Bad choices stole their freedom, former honor students warn J-M seniors

YOUNGSTOWN

The only things separating Lori Waigand and Michelle Spencer from the group of Jackson-Milton High School seniors they spoke to Thursday at the Mahoning County jail was age, choices and wardrobe.

But two of those things — choices and wardrobe, are intertwined.

Waigand and Spencer are both inmates at the jail and they spoke to the students about the perils of making bad choices and where it could land you: A cell at the jail and orange jail coveralls.

“It only takes one bad decision to take your freedom or your life,” Waigand told the students.

Waigand, of Canfield and Spencer, of Atwater, told the students that in high school, they were honor-roll students, excelled in sports and were generally well-liked.

But they also experimented with alcohol and drugs in high school and ended up in jail as adults.

Waigand told the students how she went through a rough patch from 18 to 21 with arrests, stayed sober from 21 to 28, married, graduated from college, had a job, then began using drugs again to the point where she is now awaiting a three-year prison sentence.

Read more of their stories in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.