Firing of veterans home director criticized

Monday, Sept. 9, 2002 | 9:22 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The chairman of the state's Veterans Services Commission said he's upset at the ouster of John Sias as director of the veterans home in Boulder City and that he intends to speak to Gov. Kenny Guinn about it.

State Sen. Lawrence Jacobson, R-Minden, said he's unhappy that Sias was bounced from his job without giving him a reason.

"I think he's entitled to his day in court," Jacobson said.

Jacobson, as president pro-tem of the Senate, takes over as governor when Guinn and the lieutenant governor are absent from the state.

"If they would have done it while I was acting governor, I would have told them to get lost," he said.

Chuck Fulkerson, state veterans affairs commissioner, said Thursday that he asked for the resignation of Sias but he refused to discuss the reasons, saying it was a personnel matter.

Fulkerson said Friday he hopes to have a licensed nursing home administrator hired as a temporary replacement for Sias by today. He hopes to have a permanent replacement within 90 days for the $80,914 job.

Nobody else is being replaced at the veterans home, which opened earlier this year, Fulkerson said.

Jacobson said that as chairman of the services commission, "It's my responsibility to see (Sias) is not given a black eye."

He said he met with Fulkerson but could not get any details on why Sias was bounced.

"Nobody has told me there's a problem (at the home)," Jacobson said. "(Sias) is a first-class person."

Jacobson said he and former Veterans Service Commissioner Ray Alcorn wanted to get the commission together today to discuss the issue and meet with the governor.

Greg Bortolin, press secretary for Guinn, said the governor had no role in the forced resignation of Sias but he supports Fulkerson.