By Scott Mims

Having grown up in Chilton County, Thorsby is no strange place to me. But recently I learned I would be covering the town of Thorsby for our newspaper, and I couldn’t be happier about that.
Now, anyone who has worked at a small community newspaper knows that our job titles aren’t very specific. Everyone has to do a little bit of everything in order for things to operate properly. For this reason, we find ourselves doing something different almost every day.
But there is a need for some sense of organization. Journalists typically follow “beats,” which can either refer to geographic areas or certain categories of news. My beats are basically Thorsby, local churches and the Chilton County Commission.
Thorsby is the beat I was most recently assigned to. This includes both news and sports.
I really enjoyed the few days of perfect weather we had during spring break. Covering the Thorsby versus Leeds baseball game was the most fun I’d had while working in a long time. It really didn’t feel like working at all.
I must admit, I have a lot to learn about sports. During a game, probably the most challenging thing is trying to take pictures and keep up with stats at the same time. For this reason, I must rely pretty heavily on coaches and other people who keep stats at games.
Ultimately, I just want to get to know people in Thorsby more—and to tell their stories. Our goal is to spend more time outside the office in the communities we serve.
Still, we need people to alert us of upcoming events and other important information we may not know about. This is how people can take ownership in their community newspaper. The more you help us, the more we can help you.
I look forward to getting to know my new “home.”

Scott Mims is the news editor for The North Chilton Advertiser.