W.L. Langston, the former Alabama Fire College chief who resigned last month, helped set up tens of thousands of dollars in contracts and scholarships for his children and those of administrators who run the state's two-year college system, records show.

Fire college records show Langston's influence reached far beyond the small training academy in Tuscaloosa for firefighters and paramedics. Among the actions Langston took as head of the fire training school:

AT A GLANCE

• He gave a $200,000 emergency medical services training contract in 2003 to Gadsden State Community College. About the same time, Gadsden State gave Langston's son a $42,000 consulting contract, one that records showwas drafted by Langston's staff.


• As head of a private foundation created for the fire college, he gave a $15,000 scholarship in 2004 to the daughter of Debra Dahl, the Alabama two-year college system's top finance official. Dahl, whose daughter attended the University of Alabama at Birmingham, had authorized sending $300,000 in state money a year earlier to Langston's foundation, which later built him a new home, records show.


• He set up a fire college job for the granddaughter of a member of a state board that supervised him, records show. The arrangement was made just before federal investigators raided the fire college, and abruptly ended soon after the raid, records show.

Langston also set up a $36,000-a-year job for his daughter to work at Shelton State Community College just before the federal raid in 2004, records show. Contract records from the fire college, which shares its campus with Shelton, show Langston's staff wrote the contract for his daughter's job. Shelton State President Rick Rogers said he discussed the job with Langston, but Langston's daughter was never hired.

Langston's actions offer more insight into how the fire college was managed and how he spent some of the millions in state funds the college received each year. Most of the college's $6 million budget comes from the state's education fund.

The financial records show Langston often helped the friends and relatives of fire college officials and some of the most influential leaders of the state's two-year college system, including Alabama College System Chancellor Roy Johnson.

Langston gave Johnson's two adult children jobs at the fire college. He hired Johnson's daughter on a $21,424-a-year contract to work from her Ope-lika home, more than 175 miles from the Tuscaloosa campus. The job, which she still holds, also provides her benefits from the teachers retirement system and the state's health insurance program, records show.

Johnson's son worked for more than a year at the fire college, but transferred to Lawson State Community College after federal investigators raided the fire college in 2004.

Federal investigators seized dozens of boxes of records from the fire college and foundation as part of a review of activity at the campus.

Johnson has defended the jobs his children received from Langston as arrangements made before he became chancellor, based on his children's work experience and ability. He said last week he learned recently about the scholarship Dahl's daughter received. Johnson said Dahl, who was his top finance director, told him about the scholarship a few days ago. Dahl declined to be interviewed by The Birmingham News about the payment from Langston's foundation.

"I did not ask her further questions because I'd like an opportunity to review the records," Johnson said.

Others who served on the private foundation with Langston said he did not provide details about scholarship recipients, only the number of scholarships awarded and the total amount for all scholarships. Rogers, who served on the private foundation board, said he never saw names of scholarship recipients and did not know if recipients studied firefighting or EMS skills.

Johnson has said he was not aware of the fire college's activi-ties before problems at the campus surfaced in recent months. Some commissioners tried to remove Langston from his job after they became concerned about actions he had taken.

Johnson said he helped broker a deal to have Langston re-tire with a $190,000 buyout agreement and then move to a job under Johnson in the two-year system.

Johnson took over management of the college after Langston's forced departure, putting his own interim director in place and removing the appointee named by the state board that oversees the college.

Didn't know

Some members of the Alabama Fire College and Personnel Standards Commission have said Langston did not tell them about many contracts and other arrangements he made as director. They also did not know about a home that Langston's foundation built for him in Millbrook for nearly $350,000.

After federal investigators took records from the fire college, Langston did not move into the house and the foundation sold it for less than it cost.

Commissioners have said they have not been provided records they've sought from the private nonprofit that he led, the Alabama Fire College Foundation.

Some commissioners, including those appointed in recent years by Gov. Bob Riley, have said they are concerned about Johnson's move to take over the college. They have asked Riley and Attorney General Troy King to help resolve differences with Johnson over who should run the college.

Some commissioners said they were not aware of jobs and other financial arrangements that Langston provided to Johnson's children and others.

Job arrangements

Records show that Langston planned to give a part-time job in 2004 to Kristin Peoples, the granddaughter of Commissioner Emory Peoples, who was appointed to the commission in 1979 and is the longest-serving board member. Langston listed her in the fire college payroll briefly before she started work at Shelton State, records show.

Commissioner Peoples declined last week to discuss his granddaughter's job arrangements with Langston. Efforts to reach Kristin Peoples for comment failed.

Fire college budget records show that Langston listed Kristin Peoples in the fire college pay-roll for the fiscal year that began in September 2004. The records show a $244.38 payment for her in the fire college planning budget before she left to work at Shelton, which was at about the same time as the federal raid.

Rogers said last week he was not aware of her employment, but he confirmed through his business office that she still works part time at Shelton.

Fire college records also show that Langston's staff drafted a consulting contract between his son and Gadsden State in August 2003. Teresa Stone, who works in the fire college's finance office, drew up the contract on Aug. 27, 2003, records show.

Langston's son, W.L. Langston Jr., received $42,000 from Gadsden, paid in monthly checks of $3,500 each starting in October 2003 and ending in September 2004, Gadsden finance records show. His contract said the payments were for "consultant services to the president" of Gadsden.

About eight months later, Langston signed a $200,000 contract with Gadsden to provide "EMS educational related activities," records show. The fire college paid Gadsden $200,000 on June 15, 2004, finance records show.

Efforts to reach Gadsden State President Renee Culverhouse for comment last week failed.

Jim Prucnal, Gadsden's dean of financial services, said he was not familiar with the contracts with Langston's son or the fire college. He said Gadsden has had an EMS training program for more than 15 years, although he was not aware of funding agreements with the fire college. It would not be unusual, however, for Gadsden to have such agreements with other campuses, he said.

Efforts to reach Langston and his son for comment also failed.

John Blue, the Gadsden State administrator appointed by Johnson as the fire college's interim director, referred questions to the chancellor's office last week.

Johnson said he was not aware of the contracts with Langston's son or Gadsden State, but he said they would be reviewed as part of a broader internal assessment of fire college matters.

Langston's staff also drafted a contract for his daughter in July 2004 to work as a part-time coordinator at Shelton State, records show. The contract called for Lynn Abrell, Langston's daughter, to receive $36,000 a year, records show.

Several weeks later after the contract was drafted, federal investigators began collecting information from fire college and Shelton State officials. FBI agents raided the fire college in September 2004.

Rogers said he discussed the job with Langston for his daughter, but she was never hired.