I believe it is time that Island County has a medical doctor to serve as coroner. A recent letter to the editor endorsing Dr. Paul Thompson stated the reasons more succinctly than I could therefore I will not reiterate that which she has written.

I have known Paul for over 20 years and know him to be an intelligent and caring man with compassion for and sensitivity to others. Paul and I first knew one another in Saudi Arabia. Because of the make up of the population in the community in which we lived, Paul had to deal with individuals of many different ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds. He had to have an understanding of and compassion for these differences to successfully treat the patients who came to him. It is a measure of his success in that he was a well respected physician in our community.

The voters of island County would do well to have Dr. Thompson as their coroner. He would approach the duties of coroner as the well trained clinician he is, thoroughly and with diligence.

Kathleen Shaw

Oak Harbor