As you are all aware, the Great Bend Tribune Saturday, March 23 issue was delayed. We had over 50 messages on our phones when we returned Monday morning. That’s not including the direct conversations, the calls to cellphones or the calls we continued to receive throughout the day on Monday. We know how important the news is to our readers and we do not take missing a publication lightly. Crews worked into the wee hours of the morning trying to correct a mechanical issue on the printing press to get the paper out. Unfortunately, the problem was not able to be fixed and we missed the out going mail Saturday morning.

The crew returned Sunday and managed to repair the malfunction.

The culprit was a $2 broken bolt. It’s strange how something so small can bring a halt to such a large machine. With out everything in alignment, things just don’t work properly, the same as in any business or relationships in life. It shows the importance of having things just so, so that progress can continue. And sometimes it’s not about replacing the broken part sometimes removing it is the real problem.

That was the case Friday night/Saturday morning. We had the replacement part in stock but the struggle was removing the broken off bolt. Similar to removing a thorn from the paw of an angry lion; getting everything to cooperate was the struggle.

Luckily, and skillfully, we were able to remove and broken piece and make the repair and nothing was damaged. But it’s a reminder to not take things for granted. You never know when a breakdown will occur, from a flat tire or running out of gas, to a dead cell phone battery without a charger. When something is depended upon to work and it suddenly doesn’t and the issue can’t be immediately resolved the molehill becomes a mountain. And the mountain can become an avalanche if the real issue is not addressed. It was a “small” issue that took finesse.

Luckily, the printing press issue was caught before the issue snowballed.

And sometimes, things break and just don’t go your way. Try and try as you may to fix the error but there’s no quick or easy fix. Ignoring it or placing a band-aid isn’t necessarily and option. You just have to dig in and fix it.