After 44 years ...Sierra Nevada stops its press

Jeannette and Jerry Doran composed a good-bye letter to their customers, printed out about 200 copies on their office laser printer and signed them all by hand.

After 44 years and four different owners, Jerry said Friday he's sad it had to be them that darkened Sierra Nevada Printing.

Jeannette said they'll lock the doors on the 3,000-square-foot Hot Springs Road workshop on Wednesday. The press room and bindery still has the faint smell of ink, even though the three offset presses are covered. Neither Jeannette nor Jerry can smell the ink anymore.

"It's kind of sad because for so long business was so good, but it's changed a lot," she said.

By changes, she means the digital revolution and the competition it wrought.

"With new technology, it means making a major investment or not being able to make a major investment," Jerry said. "We were not able to."

Instead they printed stationery, letterhead, envelopes, fliers and handouts for such local companies as Lumos and Associates, the Carson Nugget, Bullis and Company CPAs, Larry Beller and Associates and Bruce Industries. And Carson City will have to find some other place to print their primary and general sample ballots.

Jeannette, 54, said the most creative thing they ever printed were notebook balls for Lumos, which fan out like a children's flip book.

The Dorans bought Sierra Nevada Printing from Tony and Janet Hartmann in 1996. The Hartmanns bought it from Scotty and Gail Ruff, who bought it from the original owner, Jim Austin. He bought the business' original equipment from the Nevada Appeal.

"Owning your own business is time consuming and labor intensive," Jerry said. "Especially a business like this."

Their 21-year pressman, Grant Lake, will probably stick with printing, they said. The three working offset presses are in the process of getting sold. The Original Heidelberg windmill press - which they used for dye cuts - is up for sale. The old foundry-type cabinet was donated to Chic DiFrancia, for a press museum he hopes to open someday.

The bindery, where the printed products were finished, may be the last operational stop for the 30-inch blade paper cutter, vertical and horizontal collators.

Jerry, 54, said it's hard to find a home for this equipment; not many companies use them anymore.

He already has a job at Home Depot. Jeannette is going to take a long vacation until she figures out what to do next. Both said they would rather work for someone else now.

n Contact reporter Becky Bosshart at bbosshart@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1212.