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By Chandler Inions

A lot gets thrown around in the news today, and often lost in the fray is the background of the people delivering the news. Who are they? Where are they from? What matters to them? And why do they do it?

My name is Chandler Inions, and as of 12:01 a.m. on May 10, I am the latest editor for the Clemmons Courier. 

The newspaper has been around since 1960, which I am most aware of. With a history like that, I know I have much to live up to. 

While I have not been around as long as the Courier, I have been passionate about journalism since before I could drive a car. 

I was the youngest editor ever for the West Wind, the West Brunswick High School (Shallotte) newspaper, where I started serving on the staff as a starry-eyed freshman.

Back in those days, I couldn’t wait to write for the paper.

After graduating high school, I majored in journalism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 

The first newspaper to take a shot on me was the Herald Chronicle in Winchester, Tennessee, a paper more than a century in the making. The editor, Brian Justice, saw something in me that I will forever be grateful for. Under his tutelage, I learned about asking tough questions and getting the story even when barriers presented themselves.

My next stop on the journalism journey was in Lebanon, Tennessee, where I served as the newsroom for the Lebanon Democrat, a paper founded by a Confederate general during the days of Reconstruction. Working under lifetime journos Mike Alexieff and Craig Harris, I learned that there is more than one way to write a story, but at its core, the facts should speak for themselves. 

In 2019, I met the woman of my dreams, Abby Grathwohl of Salisbury. She was a kind-hearted and caring person who shared many of my interests and was almost as crazy about me as I was about her. Moving to Salisbury from Tennessee to be closer to her family just made sense. After all, we had matrimony plans, and while living in Nashville had its perks, being closer to the family started to carry more appeal. Soon as the Salisbury Post had an opening in their newsroom, we took a chance and headed back east.

We were wed at the Salisbury Train Depot on March 25 in a private ceremony of immediate kin, capped off by a raucous reception of friends so close they might as well be family. 

You can find me on the links or front row at a concert when I am not in the newsroom. If I can get away for the weekend, you might find me just past the break, waiting for the perfect wave.

Tar Heel basketball comprises the bulk of my off-the-clock attention from October to March, and I am grateful the World Cup only happens every four years.

Anything else our readers wish to know, I will be happy to share. I can be reached by email anytime at chandler.inions@clemmonscourier.net and encourage your questions. 

I have always believed that it’s important people know where their news is coming from, which means knowing who it’s coming from, too, but hey, that’s just one Inions’ opinion.

Chandler Inions is editor of the Clemmons Courier.