In the Sentinel 100, 75, 50 and 25 years ago.
August 12, 1915: According to advices given out, plans are being made for a new jail building for Wrangell. While only the estimate is yet made, it is believed that it will be carried through and the new jail building will be built on the site now occupied by the old courthouse. The facts of the affair have not yet been released but it is felt that the building will be two stories and will possibly contain a room for the commissioner's office. We have long felt the need of some new government buildings to take the place of the old decayed courthouse, which is a sore eye to all of us, setting on the prettiest site in town. The impressions of the old buildings are very bad and are the comments of all our visitors who walk through the reserve. We heard it contended while speaking of the subject that one prominent man of the town was not in favor of destroying these buildings but preserving them as a memento of the past. We cannot agree with him for we want to see Wrangell built up to a modern little city, so our visitors will go away with that in mind rather than a town with and old fort and courthouse and totem poles.
August 16, 1940: Andy Johnson of Johnson's store considers himself the luckiest man in town, and well he might. Mr. Johnson barely escaped being shot and killed yesterday afternoon and shattered glass struck Mrs. Elsie Jenkins, clerk in the store, when David “Doc” Sunnel, with three companions began firing a 32-20 caliber rifle in a shack at the back of Johnson's Store. The first bullet came through the door of the shack and into the wall of the store. Mr. Johnson went out to see what was going on, and as he did a bullet whizzed by his head, through the glass surrounding the office at the rear, imbedding itself in the wall above. A few moments before Mr. Johnson had stood in the exact line of fire while at work in his office. Splinters of glass struck Mrs. Jenkins, who was in the rear of the store when the second bullet struck.
August 20, 1965: Applications for the controlled Big Delta Buffalo hunt are now available to interested hunters, reports John Crawford, Southeastern Regional Game Supervisor for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Applications may be obtained from the offices in Ketchikan and Juneau, either in person or in writing. These applications will be received by the department through August 22, after which a public drawing will be held in Fairbanks to select twenty hunters, said Crawford. The lucky winners will be assigned a hunt date by drawing. One hunter will be allowed in the field each day, said Crawford, and a Fish and Game employee will accompany each hunter.
August 16, 1990: A California woman marooned in Wrangell found a way to entertain herself here and give something to the community at the same time. After their 54-foot wooden power yacht, Crystal Sea, hit a rock at Foggy Bay near Ketchikan on June 13, Bill and Marcia Bents found themselves bound for Wrangell for several weeks while their boat was repaired at Hansen's Boat Shop. “Olaf has the only major wooden boat repair shop in Southeast Alaska,” Bents said. The Newport Beach, Calif., residents had a patch put on the Crystal Sea by Wrangell about four days after the rock “moved into their path.” With her husband involved in boat repairs, the normally active Bents soon found herself at a loss for some thing to do. “I was here two days and went up a wall,” Bent said. Besides working full time, Bents said she has always been a volunteer at home. She also started a nautical museum to preserve the nautical history of Newport Beach. So, naturally Bents looked for a need and headed for Wrangell General Hospital. She walked into the hospital and said “I've been shipwrecked, where do you want me?” Hospital staff soon recovered from their shock and put Bents to work in the Long Term Care Facility, assisting Activities Director Cinda Stough. Stough appreciated the assistance, and she alerted the Sentinel to the good deeds being done by Bents. Stough said she hopes the story will interest Wrangell residents that could be spending some of their spare time at the Long Term Care Facility.
Reader Comments(0)