100 Years Ago
July 19, 1917
Goshen County Journal

Draft numbers are being drawn
The authorities in Washington have commenced drawing the numbers for the first draft. It is estimated by the provost marshal general for Wyoming that this county will be required to furnish 52 men in addition to those who have already volunteered.

Half of women to support themselves by ‘40
Rev. Dr. Waldo Amos of Hoboken, N.Y., predicts by 1940, half the women in the country will be self-supporting and that marriages will gradually decrease in number.
“It is a startling fact that young women are not marrying today,” he said. “Hundreds of thousands are going into business.
“The supreme mission of women in life should be to become mothers and to make homes,” Amos said. “The objection that many have to being married is that they become dependents.”

75 Years Ago
July 15, 1942

Rural Life Day set
4-H Club members from clubs in the vicinity of Torrington will participate in the Rural Life Sunday program to be held at the First Methodist Church in Torrington.

The Rev. Ralph F. Snyder will have charge of the services with the 4-H clubs from Cottier, Peaceful Valley, Gleaner’s Union and Torrington taking part in the special ceremonies. Clubs from other parts of the county are also planning to observe Rural Life Sunday by taking part in church services in their own communities. Programs are planned in nine different communities.

Primary filings increase daily
Filings for the primary election to be held Aug. 18 are gradually increasing and it may be expected that several close contests will develop before July 29, the date when filings close, it was indicated from reliable sources this week.
As yet, all those who have filed have done so for county offices. But E.A. Froyd, county Republican chairman, indicated that filings for state offices would be forthcoming within the next week.

50 Years Ago
July 10, 1967

Martinez crowned Miss Wyoming
Patricia Ann Martinez, an 18-year-old, 1966 graduate of Lingle High School, was crowed Miss Wyoming last night in the Miss Wyoming Pageant held in Cheyenne.
Miss Martinez received a thundering applause from the capacity crowd when she presented her operatic solo in the talent competition. Bill Patterson, project chairman for the Torrington Jaycees, said, “Patty was just tremendous in her performance and held the crowd absolutely spellbound.” Her sister, Mary, accompanied her solo.
In winning the Miss Wyoming crown, Patricia will now start preparing for the Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City, N.J., where she will represent the state in the nationwide event. She will leave for New Jersey on Sept. 4.

Missile site dedicated to towns
Col. Hill, wing commander of Warren Air Force Base, on Friday told the crowd gathered for the renaming of the former Sierra Missile Site that the entire operation of the site depended upon local facilities, including fire control, telephone lights and the matter of keeping the roads open in the winter.
He said the site would be renamed the Yoder-Torrington Launch Facility in recognition of this fine support of both communities and for further good will and mutual understanding.
Hill said an 11-man crew mans the facility at all times, which houses 10, pre-targeted missiles. He pointed out that special precautions have been taken to avoid a firing by accident but, in the case of an attack, the missiles at the 200 sites throughout the area could be fired in a matter of seconds.

25 Years Ago
July 15, 1992

Phone abuses cause worry
Some area residents have had a hard time distinguishing between legitimate requests for donations by local organizations and what may be swindles by people not from the area, Officer Scott Huckfeldt of the Torrington Police Department said.
The police have spoken to two local businesses about phone calls they have received requesting funds that were supposed to go to the TPD. The requests have come from organizations that are not legitimate, he said.
“We don’t have a lot of information about them,” Huckfeldt said. “We’ve had two calls about this and we’re worried someone may get suckered into giving money.”

School board rebuts LaGrange allegations
The Goshen County Unified School District did not hire another lawyer as a delaying tactic in the lawsuit to reverse the decision to close LaGrange School, Superintendent Paul Novak and School Board President Donna Duncan said.
Some members of the LaGrange community have alleged the school district was hiring another lawyer and filing a motion for postponement as a delaying tactic.
“There have not been any delays set by this board or no delaying actions that we have taken,” Novak said.
Both Duncan and Novak believe closing the school was the best possible decision for the entire district.
“We looked at the financial picture – at the whole total district,” Duncan said. “We looked at LaGrange and the fact that we could get $450,000 and we also could have left LaGrange open and RIF’d more people, cut activities and made class sizes all over the country bigger.”