LWV-W Seeks Nominations for Town Employee Award

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The League of Women Voters of Williamstown (LWV-W) is seeking nominations for its 2010 Williamstown town employee award.

Nominees should be employees of the Town of Williamstown who have provided outstanding service to the Williamstown community – duty above and beyond what is expected of them. This service can have been performed during the past year or in previous years. It can have been a single exceptional act or have been spread over several years.

To show appreciation for the work required to keep the town running smoothly, in 2001 LWV-W established the award to recognize an outstanding town employee. The award is presented at a League event, and the name of the recipient is announced at the annual Williamstown Town Meeting.

All employees of the Town of Williamstown are eligible, from snowplow drivers to librarians, cemetery workers, policemen and women, town department heads, custodians, teachers, transfer station workers and firefighters to the town manager – anyone on the town payroll.

Nomination forms are available at the Milne Library and at Town Hall, or nominations can be sent to the League of Women Voters of Williamstown, P.O. Box 392, Williamstown, by April 7, 2010. Nominations should include a description of the exceptional service provided and the name and telephone number or email address of the person submitting the nomination. The name of winner will be announced at the annual Williamstown Town Meeting.

Prof's Fraud Past Cancels Caucus

Williams College abruptly canceled a return visit by the Congressional Black Caucus on Friday, just days after discovering its organizer was in hot water in Washington.

Visiting political science professor Bernard Moore turns out to be Ernest B. Moore, whose trail of fraud goes back nearly a quarter century.  He admitted Tuesday in federal court of taking more than $800,000 over the past five years in credit card and student aid fraud. Moore had 90 (!) fake credit cards.

The Williams Record did a terrific job of digging into Moore's past here. Moore, who came across as a personable sort when  we talked to him last year, apparently has real academic degrees - just under fake names.

Moore's been teaching in the political science and African Studies programs for two years and was instrumental in bringing the Congressional Black Caucus to Williams last year. The roundtable discussion packed Chapin Hall; Gov. Deval Patrick was there as well.

In an e-mail sent early Friday afternoon, the college's public affairs office said:

"The symposium with members of the Congressional Black Caucus scheduled for Monday, Nov. 16, has had to be postponed.  The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation and the College will reschedule a similar event on campus in the near future."

Moore's been suspended indefinitely (his bio is still posted here) and faces up to 41 months in prison when he's sentenced in February.

Update 11/14/2009: A reader sends us this link from the Office of the Inspector General, Department of Education, which seems to indicate Moore never actually earned a bachelor's degree.

Update 11/16/2009: The Ephblog has also been digging into Moore's past and the current situation at Williams, where posters say his names been removed from his office door but that the rules in the faculty handbook say he may still be getting paid under the current suspension.

One poster on the Ephblog also says pictures of Moore are scarce as hen's teeth. We've posted a portrait shot and here's one of him with Jim Brown taken recently by our eagle-eyed photographer Paul Guillotte:

Update 11/17/2009: Professor Moore was fired effective Monday, Nov. 16, according to a letter to the Williams community. Interim President William Wagner said their was no evidence Moore had serioulsy misused college resources.

Update Nov. 26, 2009: The Williams Record talks with some of Moore's students, who describe a disengaged instructor with a tendency to name drop but who also was a helpful mentor to some.