Coroner candidates Tommy Davis and Democratic candidate Kimberly Griggs kicked off the Oct. 14 Kappa Koffeehouse Forum. The central talking point of the coroner’s race was ultimately what the coroner’s role actually is, and how it affects the county overall.

According to the incumbent Davis, it is that of a “medical legal death investigator.”

“The coroner’s role is to determine cause, manner and mechanism of death,” Davis said.

Davis added that the coroner’s office is responsible for working with the Georgia Bureau of Investigator’s state medical examiner’s office and other entities to find the root cause of deaths that occur in Newton County.

While not providing extensive emotional support, Davis ensured that the coroner’s office will continue to work with families to bring closure in deaths that may be deemed suspicious and/or untimely.

When asked how her professional background will prepare her for coroner, Griggs said her professional background as a licensed funeral service director and death certificate coordinator has given her an edge in preparation for this role.

Davis – who is also the owner of J.C. Harwell Funeral Home – was asked if his business received any type of money or engagement from his coroner position. He adamantly denied this notion.

“Very little of our business comes from county calls,” Davis said. “We keep a log of the people that we deal with that we handled their death investigation. There’s a log there that has every funeral home we released someone to.”

The current coroner continued by stating that the coroner’s office provides a list of funeral homes in the county for families that do not have a choice in the funeral home.

When asked how her professional background will prepare her for coroner, Griggs said her professional background as a licensed funeral service director and death certificate coordinator has given her an edge in preparation for this role.

Griggs added her main focus as coroner is to improve communication within the coroner’s office and provide death certificates in a timely manner. 

“I will go up to [I]-285, wherever I need to go to whatever doctor’s office and I sit there and I tell them ‘I got time today,’” Griggs said. “Cause this family needs this death certificate so they can get a little bit of closure.”

Griggs also mentioned she hopes to add a pathologist in some capacity, though she was “not sure” of how that would be executed.