2019: A year in review

Following is the Wrangell Sentinel's news review for January through June of 2019. Next week the review will include events from July through December.

January

Jan. 13 - The Fairbanks Arts Association opened their 24th annual statewide poetry contest for submissions this December. Each year, the association picks a new judge for the contest. This year will be judged by Wrangell resident Vivian Faith Prescott. Prescott is the author of numerous works, including The Hide of My Tongue and The Dead Go to Seattle and has received several awards for her writing.

Jan. 10 - In an 8 ½ hour meeting Tuesday, Jan. 8, the Wrangell School Board upheld the firing of first year art teacher Shanna Mall. According to Allen Clendaniel, a lawyer representing the school district, Mall was put on leave for numerous reasons under the general umbrella of "incompetence." Among her reported infractions were using foul language in front of students, being argumentative with staff, and sharing a photograph of her teenage son's genitals with coworkers.

Jan. 17 - The borough assembly held a meeting Jan. 11 to approve of two tail insurance policies for the Wrangell Medical Center to cover something that happened in the past, but had consequences that only become apparent in the future. The assembly approved of two tail insurance policies. The first was in the amount of a total of $53,554. The second was a continuous professional liability policy protecting the liability of hospital operations, for a one-time payment of $60,280.

Jan. 24 - Water levels in Swan and Tyee lakes were a hot topic at an assembly meeting. Mayor Steve Prysunka gave a presentation to the borough assembly, informing them that Wrangell might be facing power supply issues in the future. He explained that there are three communities in question with this looming issue: Wrangell, Petersburg, and Ketchikan. Ketchikan gets most of its power from Swan Lake, while the power plant at Tyee supplies Wrangell and Petersburg. However, extra power from Tyee Lake can be sold to Ketchikan, when it is available. Prysunka said that the Southeast Alaska Power Agency has oversold power from Tyee, and has put Wrangell and Petersburg in danger of having to switch to diesel power.

Jan. 31 - Harbor Light Assembly of God held its 20th annual men's game dinner on Jan. 27. About 200 Wrangell men and boys attended the event, and were treated to a dinner of 300 pounds of ribs, 90 pounds of chicken, six Cajun fried turkeys, and numerous sides and desserts. People also got to enjoy door prizes, raffles, and plenty of hunting and fishing stories.

February

Feb. 7 - Students from Stikine Middle School returned from their trip to Anchorage on Jan. 24. The trip, hosted by the Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program, let the students get a taste of college life by staying on the University of Alaska Anchorage campus and participating in numerous STEM projects. Winston Davies, teacher and chaperone for the trip, said it was a terrific experience for the kids.

Feb. 14 - The gym at Evergreen Elementary School was packed as teachers, parents, friends, and students from across the school district congregated to say goodbye to a member of their community. Kindergarten teacher Matt Nore left Wrangell last week with the National Guard, on deployment to Kuwait. This is his fourth deployment with the Guard, Nore said, and he will be gone until February of 2020.

Feb. 21 - The Southeast Alaska Power Agency held a teleconference on Feb. 15, to discuss the ongoing power issues in the region.The lights are usually kept on in the cities of Wrangell and Petersburg via hydropower from Tyee Lake. Due to unusually dry weather, Tyee Lake has not been able to refill adequately, and SEAPA recently reported that there was not enough power to go around. In response, Wrangell and Petersburg are using diesel power to help solve "peaking" issues, as the demand from the two communities exceeds Tyee's supply. Ketchikan has switched to diesel as well to pay back the power SEAPA oversold them.

Feb. 28 - Elizabeth Peratrovich, was recently remembered in an assembly at Wrangell High School last Tuesday. Students attending the assembly listened to songs performed by the Evergreen Elementary third grade class, as well as learned about the story of Elizabeth Peratrovich. High school student Jade Balansag presented a slideshow about her to the school.

March

Mar. 7 - Kyle Freeberg has been with the Alaska Wildlife Troopers for two years. He's been stationed in Fairbanks since joining. Freeberg said that he is moving to Wrangell because it was time to find a new station. There were several things that appealed to Freeberg and his family. He and his wife have always wanted to live on the coast and said that several wildlife troopers in other Southeast Alaskan towns have fallen in love with their communities and never plan to leave.

Mar. 14 - After two intense games against the Petersburg Lady Vikings and Metlakatla Miss Chiefs, the Wrangell Lady Wolves claimed victory in the ASAA Region V championship. This is the first time in 25 years that the Lady Wolves have taken first place in regionals, according to the Region V website. The last time the Lady Wolves won the regional tournament was in 1994, back when Wrangell was a 3A school. Coach Laurie Brown said that it was an amazing experience to take the regional title, but all the credit belongs to the girls on her team. She said their work ethic and skills on and off the court are exceptional.

Mar. 21- Bob Dalrymple said he first became interested in forestry when he was in the Boy Scouts. It was a fairly linear career trajectory. He said he knew what he wanted to do since high school. In 1982 he came to Southeast Alaska for seasonal work, and fell in love with the area. Dalrymple has served as Wrangell's district ranger since 2010. However, after 39 years of work, he has decided it's time to retire. His retirement became official back in January but the community threw a big retirement party for him last weekend.

Mar. 28 - The Coast Guard flew into town last Friday to show off some rescue maneuvers to a crowd of curious onlookers. They dropped swimmers into the water, between City Dock and the Nolan Center, and demonstrated how to rescue them with a rope as well as a basket. The Coast Guard also trained with The Wrangell Fire Department, search and rescue, and Alaska Crossings on how to raise and lower a basket up to a hovering helicopter. Afterwards, they landed on the dock to give the public a chance to talk with the pilots and rescuers, and get a closer look at the helicopter.

April

April 4 - The Wrangell Cooperative Association, the local organization dedicated to supporting Alaska Natives, held an election for new tribal council members March 25. Board members are elected by tribal members of the WCA. Five people have been chosen for the council this year, according to results released on the WCA's Facebook page: Christie Jamieson, Michelle Jenkins, Cori Robinson, Richard Oliver, and Lu Knapp.

April 11 - The cruise season has officially opened in Wrangell. The Wilderness Adventurer, of UnCruise Adventures, docked early on the morning of April 9. According to Economic Development Director Carol Rushmore, the city saw about 16,000 tourists from cruise ships in 2018. This year, there will be an estimated 20,000 cruise ship tourists coming to Wrangell.

April 18 - Many people came out the morning of April 13, to participate in the Wrangell Community Clean-Up. Both individuals and local organizations participated in picking up trash wherever it could be found. Wrangell Resident Paula Rak and the Wrangell Cooperative Association IGAP Department organized the event, and also put together a big lunch for all the volunteers after the clean-up was complete.

April 25 - The third Helping Our Parks Project, according to Wrangell Parks and Recreation Director Kate Thomas, was a huge success. The HOP Project is an annual event organized by the parks and rec department, where volunteers come out to parks around Wrangell and help with cleaning and upkeep. Thomas said that they saw 61 volunteers at Volunteer Park Saturday morning. Approximately 211 hours of work were donated by volunteers.

May

May 2 - Virginia Tulley moved to Wrangell in late July of 2018, to take on the position as principal of Evergreen Elementary School. Coming from Arizona, she has worked in a variety of teaching positions before the move to Alaska. Coming here was a bit of an adventure but after one school year, Tulley decided to put in her resignation. Tulley said that she will finish up her contract through the end of the school year, but afterwards plans to move back to Arizona.There were some unspecified medical reasons, she said, but the main reason she decided to leave was because she missed her family.

May 9 - Lean times are ahead for the Wrangell School District, according to the budget that was adopted on April 30. The FY 2020 budget has about $6.34 million in expenses. As far as revenues go, the school district is looking to break even with $6.34 million coming into the school system. Superintendent Debbe Lancaster said that they are asking for $616,689 from the City and Borough of Wrangell for the 2020 budget, which she said was the minimum contribution they could make.

May 16 - With the recent resignation of Principal Tulley, Evergreen Elementary School has found itself in need of new leadership. However, the budget does not allow for the hiring of a new principal, according to Superintendent Debbe Lancaster. In response, the school board determined that a new leadership position was required. The board met in a special meeting May 10, to officially create an "Assistant Principal/Head Teacher" position. The district also determined to offer this position to Jennifer Miller.

May 23 - Wrangell High School was packed with students, family, and friends of the class of 2019 last Friday night. Another school year had come to a close, and so had the high school careers of 16 seniors. The school's commons was filled with poster boards covered in pictures of the graduating students, and the gym was decorated in school colors and filled with extra seating.

May 30 - The Wrangell Borough Assembly held a long meeting May 28. There were various proposed amendments to Wrangell's water management strategy. The water watch has three stages, one to three, that the city can declare depending on how low water levels become. The water department recommended that a stage one water watch be declared "when the Upper Reservoir stops overflowing across the spillway." Stage two would be declared "when a Stage I level exists and the average production levels have increased to a sustained 720,000 gallons per day." Stage three would be recommended "when it becomes necessary to clean three filters a week, or when maintaining or recovering storage tank levels becomes problematic or impossible."

June

June 6 - A groundbreaking ceremony was held next to the AICS clinic on Wood Street May 30, signifying the official beginning of construction of Wrangell's new hospital. The new medical center, which will connect with the existing clinic, will be roughly 45,000 square feet and built by Dawson Construction. Wold Architects and Engineers completed the designs for the hospital in January, and the plan is to have it built and ready to receive residents by January 2021.

June 13 - After traveling to Petersburg two weeks ago, the Wrangell little league and softball programs hosted a series of home games at Volunteer Park, as teams from Petersburg visited Wrangell. There were five games in all: Two softball games, and three baseball.

June 20 - The carcass of a gray whale was reported floating between Wrangell and Channel Island, in the eastern passage. According to Kate Savage, with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, her organization heard about the whale early June 15.

June 27- One of the most highly anticipated events in Wrangell's Fourth of July celebration is the Chuck Oliver Logging Show. The contest harkens back to Wrangell's days as an important part of the timber industry in Southeast Alaska. Formed in 1975 by Chuck Oliver, who was then working with Alaska Lumber & Pulp, the logging show drew people from all over to Wrangell. The Oliver family has participated in the organizing of the competition off-and-on since it was first started, Randy Oliver said. However, part of the logging show's tradition will come to a close this year. Chuck passed away in March, at the age of 90-years-old. Randy said that this, the 45th annual logging show, would be his last.