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It’s past time for Southeast and coastal Alaska communities to be heard regarding the collapse of our ferry system. It’s time to more forcefully make our needs known by energizing the Southeast Conference, the Southeast Conference of Mayors and other organizations. Southeast and coastal Alaska are entitled to have a highway functioning just like our roaded neighbors to the north. The newly passed federal infrastructure bill provides the federal funding to make this happen, if we don’t let it slip away The Alaska Marine Highway System was create...
I like to think I'm my own worst critic. Every word choice and every photo I run in print are reviewed, critiqued and deemed passable. For example, I rewrote this paragraph three times. When it comes to photography, I enjoy it so much that it's hard to boil down my choices for print. Sometimes, I'll take thousands of photos a month for news stories. Readers will maybe see 20 of those. My only hope is that what is printed has a positive affect for the most part. It doesn't always happen that...
Back in March, I wrote a column about being a converted sports junkie. It detailed my appreciation for high school sports, and I believe it’s what spurred me to get more involved in the community since people still remark on it nearly nine months later. On Nov. 15, the last session was held for the I Toowú Klatseen group. Before the final meeting, a make-up run took place for the kids who had missed the previous week’s 5-kilometer fun run. It was the culmination of around 10 weeks of meetings and practices — and I nearly missed all of it. So...
I stood on the deck of my aunt’s house in Edmonds, Washington, last week while on vacation, overlooking Puget Sound. Whidbey Island could be seen off to the right through the haze of wildfire smoke on an otherwise uncharacteristically sunny day. “My former boss lives on Whidbey,” I told my Aunt Marie. I explained to her how he used to split his time between his home on the island and one in Angels Camp, California. I said I should reach out to see how he was faring since I had heard he had been diagnosed with cancer. Ralph Alldredge was a tri...
As a conservative, I subscribe to the principle to leave alone things in government that are working well. We have enough important things that need to change, like high inflation, the Biden administration’s efforts to close down ANWR and reimpose the roadless rule on the Tongass. Alaska's original constitution is one of the things in government that is working well and should be left alone. Article XIII, Section 4 gives voters the opportunity every 10 years to vote on whether Alaska should hold a constitutional convention. Alaska voters h...
What started as a sort of fact-finding trip to Petersburg turned into a deeper appreciation for something I've done for decades, and something many take for granted. Every Wednesday, the Sentinel is delivered to mailboxes and stores throughout Wrangell, making its way into the hands of readers. Many more copies are sent out of town and state and even into Canada. But it takes a lot of work to get it there. I've worked in almost every department of the news industry, from proofing pages to...
It is ironic and absurd to the point of tears. We are told by the 2016 Tongass National Forest Plan, the Biden administration through Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and, of course, by local and national environmental groups that there can be no timber harvest on 9.4 million acres of inventoried roadless areas in the Tongass. Why? To “protect” fish and wildlife, and to save tourists from seeing clearcuts. As it turns out, we need to petition the Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Forest Service to act decisively to pro...
Correct spelling is the law for newspapers. Especially for unusual names. And especially for my first week on the job as the Sentinel's new reporter. I grew up in Salt Lake City, a fact which explains the weird spelling of my name - Utah parents love to get creative, and in a state filled with Madysens and Saydees, my version of Caroline is relatively tame. After graduating from high school, I moved to Connecticut to study English at Yale. Though I loved to read and discuss brick-thick...
Each step was like planting my feet into water-soaked bath towels. Thirteen miles of nonstop sloshing in last Sunday’s BearFest half marathon could be viewed by some as not so fun. But for me, it was a chance to think about the past year. Most runners will tell you that the pastime is therapy, affording us plenty of time to ponder our path in life. Just under a year ago, I arrived in Wrangell, with a U-Haul full of my past life. My decision has been reaffirmed every day since. Here’s why: I came from a place where a population of 45,000 peo...
After saying Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was a pariah for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, President Joe Biden traveled to Saudi Arabia to engage with the Arab world. I believe his priorities are out of touch with most Americans. Today, we continue to see escalating oil and gasoline prices and runaway inflation. Yet our president suggests his mission to Saudi Arabia was to contribute “intense diplomacy.” He further pledges to stay aggressive against Russia and out-compete China — yet not one word on the U.S. energy short...
By Nolan Klouda Executive director University of Alaska Center for Economic Development Anchorage Your favorite restaurant has an hour wait, even though you see empty tables. Operating hours for small businesses are reduced despite long lines. “Help wanted” signs seem to adorn every doorway. You don’t have to spend a lot of time looking at data to know that there’s a labor shortage. Workers of every stripe are just hard to find. Some employers, understandably grouchy about being short-staffed, blame widespread laziness. “Nobody wants to work f...
Kudos to former U.S. senator and governor Frank Murkowski for his opinion piece about the nation’s energy crisis in the May 18 Sentinel. It is refreshing to see somebody qualified to state clearly where the problems are and how they can be fixed. Meanwhile, the U.S. stock market has been losing ground or stagnating and inflation is soaring. U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg’s advice to anybody who does not like the high price of fuel is to buy an electric vehicle. To think of it, we are all kind of driving electric vehicles alr...
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s dreams almost came true. Over the past few years, the Russian government has promoted development of the vast natural gas resources of the Russian high Arctic to Germany, Poland, and other eastern European countries. Putin planned to have them totally dependent on long-term contractual commitments for their energy needs, formerly provided by coal. Had Putin waited a few years, most of Europe would have become so dependent on Russian gas that they would effectively be held hostage. Putin would have been able t...
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...
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...
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...
The Feb. 9 edition of the Ketchikan Daily News contains a Wrangell Sentinel story about the potential return of Alaska state ferries to Prince Rupert, British Columbia — as soon as May 1. The story details the issues that officials on both sides of the border are working on to bring back ferry service between Prince Rupert and Ketchikan. We wish them great success. The 90-mile, six-hour ferry connection is Ketchikan’s true gateway to the North America road system. It’s much more affordable than ferry service to Bellingham, Washington, or barge...
