Orange Independent Owner to Add Pair of Community Papers to Chain : Publishing: The deal to acquire the Buena Park News and the Cypress-La Palma News includes a reciprocal advertising sales arrangement with the chain that now owns them.

Robert L. Cashman, owner of the weekly Orange Independent newspaper, has agreed to purchase the Buena Park News and the Cypress-La Palma News from Southern California Community Newspapers for an undisclosed sum.

Cashman said the deal involves a partnership agreement under which SCCN will continue to print and distribute the two free weeklies and Cashman will be responsible for the editorial and advertising operations. Cashman said he intends to rent new offices, hire a staff of five and use the resources of the Orange Independent to put out the two papers.

Current employees will remain with SCCN, which operates 24 papers in the Los Angeles area.

The agreement also includes an arrangement under which Cashman’s publishing company, City Communications Corp., will sell advertising in Orange County for the SCCN titles, and SCCN will do the same for City Communications.

Ric Trent, SCCN chief executive officer, said his aim was to find a partner who knew the Orange County market so that his company could focus on the Los Angeles area. SCCN plans to expand into San Gabriel, Whittier and Rosemead, boosting the number of titles to 27.

Those towns had been served by weeklies owned by Golden West Publishing Inc., the chain that publishes newspapers in Orange and Los Angeles counties. Media General Inc. has agreed to sell Golden West to Freedom Newspapers, owner of the Orange County Register, for $20 million. Golden West recently closed eight money-losing weeklies in the San Gabriel Valley.

Local newspaper officials say North County is a difficult market for community weeklies. But Cashman, who owns two printing businesses and a metal fabrication company in Orange County and is also a member of the airport commission, said he plans to acquire at least three more papers in the area over the next three years.

Cashman said he is aiming to break even on his newspaper operations rather than “pushing them to be profitable. We take the revenues and put them back into the community.”