JACKSON, Wyo. — The County Coroner race is turning out to be one of the primary election’s contests to watch.
As current Coroner Brent Blue seeks a seat on the Teton County Board of County Commissioners, three of his current colleagues and a funeral home director are vying for the role. Democrats Katrina Clauson and David Hodges were joined by Republicans Russell Nelson and Krista Nethercott at an election forum last week to share their campaign priorities, and to answer media and audience questions. One candidate from each party will move forward following the Aug. 18 primary.
Below, see one key quote from each of the candidates, presented alphabetically:
Katrina Clauson, on potential upgrades to the morgue: “I take issue with the current coroner’s assessment that it is ghoulish and that it is unsanitary, because I think that is disrespectful to the people that we work on and their families, and the people that work in the space. There are definitely tech amendments we would like: We’d like our lift to work all of the time; we would like the bays of our cooler doors to shut without having to force them; we would like the suction machine to work all of the time. But we do what we can with what we’re given, and it is a pristine space, and it is a sacred space. I absolutely advocate for a new morgue. I think we need that as our population grows, because we will have more death in this community, unfortunately, as our population grows and as the tourism grows.”
David Hodges, on the job’s unseen duties: “The coroner is the last responder. There are first responders all over the community, we are supposed to be part of that, but we are the last responders and it is all dumped in our lap. … It’s those phone calls days, weeks, months after the event from a loved one, from a friend still trying to get some sort of explanation or closure. That continues. You don’t get a lot of that with first responders. I was a cop for 25 years — you leave the scene, a firefighter leaves the scene, and it is done. For the last responder, it continues for days and weeks and that often adds a stress to the staff. I find it’s going to be one of the things I want to accomplish when I’m coroner is our wellbeing, our mental health, and physical health as a staff.”
Russell Nelson, on whether housing should be built above the morgue: “Have you ever spent any time at all downwind from the carcass disposal pit? Decomposing bodies are not— we don’t get that many cases like that, but when we do, you have to deal with it. … Is this where you want to subject the high school graduate from Minnesota that comes out to Jackson Hole for his first summer job and he’s all excited about being here and he gets to live upstairs in the dorm room of the morgue? And somebody shows up that’s been out for a month and a half? To summarize, I think it’s a categorically bad idea.”
Krista Nethercott, on the financial realities of death: “One of the things that really bothers me right now is that there’s not great support for indigent people here in town. As a funeral director and sitting with families who are grieving, I think a lot of people don’t understand how expensive death is. We have a contract with the County to have them help with the final disposition; it’s usually cremation because that’s the cheaper option than burial. I think these people are kind of left out in the wind. They’ve already lost and they’re traumatized about their loved one, and now they have to worry about all the financial situations and everything going on. I have resources besides the County; I can get people that help. This is a main thing that I’m passionate about because my dad was indigent and I had to pay for his cremation and I know what these families are struggling with, and I think that I can help them.”
These candidate forums are presented by the League of Women Voters of Wyoming, Teton County Library, the Jackson Hole News&Guide, KHOL Radio and Buckrail. Susan Dong moderated the conversation, and questions were posed by Buckrail’s Hannah Trask, KHOL’s Evan Robinson-Johnson, and Jasmine Hall with the News&Guide. Stay tuned for more forum events ahead of the general election this fall.
