Former St. Tammany Parish coroner addresses concerns about new coroner

Rick Gogreve
·1 min read

ST. TAMMANY PARISH, La. (WGNO) — Concerns have been growing about the St. Tammany Parish Coroner’s Office and its new lead man, Dr. Christopher Tape.

To address some of these concerns, the Alliance for Good Government, along with former St. Tammany Parish Coroner Charles Preston, hosted a meeting for the public.

“This is not an issue with whether or not I like Dr. Tape. It’s an issue of whether or not I have confidence that he’s the person to do this job,” Preston said.

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During the meeting, one of the major concerns was Bill 452.

This bill would shift control of all of the finances of the coroner’s office to parish government.

If it passes, some believe that many programs will be removed from the office due to Tape’s unwillingness to do anything but autopsies.

“Like the DNA testing lab and the forensic testing for rape cases that come into the parish, and it does a very good service and it’s working well, and it does make the parish money,” St. Tammany resident Heather Oster said.

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Tape has also made attempts to remove the sexual assault nurse examiner program.

However, a temporary restraining order, filed by three other Northshore coroners and the Sexual Trauma and Awareness Group, stopped Tape from cutting the program.

“Dr. Tape’s contention that any physician can do these exams is just not correct,” Preston said.

While many questions were answered at the meeting, residents are still left concerned for the future.

“It’s appalling that our parish who was there like to go to parish for the services. They’re just going to allow it to go back to parish government?” Oster questioned.

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