Independent veteran to retire after nearly 50 years with paper
Castaneda witnessed revolution in industry

Independent staff

GALLUP — In 1957, The Gallup Daily Independent sold for 7 cents an issue, California Market was advertising three pounds of ground beef for $1, "Shake, Rattle and Rock" was showing at the Chief Theater and Lawrence Castaneda began his career at The Independent.

When, on Nov. 22, 1963, the headlines in The Independent screamed in 200-point type "EXTRA! EXTRA! PRESIDENT JFK IS SLAIN," Lawrence Castaneda helped set up and print that edition of The Independent.

He was still with The Independent for other world-shaking events such as the terror attacks of 9/11 and the disintegration of the space shuttle Columbia in the skies over Texas.

Now, after nearly 50 years, Castaneda, 65, will retire from his position as production manager of the newspaper. His son, Ralph Castaneda will take his place.

During his time with the newspaper, Castaneda has witnessed a world of change both at The Independent and the newspaper industry as a whole.

"Night and day," he said of the difference between The Independent when he started compared to the newspaper you are reading today.

"Computers? Yeah, we had them. They were called typewriters," he said, tongue planted firmly in cheek.

He has worked for two owners, a couple of different publishers and has seen countless managing editors come and go.

When Castaneda began working at the paper, it was printed on an eight-page flatbed Model E Goss hot-lead press.

"Our circulation couldn't have been more than 1,200," he said. Yet, it sometimes took a half day to print the paper. In contrast, the new press The Independent recently installed is capable of printing up to 40,000 full-color papers an hour or 1,200 papers in less than two minutes.

Castaneda said he became interested in the newspaper production and printing business while he was a teenager in Los Angeles in 1955. While attending junior high school, he was fascinated by a school paper that was "put together one letter at a time." Unable to deal with the craziness of life in the city, Castaneda returned to Gallup.

Upon his return, he hired on with The Independent working in the mail room as an inserter. Yet, he was fascinated by watching the printer. Although the printer told him he wasn't allowed in that area, he was hired a short time later as a "printer's devil."

A self-professed "jack of all trades," Castaneda did everything from cleaning the press to shoveling, melting and pouring lead. He also worked on a variety of presses including the eight-page flatbed; a 16-page Goss Tube press (which was later expanded to a 24-page Goss Tube) and a five-unit Community Offset press, which was expanded to 13 printing units.

When the Community Offset was installed in 1971, Castaneda began tinkering with processed color, which took quite some time to work out all of the glitches. (Today, The Independent has the ability to print 24 pages at a time with full-process color on every page with its new six-tower Goss Magnum press.)

When John Zollinger purchased the newspaper on Jan. 1, 1964, he began what would be a 40-year upgrade in equipment.

"As soon as I got good on one piece of equipment, John would upgrade and I'd have to learn something all over again," Castaneda said.

Not all employees welcomed the modernization of the newspaper, however.

When The Independent invested in a Harris system that allowed for a quicker, easier way to print processed color, "we had a foreman who saw change coming and quit," Castaneda said. "John (Zollinger) says 'you're going to be production manager'."

But it wasn't always that simple to adapt to the new technology.

"Harris had something that looked like a keyboard, but I didn't know what it was," Castaneda said.

Still, Castaneda adapted to every challenge.

"Over the years, we have pushed and pulled Lawrence, and we, too, were pushed and pulled into the future," said Independent Publisher Bob Zollinger. "He's been able to grasp a lot of it. ... He's come through very well for us."

"He was a laborer and he rose through the ranks," John Zollinger said. "The old people around Gallup will testify to Lawrence's capacity to work.

"If I could love a man, I love Lawrence," John Zollinger added. "He was faithful and he did all I asked of him."