Letter: After 16 years, Lewis County coroner wants four more

I have had the honor of serving as your coroner for the past 16 years.

In 2011, we created the office mission statement, which is we determine the cause and manner of reported deaths by conducting professional medicolegal death investigations while ensuring everyone who has suffered a loss is treated with dignity, respect and compassion.

The mission is supported by the four core visions:

1. Have the office accessible and accountable. People regularly access us through the website, emails and in person. This includes families, citizens, other elected officials and the media.

2. Increase the training of the staff. All investigative staff are certified as death investigators through the Washington Criminal Justice Training Council and the state coroner association, which is required by state statute. Three of us are also nationally registered death investigators through the American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators and three others are scheduled to take their national board exams. The office is also accredited through the International Association of Coroners and Medical Examiners, which is also required by state statute. The certification and accreditation mean we are in full compliance with state and national standards.

3. Strengthen relationships with first responder partners. We have great working relationships with city, county, state and federal law enforcement agencies, the fire districts, the hospitals and Lewis County Emergency Management.

4. Work to reduce preventable deaths. We are a partner with Cribs for Kids where we can give free cribs to families who cannot afford one, which is possible through public donations. This has significantly reduced the number of accidental suffocation deaths among infants resulting from co-sleeping. We are part of the Lewis County Traffic Safety Council, drowning prevention coalition and the DUI victim impact panel. We participate in the mock DUI/distracted driving crashes at local high schools. We have worked with Cascade Community Health to try and identify specific demographic groups we could target for suicide awareness, but there was no one specific group. Two of us serve on the Lewis County Critical Incident Stress Management team and we provide debriefings to first responders who have been involved in highly emotional calls helping them to be able to stay active in their fields.

Drug danger awareness: In 2025, we handled 51 fatal drug overdoses and are currently at 36. Fentanyl is prevalent in these overdoses, and it only takes a small amount to cause death.

My plan for the next four years is to renew the office accreditation, continue to provide training for the staff to ensure we continue to comply with state and national standards, as well as increasing the staff. Ninety percent of the current staff are classified by the county as casual/extra help (working from home on call). Increasing the full-time staff would allow for better coverage of the office and reduce response times to calls in the field.

I am asking for your support for one more term as your coroner.

Warren McLeod

Lewis County coroner

Winlock

Editor’s note: The Chronicle allows candidates for elected office to publish one letter to the editor per election cycle.