The Way We Were

Dec. 18, 1924

On last Friday evening the Wrangell schools two basketball teams played their first public game of the season. The attendance at the game was small due to the fact that the evening was so cold. The evening opened with a curtain raiser by two teams of smaller boys from the grade school. The featured event of the evening was a game between the regular high school and grade school teams. The teams are about as evenly matched as any two teams could be, the grade team having the advantage in weight and high school boys the advantage in experience. In practice the two teams have been playing neck and neck, but in the exhibition game the high school boys got started off on the wrong foot while the grade school boys showed up in their best form and waltzed them around to the tune of a final 17-7 score.

Dec. 16, 1949

To assist the Alaska Communications System in providing the best possible long distance telephone service to the people of Wrangell during the forthcoming Christmas and New Year’s holidays, it is requested that persons contemplating holiday calls notify the Wrangell Telephone Co. or the ACS office as soon as possible and not later than Dec. 23 for Christmas calls and not later than Dec. 30 for calls on New Year’s. Telephone circuits will be overloaded and calls placed in advance will have priority over all others. Calls may be placed from and charged to your home telephone. Persons not having telephones may place calls at the telephone company office or at the ACS office.

Dec. 18, 1974

Creation of a nonprofit FM radio station for Wrangell seemed a possibility this week following a meeting between local proponents and a representative of public radio station KTOO in Juneau. Phil Wayne of Wrangell said plans have been made to go ahead with formation of a nonprofit corporation to create a Wrangell station. He said the organization will be called Wrangell Radio Group and hopefully will have the call letters WRG.

Dec. 14, 1999

The final city council meeting of 1999 was held Dec. 4 and included a public hearing on the Reid Street parking issue. The people in the affected neighborhoods were divided, some believing that they had been told there would be no on-street parking after the paving, and others believing they were told exactly the opposite. The issues discussed also included the safety of those driving on the street when crowded by parked cars, and the extra heavy use of the street as parking during school and other community activities. Reid Street resident Helen Keller appeared at the hearing to request parking on the street. The mayor and council members were distressed by the conflicting promises that appear to have been made, but remained committed to reducing the city’s liability.