CATAWBA COUNTY, N.C. — A man is hoping a billboard that reads “You stab ‘em... I’ll slab ‘em!” will catch voters’ attention as he pushes to become the Catawba County coroner.
That billboard is along one of the busiest roads in Newton, Business 321.
But as Channel 9’s Dave Faherty learned, the county isn’t even looking for a coroner.
Attorney Shell Pearce showed Faherty the general statutes set out by the state he says allows for each county to have a coroner. But in 2020, the General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to abolish the office of the coroner in the four remaining counties that still had one.
“With the rising number of fatalities, drug overdoses, criminal activity, things like that -- it doesn’t make sense that the coroner should not exist,” Pearce said.
A spokesperson for Catawba County said there are currently seven on-call medical examiners in Catawba County. A medical examiner is a physician -- often a pathologist -- while a coroner is an elected official who may or may not have medical training.
But some say the billboard messaging is misleading since the coroner isn’t on the ballot.
“It’s not right,” Von Abernathy said. “You can’t put stuff up like that, but today’s society, yes they’ll do it.”
Others say “stab ‘em” and “slab ‘em” goes too far.
“A lot of folks ride up and down here with their kids and stuff. What are the kids going to think about it, you know?” Sandra Haynes said.
Pearce said he’s received hundreds of phone calls since putting the billboard up.
“We just wanted to see what would happen, and we’re actually going to have to create a new hotline because the phones here at the office are completely overloaded,” he said.
Pearce said he plans on speaking in front of county commissioners next month in hopes of reinstating the position.
North Carolina has a backlog of autopsies. After a Channel 9 investigation, state lawmakers earmarked money for a regional autopsy center in Union County. It would serve several counties in our area so that they don’t have to rely on the medical examiner in Raleigh.
At this point, we have not heard of any other efforts to reinstate a coroner position.
(WATCH BELOW: Agencies push for regional medical examiner’s office to help reduce autopsy backlog)
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