Four candidates are running for the vacant office of Benton County Coroner. They spoke about the difficulties of being coroner, a job which deals daily with such a difficult subject.

Benton County Coroner Candidates Talk About Position

"I think you have to have honesty, integrity and professionalism, because in this job you are dealing with people at a very important time in their life," said Kenneth Lepp.

"I intend to improve the public image by handing out death scenes on a personal basis," said Daniel Oxford.

"They may be running on their 100th call that year, but that family might be dealing with their first. We need to be very professionally focused and help them through that time," said Craig Schatz.

"They're some of the last people you're going to see at one of the worst times that a family can go through. We speak for the dead. We speak for those who cannot speak for themselves, and we speak for their families in finding what happened to them," said candidate Chris Smith.