Orange County Business Journal

I was flattered to be a part of the articles in the Sunday business section regarding the Orange County Business Journal (“Orange County Business Paper Is Latest Link in Growing Chain,” Sept. 24). There were, however, a few remarks that seemed off the mark.

Insofar as the brains behind the business goes, my partner, Paul Marengo, was indispensable to the success of our business. He was in charge of sales and marketing since he joined the paper. However, whatever brains there may have been behind our business were probably possessed by the founder, owner and publisher of the paper. Or do you see a weakness in that logic?

Chuck Herschmeyer, the new publisher of the journal, suggested that my paper lacked direction and that the revised version would be exclusively hard news. Well, we concentrated on hard news, but we also had a social conscience and attempted to address the major economic issues confronting Orange County. But then, Chuck may be right, his way is much simpler.

Not only were we in a good enough condition to be sold, as you reported, the Orange County Business Journal, unlike the Los Angeles Business Journal and the San Diego Business Journal, was operating at a consistent profit prior to the CBJ acquisition.

If we were undercapitalized as your article concludes, we would have failed. I think the 12-year history of the Orange County Business Journal demonstrates that we were sufficiently capitalized.

I am very proud of what we accomplished with the Orange County Business Journal.

MARSHA MARENGO

Marengo is a founder and former owner and publisher of the Orange County Business Journal.