Friday, April 9, 2004 | 5:27 a.m.
WEEKEND EDITION
April 10 - 11, 2004
At the Economic Opportunity Board, some people had more opportunity than others. Certainly Claude Logan, chairman of the EOB's board of directors, had an advantage over area children enrolled in the federal Head Start program. This much is clear from a story written last week by Sun reporter Tim Pratt, who has been digging into the EOB's finances since this newspaper disclosed a month ago that the county's largest nonprofit agency cannot account for $2.1 million in state and federal funds. Using state and federal money, the EOB assists low-income people through 30 programs, including Head Start for pre-schoolers.
At the Sept. 25, 2002, meeting of the EOB board, Logan received permission from his fellow board members to lease the Head Start kitchen for use by his private food-services company. The company, Institutional Food Services Management, had a $3.8 million contract with Clark County to feed jail inmates. Because the jail's own kitchen was under renovation, Logan needed another kitchen for nine months. This was a problem that should have been taken up with Clark County government. Instead, Logan persuaded his own board to let him lease the Head Start kitchen for $27,000.
Two separate teams of state and federal officials are in town investigating the EOB. This lease arrangement is one more irregularity the officials will check into. One of the officials is a Head Start commissioner from Washington, who told Pratt the lease deal "is beyond me."
"We're moving into possible criminal misconduct here ..." said Windy Hill, associate commissioner for the Head Start bureau. "Congress did not appropriate Head Start funds for any purpose other than to support Head Start services." One result of the lease arrangement was that the schedules of Head Start cooks were radically altered. At Head Start centers around the Las Vegas Valley, hot food was delivered up to two hours before it was to be served. That meant that for nine months, Head Start children received cold leftovers instead of hot meals so Claude Logan could run his private business feeding jail inmates.
As the federal and state investigations progress, we hope the EOB board members, who to date have been blaming staff members for all of the agency's problems, will face serious inquiries into their own roles as overseers.
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