Liberty Press opens on College Street

In January, a week after the printing company they worked for went out of business, three Springfield businessmen decided to start their own print shop. Jack Vinson is one of these men. He worked as a pressman for 23 years at Roark Printing, 738 Glenstone, before starting Li-berty Press with two of his former co-workers. Liberty Press is located at 1721 W. College.

The owners of the new print shop are Vinson, Zach Mc-Curdy and Larry Bledsoe. The three men are the print shop's only employees, but they hope to hire one or two more people eventually, Vinson said.

McCurdy had worked as a salesman at Roark for 15 years, and Bledsoe had worked there for 18 years as a pressman. Each man is doing the same kind of work now, but for the company they own. McCurdy also is bidding on jobs and helping customers.

The men were able to bring some of their former clients with them to Liberty Press, and they are continuing to add new clients.

Vinson said Liberty Press does mostly single-color printing on the company's two presses, but they also can do two-color and three-color print jobs.

"We're a complete print shop," Vinson said. "If we can't do it in-house, we farm it out somewhere else."

The College Street building, which was the former location of Roark Printing, had been vacant on and off for about four years, Vinson said.

It is being remodeled, he added. The front office area is being rewired and a room is being built to allow space for camera and film developing operations.

Via Vinson's Mailing Service, a mailing services company owned by Vinson and his wife Linda, Liberty Press also offers a mailing service.

Established in 1983, Vinson's Mailing Service sends out ev-erything but first-class mail, Vinson said.

While Vinson believes that Liberty Press can be a money-making venture, he only has one goal in mind.

"I just want to be able to make a living for me and my family," he said.