Henry coroner’s office gets boost

A plea for help with the increasing caseload at the coroner’s office was heard by the Henry County Board of Commissioners who voted Feb. 15 to approve the conversion of the on-call/part-time deputy coroner position to a full-time chief deputy coroner with benefits.

Coroner Donald Cleveland, an elected official, pointed out that his office received 653 calls in 2021, often one right after the other, which at times forced police and/or EMS personnel to wait for extended periods for a deputy to arrive.

He has been handling all of his office’s administrative duties as well as a large portion of those calls, with the rest falling to the deputy who also works a full-time job. The part-time deputy coroner position was created only three years ago.