Memorial Service To Mark Second Anniversary Of Lucero Murder

To mark the two-year anniversary of a murder that rocked the Patchogue community, a memorial ceremony in honor of Marcelo Lucero will be held this Sunday on the corner of Railroad Avenue and Unity Place, the site of the attack.

The event will start at 3 p.m. and be followed by a community photo at 4 p.m.

Unity Place is the former Sephton Street that was renamed recently.

Patchogue Village Mayor Paul Pontieri said reminding the community of the murder with a memorial event is important to ensure such tragedies never happen again.

"I think you're going to see that this memorial service will be different from other ones," Pontieri said. "It's going to be talking about the future, how to go forward."

The seven teenagers who attacked Lucero, who had immigrated to the United States from Ecuador, . However, there is still work to be done in dealing with the racial tensions that were brought to light following the 2008 murder, according to Lucero's brother, Joselo Lucero.

"A lot of people knew it was happening, that the Spanish community was a target, but nobody talked about it," Joselo said. "After my brother's death, that changed."

Joselo said he wants to work with the youth in the Patchogue community to educate them and make sure no family suffers as his did.

To that end, Joselo has been speaking to teens and pre-teens about the consequences of hate and the need to embrace different cultures. For the memorial on Sunday, Joselo is creating what he calls a Wall of Peace, made up of artwork created by young people.

"[The artwork] will be focused on what they hope for, what they think they can change and how they felt after [Marcelo's death]," Joselo explained.

Patchogue residents have already come together in an effort to promote peaceful relations and dialogue through a , which was unveiled in September. Diane Berthold, who helped start the 20-member Piece-Makers for Peace quilting group, said the triptych quilt, made in honor of Marcelo Lucero, is on display at the old Jay's Fabric Store building on South Ocean Avenue as part of the .

"The whole point of this quilt was for people to communicate with each other," Berthold said. "I think in suburbia people get isolated easily – both sides have to communicate."

The quilt will soon be traveling to local churches, schools and temples, according to Berthold, who hopes to put the quilt on permanent display at either the Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts or at the Patchogue-Medford Library.

Patrice O'Neill is also working on a project dealing with the aftermath of the Lucero murder. She's spent the last two years covering the community's reaction to the tragedy and is now wrapping up a documentary on the event that will air on PBS next September.

"What I see is that people are not in denial," O'Neill said, who will be covering the memorial service. "You could have a debate on whether [the changes are happening] fast enough or enough is being done, but they are moving forward. Change is a process."

When interviewing members of the Hispanic community in the area, O'Neill said one of the main questions she asks is whether they feel safer now.

"Almost unanimously people have said yes," she noted. "They feel there's better communication with the police and that they have a safe place to go."

One thing that has changed, according to Pontieri, is that the village government is more accessible to the Latino community. "We have a Latino in every office in village government," he said.  "I go to their meetings, and I think they know me very well."

Emphasizing that all seven of Marcelo's attackers were not from Patchogue, Pontieri said he is proud of the community's response to the crime.

"This murder has put such a dark cloud over this community that doesn't deserve it because it came to us," said Pontieri. "This community had every opportunity to explode after this, and it never did. The fact that this memorial service is happening on Sunday is a testament to our community."