No her actions and inability to take responsibilty for them cost her, her life! Why is it we can allow greed, or lust, or pride to lead us to do these things and than when they are exposed its always the other parties fault? duwayneh stated Think before you act, the consequences could be great for someone. I agree and she should have! Reply...

Lets see, dont want to embarass anyone so lets arrest them at thier daughters wedding. IF Diane Cottinghams case was handled in this way she more than likely would be alive today. Why didnt they just call him in also. At least he may be out of jail or whatever to attend other weddings etc. Something Diane wont be able to do. At least someone handled the situation right this time.... Reply...

ww Reply...

Lets see, Jim Poolman didnt want to embarass anyone so he had this guy arrested at his daughters wedding.At least he is alive today. Guess what he may be able to attend another daughters wedding, or a grandkids. That is something that Diane Cottingham wont be able to do. What was the difference incircumstances, or did Jim learn from the first time around. Reply...

Hey PO'ed- I have been to Underwood and I have voiced my opinion when asked. It may not be what you or anyone else wants to hear, but it is my right as an American citizen to speak how I feel.
Judge Not- "Sure she ripped people off. That doesn't make her a bad person." Ok so theives are not bad people? You are close, I have been through the suicide of a close friend, and he was selfish in doing so, he left all his friends because he thought suicide was the easy way out, which it was for him, but not for the rest us who were left to deal with life.

same old thing- I am an American citizen, there for I have the RIGHT to Free Speech. MY free speech allows me to say what I want. If you so hate to reead what I write, then when you see my name at the beginning of a paragraph SKIP TO THE NEXT ONE!! No one is forcing you or anyone else to read my comments. If no one wants to read what I post, why is it that so many people reply and bunches of them in a positive way? Yes there are ones who disagree with me and they voice their opinion. There are some who get all mad and call me names, but guess what? Those people give me a good laugh, so thank YOU!!

Please tell me where I spoke derogatorily about women. I might need to go back and reread my posts because I do not recall bashing any women because they were women.

Telling me to stay off will do as much good as telling you to go to the moon. Unless you own KXNET and refuse to allow me to post, you will never make me quit posting! Reply...

She purchased land with the money she stole. Reply...

MadManMe is just an idiot who feels the need to post on almost every topic. He hates women and has said many derogatory things about them.

NOBODY CARES or wants to even read your stupid name anymore. Stay off!!!!!!!! Pretty soon we'll be hearing from his buddy ShopGirl too. Fools. Reply...

WOW! Who the heck are you people anyway? What gives YOU the right to judge this woman. Sounds like MadMan has been through a suicide of a loved one and is PO'd at the world for it. Sure she ripped people off. That doesn't make her a bad person. Ever take something that didn't belong to you? May have to dig deep! SAME senerio. Are you a bad person? Reply...

P.O. ed you are no better for threatning a person. Reply...

Mad Man Me ,
it is easy to hide behind the anominity of this posting. I really wonder if you had the guts to come to underwood and say what you said. If you did you would not likely to leave our town in one piece. I feel sorry for how pathetic you are. Reply...

How can someone decieve so many people for YEARS and with a smile and there is people out there that think she was a good woman. Apparantly, they had insurance elsewhere. Cheating and stealing does not make her a good woman. Reply...

I can feel sorry for her family for the terrible way she treated them. That has nothing to do with how much of a loser she was. If her family does not like the comments they can ignore them and write it off as someone who is an idiot. If you do not like them you are free to write a response or ignore them. Eitherr way it does not affect me! Reply...

Please take a moment and read what I wrote.....my comment was in response to yours...."I feel sorry for her family", my comment to that was ...."you dont feel sorry for the family...." if you felt sorry for the family your would never printed your negative, personal, not worth a penny opinion. Why dont you just walk up to her children and hand them dead flowers to put on her grave. I'm sure they will thank you. NOT! Idiot! And please, take responsibility for your own feelings, making God responsible for your feelings is not only cowardly; it also defeated your whole purpose of writing your comments. You really have to do some thinking now....You are a sad sad person and not worthy of another response. Good bye! Reply...

No I do not feel any compassion for criminals. I do feel sorry that she was a major criminal and then took the cowards way out and left all her shame on her family. Do you think she gave a flying hoot how her family felt when she committed the crime or ended her life? Obviously she did not otherwise she would not have done it! If she did not care what her family would have to deal with why do I need to feel compassion? If you want to go boohooing about peoples feeling that is your choice. When someone screws their family over I am not going to feel bad for how GOD makes me feel about it. Reply...

I pray that no one reads MadManME comments, you dont feel sorry for the family for you just printed horrible horrible statements about a loved-one for them to read. NICE GOING! I guarentee they do not see her anyway but a loving and wonderful mother. I will assume that this simply slipped by the review committee. PLease be more careful in filtering the comments. Reply...

I agree, she dicded her own fate. What a loser b!tch to leave her children to deal with her massive screw up. What a horrible mom to do this then commit suicide so her family has to not only deal with her lying and thievery, but the selfishness of her suicide. I feel sorry for her family for her being such a self absorbed cold hearted wench. Reply...

DuWayne, With all due respect your comments are a joke. To hold the person in charge of protecting others FROM people like Diane Cottingham accountable for HER killing herself is just downright dispicable. You need to look at this objectively, and with a dose of reality. Jim Poolman did a classy job with this case. He tried to respect the family, while doing his job in protecting the policyholders. Wow! Reply...

Am I missing something here?.Diane committed the crime to the tune of 675K and then takes the "easy" way out when her crimes are found out,and Duwayneh wants to know if the Insurance Comm can be held accountable.So,as is getting more and more typical of our twisted society,It's always someone else's fault.FAct is Duwayneh,she did the crime and she chose her own punishment or way out,however you want to look at it,no one told her to commit suicide,she did it on her own for whatever reason,SO,put the blame where the blame is due,on Diane.Sorry,but I don't see someone as a "very good individual" that defrauds people that put their trust and dollars in her hands,and SHE is the one that should have thought of a solution to the problem SHE created and you are right,the consequences have been great to the people who thought they had insurance.My question to Duwayneh since you seem to be someone that knew her is this: What did she spend on these other people's money on anyway and then took that easy way out so someone else could clean up her mess.I know this seems cold duwayneh,but think about it and you will see that what I write is the truth here. Reply...

i have a question Reply...

I have a question concerning this case. Can the ND Insurance Commisioner be held liable in any way shape or form for Dianes death. I believe he acted irresponsibly by not going to see her in person or having the sherriffs pick her up on the day in question. His actions cost someone their life, where if he would have went the other route she would probably still be here today. Think before you act, the consequences could be great for someone. And was the 675,000 dollars in insurance premiums paid back covered by insurance or did Diane still have the money. Reply...

I have a question concerning everything that has happened in this case. Can the ND Insurance Commissioner be held liable in some way shape or form in this death. I believe that the events would hve occured differently if he would have had went to see her in person or sent a sheriff to pick her up and take her to Bismarck..No matter what Dianes faults were, the life of a very good individual was ended because someone did not think out the solution to this problem very well.I think everything maybe should have went to the Attorney Generals office first.. Think before you act. The consequences could be great for someone. Reply...

My thoughts and prayers are with the Cottingham Family and the community of Underwood. For those of you who have written comments you should reflect on yourself and your words. If you are truely faithful you wouldn't judge so much but your prayers would go out to those that have been hurt by this. If you write such mean things about this women you obviously didn't know her. If you did know her than none of these mean nasty words would have been said. I pray for those of you who have been so insensitive and inappropriate you are the ones that have done wrong. Reply...

I'M SCARED concerned!! Reply...

minotmd you are a jerk let it rest leave the family and situation alone. Karma is going to get you watch your back. Reply...

minotmd you are a jerk let it rest leave the family and situation alone. Karma is going to get you watch your back. Reply...

The investigators said the money was going to someone else, not her. Maybe that someone else killed her and made it look like a suicide so she wouldn't rat them out! Reply...

It's funny how you can be a completely despicable person (not saying she was) but when you die people always say nice things about you.

Why? Why not just say it like it is? It just makes it look worse. "oh she was a wonderful person who gave so much..." yeah and took her fair share too.

Obviously she was pretty sick. There are people out there who do a lot worse and they don't kill themselves, leaving their families to deal with not only what they had done but their death as well.

Suicide is a selfish act. Probably one of the most selfish things a person can do. Especially if you have children. I would rather have my mother walking around as a criminal than dead. She didn't want to face what she had done and she bailed out on not only the charges but her family - and that's is worse than anything she did. Reply...

What she did was wrong, period. No person with so called integrity would have even thought of such a thing. What would have happened if one of her client's vehicles transporting propane or fuel had an accident, killing someone on the road? I doubt any of her personal funds would have been sufficient to cover all monetary damages.
Perhaps the word integrity should have been looked up in a dictionary before including it in her obituary.
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Prayers are out for the family,but she still did wrong!Thats what everyone is talking about....Suicide,the easy way out...
She was guilty!! Reply...

Mrs. Cottingham may have ‘stolen’ the money from insureds, BUT I agree with Washburn resident, she’s not the first nor will she be the last. Diane, in effect, took on insuring these people on her own. When a claim was submitted, she paid it. She must have really been hurting and so embarrassed by the situation that she took on a permanent solution (suicide) to a temporary problem. I am positive her family, friends and fellow residents of Underwood would have stood beside her throughout the whole process. Maybe she didn’t want to drag her family through it all?! We will probably never know her reasoning in her decisions but come on, have compassion on the family! I know they need our prayers and caring attitudes. Let’s show them what North Dakota people are all about and rally around them! Reply...

My post says I see hurt everywhere. I see a woman who committed suicide, hurting, scared, and ashamed. Perhaps suicide is a cowardly act. Perhaps she did it so that she would not have to pay the price to society. Right now, her family is hurting and grieving and not over a death due to illness, but over a death committed by her own hand. The woman is gone and no more can be done for or to her. But harm can be done to her family and her friends that love her. And they don't deserve any of this. Reply...

this is a strange post. forgiveness is nice, but where is the accountability, and restitution? People should pay for their crimes, I have paid or my speeding ticket, big time. and embezzlement is not the same as a speeding ticket. Reply...

It's sure easy to sit behind a computer and sling mud at people, especially someone who's gone and can't even apologize.

Let those without sin cast the first stone. As for me, I'll be praying for the family and friends left behind to pick up the pieces and deal with the hate being spewed when they need love the most. Reply...

Sure I broke the law by speeding. But what this woman done is far more worst than speeding. She might have been a nice person and giving to the community. She committed a CRIME. But took the easy way out instead of facing up to what she did. And people have every right to talk about it. What about the clients that were ripped off?? Iam sure they are talking about it. I just wondering how many other people out there are imbezzling money in this state. Theres been others. And more to follow. Reply...

Number 1, learn to type, or spell. Have YOU (?) ever done illegal acts? Speeding, Drinking and Driving , etc. All of us have our own and have gotten away with it. Leave this alone............. Reply...

So why do you post with "minotnd"? Either YOU are the liar or you are trying to repesent residents of that area. What's the deal with that? Reply...

excuse me MY Reply...

Who said i live in Minot?? Just because of mine name does not mean I live in Minot!! Reply...

I agree with minotnd. She was a liar and thief. I also think that she will be missed by her community, but under it all she stole alot of money from people and knew she did wrong! Reply...

I agree with minotnd. She was a liar and thief. I also think that she will be missed by her community, but under it all she stole alot of money from people and knew she did wrong! Reply...

We are tired of it being run through the news
as gossip, a family needs their grief and healing time. She is not the first business woman or man to commit fraud or lies. And for spelling correction, it's liar....l i a r, not lier.

Mrs. Cottingham will be missed by her family, colleagues and her community of Underwood. Amen. (glad you reside in Minot and not in McLean county) Reply...

What a tragic death, my sympathies goes to the family. Reply...

So does this mean that those who paid but never got insurance should get their money back? I would think that this kind of fraud should be rectified. Freeze all of Cottingham's assets. Figure out how much money was ripped off and then add interest to it. Once the total is known, sell everything at auction until the amount needed to repay the debt is sold. Start the auction with luxury items like campers, boats, RV's, and fancy cars. I feel bad for any family she may have, but were they accomplices? Reply...

Boy doesn't this make you feel all warm and fuzzy?? You trust someone to do what they say they are doing and they scam you out of money. I am glad I did not have my insurance through that place. Reply...