Seal Beach Area Papers Sold to E. Coast Chain : * Publishing: New owner of Journal Newspapers says no staff cuts are planned.

SEAL BEACH —  Three weekly newspapers serving the Seal Beach area have been sold to a media group that owns community newspapers in Oceanside and on Santa Catalina Island.

Vance Caesar sold the Journal Newspapers--the Seal Beach Journal, the Huntington Harbour-Sun Journal and the Rossmoor/Los Alamitos Journal--to West Coast Community Newspapers Inc., which is part of a 28-newspaper chain based in Rhode Island.

Details of the sale were not disclosed.

Caesar, former general manager of the Long Beach Press-Telegram, bought the Journal papers in October, 1988. At the time, the weeklies had a circulation of 13,500, he said, which has grown to 33,000 today.

“After three years, I had given the organization what I could give it,” said Caesar, who was owner and publisher. “I was tired. I was ready to move on to the next thing. It’s been a wonderful experience, and it turned out well financially, too.”

He said one way the papers boosted their circulation was by increasing the average number of stories on the first two pages from seven to more than 30. Page 1 stories have included reports on award-winning teachers and teen-age beauty queens, and baby photos have appeared on Page 2.

Ted Holmgren, president of West Coast Community Newspapers, spoke individually to most of the 32 full-time and part-time staff members Thursday and assured them that their jobs and salaries would not be cut. He said that less money would be available for other items, such as free-lance writers, said one editorial staff member.

West Coast Community Newspapers owns 10 other newspapers in California, including the Catalina Islander, the Oceanside Breeze and the Encinitas Coast Dispatch. The California newspapers are owned by a subsidiary of West Warwick, R.I.-based Independent News Corp., which publishes three weekly newspapers in Rhode Island and 15 in Texas.

Holmgren, a former editor for the Providence Journal-Bulletin, is president of Independent News Corp. as well.

Gwen Parker will succeed Caesar as publisher of the three Orange County papers. She left the telemarketing department of the Press-Telegram in June, 1990, after 19 years.

“We want to keep the winning formula here,” she said. “Our stories have to be local, exclusive and come from the heart. Also, we listen to our advertisers’ needs.”