Name: Laura G. Kneece

Age: 39

Party: Republican

1. If elected, what would your goals be as coroner?

• Work to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the Coroner’s Office,

• Decrease response times to calls for service,

• Make the office more accessible for everyone.

• See to it that the coroner’s office or a contracted service transports decedents to an autopsy facility, freeing local rescue squads to be available in their designated areas to answer 911 calls.

• Long term, I will seek the accreditation of the office through the International Association of Coroners and Medical Examiners.

2. What are the biggest challenges facing the Coroner’s Office during the next four years?

• Bringing the office up to date with legislative requirements. For example South Carolina law mandates that the coroner’s office have short term and long term space for bodies, as well as freezer space for DNA specimens.

• I would like make the office more efficient. This means going paperless, establishing a secure area for personal belongings and medications that are removed from one’s residence, as well as ensuring proper documentation on the release of those personal belongings and destruction of medications.

3. What will be your first priority as coroner?

My first priority as coroner will be to look for ways to bring the office up to date without having to request additional funding through grants.

4. What are your qualifications to be coroner?

I am a board certified Fellow of the American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators: one of 8 in South Carolina and one of 208 in the nation to hold this certification. I also had the privilege of serving on the National Institute of Justice’s Scientific Working Group for Medicolegal Death Investigations. I hold membership in the International Association of Coroners and Medical Examiners, and I served as President of the SC International Association of Identification from 2012-2013. I’ve served the public for a combined 17 years, as a School Resource Officer and Crime Scene Investigator for the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department, and later a Forensic Death Investigator for the Lexington Coroner’s Office. I currently work as a morgue assistant for a Newberry forensic pathologist.

5. In your opinion, what makes you more qualified for this position than your opponent?

I am the most qualified candidate for this office because I have a proven record for working across, and with, public service agencies at all levels of government. I understand that an effective coroner must have experience and compassion for the people, and I believe I am the best suited to serve Newberry County as coroner. I, like my opponent, am not a Newberry County native, but the fact that I have lived in Virginia, and Kershaw, Lexington, and Newberry counties has served me well. I have been exposed to different kinds of people, a wide array of situations and solutions, and I can adapt easily to get the job done.

Throughout my experience, I have taken on the responsibilities associated with the coroner’s office and more, all the time working to save taxpayer time and money in the process. I believe I have what it takes, and I would be honored to serve the people in this capacity for the next four years.

Name: Lewis Boyd Lee

Age: 73

Party: Democrat

1. If elected, what would your goals be as coroner?

My goals would be to serve the citizens of Newberry County in their darkest hour as if they were a member of my own family. I will serve them with love, integrity and compassion.

2. What are the biggest challenges facing the Coroner’s Office during the next four years?

The greatest challenges will be meeting the needs of the citizens of Newberry County and doing it within the limited budget allotted to the Newberry County Coroner’s Office.

3. What will be your first priority as coroner?

My first priority as coroner would be to meet with all agencies served by the Coroner’s Office and to seek the advice as how to best serve the citizens of Newberry County.

4. What are your qualifications to be coroner?

Per section 75-5-130 of the South Carolina Code of Laws, I exceed the requirement to serve as coroner in Newberry County and South Carolina.

I am a resident of the United States of America.

I have been a resident of Newberry County for over 40 years.

I am a registered voter in Newberry County.

I graduated from Gray Court-Owens High School in Laurens County, SC.

I have not been convicted of a crime.

In addition to the above requirements, which are required by all candidates for coroner in SC. You must meet one of the following. I meet all of the following: I have an associate degree from Spartanburg Methodist College. I have a BS degree from Limestone College. I have served the citizens of Newberry County in the Coroner’s Office for more than eight years. During this time, I have served as acting coroner, and chief deputy coroner. I have completed a recognized medicolegal certification program certified by the National Institute of Justice and the Medical Examiners Office of the City of New York. I have met and exceeded the requirements of the State Laws to serve as your coroner.

5. In your opinion, what makes you more qualified for this position than your opponent?

I have served the citizens of Newberry County all my adult life. I have served the citizens of Newberry County as a paid and volunteer firefighter, a paid and volunteer fire chief, as state fire marshal, and as the emergency service director of Newberry County.

I know Newberry County, it’s people and I have worked very closely with all of the first responders, emergency service and all law enforcement agents in Newberry County.

Lee
https://www.newberryobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_DSC_0370.jpgLee

Kneece
https://www.newberryobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_DSC_0069.jpgKneece