January

Mansoldo retires after 40
years at Olson Tire 

TORRINGTON – It’s highly likely that the most recognizable thing about Olson Tire Company for the last few decades has been Ray Mansoldo’s smiling face.

He outlasted the bias-ply tires the shop sold when he started there in 1979, and when he got his start in the business, the cars looked a lot different. You could actu- ally work on those cars, he said.

“Back then, the kids liked their cars and worked on their cars,” he said. “They raised the hoods and they could work on their mo- tors. Now, the cars are more complex and technical. If you want to work on your car, you have a computer to plug in and you need a me- chanic who can read the codes and tell you how to fix them.”

Mansoldo, surrounded by family and friends, put in his last day at Olson on Fri- day. After 40 years at Olson and over two decades as the shop’s manager, he retired from the business where he was a fixture. 

February

GCSD offers Kramer two-year contract 

TORRINGTON – Goshen County School District No. 1 Superintendent Ryan Kramer signed on for another two years as the leader of the district during the Goshen County Schools Board of Trustees meeting on Tuesday night at the GCSD Central Office building.

The board voted unanimously to offer Kramer a two-year contract for the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 school years. Chairwoman Katherine Patrick called Kramer’s performance in his first year at the helm “exemplary.”

“I think that we all agree that we are highly satisfied with the exemplary performance from Mr. Kramer, and we’re hoping to see quite a bit more from him for the next two years,” Patrick said. 

Senator John Barasso visits Torrington

TORRINGTON – In a day and age where seemingly everything is politicized to the point of ridiculousness and most national discourse is more combative than produc- tive, there are some areas of common ground between Republicans and Democrats even in Washington, D.C.

Sen. John Barasso is doing his best to find those areas and make progress on issues important to the people of Wyoming. Barasso spoke to the Torrington Rotary Club on Monday at the Cottonwood Country Club, and while he roused the crowd with party line discussions on healthcare, immigration and a firsthand account of the President Donald Trump’s impeachment that he called “all political,” he also emphasized the importance of keeping Wyoming his first priority on Capitol Hill. 

March

Banner CEO updates city on
COVID-19 preparations

TORRINGTON – Most people who con- tract COVID-19, the novel coronavirus that has effectively brought a halt to everyday life in every corner of the globe and killed thousands, hardly ever show any signs or symptoms.

And that’s what makes it dangerous, according to Banner Community Hospital CEO Zach Miller. It’s a cold to four out of five people – but for the fifth, it’s much more serious.

“The good news is that 80% of patients will show almost no symptoms,” Miller said. “It will be very mild cold symptoms and you wouldn’t know it from a cold. But for those 20% that are affected, like the elderly and those that have more of a risk for illnesses, they will need further treatment.” 

April

GCSD prepares to launch online
courses during pandemic

TORRINGTON – Come April 6, Goshen County School District No. 1 students will be learning again – but it will be a lot different than it was on their last regular day of school.

Students have been out of class since March 13 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The school buildings themselves must remain closed until April 17, under the orders of Governor Mark Gordon and State Health Officer Alexia Harrist, to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus responsible for thousands of deaths around the globe and more than 2,000 in the United States.

But ever since the closure announcement, teachers and administrators in Goshen County have been plotting out the best way to reach their students during the crisis. According to GCSD Superintendent Ryan Kramer, students in grades six through 12 will do their learning online.

Kramer said students will only spend a small portion of their day studying. There’s a cap for older students, and it’s less for younger grades.

More than a wave

TORRINGTON – While students and teachers in Goshen County will be taking their first steps onto new ground this week as    the curriculum moves entirely online, teachers and students from Torrington schools braved the cold and blowing snow on Friday to see each other in person one more time.

When those same teachers and students left school on March 13, the Friday before Spring Break, they didn’t know that might have been the last regular school day of the year. Governor Mark Gordon announced on Friday that school buildings would remain closed until at least April 30 – but as COVID-19 - the novel coronavirus that’s responsible for thousands of deaths in the United States and many more around the globe – spreads and shows no signs of slowing down, teachers and students are wondering if March 13 might have been the last regular day.

And so, with snow blowing in their windows and signs taped to their windshields to remind their students how much they care, teachers from every school building in Torrington formed a parade some 40 cars in length simply to wave to some familiar faces around town. School Resource Officer Jeff Ryall led the way in his Torrington Police Department patrol car, blaring the siren to let kids know their teachers were on the way.

Mattis resigns from city council

TORRINGTON - After serving more than a year on Torrington’s governing board, Matt Mattis resigned from his position on the Torrington City Council on Wednesday.

Mattis was appointed to the council in Feb. 2019, and the seat is up for grabs in November’s general election. Mayor Randy Adams said the council wouldn’t appoint someone to the seat with the election just a few months away.

“We’re going to let the people decide,” Adams said.

Downtown COVID Escape aims to give shoppers a taste of normalcy

TORRINGTON – After a month of social distancing, staying home and avoiding stores, many people are looking for ways to escape the monotony – and a group of downtown businesses have come up with what they believe is a safe way to partially rekindle their businesses and provide a welcome distraction for shoppers.

The Downtown COVID Escape, a joint venture between downtown retail stores and the Goshen County Economic Development Corporation, is a soft re-opening of businesses that voluntarily shuttered their doors as the COVID-19 pandemic spread. While some businesses, like bars and gyms, were ordered to close by Governor Mark Gordon, retail stores weren’t included in those orders.

And so, with safety as their first priority, Farm Girls Boutique, Home on the Range, Heartland Embroidery and Sunshine Photography will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Monday through Saturday. Those businesses, along with Torrington Office Supply – which has been open for its regular hours – will donate 10 percent of their proceeds during the month of April to Goshen HELP.

May

Torrington names new police chief

Longtime Fort Collins cop
to take over local force

TORRINGTON – Torrington Mayor Randy Adams announced the appointment of Matthew Johnson, a longtime sergeant of the Fort Collins, Colo., Police Department, as the next Chief of the Torrington Police Department on Monday, and Johnson’s appointment was approved unanimously by the Torrington City Council Tuesday night.

Johnson comes into the position with 19 years of experience under his belt, a master’s degree in Public Administration, training endorsements from the FBI and a wealth of other certifications and experiences that Adams said the city had never seen in an applicant for the position.

Hankins named new
county road boss

TORRINGTON – After nearly a year as the interim head of the department, Val Hankins was named the full-time Goshen County Road and Bridge Superintendent during the Goshen County Board of Commissioners meeting on Tuesday.

As the department begins to prepare for its summer projects, the GCC voted unanimously in favor of Hankins taking the job full-time. Hankins served in the interim position since Jerry Hort retired last summer.

June

Students lead peaceful protest

Residents gather to support Black Lives Matter, condemn
police brutality

TORRINGTON – Torrington High School senior Elyssa Cummings stood on a table, holding a sign that read “60 years ago, MLK had a dream… make it a reality” as she addressed a crowd of roughly 100 neighbors, classmates and fellow protestors on Friday.

Cummings told the group, “if you’re here to hurt people, please don’t walk with us.”

Close by, Bailey Walker, a 2019 THS graduate, stood with a sign reading “Silence is deadly” tucked under her arm.

The two women exchanged text messages a few nights earlier, troubled by instances of racism and police brutality that have led to protests throughout all 50 states this past week. Rather than attend one of the larger protests happening approximately 100 miles away in Cheyenne or Laramie, they decided to organize one in their hometown.

Fun in the sun

DJMP open for the season,
but fee hike awaits

TORRINGTON – Repairs have been completed, COVID-19 restrictions have been relaxed, lifeguards have been hired and the Dale Jones Municipal Pool is open to help Torrington residents escape the summer heat.

The DJMP will look a lot different this year, just like everything else in the COVID-19 era, but the pool was entirely left out of early drafts of the city’s 2020-2021 fiscal year budget because of restrictions issued by Governor Mark Gordon and State Health Officer Dr. Alexia Harrist to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.

But that didn’t stop Jordan Rodgers, 11, from arriving more than 20 minutes early to be first in line for opening day Wednesday. Rodgers said he is glad the DJMP will be open this summer, giving him something to do “besides playing Fortnite all day.

Over the garden wall

Project brings aquaponics
units to Goshen County

GOSHEN COUNTY – How does your garden grow?

With fish and water and … nope, that’s about it.

It may seem odd to be growing food without soil in one of the top ag producing counties in the state, but that’s exactly what’s happening at four demonstration “garden walls” in local communities through grants from the Wyoming Business Council and the Goshen County Main Street Program.

It’s called the Community Cultivation Project, the brainchild of Travis Hines and his Pinedale-based company, Biologic Designs. The walls are free-standing, self-contained hydroponic or aquaponic gardens, using nutrient-rich water instead of soil to feed and nurture plants.

Hines got the idea for CCP when he worked for Bright Agrotech, now called ZipGrow, in Laramie. The company specializes in hydroponic grow systems and the garden walls are adapted from their designs, he said.