To the Editor:

The season of Dia de los Muertos and Halloween is upon us, and in St Lawrence County (SLC) NY, the politics of death investigations is on the ballot again, as two incumbent coroners are up for re-election on November 3rd. The Republican Party is making a move on the last remaining non-Republican of the four elected county coroners.

Long serving Coroner James Sienkiewycz is being challenged by a Republican who offers to bring qualities of compassion, empathy, legal paperwork knowledge, and speedy arrival to death scenes to the Coroners’ Office. This challenge begs the question: which of these qualities is suggested the well experienced and credentialed incumbent Coroner James Sienkiewycz lacks? It begs the question of what protocol is in place in determining which coroner is assigned to which case or why it would make such a difference which political party sponsored their election to office?

Last year I ran as a write-in candidate for SLC Coroner against a Republican incumbent with specifically evidenced charges of a dubiously certified suicide. This year, I ask voters to write-in again, Therese “Terri” Miner, at the bottom of the second column of the two coroners slots on the ballot, after choosing incumbent James Sienkiewycz in the first column.

There is no place for mystery and politics in a family’s search for answers, accuracy in government’s recording of vital statistics, and appropriate use of forensic science by law enforcement in death investigations. All deaths matter. Only through truth can we know justice and peace.

Therese "Terri" Miner
Potsdam, write-in candidate
St. Lawrence County Coroner