Walking around Wrangell the days before Christmas, it felt much the same as when I first arrived in town in May 1976. People said hello, starting as soon as I stepped out of the airport terminal. Drivers waved. And the Wrangell Sentinel office was on Front Street.
I can't say I planned to return as owner of the Sentinel, but it just seemed right. It's not a matter of reliving my youth - I'm too old and sensible for that. My neck is too stiff to sit at a keyboard 12 hours a day. My knees don't bend enough to crouch on the sidelines taking photos at a high school basketball game all night.
But I want to help.
My late wife and I started in Alaska when we moved to town from Chicago to run the Sentinel and now, as I approach my 70th year, I'd like to support the community. I know it's not the Wrangell of the 1970s, the sawmills are gone, the population a bit less, fewer state offices and a little more politically conservative. But Wrangell has a solid future and the 118-year-old Sentinel will be part of it.
I will help to write, edit and manage the paper from Anchorage and Juneau, where I will be reporting on the state Legislature. Working with reporter Caleb Vierkant and office manager Trisha Schwartz, we will do our best to upgrade and expand the Sentinel, adding more pages, more news, local editorials, an improved website - all the while focusing on what's best for the community.
That means we'll print more copies of the annual Wrangell Visitors Guide this year and improve the online version so that businesses and community groups can better promote the community. Any Wrangell business that paid for an ad in the 2020 guide will get half off on their ad in the 2021 guide. I know 2020 was a bad year financially for a lot of people and I figure the Sentinel needs to do its part to start the rebuilding in 2021.
We will offer more discounts on weekly advertising for local businesses. Same idea as the visitors guide - doing our part as the community recovers from the financial hit of the COVID-19 pandemic. I expect 2021 will be better than 2020, but a recovery will take longer than just this year.
We plan to add more news from around Southeast and the state, but not at the expense of crowding out news of Wrangell. It's not one or the other, it's both.
Of course, with a small staff we will be limited in what we can report. Please be patient and understanding as we try our best. In time, we'll get to everything and everyone.
We invite letters to the editor from residents. Keep them civil, get the facts straight, no personal attacks and we'll get them into print. Stray from those rules, and I will reject the letters.
Most important, I believe a well-informed public is essential in a functioning democracy, and is crucial for voters and public officials as they make decisions. That's the newspaper's job: Facts and reality and recording history, not spreading rumors or speculation. I have no idea how to send out a tweet and have no intention of learning.
Wrangell may have changed since 1976, but the rules of journalism haven't changed. The Sentinel has operated for 118 years, going on 119 in November. This year starts with changing the name on the state business license. There will be more to come.
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