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April 29, 2020

Marlin ex-mayor: Delusional or grifting over old VA?
Shouldn't you be worrying about old city finances?

More than two years ago, within six months after Sterling Real Estate Development bought the old Marlin Veterans Administration hospital building off the state of Texas, it became QUITE clear it was trying to "flip" the site. At first, seeing former Marlin mayor Elizabeth Nelson and former Marlin city attorney Denny Lessman involved with Sterling's shell sub-company officially owning the site, I thought maybe there was something real.

The Marlin VA hospital in its glory days, or near them. The
shuttered facility was purchased about three years ago
on a promise of being re-opened while being re-purposed
for other veterans-related needs, yet nothing has happened so far.
Photo by Waco Tribune/Rod Aydelotte
But, within weeks after that, I had a chance to sleuthe enough to prove otherwise.

Sadly, Nelson is either delusional or grifting. She still is PR-fronting for them over Sterling's latest whackadoodle idea.

Sterling wants to make the old facility, which I assume has been TOTALLY untended since it bought it off the state of Texas and then couldn't flip it, into a COVID treatment site.

Former city attorney Lessman, who long ago saw the light and stopped stanning for Sterling, says "no way."

And no, Sterling, I don't believe your claims of your original plans for the facility. Just not credible. AND, I don't recall you mentioning them at the time, either, you know? And, I know that because I wrote about this in depth more than two years ago. Per that link, the website the then-Sterling sub-company shell that owned the facility (it has a different name now) created to put out news, that website is no longer operable. Shock me.

And, Nelson? It's time for people in Marlin to ask you to be honest. How much is Sterling paying you, even if you make it easy by being delusional?

Also, sadly? Although he focuses on oil, Chronic biz columnist Chris Tomlinson — along with Chronic biz writers — have never picked up the Helltown hometown threads of Sterling.

As for Sterling's original plans to also buy the Falls Hotel? Maybe they could partner with the Chinese who were kicking the tires a while back.

Or ... maybe, rather than planning to flip the property? There's some sort of deliberate tax write-off here. Something along Trumpian lines. I never could find a website for the parent company and still can't today. Or, maybe it's even worse than a tax write-off. In that case, Nelson, paid or Pollyanna, is playing the sucker to something nefarious.

==

Instead of flaking for Houston real estate developers, mayor, you should be worried what District & County Attorney Jody Gilliam finds in her city financial impropriety fishing expedition.

At the same time, it IS Jody Gilliam, and yes, given everything in the story, it IS a bit of overreach. Nonetheless, if the numbers, discovered in the city's audit, are even halfway true, when did $300K, or the full $600K, go missing and why? The voided checks and changed names on accounts are also scary.

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