots of their own. A newly updated school board policy will ensure such classroom efforts can continue in the future. “In social studies classes, for example, we want things about the election and about political parties,” Superintendent Bill Burr said. “We wanted to make sure that was allowed.” The new policy ensures this. Though...
Now concluding its third year, the Wrangell Mariners’ Memorial at Heritage Harbor has 71 plaques honoring people who were part of the community’s maritime industry. The nonprofit organization is accepting applications through Jan. 31 for new plaques that will be installed in the spring. Each application should include the name of the deceased, a brief tribute that will be featured on the plaque and a story about the life of the mariner, which will be stored and available on the memorial’s online server. The memorial’s mission “is to help tell...
A seasoned group of Wrangell birders will be the primary volunteers for this year’s Audubon Society Christmas Bird count on Saturday, Dec. 14. Coordinator Bonnie Demerjian has developed a group of experienced volunteers for this essential reporting, which samples the variety and number of land and seabirds in the area. The bird count is an annual event nationwide. While there is often a call for wider participation among community members in Wrangell, this year the reporting teams are set, including two boat teams, captained by Dan Rak and Bruc...
According to Clark Griswold, you have two choices when it comes to selecting your Christmas tree. Your first option is to go to a tree lot: “They invented Christmas tree lots,” Griswold says in the 1989 movie “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation,” “because people forgot how to have a fun old-fashioned family Christmas and are satisfied with scrawny, dead overpriced trees that have no special meaning.” Instead, he advises, “to do what your forefathers did.” Which is, “walk into the woods, pick out that special tree and cut it down with your ba...
Though this year’s Dove Tree public ceremony was canceled due to weather and dangerous driving conditions on Dec. 1, Hospice of Wrangell has hung paper doves on the tree at the Nolan Center for 52 residents, family and friends who have passed away. “It includes several people who died more than a year ago, but obituaries or gatherings happened later. Some of these people had no obituary in the Sentinel,” explained hospice volunteer Alice Rooney. The public event has been rescheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 15, at the Nolan Center. The tree — an...
In 2012, Kimberley Szczatko bought a sign that reads "Open, Come On In" in anticipation of one day hanging it on the door of her own store. That sign now greets you at Cooper's Corner, which celebrated its grand opening on Nov. 29 in the Front Street space recently vacated by Midnight Oil. Szczatko has made the space uniquely hers, filling it with antique trunks and bookcases, enormous moose and caribou mounts, and a wide product mix. While she has retained some goods from Midnight Oil, like...
The borough assembly has taken the first step toward assisting WCA’s purchase of land just south of the Wrangell Medical Center, where the tribal council plans to build a cultural center. Though Tribal Administrator Esther Aaltséen Reese said any ribbon-cutting ceremony would be at least a few years away, Borough Manager Mason Villarma said the borough and WCA hope to have the rezoning and borough land sale finalized by the end of the year. The new cultural center will be built behind the WCA offices on Zimovia Highway, and Reese said the ca...
Tidal Network is operating in its test mode, with about a dozen Wrangell households trying out the new wireless internet service provided by the Central Council Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. Wrangell is the first location in Southeast to get the new service, which is funded by a federal grant for construction and later will be expanded across the region. During the testing phase, technicians will be “breaking it to fix it,” looking to maximize the signals’ range and finding the best system for managing the fiber optic and satel...
After distributing over 120 Thanksgiving food baskets — 20 more than last year — The Salvation Army has shifted into Christmas gear to share even more food, plus presents for children. “It’s a shame that we have to do it,” Salvation Army Capt. Chase Green said of the growing need for food assistance in town. But the community has responded with donations to fill the need, he said. Plans for fundraising and community assistance this month include a dinner Saturday, Dec. 7, at the Stikine Inn; the annual Red Kettles donations campaign; “Angel Tr...
Mikki Angerman just wants everyone to feel included. She isn’t an esports fanatic. She doesn’t even call herself a gamer. Instead, she’s a special services educator who is passionate about promoting inclusion and acceptance. “Our world right now needs empathy more than anything else,” she said. Angerman wants the middle and high school esports team to be a conduit for just that. She hosted preliminary and casual esports practices last spring, but after realizing what was needed to both expand the team and possibly compete against other sch...
When See Stories brought its documentary filmmaking program to Wrangell two years ago, most of the students who participated hadn't picked up a camera outside of what was on their phones. Now, Laura Davies, a teacher at Stikine Middle School, is carrying on what she and her students learned by creating Stikine Stories, producing more documentaries and podcasts. One of her former students who participated in the original program even plans to make filmmaking a career. Alaska-based See Stories, a...
'Twas the weeks before Christmas and time for the annual tree lighting ceremony, set for 6 p.m. Friday, Dec. 6, next to the Elks Hall. Caroling will begin at 5:30 p.m. The annual chamber of commerce Midnight Madness sales event at downtown shops also will be held Friday evening, with hot cocoa and popcorn at the chamber’s downtown pavilion — and a chance to roast marshmallows — sponsored by the Wrangell Fire Department. The community market is scheduled to run from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday at the Nolan Center, featuring Santa Claus jolly at the r...