Coroners Request

Rockcastle County Coroner Billy Dowell has finally been granted something by the Rockcastle County Fiscal Court that he hasn’t had in his entire thirty years of service to the county-an official coroner vehicle. That is the only good thing about this story, which does little to mitigate the fact that the request was granted after much heated discussion. The worse thing about it is that Dowell even had to make the request.

Yet, for the last thirty yeas, Dowell has been forced to use his own vehicle to transport patients to Frankfort for the purposes of autopsies, when these were deemed necessary when deaths occurred under suspicous or unknown circumstances. He has even been forced to use his own vehicles to transport dead bodies, in some rare instances, which were the subjects of massive decomposition due to having been dead for long periods of time before their doscovery, in some cases bodies that were greatly mangled.

Admitedly,this is not as bad as it sounds at first glance, as Dowel is the successful business partner in one of the area funeral homes, Dowell and Martins, and so was able to avail himself of one of the business vehicles. This, however, is beside the point. It is one thing to expect a person to do so much in the line of civil duty. But this is really beyond the pale, especially as I am even unsure as to whether he was reimbursed gas mileage. I would like to say he was, but as of now I can’t say that. And, of course, there is also maintenance to consider.

This is especially galling when you consider that, up until just a few short years ago, Billy Dowell, as County Coroner, was paid less than what is normally paid for the office of dog catcher. The county is lucky, by the way, that he has been willing to perform this function for the last thrity years, under these conditions, with no complaints up untilthis point, so far as I know.

It makes you wonder just what kind of person would even consider running for office in Rockcastle County. Constable, for example, which technically is a kind of law enforcement, though very limited in range, as is the pay, which I would only describe as minimal at best. In fact, until recently, it was limited solely to an award for every ticket written that was collected on. It still is not much better than that, really.

I understand the need to cut corners and meet basic expenses, and the desire to refrain from raising taxes, especially as the tax base of the county is not so great to begin with-a situation which could be easily remedied by making the county wet, for example. But these problems are precisely why the same people seem to get elected to office and keep it year after year. They have their ways of making it pay off, and nobody is inclined to rock the boat. I guess Billy Dowell, for all his selfless civic mindedness, had finally had enough. And I for one don’t blame him.

As his daughtrs pointed out in a letter to the editor of the town paper, The Mt. Vernon Signal, if county money isn’t going to be used for valid purposes such as this, what is it to be used for, to be kept back to make a few road repairs during election years?