Press

ALBANY, NY – Families and friends of abducted children and other missing persons from across the country will gather for the New York State Museum’s Family Safety Weekend April 1-2 to talk about their own experiences and to teach other families how to prevent such tragedies. John and Magi Bish, whose teenage daughter Molly, was abducted and found dead three years later, will be the keynote speakers Sunday at 2 p.m. in the Museum Theater. Speakers will also include Doug and Mary Lyall, the parents of SUNY Albany student Suzanne Lyall, who has been missing since March 2, 1998.

As with the Museum’s Family Fun Weekend, usually held the first weekend of every month, there will be music, crafts and educational activities available for children.

Prior to the keynote speech, a ceremony will be held in the Museum Theater on Sunday, beginning at 1 p.m. with Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco as master of ceremonies. New York State Trooper Dan Hart will play the bagpipes and the National Anthem will be sung by Brittany Kissinger of Ballston Spa, who formerly starred as “Annie’’ on Broadway. Veronica Frear, mother of missing 17-year-old Scotia resident Craig Frear, will light the Hope Candle.

The Lyalls are scheduled to speak at 1:20 about the Center for Hope, the Ballston Spa-based non-profit organization they founded. This will be followed by remarks from New York State Congressman John Sweeney, New York Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings and District Attorneys David Soares of Albany County and Patricia DeAngelis of Rensselaer County.

The Lyalls will then present the Hope Award to Chauncey Parker, commissioner of the state Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS). Following that, Brittany Kissinger will perform “Whispers,’’ a song Brittany’s brother Zac wrote and dedicated to Brittany’s former

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babysitter, Suzanne Lyall.

John and Magi Bish, whose daughter’s remains were found in 2003 not far from where she had worked as a lifeguard, will discuss safety rules to teach children. The Bish’s started the Molly Bish Lifeguard Foundation to promote child safety. The foundation lobbies for laws and encourages the use of child identification kits, through which parents can keep on file updated photographs and professionally made fingerprints of their children.

Following the Bish’s presentation, families of missing children from New York State, New England, Michigan, Maryland and Washington will participate in a ceremony to honor their loved ones.

On Saturday, musical performances will be featured from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.. Performing will be Brittany and Zac Kissinger of “Tentacles Heavenward,” Michael Yates, Soul Session featuring Garland Nelson, and bluegrass group Happy Balky and the Good Livin’.

From 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday children can create fingerprint animals and whistle holders. Throughout the weekend, a group called “radKIDS” (for “Resisting Aggression Defensively,’’) will demonstrate how to deal safely with a threatening stranger.

On both days the New York State Police, the DCJS and other organizations will hand out literature and answer parents’ questions. Jim Viola, a filmmaker and husband of Patricia Viola, who has been missing from Bogota, New Jersey since 2001, will present several short videos about a variety of missing person’s cases.

In partnership with DCJS, the Museum also plans to unveil on Saturday a new kiosk that will allow visitors to access information about missing persons.

On April 6, a groundbreaking will be held for the New York State Missing Persons Remembrance in the Empire State Plaza’s Memorial Park, adjacent to the State Museum. State officials will join families and friends of missing persons at that site on that day, which Governor George Pataki has designated Missing Persons Day in New York State. The Remembrance will be constructed on the southeast corner of Madison and Swan Streets and will include an eternal flame to “light the way home’’ for the missing. It was created in partnership with the Lyalls and their non-profit organization – the Center for Hope. The Lyalls also helped to organize the Museum’s Family Safety Weekend events.

The New York State Museum, established in 1836, is a program of the New York State Department of Education. Located at the Empire State Plaza on Madison Avenue in Albany, the Museum is open daily from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. except on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New

Year's Day. Admission is free and the Museum is fully accessible. Further information about Museum programs and events can be obtained by calling (518) 474-5877 or visiting the museum website at www.nysm.nysed.gov.

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