While it is ‘sad’ that people embezzle, what is even more sad is that it took so long to notice. Why is that?
I’m not the judge and jury, and I am sure Baustian will get her day in court. But let’s look at the big picture here. Minnehaha county had a similar incident with the embezzlement of the Sioux Empire Fair, which went unnoticed for a long time.
I don’t want to point fingers at people who neglected to notice these misgivings, but I do want to bring up something that has been bugging me about the embezzlers (both TEA and Fairgrounds): The constant begging of funds.
Why is it that these organizations focus so much on ‘Needing more money’ and asking for the public to fund them, but don’t miss hundreds of thousands of dollars?
Maybe they are overfunded?
If embezzlers can steal large amounts of money for several years without anyone noticing, doesn’t this send a message?
Even in the pimple of a town like Tea, they are milking the taxpayers for something as basic as fire service while their accountant is living high on the hog.
Enough with chasing the embezzlers down, we need to be questioning the politicians that are legislating the funding of these entities.