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The community of Wrangell never stops showing up for each other. It is the quality that I most appreciate about living here. It keeps me humble and hopeful for the future, because I see examples of people caring for each other every day in Wrangell. Sometimes in little ways. Sometimes in big ways. On Saturday, March 16, I got off a plane from Washington, D.C., and attended the public memorial service for Ottie Florschutz. People brought food, memories, photos, laughter and tears to share with family and friends, as the community grieved...
Gov. Mike Dunleavy sank to a new low last week when he vetoed a bipartisan, long-needed comprehensive education funding package that had passed the House and Senate by a combined 56-3 vote. Yet he reached for new heights in explaining his low decision to deny school districts their first meaningful increase in state funding since 2017. More specifically, he boarded the Starship Enterprise, which is as much a stage prop as are his reasons for vetoing the bill. At a March 15 press conference to explain his veto, Dunleavy called the state’s p...
The Sentinel has never charged for listings in the community calendar, which has been displayed on Page 2 for years. Easy enough for print subscribers to open the paper and see what’s happening in town, whether public meetings, fundraisers, youth activities, multiple Parks and Recreation activities, movies and more. But it did not dawn on me until last week that anyone wanting to read the calendar online needed a subscription. My apologies for never thinking about that. It’s another reminder that my 72-year-old head still thinks of new...
On March 14, Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed Senate Bill 140, which would have provided the largest increase in the base student allocation state funding formula for public schools since its inception. This legislation aimed to boost the base rate by $680 per student, about an 11% increase, a critical measure to uphold the state's constitutional duty to provide public education to all children in Alaska. Even though the BSA has only seen a 4.92% increase since 2012, while the consumer price index has risen more than 25%, indicating a 21% decrease in...
No question last year was pretty miserable for Alaska’s commercial fishing industry — the people who catch and clean salmon; the processors that buy, prep and ship the fish; the communities that depend on the summer jobs and tax revenues. And no question that this year is looking about as dark, or darker. The head of the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute recently described last year as “rock bottom” for prices paid to fishers and weak markets for processors, later amending that statement to say that this year is scrapping another layer deeper...
Even in winter, there are hot opportunities. And since the state’s prospects for economic well-being are in short supply these days — like being short of buyers for Alaska salmon, running short of energy for Southcentral residents and businesses, and falling woefully short of funding for public schools — the state needs to seize whatever unexpected opportunities arise. Alaskans have long prided themselves on ingenuity, making something anew from the discard piles left behind by others. In this case, there are six ice-class liquefied natur...
By Frank Rue It’s hard to believe that the abandoned Tulsequah Chief mine, just across the Alaska border in Canada, has been discharging toxic, acidic and metals-laden waste water into the Taku River watershed for almost 70 years. A kaleidoscope of Canadian excuses, corporate bankruptcies, and hollow promises have meant no meaningful, on-the-ground effort has been made to clean up this mess in Southeast Alaska’s top salmon-producing river system. The mine site is about 40 air miles northeast of Juneau. Alaskans have been pressing to have the pr...
Regarding the editorial that appeared in the Wrangell Sentinel on Feb. 28: As a lifelong resident of Southeast Alaska, I’ve experienced the growth of the mega tourist industry and, yes, some of it is good for the economy. Along with that comes negative things, which should also be considered when deciding to jump into the fray. A few things to be explored are hands-on talks with the people of the other communities, not just the officials. Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan and Sitka have been totally overrun with shops owned by the tour industry and o...
Don’t think of it as selling the borough-owned former hospital building and it’s almost two acres of land for a steep discount to its appraised value. Think of it as potentially getting an immense amount of future value from an unused liability that is costing the borough about $100,000 a year to heat and insure. When you look at the math that way, a developer’s offer to pay the borough $200,000 for the hospital property looks pretty reasonable. Borough code allows the municipality to sell property at less than its appraised value if the sale w...
It was a perplexing week in the Legislature. While the Senate Finance Committee was reviewing honest numbers about real budget needs hitting up against the limit of available state revenues, the House was debating whether the exalted Permanent Fund dividend belongs in the Alaska Constitution, putting the PFD above all else in life. The Senate committee last week was doing the math, realizing the state would not have enough money for a fat dividend this year, no matter what the governor and too many legislators may pledge, promise and promote....
It’s nothing personal, just business. But it still hurts. Wrangell has lost three cruise ship stops this summer to Klawock, where a partnership of Native corporations is developing a visitor destination complete with a deepwater dock, retail shops, shore excursions, walking trails and more. Two of the corporations, Huna Totem and Fairbanks-based Doyon, are already active in the tourism industry. The third, Klawock Heenya, wants to get into the business to provide jobs and income for its tribal shareholders in the Prince of Wales Island c...
The governor’s growing obsession with charter schools is frightening for the future of public education in Alaska. He talks as if charter schools are by far the best answer to the state’s low student test scores. He has told Alaskans he would not support an increase in state funding for public schools unless the Legislature also backs his proposal to bypass local school boards when parents want to start up a new charter school. At the same time, he resists providing adequate support for public school districts that have not seen any real inc...
The advice for Las Vegas gamblers is don’t bet more than you can afford to lose. It’s generally the same advice for investors: Don’t take more risk than you can afford, even when the riskier bets look like they could pay off the same as 21 at the blackjack table. The six members of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. board of trustees should take this advice to heart. Most every investment is a gamble — company stocks can drop in price, bonds may be worth less if borrowers stop repaying their debts in full, real estate can fall in value, interes...
Assembly members, the mayor and borough staff are right: It’s time to pay elected officials a reasonable amount for all the hours they put into the job. Yes, it’s a public service, but it’s still a job. The assembly meetings, the homework, reading reports and financials and meeting with borough staff, state officials and the public — all of which are necessary for making well-informed decisions — take a lot of time. Public service is a good thing, but taking time off from work, paying for child care, missing out on time with family is a lot...
As your representative in the Alaska Legislature, I have been and will continue to support legislation that advocates for our growing senior citizen population. That’s why I am proud to cosponsor House Bill 242 which, if passed, will extend the Alaska Senior Benefits Payment Program until June 2034. Alaska has a robust history of supporting its senior population, with the first efforts to help our seniors dating back to 1915. The territorial Legislature’s approval of the old-age bonus program marked the beginning of decades of evolution in ass...
It’s a good time to take a break from distressing international conflicts and too many deaths, depressing national politics of too much dishonesty and too little compromise, and the difficult state politics of short-funded schools and public services. The bad news will still be there next week. Meanwhile, for Wrangell, there is some good news to acknowledge. The borough has organized a public information fair of lenders, financial advisers, builders, zoning and utility officials to help people who are interested in buying one of the 20 s...
Think of the state’s Constitutional Budget Reserve Fund as the rich uncle or rich aunt you can go to when you’re short of cash to pay bills and need a loan. But even that wealthy relative has a bottom to their pocket. Take too much out and that pocket could be empty when you really need it. It’s like that with Alaska’s budget reserve fund, the voter-approved, 34-year-old savings account that was created to hold excess oil and gas revenues for when the state needs readily available cash to balance the budget. The budget reserve provides an infi...
This thought often crosses my mind and I decided it’s time to share it. We are so fortunate to live in Wrangell. There are times when people carry on vehemently about things they dislike, but when we need each other there’s always tremendous support. The response to the landslide is a prime example. It seems like we always run into a Wrangellite at the Seattle airport. When we do, it’s like old home week. Recently, Rod and I were there waiting for our plane which was a couple hours late. I was slowing making my way to the “facility” when someon...
Alaskans often like to complain — a lot, and loudly — about national groups sticking their noses and opinions into the workings of the 49th state. So, it’s only fair to extend a “thank you” when a national group puts up its money and time into doing something Alaskans like. The National Forest Foundation, chartered by Congress in 1992 as the official nonprofit partner of the U.S. Forest Service, is partnering with the federal agency to rebuild the popular public-use cabin at Anan Bay and, in an even bigger undertaking, building new cabins th...
The U.S.-Mexico border is a humanitarian disaster, with U.S. Border Patrol agents taking custody of upwards of 200,000 people a month trying to cross a line in the sand, river, desert shrubs or razor wire in search of a better life. The numbers are staggering — for the burden it imposes on U.S. border cities, on federal agents, and on the immigrants caught up in the political war of a U.S. election year. A bipartisan group of U.S. senators worked hard to find solutions to tighten the border, only to watch as presidential candidate Donald T...
The question for the Wrangell borough assembly is how many utilities will be free to owners of accessory dwelling units. The ordinance is not clear on what utilities will be billed. The recently passed accessory dwelling unit ordinance does not state an answer to this question. The assembly gives the normal government response, which is ignore the question and walk away. Toughen up and get a backbone, assembly members. It is your job to be transparent and honest about the content of ordinances you pass. Silence is no answer. Bill...
It seems the governor’s office must like country music. Can’t argue with that choice. The lyrics speak of American dreams and heartbreaks. What makes the songs so popular is that they tell stories, believable or not, such as the famous line: “That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.” Sadly, that same line is essentially all the public is getting from the governor’s office to explain his decisions behind a dozen executive orders that will take effect unless rejected by the Legislature before mid-March. While some of the orders are not controver...
Just because few to none of Alaska’s elected officials are talking about bringing back the personal income tax is no reason to ignore its anniversary. OK, maybe it’s weird to celebrate your anniversary with an ex, but it’s different with the state income tax. Whereas you’re unlikely to remarry an ex, Alaskans eventually may reunite with the tax. Not willingly, of course. More like a shotgun wedding based on financial necessity. It was 75 years ago this month that the territorial Legislature enacted Alaska’s first personal income tax. It was als...
I am Robb Arnold and I plan to run for the District 1 seat (Ketchikan, Metlakatla and Wrangell) in the Alaska House of Representatives. I came to Alaska in the early 1990s to work with my dad at a logging camp on Kuiu Island, near Sitka. Rowan Bay changed my life. The challenging work, the forest, the bears, hunting and fishing — it made me fall in love with life in Southeast. I worked during the summers, then came back in 2000. For years, my home has been in Ketchikan. I was hired in 2006 as a crew member for the Alaska Marine Highway S...
Pick your cliché: Push comes to shove; between a rock and a hard place; money is tight; living within your means; don’t spend more than you can afford. Children need a quality education to succeed in life. Just because the cliches flow easily, don’t expect the answers to be as easy. The school district is in its last year of federal pandemic relief aid, which it has used to cover the salaries and benefits of Wrangell’s two school principals. That means district officials and the school board will have to absorb those expenses into an already ti...