HOUSTON COUNTY: In 1983 when I, Rickey Stokes, assumed the Office of Coroner for Houston County, the county furnished the Coroner NOTHING. This was a time in history that communications did not exist as it does today. The Coroner before me, Frankie Ingram and Jack Still, had to call in and out of service on the radio through the Houston County Sheriff Department everywhere they went or be listening to a portable radio. The same was when I took office in January, 1983 at age 22 ( elected at age 21 ).
The salary for Coroner was $ 100 per month salary and $ 400 a month expense salary. And Houston County furnished the Coroner, NOTHING!
Well, I got the county to purchase a two way radio. Imagine age 22, single, and having to let the Houston County Sheriff Dispatcher know everywhere I was for 4 years. During the time that I served as Coroner, Hospice did not exist. If EMS went to a terminal cancer patient and was deceased the Coroner was required to respond. With the two major trauma centers, Southeast Alabama Medical Center ( now Southeast Health ) and Flowers Hospital, if a person was in a incident in another county and came to one of these hospitals and died, the Houston County Coroner was required to respond.
Today, hospice handles a lot of terminal patients and the Coroner does not have to respond. And the Coroner where the incident took place has to respond. A change today, if a body is to be cremated it requires the Coroner to sign off on it.
The Coroner before me was dedicated and did a great job. He was in the upholstery business. He would staple his reports together and place them in a box. One of the first things I did was solicit a friend of mine, a great lady, business minded and organized, Ellen Lee. She helped to organize Jack Still’s 8 year so files and begin a record keeping for my tenure.
At the time I took office the Coroner rotated funeral homes to respond to the scene to pickup bodies from car wrecks of tragic events. When the family was contacted they might want another funeral home. When then Houston County Sheriff Lamar Hadden got a new prisoner transport van I was able to get the Houston County Commission to issue the can to the Coroner office. The van was used to transport bodies from a scene, handling them with dignity and respect. As Coroner I would transport the body to the funeral home selected, or the morgue at Southeast Alabama Medical Center. The van served for many years.
At about age 23, Rickey Stokes was elected President of the Alabama Coroner’s Association with Jefferson County Coroner Robert Brissie being Vice President. At agge 23 I was in a debate with the Director of the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences. A goal I stated when I announced at age 21, was to get a Forensic Doctor located in Dothan. In my four years, myself, Henry County Coroner Norman Holman and Dale County Coroner Earl Bankston was able to make that happen. Then Dothan Mayor Alfred Saliba was very instrumental in helping secure facilities for the Forensic Sciences.
Dr. Alfredo Parades came on board. He had to undergo a year of Forensic training before beginning. I, Rickey Stokes, did not get to work with him but a few months before my term ended. I did not seek re-election. During my term I worked about 1,154 deaths of all nature. Was able to get the expense salary to $ 800.00 a month and in the next term would convert to $ 12,000.00 a year for the next Coroner. Robert Byrd did not beat me, I did not run again. We had Dr. Parades for about 15 years until politics and a dishonest Alabama Attorney General, Bill Pryor, cost him his job. The reason, Dr. Parades would not bend to political pressure to change the manner of death in a case and AG Pryor’s Office wanted him to change it.
During Houston County Sheriff Lamar Glover term a new van was purchased for the Houston County Coroner Office. However Robert Byrd would not transport bodies to other funeral homes. The van wore out and he now uses a private transport service for removal of bodies from the scene.
Year later Rickey Stokes was instrumental in getting the Coroner salary to $ 18,000.00 per year. Recently the Houston County Commission got the pay to $ 22,000.00 a year. This year, the Commission and local legislative delegation should put a bill to bring the Coroner to $ 33,000.00 a year, the same as a Houston County Commissioner with a $ 250.00 a month auto allowance as a County Commissioner. Both Commissioner and Coroner are part time, but the Coroner is full time on call. No one ever makes an appointment to die.
The Coroner furnishes his own vehicle with no allowance and considerable less than that of a Commissioner. He has no office and no secretary. The Coroner no longer has a two way radio or transportation.
The current Houston County Coroner, Robert Byrd has served since 1987. He is not seeking re-election. But anyone deciding to seek election, understand, Coroner is not a position. It is a job where you are always on call, never know when going to be called or what going into. Could be a natural death or someone dead for three weeks in a house with no air conditioning. Calls with no warning, 24/7/365. And no real pay for a Deputy Coroner.
With that said, Houston County needs to do as the Dale County Coroner John Cawley and Dale County Commission has done. Make it a professional office, with a office, morgue, family room to identify a body. A room with a warm atmosphere. A records keeping system. Vans for transport of someone’s loved one that shows dignity and respect.
And Houston and Henry County, being one Judicial Circuit, could join the Coroner’s Office on Highway 431 at the Henry-Houston County line and both counties share the expense.
The zeal and intelligence a Coroner brings can mean the difference in a innocent person being found guilty or a guilty person being found guilty. The Coroner stand’s in a dead man’s shoes protecting his or her name.
