Sorted by date Results 876 - 900 of 1077
A significant benefit to living in a small town is that everyone knows everyone’s business. Some consider this a detriment, but in the case of Proposition 1, which appears on October’s election ballot in Petersburg, and as Proposition 2 in Wrangell, the Financial Disclosure requirement is not needed. Currently, municipal officers and some candidates for elective office must file a financial disclosure statement. Depending upon how a person’s company is legally organized, the law can be very intrusive, or in the case of a corporation it can r...
Hospice is a Non-Profit organization whose primary purpose is to be helpful and supportive for Wrangellites and their families through the final stages of life. Hospice maintains and makes available durable medical equipment from the Community Loan Closet. The Dove Tree Ceremony is also arranged and conducted by Hospice volunteers. Hospice sponsors and sets up Christmas Tree Lane decorating in the Nolan Center Lobby during the Christmas Season. This is the only fundraiser that Hospice has, using the funds for its activities and to purchase new...
To the Editor: Can Alaskans trust the government of British Columbia to act honestly, responsibly and openly as B.C. authorizes and proposes to manage a series of mines (up to six of them) in the watersheds of some of the greatest, wildest and most productive watersheds in North America? Is BC “basically the same” as Alaska, as Mines Minister Bennett claims, when it comes to process and regulation of industrial activity? There is no question B.C. has a “mine approval” process, but make no mistake, it is vastly different beast than a legal,...
Mine ‘dots’ become lines in B.C. To the Editor: As I look east from Southeast Alaska, I see a picturesque, pristine landscape of mountain peaks, often snow covered - Canada. I was shocked to see a B.C. development map and learn that just beyond my view are mining developments – old, new, proposed and some vast, that dot the seemingly untouched land beyond. The mine ‘dots’ become lines when coupled with other projects across the border. Of course these very watersheds that support B.C.’s mining industry also support our fishing communities...
Dear Parents and Students of the Wrangell Public Schools, Welcome back to a new school year in the Wrangell Public School District! It seems as though our summer has flown by, but what a gorgeous one it has been. Over the summer we have hired several new faces within the Wrangell Public Schools. Kendall Benson is our principal at Stikine Middle School and Wrangell High School. Mr. Benson brings many years of experience as a former principal in the state of Utah. There will also be a new secretary at Wrangell High School, Megan Talburt. Ms....
To the Editor: On September 1, 2015, the United States will fully complete its broadcast transition to digital TV. What effect will this have on Wrangell? Sadly nothing. As a community, Wrangell was once served by a free television broadcast service known as ARCS (Alaska Rural Communication Service). For some unexplained reason, this service was shut down in Wrangell approximately 10 years ago. ARCS is largely funded through the State of Alaska, with communities picking up the minimal last mile of costs for powering and maintaining the...
Have you ever visited with a friend and as you start to leave, something like this is said, “Well now that we have solved the problems of the world I will say good-bye.” I wonder what sort of conversation and how long of a conversation it would take to actually solve all the problems of the world? I do believe it could be a very brief visit to get that ball rolling. A couple of sentences. The Golden Rule, treat everyone as you would like to be treated. The Greatest Commandment, Love your Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your min...
To the Editor: I have been given more information concerning my 16 July letter to the editor. Several people have told me that one of our U.S. senators wants there to be a dock at Anan to please a few airplane operators from Ketchikan. Therefore there is going to be a dock at Anan. What it looks like to me is this is a power play. Apparently this is why there is no cabin and trail maintenance. The one is hurt. It is hard for me to believe the Ranger on up to the Supervisor’s office of the forest service would allow this. I have heard the p...
To the Editor: I would like to thank all of the community involved in the planting and upkeep of the flower beds downtown. They are beautiful and really spruce up the downtown area. I really enjoy them. Thank you so much. Olinda White...
A dynamic event is underway in Arctic Alaska today: one that, if successful, could have a profound effect on our state’s economy. Shell Alaska is preparing to drill for oil this summer in Alaska’s offshore continental shelf. To date, Shell has expended over $7 billion in gearing up for their effort. They anticipate substantially advancing their delineation effort by the end of this year’s drilling season. A sobering statistic highlights the significance of Shell’s effort: Of the total estimated oil in Alaska—43.8 billion barrels—8...
To the Editor: The Public Library provides such a welcoming and warm environment for our community and especially for the Summer Reading Program. Anyone would want and would enjoy hanging out there. There is always a smiling and friendly staff to greet us as we enter and to help us with our needs. The children’s corner is bright and colorful, with puzzles, computers and books. I know this corner has the staff working double time at this time of the year keeping things orderly and up to date. You make it all such fun. Thank you for all you d...
To the Editor: On the KSTK radio program on July 6 was an article about Southeast businesses requesting more Tongass recreation funding. Wrangell’s ranger said that he could only afford one seasonal worker this summer. Now that is a safety issue. I also think it is important to keep maintenance up on facilities. I have found that the better care the forest service took of its facilities was reflected in better treatment by the people. There was less damage to fix, less trash to pick up, and more enjoyment by all. There seems to be money for n...
Summer has come! Summer is a time of plenty. Flowers have bloomed. Our gardens are growing in the summer sun. We feel energized by the sunlight. We celebrate the return of the salmon, a blessing which in large part supports our town and region. We also celebrate the opening of crab season, the return of the migratory birds, and the fattening of the deer. Summer is a blessed time of year, when the promise of spring comes to full fruition. It is also a time when the promise born in the dark of winter comes into the life of the church. Jesus...
I have previously written and spoken about how important the seafood industry is to Alaska’s economy, especially to those of us who live in Southeast Alaska. The industry accounted for 18% of all private sector resident earnings in Southeast Alaska in 2011, according to a McDowell Group report. A 2010 study by TCW Economics found that commercial, sport, and traditional and customary salmon fishing alone in Southeast Alaska is worth $1billion. It is in the best interests of both our economy and our cultural values that our salmon runs stay s...
Starting in July The Salvation Army plans to launch a Christian based recovery program, entitled Recovering from Life’s Hurts. The program is modeled after the Celebrate Recovery program that was developed by Pastor Rick Warren and the staff members of the Saddleback Church. Like Celebrate Recovery, Recovering from Life’s Hurts merges the principles of 12 Step programs with Jesus’ Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12). While most recovery groups focus on people with addictions issues, this program includes anyone recovering from life hurts. In John...
To the Editor: I have heard a couple complaints about our large group running for queen and want to make sure everyone knows AAU (local girls middle school aged basketball club) is trying our best to manage such a large group of girls in the royalty race. Since this is just one of the two times a large group has run, there is a learning curve. We are listening to the public’s concerns and suggestions and are managing the team accordingly. We have split up the girls and gave them all their own area of town to knock on doors so households are n...
Next weekend, Lt. Governor Byron Mallott and I will kick off a series of conversations about the future of our state. The essence of these conversations is: What do we want our state to look like? What services do we want our government to provide? How will we pay for those services? As most of you know, the price of oil fell precipitously over the past year, and with it, Alaska's biggest source of revenue. Alaska's budget for the coming year proposes to spend $5 billion in state general funds....
The Alaska State Legislature is in special session. We adjourned out of regular session on the evening of April 27 without fulfilling our constitutional duty as appropriators for the State of Alaska. In response, Governor Walker called the legislature into special session to deal with the state budget, Medicaid expansion and House Bill 44 (Erin’s Law), which relates to sexual assault prevention programs. Although we are days into the special session, we have not addressed any of those topics. The issue we have been discussing is where and w...
To the Editor: Wrangell has many areas in education that as a community we can be proud of and thankful to the educators who have gotten us to this point. -Teacher longevity that suggests that teachers love the community of Wrangell, their jobs, the students, and are able to follow those children through their educational experience. -Wrangell is a blue ribbon school. That is a result of teacher collaboration as they plan curriculum and develop a productive atmosphere. -Wrangell’s educators are the most devoted people that I have observed t...
The commercial fishing and seafood processing industry is Alaska's largest private-sector employer. The fishing industry employs tens of thousands of individuals producing billions of pounds of seafood for the U.S. and the world. The industry pays over $250 million a year in taxes and fees, and 65 cities, boroughs and municipalities directly benefit from Fisheries Landing and/or Fisheries Business taxes. The seafood industry is critical to maintaining a healthy Southeast economy. In Wrangell, the estimated 2013 ex-vessel income was $13.9...
To the Editor: On Saturday, April 4th, Wrangell’s Garnet Grit Betties roller derby team hosted both the Denali Destroyer Dolls from Wasilla, and The Sitka Sound Slayers from Sitka, for a total of three games played at Wrangell’s High School. We, the Sitka Sound Slayers, would like to give the Betties and the community of Wrangell a huge shout out and big thank you for holding this event and supporting roller derby in Alaska. The Slayers were hugely impressed by the organization of this event by the Betties. Not only did they manage the eve...
John 15:12 “My command is this: love each other as I have loved you.” Sounds simple. But, how did Jesus love us? He left his home, he left almost all of the privileges of his station, the eternal Word of God, and took on the limitations of ‘flesh.’ He was poor, despised, persecuted. His father probably died before Jesus was twenty which left Jesus responsible for the family. Not too much later, as Jesus followed his heavenly father’s guidance, he left his earthly family so he could teach all of us what life was really about. He showed us...
To the Editor: The sentinel paper is a small paper, that’s a given, but when a local citizen feels it’s important to attend a city meeting to speak on an issue, it would be fair to expect that the reporting of any opinion or sentiment be represented fairly. That’s what reporting is all about; giving a voice to various sides of an issue and making people aware of the concerns of residents. I’m referring to the March 19th, 2015 issue and the article about the planning and zoning meeting - the variance request by the Whites, where a quip of a few...
To the Editor: Thank you for including an article about our arrival as resident pastors at Island of Faith Lutheran Church on Page 9 of the March 12 issue of the Sentinel. We do need to correct one item in the welcome article. It indicated that we were candidates for a more permanent resident pastoral position at Island of Faith. We are actually resident pastors for this three month period of time and will be followed by different pastors at the end of that time who will serve as resident pastors into the summer and fall seasons. We are...
My wife, Dena, and I enjoy walking around town. As we stroll, I can’t help but notice the crocuses are in bloom. The bulbs of these beautiful flowers looked dead when they were buried. At just the right time they rise up in all their glory. With Easter on its way I can’t help but be reminded of Jesus. He was dead because He chose to take my sins upon Himself. He was buried and rose again. So each crocus bloom is a reminder of God’s love for us. I like to garden. The worst part of gardening for most folks is pulling weeds. Some weeds are on the...