HEBRON -- After 50 years, Ours Garage & Wrecker Service Inc. is under new management, but the business is staying in the family.Kevin Ours, 48, of Hebron, and his two partners, Mike Davis, 48, and Matt Buchanan, 42, of Newark, bought the business when Ours' parents, Bill and Diana Ours, retired in July.
The company, which specializes in heavy-duty towing, was started by Kevin Ours' grandfather in 1959 as a gas station at the corner of Ohio 79 and U.S. 40. Bill Ours expanded the business to include towing and wrecking in 1961.
In 2002, the company joined the Towing and Recovery Association of Ohio in suing the city of Columbus after it tried to force the company to buy a license to tow within the city limits. The case traveled all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Although the company lost the case, it succeeded in convincing state legislators to create a statewide license for tow trucks, Kevin Ours said.
A former executive director of the Towing and Recovery Association of Ohio, Ours has been involved with the family business since he was a young man. He jumped at the chance to own the company.
"The opportunity came at the right time," he said.
Beside towing, the business will begin repairing trucks and refrigerated trucks as well as hauling freight. Ours said he hopes the business will be able to double in size in the next year and open more locations in the area.
Despite these changes, he said the company will stay true to the principles it was founded upon.
"We've always been very service oriented, and that's not going to change," Ours said. "In fact it's going to get even better."
As for his parents, Ours said they will remain in Hebron.
"I worked with them everyday for 20 years, so it's pretty odd not having them around," he said. "But they still stop by to say hi."
Anna Sudar can be reached at (740) 328-8544 or asudar@newarkadvocate.com.
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