Atascosa-area judges, prosecutors and contractors press to keep regional medical examiner project; commissioners vote to take no action

Atascosa County and four neighboring counties heard public testimony and contractor proposals Friday as officials discussed whether to move forward with a regional medical examiner facility funded by a state grant.

Frontline prosecutors, family members and law enforcement described long waits for autopsy reports and the strain of sending bodies hours away. Leslie Carranza, first assistant district attorney for the district who represents Frio and LaSalle counties, urged commissioners to complete the project: "You have a duty to the people that live here to do right by them. And I ask you to move forward with this medical examiner's office." Erica Price, lead felony prosecutor in Atascosa County, said long travel times for investigators reduce time to pursue leads: "It is an incredible disservice to the people of the community to force law enforcement to take the time out of their day to drive an hour plus to do an autopsy." Rebecca Kaufman, a resident who described a family mining death, said, "We had to wait nearly 2 weeks to put my uncle to rest."

At a project presentation, Roger Roulette, co-founder of Integrity (Tegrity) Contractors, said his firm would enter a contract and continue value-engineering work to reduce costs but that the company was about $350,000 short of the county budget after preliminary reductions. "Tegrity Contractors is willing to enter into a…