A Shaky Foundation - Second in a Series

Although it is true BFA and Hunsinger invested in Stillwaters Resort, a golf resort in Dadeville, Alabama, BFA's 1996 audited financial statement and Alabama property records show the foundation owns only about $4 million worth of property---not $14.9 million. And Foundation Stillwaters, the BFA subsidiary that claimed the $14.9 million asset in 1996, is not listed in Tallapoosa County property records as owning any property there whatsoever.

When asked if a $14.9 million building called Country Club Manor exists at the resort, Marie Stanley, spokesperson for the resort, answers: "No. We have a lot of beautiful buildings, but we have no building called Country Club Manor."

Jalma Hunsinger kept Simms Tower in Albuquerque for three years, until 1995.
That was three years too long for Simms Tower's tenants. The building didn't conform to fire code. Promised improvements weren't made. The landlord wanted to boot tenants out before their leases were up and sell the building without compensating the tenants for their broken leases, says attorney Albert Lassen, a tenant.

Lassen and the other tenants seem confused about who their landlord was, and about the connection between BFA and Hunsinger.

Some tenants sued in state court in New Mexico, but because of the BFA-Hunsinger maze of companies, they didn't know who to sue, exactly.

In June 1995, J.M. Campbell and Anita Campbell, who leased space for their sandwich shop in Simms Tower, won a $170,324.54 judgment in state court against BFA and Albuquerque Executive Center. Since there is no Albuquerque Executive Center--Hunsinger's company is New Mexico Executive Center--and since BFA was not an owner, the Campbells' judgment for fraud, breach of lease and unfair practices is uncollectable.

Neither BFA nor Hunsinger ever paid the Campbells.
"There was no judgment against BFA or any of its subsidiaries in New Mexico, occurring in 1995 or any other year," BFA wrote in its letter to New Times.

In 1995, Hunsinger sold the properties to a New Mexico partnership, Papalote Partners. Robert Custer, a spokesman for the partnership, won't disclose the sales price. And since New Mexico is a non-disclosure state, the sales price cannot be gleaned from public records.

Albert Lassen, for one, was glad to see Hunsinger et al. go.
"From what I saw, they were the Baptists from hell," says Lassen.

Contact Terry Greene Sterling at 229-8437, or online at tgreene@newtimes.com