MEDIA : 7 Weeklies to Be Sent as Part of Register

Beginning today, seven weekly newspapers in South Orange County are arriving on doorsteps in a new fashion--as part of the Orange County Register. And the Register is arriving without its regular Thursday community news pages.

The change marks the first major step by the Register to integrate the string of community papers that it bought last March from Media General Inc. for an estimated $20 million. Register Publisher R. David Threshie said the weeklies--in the Saddleback Valley, San Clemente, Laguna Beach, Laguna Niguel, Dana Point, Rancho Santa Margarita and the Capistrano Valley--will retain their own editorial and non-editorial staffs, but they will be distributed as part of the Register to its home- delivery customers in South County.

Those who don’t subscribe to the Register will still receive the free-distribution weeklies. The seven papers will have a combined circulation of 155,000.

At the same time, the Register will eliminate its Thursday community news pages in South County.