Thursday, September 16, 1999
Campbell coroner shows he's for real
BY PATRICK CROWLEY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
During last year's Campbell County coroner's race, Fort Thomas Republican Mark Schweitzer, a chiropractor, took some heat about his experience.
How could a chiropractor possibly know more about handling bodies and determining the cause of death than the two other candidates in the race, a longtime mortician and a veteran deputy county coroner?
Dr. Schweitzer confidently campaigned on his credentials, saying he held a bachelor's of science in human biology and has vast training and internships at two health clinics in Chicago.
“I'm the only health-care professional in the race,” he said during an interview last year. “I have the education background the other candidates do not.”
Dr. Schweitzer was elected, and earlier this week showed he not only knows the job but also is learning about the disturbing circumstances that can surround death.
Dr. Schweitzer arrived at the scene of an early morning Fort Thomas fire at around dawn Tuesday, shortly after Fort Thomas firefighters discovered the body of the home's owner, 49-year-old Debby Partin.
The body was found in an attic crawl space. Some emergency workers on the scene, as well as neighbors who congregated on nearby front lawns, surmised that Ms. Partin — a nearly blind recluse who lived alone — became frightened when the fire broke out and ran to the attic in a panic.
“I don't know,” Dr. Schweitzer said after viewing the body in the tight crawl space. “It doesn't look that way.”
Ms. Partin's hands were folded across her chest, and there were religious items near her body.
“I think it might be a sui cide,” Dr. Schweitzer said that morning.
Neighbors scoffed. No way did Debby Partin kill herself in such a horrific, unusual way. Some of the firefighters, police officers and reporters said suicide was implausible.
But after state fire investigators spent most of the day reviewing the gutted house, they came to the same conclusion. Ms. Partin used an accelerant, something like gasoline or lighter fluid, to set the fire, and then ascended to the crawl space to die.
“It just didn't look right to me from the start,” Dr. Schweitzer explained later. “This was a lonely woman, and the evidence and the way she was found pointed to something other than an accident.”
BUCKS FOR BEN: When we saw Attorney General Ben Chandler last month at the Guidugli family picnic — a can't-miss local event for Democratic pols — we knew he was gearing up for his 2003 governor's race.
Now we're sure. He's having a fund-raiser Wednesday at the Triple Crown Country Club in Richwood.
JAILHOUSE ROCK: Just in case any Elsmere voters forget in a few years who gave the Kenton County suburb a nice new jail to call “neighbor,” Shirley Huelsmann, will be around to remind them.
Mrs. Huelsmann, chairwoman of the Kenton County Democratic Party, is already talking about the decision made Tuesday night by the all-GOP Kenton County Fiscal Court to build the new county jail in Elsmere.
“This decision does not surprise me,” Mrs. Huelsmann said. “I would not expect them to put it in Edgewood, with all the money there and it being a Republican stronghold.”
Republicans on the court say, with some justification, that it was past administrations of Democrats that waited too long and wouldn't make a tough decision on where to build a jail.
Current court members say they inherited the problem and are just trying to make the tough decision.
“Hey, guys,” Mrs. Huelsmann says to that, “you're the ones who wanted in this ballgame when you ran for election. Well, you're in there, so you have to take the heat.”
JAY FOR PEPPY: On the heels of U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning's somewhat surprising endorsement of GOP gubernatorial candidate Peppy Martin, look for 4th District Republican Party Chairman Jay Hall of Florence to do the same next week.
Ms. Martin could use some big-name GOP endorsements. Her campaign still has yet to catch on in this part of the state.
Party leaders are insisting, however, that Ms. Martin clarify her position on abortion. Comments she has made put her in the abortion-rights crowd, a big no-no with anti-abortion, heavily Republican voters in Northern Kentucky.
Patrick Crowley covers Kentucky politics for The Kentucky Enquirer. His column appears Thursdays and Sundays. He can be reached at 578-5581, or (502) 875-7526 in Frankfort, or by e-mail at crowleys@cinci.infi.net.
