" I agree that Ms. Schuster made the choices on her own and now must pay for what she has done.
You Gotta Be Kidding you say that they trusted her so they shouldn't be to blame. But what about the taxpayers that trusted her board of directors to see a proper job was being done. People faithfully paid their taxes and trusted that those in charge were paying attention. "

" retdet74, who are you kidding? So you claim it is not Shuster's fault she stole the money? What are you thinking? Very typical of society today, blame the victim, not the criminal.
Sherrie made the choices that put her where she is today, where she belongs. If she would have been caught sooner, pehaps she would have only stolen $180,000.00, then who would you blame retdet74? If she would have only gotten away with $100,000.00 then who's fault would it be?
This is Sherrie's fault, she chose to do this with total disregard of the trust she was given. Yes, perhaps it could have been discovered sooner, but that would not change what she chose to do, which is steal money that she was entrusted with.
Don't blame the board members for what she did, they trusted her too. "

" Please note my comments in the archive in response to the victim impact statements by Mr. Johnson and Mr. Ducker. They are NOT victims of anything except their own poor handling of the whole ordeal. You are correct, the real story is not Schuster and it never was Schuster, the real story is how her former superiors fell asleep at the switch and allowed this to happen for so long that some of it out lasted legal limitations for prosecution and recovery! These former superiors of hers are crying about how Schuster violated their trust of her and blame that violation for the theft of OUR money. The theft took place because these former superiors of hers were not paying attention. Now the media, in particular this newspaper wants to give them a pass instead of following up on the story which is the real story in the first place. As citizens, we trusted these former superiors, therefore OUR trust was violated for the fact that they were not responsible enough to even do basic audits. Look at the difference for example with Otsego lake township and their similar case. That didn't go on for years, and they trusted S.W. too, but they still were intelligent enough to check the damned books once in a while!!! The good old boy network is alive and well and headquartered in Gaylord, that is how Schuster got the job in the first place. Then when she caves in like a house of cards the jokers who put her there and were supposed to be watching her and watching out for us instead have done what they always do and that is to blame someone else and make sure they all stick together while they do it. Wake up citizens! Schuster was a not a criminal mastermind, what she did was not compluicated at all and would have been discovered years ago and hundreds of thousands of dollars ago if any one in a position of authority over her would have taken a moment to scrutinize her work! Boo hoo she violated the trust of her superiors. What she did should have been IMPOSSIBLE and would have been impossible if her so called superiors were responsible enough to do their job. So what do you have now? Schuster is the scapegoat, the empty hats keep their jobs as usual and the HT gives them a pass as usual. One city official said that Schuster played people for fools. Well, if the shoe fits... "

" Perhaps it's time for the "watchdog" (whoever that is) to begin an investigation of just how this woman was able to steal from the public for so long without notice. Someone obviously wasn't doing their job. "

" It is indeed unfortunate that family members will inevitably feel the pain of continued public discussion concerning this case. Over time the coverage will wain and this community will discuss other things. Time marches on.
However the friends of Sherri Shuster, and those who dont advocate any type of jail for her type of behavior miss the point entirely. Sherri Shuster HAD to be sentenced to jail, for a significant period of time to make the point that the law applies to everyone, both those who were well connnected like Sherri, as well as those who are just your average joe six pack types.
It would have sent a horrible message to this community that someone who writes a bad check for under a thousand dollars can and does get sentenced to jail for a misdemeanor (plea bargained down), but someone who embezzles close to three hundred thousand dollars is given a pass because of her connections. Its simply a matter of social justice.
To those who dont believe in jail for this type of offense, likewise this too sends the wrong message. Its an invitation to engage in financial fraud generally. As long as the embezzler knows all they have to do is make restitution (and being part of a local jail work crew isnt all that much of a punishment either, humiliating yes, real punishment? No), then the practice of embezzlement would become almost routine.
Jail does serve as a deterrrent to white collar crimes like embezzlement. Unlike crimes of passion which involve physical violence, the petty white collar criminal WILL take into account the real possibility of incarceration. While collar criminals are a lot more calculating than the person who comes home and finds their spouse in bed with the neighbor and commits manslaughter. Thats a crime of passion. Embezzlement of any type or degree is clearly a crime of rational calculation. "

" People in the area should be thankful that a local newspaper has done their homework in reporting such a story to the public. Not having such a "watchdog" allows people of Sherrie's caliber to take advantage of individuals as well as the people that trusted her to represent them. Why not talk about it, its part of the healing process. And besides, I bet if someone representing the family or Sherrie herself were to knock on the door of the Herald Times, they (Grisso) would be open to reporting the details of that story as well. "

" Susan you are correct; the HT did a great job with their information however, you don't have to be a loyal follower to feel that enough is enough. Of course we should all be concerned about the children they are the innocents that are now going through something that I hope I never have to. Why would you want it continually thrown in their face? As you stated Sherrie is now out of town so she won't see the coverage. The only ones to see it now are her family and friends who are being hurt by it and the ones who get off on the cruelty. I guess I know which category you would fall into. "

" I would like to thank the entire staff at the Herald Times for the excellent reporting on the Sherrie Schuster case! The public had the right to be informed and the Herald Times did that full circle!
And you the loyal followers of Sherri Schuster
sit back and ask us to think about what this is doing to Sherri's children? Do you all think for one minute that Sherri thought about her children when she was stuffing public funds in her pocket? I think not!!! She kept stealing
year after year.
Sherri is exactly where she deserves to be @ the Robert Scott Correctional Facility in Plymouth Mi. One can only pray that when she is up for parole in 3yrs. it is denied! "

" I do not know this person but I do agree lets move on. Personally I think jail is a joke. I think it would be easier to be put in jail. She is no harm to anyone. I am under the impression she has to pay all the money back. Make her do community service. I think it would be a better lesson to have to look people in the eye knowing what you have done. As for friends and cronies sticking up for her....thats why they are there. If you did something wrong and your friends turned their back on you, they are not very good friends. The actions she has made are hers...And her church, school, friends, family or anyone else should not be on the chopping block because of it. "

" Letters continue to be sent to the Editor of this newspaper and comments continue to be posted that enough is enough. Who is not hearing these requests at the Herald Times? Life is pain folks....we all grow as a result of the pain we live. Please look past yourselves and think about the children of Sherrie (and any others trying to figure out where right meets wrong in these blogs) who continued to deal with this, despite it not being their fault. Let's be adults and take care of the kids, if nothing else! "

" I have no personal links to Ms. Schuster I just happen to agree that it is time to move on. She has been sentenced so it is time to focus on something else; we certainly don't need any more tabloid editorials.

Although there is a significant difference in the amount of money taken I don't feel that stolen Township money is any less important that City or State; tax money is tax money.

Deepwoods: I'm sure by enablers you're referring to her board of directors since they were her employers. To blame friends would be ignorant. "

" Some of these letters would be meaningful, if they hadn't come from her cronies,
Mrs. Wilkinson-her best friends mother,
Mrs. Harding-church crony.
She publically stole for over 6 years, we have the right to over 6 years of coverage,
maybe she shouldn't have been involved in such public criminal activity,
fair and balanced
public activity deserves public activity
---people need to remember this was a clear behavior choice by the criminal---she made these choices, and it seems she had a few enablers "

" I dont know if any of those commenting here have any personal links with Shuster, which might explain their sentiments. If not then I apologize for the inference, but what else would explain their defense of her behaviors?
What made the Shuster case more important than the other embezzlement cases were three factors. First, the amount which was embezzled (and we may never truly find out the full scale of the fraud which occurred here) dwarfed anything done at the Township or private sector level.
Second, Shusters duties with the DDA involved a wider swath of people, of both elected and appointed officials in this community. Again I dont see where a township official or some secretary to a local trade association had such an impact.
Third, given Shusters status as an important representative of the Gaylord community to everyone in this state, particularly with her role with the statewide downtown development group, her actions would naturally propel this case to a much higher degree of notoriety.
This paper took an interest in this case simply because it deserved it, and if you read last weeks editorial, this paper is advising people to move on from this tragedy.
I agree that its time to move on. Its a tragedy not only for this community but her and her family as well.
But to suggest that we not sentence "white collar" criminals to jail, is a sheer invitation to plunder the public treasury (in all its various forms), over and over again.
This would represent the worst double standard imaginable. The petty blue collar criminal who writes a bad check to put food on the table for his family would get significant jail time, but a well connected socialite with access to hundreds of thousands of dollars of ill gotten gain would get no jail time at all.
For a nation which on the surface at least prides itself on the rule of law, we cannot allow such a double standard to exist.
Sure it costs money to put people in jail, but in this instance I believe the cost is well worth it. Even assuming that Mr. Hardings cost estimates are correct, it would be 5 years before the cost of incarceration would approach the level of Shusters embezzlement.
As I say, it is time to move on, but white collar crime should be treated the same as any other type of crime. The fact that no physical violence occurred should be only a minor mitigating factor.
Yes its time to move on, but not to forget what was done to this community, to all the lessons which can be learned from this case, and how we can prevent it from happening again in the future. "

" Good comments Ms. Harding; I totally agree. Grisso should have bowed out gracefully when he retired. He had a good name when he left the paper but he sure is doing his best to tarnish it. What a joke. "