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Veteran Orangeburg County Coroner Samuetta Marshall, who has withstood numerous political challenges during her 16-year tenure, will face another outspoken opponent in the June 10 Democratic primary.
David Pendarvis, a paramedic and ambulance transport business owner, is making his first bid for political office. He says he knows from first-hand experience that the coroner has an unprofessional approach that results in slow response time and poor management.
“A countywide response times average of two hours for the coroner or a deputy coroner to arrive on the scene of a death after notification is totally outrageous,” he said. “We are not talking about an insurance adjuster following up with a claim or a plumber being called out to check a leaking faucet. We are talking about an extremely nonchalant and unprofessional approach and response to something so near and dear to us as the death of one of our loved ones.
“There are many documented cases of response times taking over four hours! A delay is bad business in any circumstance but it can quickly become critical in the case of a body lying on a roadway or inside a wrecked vehicle that cannot be moved until the coroner arrives and gives their approval. This is not only disrespectable to the victim and the victim’s loved ones but it is crucial to the emergency services that must remain on the scene tying up vital emergency equipment, personnel and resources that may be needed on other emergency responses.”
Marshall responds that Pendarvis’ claim of a two-hour response time is a, “gross misrepresentation of the truth.” The other charges he makes are also untrue, she says.
“Response time had previously been an issue. I can assure the citizens ... that the coroner’s office personnel has always responded in a timely manner to calls once we were notified. I assessed the problem, encountered challenges trying to get it resolved and then took it to the governing body of the county,” she said. “With the assistance of County Council, we have been able to resolve the issues.”
As approved a year ago by County Council, the coroner’s office is no longer notified through the sheriff’s office, but through fire and emergency services dispatch. The coroner’s office is also set up as an independent agency, to provide more detail and analysis on calls, and deputy coroners have received radios with technical capabilities.
According to Pendarvis, despite the new technology, response time has remained pretty much the same. While response time has improved in some places in the county, he says, other calls still take longer.
Marshall denies Pendarvis’ claims that there have been times when no deputy coroner is left on call and times when calls and pages are not returned to dispatch.
“When the schedule is done, there are two people on call every day, 365 days per year,” she said. “We always respond to pages and calls as soon as we get them.”
Complaining of inconsistency, Pendarvis says an example is, “going to a scene without bringing a van with them to transport a body and having to call for someone else to go and get the van, delaying the process another hour or so.
“She has enough deputy coroners in place but not a good system of managing them and putting them in an on-call basis. The paid staff administrative assistant is a deputy coroner and should be going on calls when needed instead of calling an on-call coroner, which usually takes at least an hour to more to arrive on scene, depending on the location of the call and of the coroner.”
Marshall explained the standard operating procedures of her office.
“If the van is needed, the on-call person calls a driver at the time they are dispatched to bring the van to them if they, the van and the scene, are not in close proximity of each other,” she said. “I would dare to say that when your first priority is getting to the scene of a death, certainly someone else can bring the van, especially if that means getting the van is going to delay the time in getting to the scene.”
Also, concerning the vans, Pendarvis questions why a “brand-new vehicle is sitting over behind the magistrate’s office and not used.” There are also two trucks that are idle, he said.
Marshall says that there is a new truck that is being outfitted for transport. Otherwise, she says she doesn’t know what van Pendarvis is referring to or to whom it belongs.
“I can assure the citizens of Orangeburg County that I am very accountable for their tax dollars,” she said. “We have not and will not waste the taxpayers’ money. We only spend or buy when necessary.”
The winner of the primary does not have Republican opposition in the November general election.
Orangeburg County has 52,043 registered voters. Of those, 32,392 are black; 19,153 are white; and, 498 are designated “other.”
Samuetta Marshall
Proud of her 16-year record, Marshall says it’s her administration that has brought the coroner’s office into the 21st century.
The “many initiatives,” she says, include implementation of an on-call schedule, full computerization with digital photography and the addition of a full-time administrative assistant, “which greatly enhances the daily operation of the office.” Also, she stresses that the office, “now has supplies and equipment necessary to operate efficiently.”
The computerization, Marshall says, allows for the better management of cases and the production of better reports.
Marshall is a native of Holly Hill and a graduate of South Carolina State University with a bachelor’s degree in professional biology. Also, she is a graduate of Gupton-Jones College of Funeral Service and Draughons Business College. She is the co-owner of Shuler-Marshall Funeral Home in Holly Hill.
Marshall is active in various state and national professional associations, including the state Coroners Association and the state Minority Coalition of Countywide Elected Officials. Her civic and community memberships include the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and Good Hope Baptist Church.
David Pendarvis
A paramedic and ambulance transport business co-owner, Pendarvis cites his training in various emergency fields around the county and his 15 years in various emergency services in seeking his first elected office.
“I have the skills, knowledge and know-how to correct all of these problems with basically a simple fix – proper management,” Pendarvis said. “Elected officials should be in office at least several times a week, even in part-time positions. If elected, I will establish regular hours and contact information so that people can easily contact me. As it is now, people have to wait weeks to get a death certificate, which is ridiculous. I also have a simple solution for dispatching coroners by having them dispatched the same way fire and EMS agencies are now dispatched.”
Acknowledging that Marshall has successfully faced opposition before, Pendarvis says that this time, “the public knows the problems are there. There were other candidates, but no one actually showed they were serious about making changes in the office.”
A native of the Bowman area, Pendarvis attended Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College. He has been a volunteer with the Branchville Rescue Squad for 12 years. Also, he has worked with the Branchville Police Department and he was fire chief of Cow Castle Fire Department until it merged with the Bowman Fire Department. Countywide, he has been a volunteer member of the Orangeburg County Special Tactics And Rescue Team, including the search, high and low levels, swift water and hazardous materials teams.
Pendarvis is a co-owner of Community Transport Service.
T&D Government Writer Tucker Lyon can be reached at tlyon@timesanddemocrat.com or by calling 803-533-5545.