The last press run

Scenes from the last night The Register-Guard printed a newspaper on its Mitsubishi Lithia press in Eugene on March 7, 2021

When Guard Publishing built its Summer Oaks production facility in 1994 it was a triumphant time. Circulation was growing and enthusiasm about newspapers, particularly ours in Eugene was riding high. 

The company installed a new Mitsubishi Lithia press with an accompanying distribution center that set the stage for the paper’s growth. Four years later we moved all operations from 10th and High downtown to an adjacent new office building. 

The company’s slogan in 1999 became “80,000 in 2000” and a factoid that our tour guides used when showing off the new press was to mention in their spiels that if you unfurled a single sheet of newsprint used in one night’s press run, it would span the 23 miles from Eugene to Cottage Grove.

Now, three years and a week after GateHouse Media took over ownership of The Register-Guard in 2018, our local newspaper printed the last print edition on its 27-year-old press. 

The final front page plate in position and ready to go.

The previously Baker family-owned paper came under Gannett ownership in 2019 after GateHouse Media and Gannett merged creating the nation’s largest newspaper publisher.

It’s been reported that 49 full- and part-time press and distribution department employees have lost their jobs and that the printing of the paper now takes place in Vancouver, Wash., 116 miles north of Eugene. 

At the time of the merger, Gannett said that would it would make early moves to begin “cost-cutting synergies.” 

As I photographed the last Register-Guard press run in Eugene on Sunday, I couldn’t help but reminisce about the connection the news people had to the pressroom guys. 

To me, these folks were the unsung heroes whose work behind the scenes sometimes defined our success, but always made us look good. 

Occasionally, they’d catch a bad head and save us, but more likely — through a wink or secret handshake — they’d pause the deadline clock to give us the time to account for a really late news story or more regularly, give us extra time to get five blank pages of late Saturday night Oregon football game coverage into the Sunday morning paper. Afterward, the pressroom people would close the gap in a way not unlike how airline pilots do when your flight leaves late, but arrives on time.

Readers and sometimes journalists at other newspapers marveled about how we pulled off the late night stuff. It was with the willing help and professionalism of these guys behind the curtain. They were as much “The Register-Guard” as the folks creating the content.

I started in newspaper journalism 50 years ago this coming summer. Four of the five papers I worked for are now owned by Gannett.

By the end of March none of these papers will print on in-house presses. Everything will have been outsourced and move our industry a little further away from the communities they serve.

— Carl Davaz

Eric Krupicka with the final front page in the Plateroom.
Pressman Rick Pickle readies a paper roll on the first floor before the final run.
Juan Martinez waits for the final pages.
The cover of Sports was one of the last pages to show up.
Production Manager Gary Bush and press operator Trey Weeks check the paper.
Production Manager Gary Bush, second from left, with pressmen Randy Deardorff, Trey Weeks, Eric Krupicka, Juan Martinez, Rick Pickle, Aric Frydendall and Brian Henry on the last night The Register-Guard was printed at Summer Oaks Center on Chad Drive in Eugene on Sunday, March 7, 2021.
Pressman Juan Martinez during the last run of The Register-Guard press.
Aric Frydendall, along with his father, Friday, and wife, Sue, have 99 cumulative years of service working at the paper since 1966.
Gary Bush and Aric Frydendall toward the end of the run.
Scenes from the last night The Register-Guard printed a newspaper in Eugene.
Brian Henry and Trey Weeks.
Pressman Brian Henry, left, started working at The Register-Guard in recent years after having worked on Mitsubishi Lithia presses in Richmond, Va.
Unused color ink rollers will find their way to another Gannett property or be recycled.
The final sheets traveling through the Mitsubishi Lithia press.
The March 8, 2021 issue of The Register-Guard was the last edition printed in Eugene.

RG Golden Era Steering Committee

The members of The Register-Guard Reunion Steering Committee are Ann Baker Mack, Donovan Mack, Paul Neville, Lloyd Paseman, Dean Rea, Mike Thoele and Sandy Thoele.

They can be reached at the email address [email protected].