The newspaper you are holding marks the beginning of a new era in the long history of the PULASKI CITIZEN and THE GILES FREE PRESS.

For the first time in almost 40 years for the CITIZEN and more than 20 years for the FREE PRESS, the community’s newspapers are being printed on a new press at a site other than the CITIZEN/PRESS office at 308 W. College St.

The printing of the CITIZEN and FREE PRESS has moved permanently to Holley’s Printing at 955 W. College St., a member of the Pulaski Publishing family, which will not only take over the responsibility of printing the newspapers but offer commercial printing services on the new presses as well.

The move of the CITIZEN/PRESS print shop to Holley’s Printing was made with the recent purchase of a nine-unit press from the Gondolier Sun in Venice, Fla. Although used, the units are newer with upgrades that will give Pulaski Publishing more flexibility in what it offers not only to the newspapers but also its commercial customers.

“Our old press still does a good job at printing, but we wanted to expand our capacity and get equipment that we have more controls over,” Pulaski Publishing President Hershel Lake said of the decision to purchase the press. “The primary factor is to be able to continue to improve the color. Our press does a great job with black and white, it does a pretty good job with color, but we are going to step it up and make it better.”

The new press is the same brand as the five-unit Harris presses that have printed the CITIZEN and FREE PRESS for more than 20 years since the two papers were joined when purchased by Lake in the early 1980s.Prior to being combined, the FREE PRESS and CITIZEN were printed on different presses as competing newspapers.

Since 1968, the PULASKI CITIZEN has been printed on Harris Cottrell press units that were purchased by then publisher J. Harwood Smith, with additional units making up the five-unit press that has printed both papers since 1984.

Lake said the decision to move the production of the newspapers to Holley’s Printing was difficult.

“It’ll be a different atmosphere,” he said of the changes that have been and will continue to take place. “I’ll miss seeing the people, our production crew will all be at Holley’s, which is a production outfit that specializes in production. They will have a lot more expertise than we would have with our limited staff here, and also, they will be able to better utilize the people who run our new press, which operates a small portion of the time.”

Lake added that space was another limitation at the newspaper office.

“We could only store a very limited amount of paper because we have to buy paper by the truck load — to buy it competitively,” he said, noting that the cost of newsprint has increased five times in the last two years. “At Holley’s they will be able to do a lot of jobs with the newer press and the extra storage capacity that I just couldn’t do here.”

Overall, Lake said the purchase the press and the move to Holley’s were all made for the same reason.

“Our goal, certainly, is and always will be to produce the best quality paper that we can,” Lake said. “To do that, the production is important, too, where it’s easy to read, it’s nice and clean and the pictures are crisp and it is easy to identify the people in them.”

With the quality and increased capability, Lake said the move to Holley’s also means increased commercial printing opportunities.

“This (new) press is capable of doing jobs that I couldn’t do here,” Lake noted. “I’m excited that it’s in the hands of people who are production type people who can do us a better job. It’s only going a few blocks so I don’t see that I’m losing anything.”

Even with all the potential the changes offer, Lake said he finds himself with mixed emotions over the ending of one era and the beginning of another.

“I will probably miss hearing the press running and going down to see it, but on the other hand I’m at Holley’s some too, and I’ll probably be out there some when it’s running.”