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I want to give a special thank you to Dawn Angerman and everyone else at the Elks Lodge for the ham donations to Wrangell veterans. Thank you for honoring us who served in the Armed Forces of the United States. Bill Donavan...
Borough officials and elected assembly members are right: Wrangell’s municipally owned-and-operated utilities and services need to pay their own way. Not happy news for residents — but it’s honest news. For far too long, Wrangell has been overly dependent on federal and state gifts to pay for needed repairs and rebuilds while looking to avoid rate increases. Those are not answers, they’re examples of hopeful denial, and the borough is making the right moves to change direction. The assembly has approved rate increases effective July 1 for elect...
Some people let their dogs run loose, while others walk their dogs but don’t bother to pick up the piles. Regardless of which one was the culprit, the recent dog poop deposit at the museum totem is a new low for a highly visible problem. The discovery comes as the snow melts and residents discover dog piles anywhere and everywhere. The Muskeg Meadows Golf Course, which is posted but frequently ignored as a dog-free area, recently reminded the community: “Our grounds crew has been picking up buckets and buckets of dog poo as we get ready to ope...
Three-term Nikiski Rep. Ben Carpenter is right, the state needs a sustainable, long-term fiscal plan. Give him credit for raising the issue. Talk of a balanced fiscal plan has lingered since 1990 — before several of today’s legislators were even born. The discussion about diversifying Alaska’s economy has lasted even longer, ever since the first oil started flowing from Prudhoe Bay in 1977 and we tried using the riches to expand the state’s economy and job opportunities beyond crude. But unless new business activity produces oil, any new indust...
Keeping voter rolls accurate is a good thing. Even more so in recent years as far too many candidates question election results for their own political gains and far too many citizens have climbed on the bandwagon of doubt and suspicion. Why then would the new director of the Alaska Division of Elections hesitate to support a decade-old nationwide cooperative effort among states to keep voter registration lists accurate and up to date? Alaska has been a member of ERIC, which stands for Electronic Registration Information Center, since 2016....
It’s embarrassing that it took billions of dollars in losses for some legislators to acknowledge that the state’s fiscal house is leaking worse than a broken downspout on a Southeast Alaska roof. It’s too bad Gov. Mike Dunleavy acts like he has barely noticed the growing pool of mud at his feet. Start with the Permanent Fund, which generates investment earnings that have become the largest single source of revenue in the state budget. Last year was painful for most every investor, and Alaska was not immune to the downturn. The fund dropp...
Kudos to all who got behind ConocoPhillips’ effort to open up the Willow oil project on Alaska’s North Slope. The effort by our congressional delegation to present directly to President Joe Biden, and our record of responsible resource development over the past 40 years in Alaska’s Arctic, is a reflection on the bipartisan effectiveness of our Alaska delegation. But we are not over the goal line yet. We must be wary of the coming onslaught of outraged extreme environmental groups that will go to any means to delay and block the project. These...
Wrangell’s economy has been in decline since long before the COVID-19 pandemic erupted three years ago. But the economy — meaning jobs, businesses and families — would be a lot worse off if not for federal assistance. Oppose federal spending if you want, but the $30 million or so in pandemic relief aid that the U.S. Treasury poured into Wrangell the past few years for the borough, schools, businesses, individuals and the tribal government made a huge difference in people’s lives. Criticize the IRS and income taxes if it makes you feel better,...
After years of legislative debate over the size of the Permanent Fund dividend, reasonable voices are starting to grow louder, maybe even hopefully strong enough to outvote the irresponsible catcalls for an unaffordable dividend. It’s a welcome change. A bill in the House would restore dividend sanity by setting the free-money check at a percentage of the annual draw of Permanent Fund earnings, producing about a $1,300 PFD this year and growing from there. That would be about equal to the average dividend of the past decade, before the e...
Naw-Ruz? What is Naw-Ruz? Naw-Ruz (Persian language) is the Baha’i new year. It’s the first day of the Baha’i calendar year, and one of 11 holy days for adherents of the Baha’i faith. It occurs each year on the vernal equinox on or near March 21. Baha’u’llah (which means the Glory of God in the Persian language), the founder of the Baha’I faith, adopted this lunar calendar made up of 19 months of 19 days each and the use of Naw-Ruz as a holy day. This day follows the Baha’i month of fasting (a daily 12-hour fast for 19 days). Baha’u’llah’s son,...
I was a patient at the Wrangell SEARHC hospital before being medevaced to Seattle. Dr. Lynn Prysunka, the nurses, CNAs and support staff all went above and beyond what was required for my well-being. The EMTs were also very efficient and caring. Wrangell is very fortunate to have so many people who take such good care of us. Thank you so much! Jean Brown...
It took a consultant’s report for the collective management of the Alaska Marine Highway System and state Department of Transportation to realize that of 250 job applicants over the past year, just four were hired to work on the ships. At that rate, the ferry system would need close to 10,000 applicants to reach full staffing. The system has been seriously short-staffed for more than two years, losing crew to resignations and retirements faster than it could hire new workers. The crew shortage forced cutbacks in service, keeping ships tied to t...
It’s bad enough that the world stacks, dumps and burns mountains of gallon milk jugs, water bottles, package wrappers and take-out food containers every day. But after we finish our last bites, many of those plastic bits make it into the oceans, where they break down into small, fish-food-size pieces — enough to choke a seahorse. And without even a side of salsa to season the plastic chips. Technology has figured out how to put a computer on our wrists, store thousands of photographs in a smartphone and create software that can answer com...
Twice a year I have a 50-50 chance of messing up the front page of the Sentinel. This year I did just that, and possibly aided people in being late to work on Monday. Daylight saving time, otherwise known as the Biannual Menace, makes it necessary to move our clocks ahead an hour or back an hour. Spring forward; fall back. Despite the ice and chilly temperatures, it’s nearing spring and clocks should have been set forward one hour on Sunday morning, not back an hour as the graphic on the front page of last week’s paper instructed. I build tho...
The Interfaith Table of Wrangell would like to thank everyone who participated in its inaugural Gathering of Prayer last month. We are grateful for those businesses and sites across town for setting out our prayer jars. Our thanks to Jenn Miller, for her assistance in using the Wrangell Mariners’ Memorial for our gathering. Most of all, we thank the people who wrote their prayer petitions — their joys, their sorrows and their hopes — and filled our jars, trusting that we would pray faithfully for them. We were honored to lift up your praye...
State officials have known for months that delays in processing applications for food stamp benefits were denying financial assistance to thousands of eligible households — including children — who needed help to afford three meals a day. There were multiple explanations: Longstanding staffing shortages, a cyberattack on the computer system two years ago, more paperwork and income verification requirements after the state ended its pandemic emergency declaration months earlier. But children cannot swallow explanations, especially ones far pas...
The state wasn’t concerned as much about future profits as it was asserting and protecting Alaska’s rights to see oil flow from lands within its borders when it paid millions of dollars for federal leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. It was a matter of principle. When the Trump administration rushed to put up the leases for bid in the final days of his presidency in January 2021, the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority pulled out its checkbook and made sure to stake its claim to some of the acreage — just in case no on...
Wrangell is fortunate its two state legislators know that a good education pays years more dividends for Alaskans than the short-term gain a larger PFD provides. They are on the long-term, good-thinking side of what is shaping up as a monumental debate this year embroiling lawmakers and the governor: The more the state spends on the Permanent Fund dividend, the less money is left in the treasury to help schools. Rep. Dan Ortiz and Sen. Bert Stedman between them have more than 25 years of legislative service. They have heard all the arguments...
Alaska’s senior U.S. senator — and former state legislator — Lisa Murkowski addressed a joint session of the Legislature last week, covering the usual issues of oil and gas, economic development and lots of federal dollars for local projects. Her remarks were pretty routine for anyone who has listened to the annual speeches at the Capitol by Alaska’s two senators over the decades. That’s the comforting thing about Alaska politics — the issues don’t change much. We’re like an old TV sitcom where the characters don’t age and the same problems...
The Alaska House Education Committee on Feb. 20 heard House Bill 65, which would increase the base student allocation. It was a brief hearing, acting solely as an introduction, but it was an essential first step during this legislative session in the conversation about state funding for education. I have heard loud and clear from teachers, students and school boards that schools are struggling. They are dealing with significant increases in costs like heating, insurance and supplies, while seeing state support for our schools remain mostly flat...
Gov. Mike Dunleavy made a smart decision last week when he issued an administrative order directing state personnel officials to review and change job requirements where appropriate so that applicants could more easily substitute “practical experience” for a college degree. Almost one in six state government jobs were vacant in December, according to the governor’s Office of Management and Budget. The most empty desks were at one of the most important agencies: Almost one in four positions at the Department of Natural Resources were vacan...
The losers in last year’s elections in Alaska say change is bad. Of course they do. Political losers seldom blame themselves when voters fill in the oval next to someone else’s name. But whether last year’s change suits their own personal views and political agenda should not overrule Alaska’s switch to ranked-choice voting. The change worked, some moderate candidates won election last year, and the world did not end. In fact, the state probably is better for it. Moderation is good for a political world moving too far away from a product...
On behalf of myself and all the residents of Wrangell Senior Apartments, I want to thank Devyn Johnson and Shawna Buness for their generosity and thoughtful donations of pastries from Sweet Tides Bakery. You do an excellent job baking, and the pastries bring smiles to the people who really enjoy eating them. Also thanks to Ethel Dandoo for picking up the goodies and putting them out for people to enjoy. Thank you! – William “Bill” Donovan...
Fewer Alaska high school graduates are qualifying for the state’s largest scholarship program; fewer who would qualify are bothering to participate in the program which requires that they attend college in Alaska; and more students who attend college out of state are choosing to set up their life outside Alaska. The numbers are not encouraging, unless you run a college in the Lower 48 that wants to attract more Alaskans. While elected officials debate the amount of the annual Permanent Fund dividend, who is tougher on crime, who is more s...
There might be a way to avoid federal income taxes on the Alaska Permanent Fund dividend. But it would mean admitting that the annual payment to Alaskans is a political decision not at all tied to earnings of the savings account. It could mean changing the name of the PFD to Popular Fall Distribution, to truly disassociate the money from the fund’s investment earnings. If it means avoiding federal income tax on the money, we could learn to call the annual payment most anything. It would mean changing state law. And it would mean discarding the...