Lawrence County Commissioners Proclaim April As Donate Life Month

Last updated on Wednesday, April 6, 2016

(BEDFORD) - The Lawrence County Commissioners granted Coroner Rob Herr’s request to proclaim April Donate Life Month.

The commissioners voted to grant the proclamation.

Herr told the commissioners the proclamation would do three things:

Recognize the benefits to recipients of donations and the bright futures they have after receiving a transplant
Celebrates the generosity of people who choose to become organ donors and encourage registration to donate tissues and organs
To have families communicate with loved ones about being a donor and making their wishes know before a tragic event

The proclamation is an opportunity to celebrate our county's organ, eye and tissue donors and to inspire more people to say yes to donation.

Currently there are nearly 121,000 Americans currently on the waiting list for an organ transplant.

"This year we had three people donate organs and tissue," Coroner Herr says. "Last year there were 9. But my goal is to see those numbers increase to 30 to 50 percent of those that pass to become donors."

Herr works closely with Indiana Organ Procurement Organization. IOPO's mission is saving and enhancing the quality of life through organ and tissue donation. IOPO is the federally designated organ procurement organization for Indiana and a certified tissue and eye recovery agency.

As such, they play several roles in the process of organ, tissue, and eye donation working closely with the donor families, with transplant surgical teams and hospital staff, and with the United Network for Organ Sharing facilitate giving the gift of life.

Herr is working with the organization to have the county morgue serve as a central location for the organization to do organ and tissue harvests for southern part of the state.

"We hope to have that agreement in place within the next couple of weeks," Herr says.

In other business:

The county will hold an auction of surplus equipment on May 14th. Tony Kinser will be the auctioneer. The event will be held at the county complex highway garage at 10 a.m.

The commissioners opened 4 bids for paving county roads. Those bids were taken under advisement.

Highways crews continue to cold patch roads, replace culverts and are ready for the paving season.

Highway Superintendent David Holmes thanked the numerous volunteer firefighters and residents that helped clean county roadways of downed trees after Sunday's wind storm.

Holmes also completed a historical cost report of county bridges for the State Board of Accounts. The county has 128 bridges. Holmes estimated the value to replace those bridges at $63.5 million. That cost was then historically decreased to $34 million.

Bids to replace Bridge 54 on Jasper McKeaigg Road over Guthrie Creek near Leesville are due by May 2.

The commissioners are considering bids to keep the shrubbery around the courthouse maintained.

The commissioners are seeking a company to clean the courthouse windows.

"This was not a problem in the past because the windows were in such bad shape," Commissioner Bill Spreen says. "But now with the new windows it is an issue we will need to address."

Lawrence County Chief Deputy Aaron Shoults reported there were 122 inmates in the jail, of those 25 were females and one was a Department of Corrections hold.

Commissioners are reviewing the DLZ reports to do repairs on the ramps at the county jail and will have a decision by the next commissioners meeting. Sheriff Mike Branham estimated the cost at approximately $160,000 to repair both ramps and make them compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

1340 AM WBIW welcomes comments and suggestions by calling 812.277.1340 during normal business hours or by email at comments@wbiw.com

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