The Wrangell sentinel., 1954-11-26
THROUGH THE SENTINEL PERISCOPE
New SeboOl,. Maybe !

New School, Maybe F!
 With Wrangells industrial growth and it's attendant increase ill popu- lation. the local School Board has been looking ahead. At it's last meeting il decided to acquire the services Of Linn Forrest, well known Alaska architect, long with the U. $. Forest Service, to lay out plans for additional school facil- ities to meet the problem of school congestion, bound to arise as new families move into the community to gain their livelihood in the now deve.oping timber industry.
 To apply for assistance under the Alaska Public Works program for such a facility. it is necessary to have adequate plans and specified tions for just what is proposed. Realizing that it probably would be two years at best before APN funds might be made available. theI school board wisely decided to acti now. It will be recalled that al round two years ago the town vot-I ed to bond itself for a new sewer system to be built under the APW program. That project may become an actuality next year if the Con- gress, which meets in January. pro vides funds for APW. It is one Of the projects approved by the Bur eau of the Budget. The school sit uatiOn is a similar one. Two years is the earliest when financial as sistance might be made available as APW officials have pointed out
 With enrolment mounting each year, presently over the 300 mark. and class room space already a minor problem, it is probably that Wrangell. as other towns in the Territory have had to do under the pressure of growing pains, may have to go on a limited school time basis - part of the pupils re porting for ciesses in the morning. others in the afternoon.
 Financial Worth
 According to the financial state ment recently prepared by the towns auditor, summary of which may be found elsewhere in todays issuse of this valuable family jour nal, Nrangell has an assessed val-l uation of $2,267,651 21. Of this, $1,558, ,385.50 is in real property and S709,265.71 in personal pro-l perty. As taxpayers have no doubt noted from their tax statements, personal property assessments haveI been adjusted for this fiscal year and probably will show closer to q million dollar valuation when the audit is made next fall.
 On the whole, Wrangells finan- cial picture isn't too bad. The old municipality isn't exactly affluent but it isn't broke either. thanks to some excellent public service by members of the City Council in watch-dogging the public eoffers.
 Your Telephone
 The eity's financial picture is es- pecially bright when compared with the financial statement of the telephone company as depicted in its request for a rate increase. The phone company stands to show loss in the neighborhood of $6,OOO this year even if granted a $2 a. cross the board raise, it's figures show
 City Council, studying such fig ures at it's rate hearing the other evening, decided to give considera- tion to the possibility of the town acquiring the local exchange and operating it along the lines which have been successful with the light and power plant. What will come of it we're not prepared to say. but it does seem a shame to let the poor old telephone company blow along in such financial despond- ency, and leave the community with possibly nothing but para keets to carry messages.