One of those vacant homes sits across from the house Pierce and Bynum live in. They put locks on the doors and boards on the windows, and they keep the grass mowed.

Pierce has made a request to appear before the pension board, which has filed a lawsuit against Paramount. A call seeking comment from the pension board was not returned by press time.

According to Day, the pension board has indicated that it would consider allowing people to stay in their homes if they pay the full purchase price as originally agreed to in the land contracts. The homeowners want to negotiate, seeking an amount closer to the actual value of the property.

The way Day sees it, the board was negligent, doing business with people it didn't adequately investigate and then failing to follow up and keep an eye on how its $10 million loan was actually being spent.

"What we've tried to say is that the pension board made some really bad decisions doing business with these people," Day told News Hits. "And now Paramount, as a company, has basically disappeared."

Day's harshest words, though, are directed at the people who appear to have perpetrated a massive scam inflicting pain on the pension system and unwary homeowners alike.

"It's a crazy situation," he said. "The best thing you can say about all this is that it involves a lot of very skuzzy stuff, and it's all blown up. At this point, the main issue for us is to try and keep these people in their homes" 

News Hits was written by Curt Guyette. Contact the column at 313-202-8004 or NewsHits@metrotimes.com.

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