By Steve Marcotte

Oceanside CA— OsideNews, established in 2013,  has been acquired by Mercury Current LLC with the transition to take place later today. Mercury Current LLC, which has published the North County Current since 2002, is based in Encinitas and owned by Roman Koenig.
Roman has the knowledge, skill and most importantly, the passion to build up OsideNews on the foundation that the Oceanside and Carlsbad communities have helped me create. Roman has close ties to  North County having worked at the North County Times (where we first met), Blade-Citizen, Times-Advocate and The San Diego Union Tribune. OsideNews cannot be in better hands.

Final editors note from this editor:

There are many people I would like to thank for their support but there is no way to keep this short and sweet by doing so. I know I will miss somebody and I apologize in advance for my memory lapse.
I would like to mention the late Leonard Cosby and former OPD Chief Frank McCoy for their work building a strong relationship between OPD and the media. Same for OFD Battalion Chief Peter Lawrence. Thanks Chief. Thank you to MainStreet Oceanside, Visit Oceanside and KOCT for helping me build relationships in the community. Thank you so very much Terry Gorman-Brown at the City of Oceanside. Thank you Jodi Diamond at Boys and Girls Clubs of Oceanside. The awards from BGCOceanside still sit proudly on my desk. Thank you Zucette Lumabas for being Zucette Lumabas. Your support and friendship has always been a blessing. Chris Gow, Genevieve Wunder, you will be missed.

Thank you to all that contributed their time and efforts for stories including Matt Lyons, Lucy Wheeler, Stephen A. Cooper, Richard Riehl, Thomas Gutierrez to name a few. Of course a huge thank you to Mr. Oside, Tom Morrow for his weekly contributions and his guidance from the beginning. Tom instantly brought credibility to OsideNews and will continue to contribute here and now in the North County Current too.
Family is how I’ve been able to put OsideNews out there. Thank you for your support, Pops. None of what I have been doing with OsideNews for the past 8+ years would have been possible without the support of my wife, Shelly. None of it! She is the reason I was able to keep this going.
I have truly enjoyed meeting the amazing people of North County.  There is an incredible group of people that I never gave much thought to prior to OsideNews. They are hard working people behind the scenes of every event, the volunteers. So many people donate their most precious asset, time, to make their community a better place for everyone. The clubs, the libraries, the PD, Emergency Preparedness, Hospice, the Arts. The list is endless. I respect each and every one of you and it has been my pleasure meeting y’all.(Just getting in practice).
It is bittersweet as I pass the torch to Roman. I just want to say thank you so very much for supporting this little endeavor. I have been blessed.  I will miss you, North County, home. 
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