The Con

Apparently, every few years the people of Wrangell become divided over some big issue. Some theorize that that’s our downfall, why the town will never really progress or get out of it’s economic down spiral. The community will always pull together for various tragedies – when a fisherman dies and leaves behind a wife and three kids, when a triple-murder suicide leaves multiple families emotionally devastated – but for the most part Wrangellites are a little pigheaded. They have this remarkable ability to fight ardently against each other in council chambers, but then drink together at the Elks. This vicious cycle of political strife slows down any number of projects and I begin to question the validity of the public process (not that I’d ever think it was wrong. It’s just that if you had to sit through 37 public testimonials that lasted four hours, you’d begin to doubt the sense and logic in it).

Since November the town of Wrangell has been polarized over issues involving a major fish processor in town. On Wednesday night, at around 11:28, it came to an end. The city is officially a major shareholder of a private local business, a non-voting shareholder at that. Doesn’t sound right, does it? I’ll write about the final outcome for next week’s paper but then it’s kind of odd to think that I might not be writing about it every week, that new information won’t be coming forth everyday, that the investigative digging will cease. Regardless of whether I think the city made the right choice, I should be breathing a sigh of relief.

But I still get this sneaking suspicion that in months to come, a certain individual will mysteriously leave on the ferry in the middle of the night, armed with a few million dollars, and never return.