"I WOULD SAY THAT AT TIMES PEOPLE HAVE IGNORED ME."

Those were the words of Ed Leon after it was learned that he had resigned as finance director of the Polk County Opportunity Council to accept a similar position with another, unnamed Community Action Agency in North Florida.

He is the third senior PCOC administrative official who has jumped off the sinking ship in recent weeks. Former finance department employee Carolyn Deckworth resigned at the end of December, and Anne Joyce, childhood education manager for PCOC's Head Start programme, left the agency last week.

While Ms. Joyce declined to give the reasons for her resignation, Mr. Leon was quoted in the Lakeland Ledger as saying his department was not to blame for several no-bid contracts awarded over the past two years in violation not only of PCOC's own bylaws, but federal rules. And he said that it was a problem getting employees to do required paperwork per regulations.

But PCOC did have some good news recently. A federal judge in Tampa dismissed a discrimination suit brought against the agency and former Executive Director Lottie Tucker by Leon's predacessor, Brian Jeronimus, who claimed he was sacked because he is a white man.

U.S. District Judge Richard Lazzard wrote that Jeronimus did not present any evidence to support his claim of discrimination, also noting that Mr. Leon is also a white man. Jeronimus has since appealed the decision to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.