Sorted by date Results 406 - 430 of 1027
Amid all the legislative debate over the size of this year’s Permanent Fund dividend, the amount of state support for schools and loud pleas from communities across Alaska for more money for docks, sewage treatment plants, roads and building repairs, there is a bill that draws only a few people to its hearings. Senate Bill 45, sponsored by Kodiak Senator Gary Stevens, would bring vaping products, also known as e-cigarettes, under the state’s tobacco tax and regulation statutes. Stevens and other supporters have been trying for years to win legi...
I would like to thank everyone who wrote a letter on my behalf to the chamber of commerce. I am deeply touched and humbled by the award I received at the April 9 dinner. There are so many people in the community who are more deserving, and I am overwhelmed that I was chosen. Thank you again for all your kind words, I am very honored. Sarah Merritt...
It seemed like a good idea at the time. Whipping up a dessert to donate for a fundraiser should be a fun experience, but like every creative endeavor, I end up being too hard on myself, cooking the joy out of baking. A few months back, Amber Armstrong, our office manager, asked if I wanted to donate a dessert of my making to a chamber of commerce event. I responded that I’d be happy to before I had a chance to think it through. Would I have the time? What would I make? Why me? Oh, yeah. I bake all manner of desserts and then share them with e...
A big part of a well-functioning democracy is running for office or, if you don’t want your name on the ballot, backing a candidate, taking a position on a ballot issue, and writing checks for the campaigns you support. Writing those checks to elect your favored candidates and contributing to campaigns to win, or defeat, ballot propositions that do, or do not, serve your interests and align with your beliefs is everyone’s constitutional right. Freedom of expression includes the freedom to spend your money to promote your own self-interests and...
Awards are always appreciated, and thank you to the chamber members who honored the Sentinel as the business of the year, announced at the annual dinner last Saturday. I’d like to dream that the award means everyone agrees with every opinion I have shared on these pages in the past 15 months since I bought the Sentinel. Or at least agrees with me 90% of the time. I’d also like to dream my arthritis will magically go away, but then the doctor would need to treat me for being delusional. Truth is, I’d probably settle for people agreeing with me h...
Maybe Alaskans were tired of hearing the all-too-familiar refrains: Good candidates don’t run for public office anymore; it’s too expensive; ill-mannered social media posts go after their families and disrupt their lives; voters are too easily swayed by misleading attack ads; and no one wants to hear the truth about solving the country’s problems. So why bother running for office. Clearly, 51 candidates to fill the seat of the late Don Young, Alaska’s congressman for the past half-century, decided to ignore all the reasons not to run. Or mayb...
I’m not anti-Facebook. Well, maybe a little, but more agnostic than antagonistic. I see its purpose and its benefits to connect people, providing something akin to a community bulletin board, a soapbox for ideas, a scrapbook for the town. Just because I don’t maintain my own Facebook page doesn’t mean I am ignorant of its value. I don’t own a pickup, but I can see where a truck would be better for moving furniture than my 2006 VW Beetle — though not as cute. I don’t own an Apple Watch, but I certainly understand that some people like having a $...
Wrangell schools are not short of dedicated staff, engaged students or supportive parents. But what the district is short of — and getting shorter — are students and funding. That is a bad combination, putting stress on the schools as management puts together a budget for the 2022-2023 school year, and creating a serious long-term problem that needs the full attention of the school board, borough assembly and, most importantly, the community. The Wrangell School District has been losing students for the past 25 years, dropping from more tha...
This year’s switch to ranked-choice voting in Alaska is something new, maybe even surprisingly new for those who missed or forgot about the 2020 statewide ballot initiative that put forth the change. But new, while exciting for some people, can be scary and disconcerting and disruptive for others. This coming from a 70-year-old who is stuck so deep in his own comfort zone that I wear the same button-down cotton shirts (never white), same two-tone saddle shoes, use the same hair shampoo and same original flavor Crest toothpaste. Hey, nothing w...
The family of David and Sue Jack would like to thank the staff at Wrangell Medical Center, especially the nursing staff, who attended to the needs of our parents while they were in the hospital. They were professional in every way, and made the best of a very difficult time for both mom, dad and us. At this time, we would also like to give a very special thank you to the members of the local American Legion Post and the veterans who assisted the Army color guard with the funeral services for dad. The send-off they gave dad was poignant, with a...
No, this column is not directed at oil producers. They are not the guilty party in this tale of cost escalation. Nor is this column about the many businesses around the world stressed by energy prices that have shot up faster and higher than fireworks on the Fourth of July. As crude oil has jumped, surged and spiked from just over $65 a barrel on Dec. 1 to painfully over $100 a barrel this month, consumers have been paying more at the pump — whether the corner gas station for a dozen or more gallons to fill up a car or pickup, a couple h...
Challenging the U.S. Census undercount for Wrangell would not change the numbers, but presenting the case to the state could be a profitable use of borough time. While the census count showed Wrangell dropped from 2,369 residents in 2010 to 2,127 in 2020, the Alaska Department of Labor’s Research and Analysis Division arrived at an even steeper loss of population — from 2,412 in July 2011 to 2,096 in its July 2021 estimate. Considering the lack of empty homes or apartments in town, it’s hard to see where the community lost more than 200 residen...
It's been too long, more than a decade, since a state Office of Children's Services caseworker has been assigned to Wrangell. Welcome back, we missed you. The borough and school district have been trying for years to get state officials to put back money in the budget for a caseworker in town. The position is so important to help children struggling with the emotional challenges of life that the borough offered two years ago to share the cost of the position with the state. News of the offer was well publicized in town, winning strong support...
I was pleased to learn that the Legislature finally has a bill, Senate Bill 170, to transfer the Alaska Marine Highway System from the Department of Transportation to a separate state-owned corporation similar to the structure of the Alaska Railroad. This would provide something that the ferry system has lacked since its inception: accountability. The state-owned corporation would have its own budget and be managed by its own board of directors. The fact that the ferry system has been part of the Department of Transportation, which also...
There really isn’t a strong reason for the state to keep the proposals confidential until it closes a deal to sell — or give away — the state ferry Malaspina. The Department of Transportation promised exactly that when it advertised for offers on the ship, promising in writing that any responses would be held confidential until the state seals the sale. Talk about running open government aground. The department, in its letter soliciting interest in the unused, elderly 450-passenger vessel, asked a lot of potential new owners. The state said...
Many Alaskans will be hurting under $5-a-gallon gasoline, and rural residents who pay even higher prices will hurt even more. The state treasury, meanwhile, is flush with higher oil production tax and royalty checks, depositing tens of millions of dollars more each month than expected at the start of the year. Oil at $100-plus a barrel is guilty on both counts — making people poorer and making the Alaska checkbook richer. To use one to help the other, many Alaska lawmakers seem to be nervously coalescing around the idea of using much of the a...
The House Finance Committee has released its proposed state budget, which includes funds for an energy relief check for every eligible Alaskan. The proposal comes from high and continuously rising energy costs, a concern that I have heard from you. Alaskans are paying significantly more at the gas pump and for home utility costs. The state has been in a dire fiscal situation for multiple years, and our restrictive budget has reflected this. However, with the sudden increase in the price of oil, there is a bump to state revenue. The Legislature...
Spring is in the air. The last little mounds of snow are melting. Packets of seeds are on my shopping list. Small birds have begun to appear at my feeder. We are breaking out of our cocoons. For Baha’is worldwide, March 21 coincides with the vernal equinox of the Northern Hemisphere and is celebrated as our New Year. An event planned in Wrangell for March 2020 was abruptly cancelled due to the outbreak of COVID. In-person events were respectfully put on hold due to many unknowns. This year’s celebration, open to all, will be held from 6 to 8 p...
The face mask debate is over for now — hopefully for good, if the community can stay healthy — and annual budget deliberations are starting over how much the borough will contribute to education and how the school district will spend its local, state and federal money. Which means it’s a good week to learn what students and staff are doing at Wrangell’s schools. There are a couple of examples this week that students are learning what’s important in life and how to manage and succeed after graduation. At Evergreen Elementary School, fifth gra...
The state of Alaska, Congress and the president, individual companies and people do not all have the same capabilities and authority to show their disgust and dismay at Russia’s unprovoked, murderous attack on Ukraine, a sovereign nation at war with no one until Russian President Vladimir Putin decided he had to prove that he is the toughest, meanest kid on the planet. But everyone needs to do something. The world has suffered far too many deaths, ruined countries, poverty and famine due to wars over the centuries to sit by and watch more of t...
My hometown in Poland, Chelm, is 20 miles away from the border with Ukraine. My mother called me Feb. 26 and told me refugees are coming to my hometown, mostly women with kids. It looks like most of them are just passing by to get far away from the war, but some are deciding to stay and wait for friends or family that are still held up in the Ukrainian traffic. So far, since the invasion began, Poland has taken in over 500,000 refugees from Ukraine. My hometown’s population is around 65,000, and we are not a tourist city. We don’t have a lot...
It is anguishing to reflect on the current news coverage of the Russian assault on Ukraine. Most Americans feel a sense of guilt because of the humanitarian Injustice being done, and we want to provide some meaningful and timely assistance. The contrast between the Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky is a stark and living reminder of the chasms between totalitarianism and democracy. Putin is a rabid dictator; Zelensky is a freely elected leader who is rallying his country to arms. I believe it is time that...
As COVID-19 numbers come back down and mitigation plans are slowly being lifted, I want to say thank you to all of those who helped get us this far. Thank you to everyone who wore their mask, got vaccinated and canceled social plans all on your own to protect those around you. In spite of foggy glasses and sore arms, you pressed on. Thank you to everyone who put forth the selfless effort to protect our community. You helped to save lives and kept loved ones in this world. Delton Claggett...
Sometimes, governments just have to take a chance. They need to ensure the pieces are in place for economic development of their community, even if that means spending money on the potential — not a guarantee — of building jobs in the future. In Wrangell’s case, the almost 40-acre waterfront industrial property at the former 6-Mile sawmill site is one of those pieces. The borough assembly decision to buy the property is smart, long-term thinking. It’s about preserving the site intact for possible future use, rather than see it subdivi...
Parents, community leaders, borough and tribal officials are talking about what can be done to help solve Wrangell’s lack of child care options. Valerie Massie, of the Wrangell Cooperative Association, said she and others at a recent meeting all see the lack of child care and housing as the biggest hurdles to economic and community development in town. Lack of child care keeps people out of the workforce, and it seems there isn’t an employer in town without job openings. Part of the problem in establishing and running a child care center is...