By Bianca Sausa
   Times Herald-Record
 bsausa@th-record.com
   
   Blooming Grove – Phyllis Vittorini doesn't have to talk about her brother's murder
for another two years.   That's because his killer was just denied parole.
 She won't have tell parole officials how the death has affected her and her family.
   But as a crime victim, Vittorini wants to talk about it.   Yesterday, she spoke to other
 victims at the Town of Blooming Grove Church of Christ. There, at the end of National Crime
 Victims' Rights Week, a candlelight vigil was held.   "I found that speaking to others
about my tragedy helped me tremendously,"
 she said to the people gathered there. Many were victims of violent crimes.
 Others were there simply to support their friends or family members.
   Vittorini lost her brother, Joseph Russo,  when he was killed nine years ago
 by his business partner, Arnold Bernstein.  Bernstein was sentenced to eight to 25 years in 1994
 and was  up for parole this month.  Vittorini traveled from New Windsor to
Albany to give a victim impact  statement to the parole board.   The decision came this week:
 parole denied. She won't have to go back for two more years. 
  But she won't stop talking about her brother.
   "We are their voice,'' she said. "And if we don't speak up for them, then who will?"
   Before the vigil, a newly planted tree at Blooming Grove Town Hall was dedicated to the victims.
At the foot of the tree a stone marker commemorates them.
Funeral director Tom Sullivan, who donated the stone, was given an Outstanding Service
 on Behalf of Crime Victims award.    "What I do is nothing," he told the crowd of about 40 people.
 "You people have suffered the ultimate loss."
    Even though Karla Palmer admits she can get very emotional at times, she went to
the ceremony to be there for her friend and neighbor, Pat Bodnar.
 Bodnar's husband was killed by an intruder 12 years ago, and Bodnar was one of the
 organizers of yesterday's event.    "I come more for the support," Palmer said.
   Palmer wept during the tree dedication, then went with friends to the church
 on Old Dominion Road.    She grabbed for tissues as Kids for Peace,
a group from the Bruderhof Community, walked to the front of the church to sing.
    Then Vittorini spoke of her brother. Other crime victims spoke, too,
and as each finished,  they were handed a small bouquet of flowers.
   Maria Christian lost her only child, 16-year-old Anita, in a drunken-driving crash in 1998.
 She talked about how drunken driving is still accepted, even though it is a crime
 and despite the fact that people die.    She said there's "nothing that can give you back
 what they take away."     With long brown hair flowing past her shoulders,
 Christian returned to her seat next to Vittorini.
   Then someone placed a small bouquet of flowers on her lap. But she just let them sit there