Tribune-Sentinel and sister publications to return to Thursday publication day

Printing of newspapers moving to Goodland, Kansas next week

By Jan Schultz

High Plains News

It’s the end of an era for The Tribune-Sentinel and its sister publications in Imperial and Holyoke, Colorado.

Printing of the weekly newspapers on the Fairchild News King Press in Imperial came to an end this week.

This week’s newspapers dated June 7 represent the final ones printed at the Imperial Republican office in Imperial.

Printing will move to Goodland, Kansas, home to one of six newspapers in that state recently purchased by Lloyd and Jesse Mullen, who also own the High Plains News North papers in Imperial, Grant and Holyoke.

The Goodland Star-News was purchased in December by the Mullen brothers. The press there has the ability for printing in color.

The change will mean a return to Thursday publication dates for the Imperial, Grant and Holyoke newspapers.

The three newspapers’ placement on Goodland’s busy printing schedule necessitated the change from a Wednesday to a Thursday publication day.

The change to Thursday will be effective next week with the June 15 editions. Deadlines for the Tribune-Sentinel will not change and will remain on Monday at 5 p.m. for both news and ad content. Deadlines will also not change for Holyoke and Imperial. 

The Mullens are excited about the opportunities ahead for the Imperial, Grant and Holyoke publications. Centralizing and streamlining the printing operations it will allow for better coordination and control of the printing process.

Instead of having two printing sites, within a close proximity, the newspaper will improve efficiency by having one main facility where all its printing is carried out.

Since the newspapers won’t get back to southwest Nebraska until later Wednesday each week after the switch, all of the newspapers will be mailed out on Thursdays from each individual post office.

In Grant, that means the Tribune-Sentinel will no longer be out in post office boxes Wednesday afternoon.

Employees’ jobs will not be affected by the changes coming next week.

Pressman duties change

Alan Carman, who’s printed the newspapers in Imperial the past 37 years, will continue full-time duties at the Republican, but take on other duties.

Since he started in 1986 as the printer, Carman has been on the press 1,924 weeks, only missing one Wednesday’s printing schedule during his tenure. That missed week was due to a daughter’s illness that took him and his wife out of town.

His schedule included the weekly printing of the Imperial, Grant and Holyoke papers all 37 years, as well as the Wauneta Breeze until November 2020, when it ceased publication.

The Haxtun Herald in Colorado has also been printed in Imperial since January 2022.

Carman’s job as pressman wasn’t one he initially sought out.

Former Co-Publisher Loral Johnson was in search of a pressman back in 1986 and asked several local business owners about possibilities, and Carman’s name came up.

“I was hired and had one day of training,” before taking over the job, he said.

Carman said it will be “a little weird” not running the press on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from now on.

“It will be a change for sure,” he said. 

Like other labor-intensive jobs, the number of pressmen in the country is dwindling. Carman appreciates he’s part of a profession and its duties that not many can perform.

He won’t miss the weekly stress of the position, however, and the repairs over the years that necessitated, at times, a U.S.-wide search for parts.

In the coming months, the press in Imperial will be moved to Montana where it will be used for printing other newspapers owned by the Mullens.