An update on all things Marlin

I occasionally blog updates about what's happening in an old stomping grounds, Marlin, Texas. The city is definitely NOT the garden spot of the world, and is possibly the poorest place in Texas outside the lower Valley and select spots in Dallas, Houston and Fort Worth.

First, the potentially good news. A Chinese-based real estate speculator is interested in the Falls Hotel. I have long said that that's just what Marlin needs. Revitalize the hotel, and the famous mineral waters, into a modern resort. People pay for that shit.

Second, several not-so-goods begin with then-Marlin police chief Nathan Sodek committing suicide a month ago. Still unknown what the criminal investigation was about, but if they wanted his cell phone, sex issues are guess No. 1. As in cellphone child porn. His predecessor, Michael Pesses, retired just a year after hiring.

Meanwhile, at Marlin ISD?

TEA, which long has talked about taking over a district like Houston, and now how thrown a medium-small district like Snyder into its target list, has essentially taken over this district.

Former superintendent Michael Seabolt, having been suspended, agreed to resign but without buyout cash. Shock me. When first suspended, he said he would fight, but at resignation claimed TEA had a deck stacked against him, saying it was "dishonest" and "untrustworthy." I still think he was wrongly throwing his predecessor, Michael Steck, under the bus, as, if the district was still as bad as he claimed, TEA monitors would have had to have been complicit in a coverup. So ... maybe look in the mirror when making such statements?

And, what a superintendent, whoever the person is, is doing making $140K a year at a school district that size and that poor, unless that included a major TEA supplement, is beyond me.

That said, Steck has moved on to his second post-Marlin school district. I have speculations why.

And, as for the Marlin paper? It appears their previous experiment with a general manager / fake publisher has fallen through and Dennis Phillips is reduced to stringers.

And, it appears John Keefer was not re-elected as mayor. Questions about property purchases probably are behind that, as the new city council has reversed one initiative that I think had his imprimatur.