Former Legal Aid Director Files Lawsuit

{Kentucky}...Cynthia Elliott, who is black, filed a employment-discrimination lawsuit last week, claiming the board of the Appalachian Research and Defense Fund of Kentucky, which she once directed, fired her because of her gender and race and in retaliation for her firing white employees. Elliott said in her lawsuit that the AppalReD board falsely accused her of stealing $10,600 through the use of one of its bank cards. The agency is the main provider of civil legal help for poor people in eastern Kentucky. The board dismissed Elliott in January after information from an internal whistle blower sparked an investigation. She had been director of the agency, known by the acronym AppalReD, since 2007, and had been one of its staff attorneys earlier. Jonathan Picklesimer, the interim executive director, said Wednesday that an audit completed since then shows AppalReD overspent its budget by nearly $1 million during the past four years, and the non-profit used reserve funds to make up for the deficit.