Corrections or additions?
This article by Barbara Fox was prepared for the May 28, 2003 edition of U.S. 1 Newspaper. All rights reserved.
Life in the Fast Lane
Anyone can file a complaint. That’s the concept that
supporters of Mercer County Community College are clinging to, now
that a criminal sexual contact charge has been filed against the
president
of the college, Robert R. Rose.
The complaint was filed by an 18-year-old woman, a Mercer County
resident,
who alleges that on Friday, May 9, when she had come to Rose’s office
to seek assistance in gaining admission to the college, Rose sexually
touched several areas of her body.
The woman signed the complaint on Wednesday evening, May 21. When
West Windsor police notified the college president of the
fourth-degree
felony charge on Thursday morning, May 22, he went to police
headquarters
and was released on his own recognizance.
Rose then hired attorney Jack Furlong, of Furlong and Krasny at
Mountain
View Office Park, and submitted a request for a 30-day leave of
absence.
The request was accepted by the college’s trustees at a previously
scheduled board meeting on Thursday night. Robin Scheiner, assistant
prosecutor and chief of the child abuse and sexual assault unit for
Mercer County, is in charge of the case, and West Windsor Detective
Sergeant Dave Mansue is leading the investigation. Rose is scheduled
to be arraigned on Tuesday, May 27, in West Windsor Municipal Court.
Rose, 63, came to MCCC in 2001 for a salary of $142,000 on a four-year
contract. A graduate of the University of Alberta, he has a master’s
degree from the University of Oregon and a PhD in community college
leadership from the University of Texas at Austin. He had been
academic
dean at a community college in Minnesota, vice president of Galveston
College in Texas, and president of Massasoit Community College in
Massachusetts. Coauthor of “Shared Vision: Transformational
Leadership
in American Community Colleges,” he is known as a skillful
fundraiser
and catalyst for change.
In Massachusetts Rose had been the subject of some controversy, first
over an audit in 2000, in which he denied wrongdoing and said no money
was missing or misused. He hired a police sergeant as a part-time
criminology professor, and it was later revealed that the officer
had mentioned that he wanted a job when he pulled Rose over to give
him a traffic warning. (Rose said he merely gave the name to the
appropriate
official). The officer was later dismissed for enlightening his
criminal
justice class with an exhibition of a stripper’s nude lap dances.
Tom Wilfrid, an administrator who has been at Mercer for 34 years,
most recently as vice president of academic and student affairs, has
been named the college’s acting administrator.
Rose’s attorney, Furlong, notes that the complaint was signed by the
woman, not the police. “Anyone can sign a criminal complaint
against
anybody,” he was quoted as saying. “The chips may fall where
they may.”
“MCCC is in the best position we have ever been, thanks to the
leadership of Bob Rose,” said Bill Baroni, who chairs the
college’s
trustee board. He told reporters that the trustees take the
allegations
extremely seriously. “We want Bob Rose to clear up this matter
and at the same time we must vigorously defend the interests of the
college.”
Women’s Law Firm
Carol Novinson and Jill F. Ray officially opened their
law practice in April at Research Park. Long-time friends and parents
of children who attend the same Princeton elementary school, the
partners
do family law and residential real estate.
Ray went to the University of Delaware, Class of 1981, and Rutgers
Law School in Camden. She clerked for Judge Morton I. Greenberg, who
at that time was in the appellate division of New Jersey Superior
Court. Then she joined McCarthy & Schatzman, where she was a litigator
for five years. When she had her first child in 1990, followed by
two more at two-year intervals, she worked as a per diem lawyer, then
as an international tax specialist at Princeton University. Her
husband
is an editor for NBC’s Dateline program.
Novinson went to Barnard, Class of 1978, and to New York University
Law School. She did real estate law at Rosenman & Colin in Manhattan,
and did family law for a municipal employees organization. In
Princeton
she worked at Smith Stratton. She and her husband have two children,
the eldest 13. Novinson is married to Frank Castello, acting CEO of
Children’s Specialized Hospital (U.S. 1, May 21).
Both attorneys did mid-career internships at the Department of Youth
and Family Services, representing indigent parents involved in
abuse/neglect
and termination of parental rights cases.
“I am now very thrilled to be a partner in my own firm,” says
Ray. “While running my own law firm has many challenges, I highly
value the autonomy I have. By being my own boss, I can much more
easily
balance the demands and pleasures of raising my three children with
my career goals. I believe that working mothers still face incredible
obstacles in the working world, and women have a long way to go to
correct the inequities.”
Novinson and Ray LLC, 475 Wall Street, Princeton08540. Carol Novinson and Jill Ray. 609-921-2191; fax, 609-921-0328.Top Of PagePVI to SellBut Stay OpenA fast growing technology company does not always meana profitable company. Princeton Video Image announced on May 21 thatit would file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and sell its assets to itssecured creditors, who could then run the firm. The stock is so lowit was delisted from Nasdaq, and shareholders are not expected toget anything from the sale. The company will continue afterreorganization,but will no longer be a public firm. It has about 75 employees insix locations, including 50 in 25,000 square feet at Princess Road.Ranked 15th last year on the Deloitte & Touche Technology Fast 50,PVI showed a revenue growth of 2,104 percent for 1997-2001, comparedto an average of 794 percent recorded by the other companies on thelist. But since it was founded in 1990, it has lost a total of $65million. In 2002 it had revenues of $10.8 million, but it lost $21.2million that year and $4 million in the first quarter of this year.Though current investors have infused funds, new investors werescarce.Using technology first devised at Sarnoff Corporation, PVI coulddigitallyinsert the first-down line and virtual advertising images intotelevisionbroadcasts. It had the National Football League contract for this.The secured creditors, Cablevision Systems and Presencia en Medios,hold about 45 percent of the common stock and are expected to forma buying entity to provide debtor-in-possession financing, moneyneededto make the next payroll. The sale would be subject to bankruptcycourt approval. As a private company, PVI would be able to save morethan $1 million in insurance and other costs.”We believe that this proposed transaction will allow us tocontinueto service all of our customers,” says James Green, presidentand COO. Clients include the National Football League, the SoutheastConference in college football and the Philadelphia Phillies baseballteam.Princeton Video Image Inc. (PVI) (PVII), 15PrincessRoad, Lawrenceville 08648. Brown Williams, chairman. 609-912-9400;fax, 609-912-0044. Home page: www.pvi-inc.comTop Of PageCompany News:Voxware DoublesVoxware has cut its net loss to less than half of whatit was last year, because it nearly doubled its revenues. The makerof voice-activated software has six employees on Franklin Corner Road.Net loss was $429,000, down from $1.1 million during the same periodlast year. Last month the firm announced that it had obtained $5.6million in private financing. For the quarter ending in March,revenueswere $2.3 million, up from $1.5 million during the same period lastyear.”While we continue to expand our presence in the food serviceindustry by winning key new accounts, we are also experiencing solidgrowth in the retail sector, having recently been selected by twomajor companies headquartered in the U.S.,” said CEO BathshebaJ. Malsheen in a statement.Voxware Inc. (VOXW), 168 Franklin Corner Road,Suite 3, Lawrenceville 08648. Bathsheba J. Malsheen, CEO.609-514-4100;fax, 609-514-4101. Home page: www.voxware.com.ITXC Corp. has added Moscow to its global list ofoffices.In the past year it has opened sales offices in Australia, Argentina,Brazil, Chile, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Japan and the Philippines.The firm provides phone calls over the Internet worldwide.”The relative strength of the Russian economy, the growth in thetelecom sector itself and the demand for exactly the kind ofhigh-qualityglobal access that ITXC provides, make strengthening our presencein Russia a huge opportunity for us to deliver high-quality voiceservices to the carriers in this region,” says Chris Haller, ITXCmanaging director for central and eastern Europe, Russia and the NewlyIndependent States.ITXC Corp. (ITXC), 750 College Road East, Princeton08540. Tom Evslin, CEO. 609-750-3333; fax, 609-419-1511.Www.itxc.com.NexMed will appeal a decision by Nasdaq to delist itsstock because it has less than $10 million in stockholders equity.As of March 31, the equity was $2.8 million, but in the meantime itobtained an $8 million private placement of its securities. Half ofthat was put in escrow, awaiting the results of Phase 3 studies forAlprox-TD on June 16.NexMed is developing transdermal drug delivery technology —Alprox-TD and Femprox creams for ED and female sexual arousaldisorder, respectively.NexMed (USA) Inc. (NEXM), 350 Corporate Boulevard,Robbinsville 08691. Also 89 Twin Rivers Drive, Hightstown. JosephMo, chairman, CEO, and president. 609-208-9688; fax, 609-208-1868.E-mail: info@nexmed.comHome page: www.nexmed.com.Top Of PageDeathsJoseph A. Pingitore, 53, on May 14. He owned Web FirstLtd., on Crest Avenue in Hamilton Square (www.webfirst.com).B. “Randy” Linthurst, 71, on May 17. He hadretiredafter many year as the spokesperson for the state Department ofTransportation.Next StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
