Tim Chitwood’s impact on the Columbus area, and why he’s leaving the Ledger-Enquirer
Tim Chitwood’s first Ledger or Enquirer byline was published in 1976, as a junior at Glenwood School.
His essay in the “Teen Tempo” column criticized prep schools for not giving students enough responsibility. And it gave readers a glimpse of the intrepid and iconoclastic journalist he would become.
Six years later, Chitwood was hired on the staff. For the next 42 years, whether it was crime, courts or government — or his humorous or investigative columns — colleagues and people he has written about say he consistently produced thoroughly reported and superbly written articles that helped craft the first draft of local history in the Chattahoochee Valley.
Now, he is preparing to retire from his award-winning career in the daily news business. April 4 will be his last day of work at the Ledger-Enquirer.
So maybe those judges who didn’t select him as the winner of the Page One Award for journalism in 1978, when he was Glenwood’s nominee, might want to reconsider their decision.
“Tim has been a huge asset to our Columbus readers for over 40 years,” said L-E executive editor Blake Kaplan. “He’s a hard-nosed journalist not afraid to take on the big story. He’s someone I admire as a journalist because of his grit and perseverance. The Ledger-Enquirer has been a better newspaper with Tim as part of our newsroom.”
Why Tim Chitwood chose journalism as a career
Journalism is the lone career Chitwood pursued.
“I decided that in high school because writing was the only thing I could do,” he said. “I figured I either had to be an English teacher or some kind of writer that earned a paycheck because you’re not going to write a book out of college.”
Chitwood earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Auburn University in 1982. He worked for the Opelika-Auburn News while in college, then for six months at the Phenix Citizen before joining the Enquirer as a crime beat reporter.
“There was a certain mystique and drama to being around police officers, to being around crime,” he said. “It’s some of the rawest journalism you can do, and I really loved it. I mean, there were very hard parts about it, but it was really interesting work.”
The Enquirer was the morning paper, and the Ledger was the afternoon paper. They had the same owner, but their newsroom staffs competed against each other until they merged in 1988.
Retired L-E reporter Ben Wright competed against Chitwood in the 1980s on the crime beat for the Ledger. Wright called Chitwood the most competitive journalist he has known.
“I think he was as serious as one could get about doing his job well with no equal,” Wright said. “No one was like him.”
Memorable criminal cases Tim Chitwood covered
The criminal case that sticks in his head the most, Chitwood said, began in 1985. Michael Curry was convicted in 2011 for murdering his pregnant wife and two children with a bush ax in their east Columbus home.
“It was a very hot summer day,” he said. “The air conditioning in that house was not on, and when (investigators) walked in, they were all covered in sweat and rain, and they talked about how horrible it was. I’ve seen the crime scene photos. I know what they mean, and just to have seen them deal with that and the family, the parents particularly, who started a victims advocacy program after that, it’s just been one of the toughest cases I remember.”
Chitwood appreciates the wife’s parents for trusting him with their story.
“It’s one of the greatest honors to have a crime victim, sometimes even a suspect, trust you with their story,” he said. “I mean, that’s almost better than any award you can get in journalism.”
The serial killer Carlton Gary, known as the “Stocking Strangler,” is another memorable criminal case Chitwood covered for decades.
Chitwood was in high school when those murders of elderly women in their homes happened during the late 1970s. He recalled “the way it scared Columbus, the various conspiracy theories that came out.”
Then he happened to be in the Columbus police station when Carlton Gary was arrested in 1984. He covered Gary’s appeals and witnessed his 2018 execution.
“I sometimes think we still have a little trauma from that,” he said. “He was the one who died, but everybody I think that was there will remember that. … It made me question whether the death penalty is worth it.
“I don’t believe he was innocent, like some people do, but I certainly saw how much work it went through, how much money — we never quantified the money — but how much effort that case took, and I question whether any death penalty case is worth that now, aside from the fact that sometimes people get it wrong.”
From his years covering crime, Chitwood developed respect for law enforcement officials.
About lawyers, he said, “Most of them are very conscious of the ethics code they have to live by. They often don’t compromise in representing their clients.”
And about cops, he said, “A lot of them also are conscientious. I’m more guarded about the ones who get out of day-to-day and become administrators. Sometimes that’s a problem. Sometimes good cops don’t make good administrators. Same for journalists. I was a terrible manager. They tried to make me an editor. Some people just aren’t suited to that.”
Retired L-E reporter and editor Mike Owen is among the countless folks who are glad Chitwood didn’t make it as an editor.
“I worked with God knows how many reporters in my 35 years in newspapers, and very few were in Tim’s league,” Owen said. “I knew a lot of good reporters and a lot of good writers, but very few had both of those talents. Tim certainly does.”
Tim Chitwood’s reputation in the community
In addition to his colleagues, the people who end up with their names in his stories also respect Chitwood and his work.
“He asked knowing questions; he was honest and dependable,” State Court Judge Pete Temesgen, a former assistant district attorney, wrote in an email. “That’s probably why Tim could find sources of good information without making enemies with judges, lawyers, law enforcement, or other members of the media.”
After a bad experience with another newspaper reporter, Temesgen was hesitant to share information, but he trusted Chitwood.
“One of Tim’s greatest qualities is that while he took his work seriously, he never seemed to take himself too seriously,” Temesgen wrote. “He was considerate, even if he was up against a fast-approaching deadline. Those qualities: cool under pressure, steady hand, fairness, and his well-timed humor, marked his journalism and our professional relationship.”
Criminal defense attorney Jennifer Curry described Chitwood’s approach as “say less, listen more.”
“He will research the law before calling to interview about a case in order to ask educated, well-informed questions,” Curry wrote in an email. “This has always produced fair, accurate, and informative pieces.”
L-E chief photographer Mike Haskey often has been on the scene to provide the visuals for Chitwood’s stories. Haskey praised how Chitwood interacts with sources and the results he produces.
“People in the community trust Tim and rely on him to report and get stories right,” Haskey said. “He takes this trust seriously and, to my knowledge, has never let the community down in all his years at the Ledger-Enquirer.”
All of which has made Chitwood a role model for other reporters.
“It’s been easy to see how well-respected he is in the community,” said L-E reporter Brittany McGee, “and how he is always available to help others in the newsroom.”
Tim Chitwood as a columnist
Chitwood worked as an editor for two years until Tom Kunkel, the executive editor at the time, made him a columnist in 1987. Kunkel got the idea from noticing how well Chitwood entertained colleagues with the funny observations he sent in the newsroom messaging system.
“I wanted to get out of management and start writing again,” Chitwood said. “I had more freedom than I probably should have had (as a columnist). I mean, I made some mistakes.”
Chitwood credits retired L-E reporter and editor Jim Houston with teaching him to tactfully write his opinion.
“I remember he told me one time, ‘You take too much license,’ when I indicated that some city councilors were stupid,” he said. “I thought about that later. You know, he’s right. You don’t really just insult people outright. You can find other ways to do that.”
Chitwood cherishes the connection he had with readers through his column, especially in his “Monday Mail” weekly highlights of letters they wrote to him.
“It was just having people talk to you like you were already their friend,” he said. “I met a lot of great people who said, ‘You brighten my day. I just read your column all the time.’ It was this feeling that you were doing something for them and yourself at the same time. They appreciated what you’re doing. They got the jokes. That was really gratifying.”
Chitwood also was known for his April Fool’s Day columns. For example, he wrote in 2017 that Donald Trump bought the Columbus Government Center tower to convert it into a casino and have zip lines going off the top, including one descending into the Springer Opera House across 10th Street.
“People believed that,” he said with a laugh.
While his columns shined a light in the darkness with humor, Chitwood also did it with insight.
In 2002, Chitwood exposed the controversy about Muscogee County School District administrators threatening teachers speaking against turning Columbus High School into a total magnet program.
“I always considered it a bad sign when a public employee was afraid to give you public information,” he said. “… One of the things I think we should always be on guard for here is public officials who don’t want you to have public information and especially if they can’t explain why. That means something is going on behind the scenes that may interfere with a government that’s funded by our tax money.”
Even before he became a columnist, Chitwood’s dogged reporting and sense of justice produced an investigative scoop that freed a teenage girl who was illegally jailed for truancy by a Russell County judge in 1986.
Making such a constructive impact is why Chitwood chose to stay at the L-E instead of seeking more money and prestige in a bigger market.
“I stayed here because you can change Columbus,” he said. “Columbus is the right size of city that it will change if people are convinced it has to, and as a journalist you can affect that. You can help kind of guide people or at least inform them so they know what needs to be done.”
Former L-E editor Lauren Gorla summarized the significance of Chitwood’s retirement this way: “A lot of readers will be devastated to no longer see his byline, but I’m sure a lot of officials around the Columbus area are breathing a sigh of relief that one of the most hard-hitting, inquisitive, watchdog journalists is hanging up his hat at last.”
Why Tim Chitwood is retiring, and what’s next for him
Chitwood, 64, explains why he is retiring with the sarcasm L-E readers recognize.
“I saw some research that says when you die your life flashes before your eyes,” he said, “and I don’t want mine to be a montage of city council meetings.”
So don’t ask him to run for political office.
“No, I do feel Columbus needs a Common Cause chapter like it had once before,” he said. “It needs some nonprofit group that focuses on accountability and open government.”
In retirement, Chitwood plans to travel and spend more time at his property in Montana, but he intends to keep Columbus as his home.
“This is a really attractive town in some places, and I hope people are aware of that because the more you build, the more trees you cut down and the more land you clear,” he said. “You don’t want this to look like any other city. I mean, Columbus is pretty partly because of its nature, and that’s something people need to preserve as much as they can.”
Chitwood hopes to volunteer for community organizations — and continue writing in a format he hasn’t decided yet.
Asked whether he has any regrets about his career, Chitwood said, “I unnecessarily insulted some people as a columnist that I sort of shouldn’t have done. I sort of grew up as a columnist, so it took some learning. There are some others. Misidentifications sometimes weren’t my fault. Sometimes the police would get the wrong person and you would report it. … That was always my worry, that either we’ll get it wrong or the people in authority will get it wrong and then we’ll get it wrong listening to them.”
Chitwood offered this advice to L-E colleagues and other Columbus area residents:
“The only true currency in this town is trust,” he said. “That is the most important thing beyond owning land or having money. People here, I think, tend to be suspicious, and sometimes with good reason, whether you can be trusted. … You need people you can trust, and you need people in government you can trust. … You really need to keep up with what’s going on because it’s the people that create that kind of pressure on government. It’s never just the press. All we do is tell the story.”
