What requires four men from the South; three men from Niles; Jergens lotion; bright red fingernail polish; a case of grease: two drop lights; scrap ink buckets; 2,000 rags; Mylar; blankets and rollers; and a mobile machine shop?

I’m not sure what they are using the nail polish and lotion for, but we are getting a press makeover at Leader Publications.

It’s been a long time coming for our old King.

It is amazing the press guys have been able to get the print quality they have in recent years.

Our press has 10 units with only six working, and they struggle.

In a year from now, all units are expected to be up and running like new.

The extra units will allow us to print an additional four pages of color as well as 32-page newspapers in a single run. Currently, we are limited to printing eight pages of color in a total of 24 pages.

The electricians who originally installed the press will remove all the duct tape that held the wiring together and put it back in order. The motors will be reconditioned.

Beginning today, the crew will be working around the clock dismantling the press a unit at a time. Moving parts will be repaired and/or replaced.

Seeing is believing, but by Monday morning we should have eight of our 10 units up and running like new. The remaining two units will be fixed within the next year.

Fingers crossed, but you should see crisper and cleaner printing next week. This is yet another step in our journey to improve your Leader Publications. We are making this expensive investment because we believe there is a large group of people in our communities that wants to see great local coverage in newsprint for many years to come.

Despite the naysayers, there are many people like myself who believe newsprint will not be going away soon if we provide exceptional quality to our readers.

That is our goal at Leader Publications.