Former classmates and friends of Paula Bohovesky, the Pearl River teen who was murdered in 1980, organized a freeze mob in her memory Jan. 7, but they are not stopping there.
Calling themselves All for Paula, the group launched the website www.allforpaula.com/ this week and released a mini-documentary of the freeze mob. The site expressed larger goals in fighting violent sexual crime.
“We’re pleased to announce the release of the mini-documentary filmed by director Kyle C. Mumford, which chronicles our recent “Freeze Mob” event — a community-wide demonstration of our opposition to the parole of Robert McCain and Richard LaBarbera," said Dari Knight, founder of All for Paula. " We believe our viewers will agree that it is truly a “moving” picture -- as artistically brilliant as it is emotionally poignant. It is key to the efforts of our common cause to make the short film available to the widest possible audience and to that end, we are gathering a virtual army of concerned citizens to spread the word via twitter. You can join us by following AllAboutPaula on twitter, and retweeting our announcements of this evocative video.”
McCain and LaBarbera are the two men who were convicted of Bohovesky's murder and sentenced to 25-years-to-life in 1980. They now receive a parole hearing every two years. LaBarbera's parole was denied May 11, 2011. McCain's hearing was postponed at his request from June to December of 2011 and again until this month. He was initially scheduled for this week, but the hearing will now be held next week.
According to the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, the change in the schedule was due to recent prison closings that caused schedules to be re-arranged and the change from two-member panels to three. McCain was moved last year to the Altona Correctional Facility in Altona, NY.
According to the website, All for Paula will hold another event in the spring of 2013.
"We are also currently working with the organization Carlie's Crusade, planning a Women's Self Defense workshop for Rockland County and we will no doubt need help putting that together as well," reads a statement on the site.
Carlie's Crusade is a non-profit organization out of Marlboro, NY formed in the memory of Carlie Brucia, an 11-year-old girl who was abducted, sexually assaulted and murdered in Florida in 2004. The organization holds workships in Abduction Prevention, Internet Safety and Self Preservation.
The goal for All for Paula now goes beyond keeping Bohovesky's memory alive and opposing parole for her killers. They focus now is on putting together a nationwide online network of groups and individuals to address the issue of violent sexual crime.
"Building a national network of people who are fighting the same fight as we are, whose lives have been effected by violent sexual crime, or who simply want to see the trend reverse is, as previously stated, and enormous undertaking and it will not be inexpensive to complete, but it is long past time that such a place be built," reads a statement on the site.
"When completed, the website will contain tips on dealing with grief from clinical and forensic experts in the field of psychology, guidelines on how to build a website and a local network of support, ways to collect petition signatures and the proper way to package them for a parole board, guest blogs from professional lobbyists and legal experts who champion women and children's causes -- and much more."
