Miss New Jersey ready to continue her duties Pageant board decides that photos will not disqualify young woman BY TOYNETT HALL Staff Writer Amy Polumbo HOWELL - A picture of her legs spread in the air while riding in a limousine was one of the photos used in an alleged blackmail attempt to coerce Miss New Jersey, Amy Polumbo, 22, of Howell, to give up the crown she won several weeks ago. Those threats were rendered moot when all five members of the Miss New Jersey board of directors voted unanimously on July 12 to allow Polumbo to continue her reign. The sigh in her voice during a telephone conversation with Polumbo indicated she was very relieved at the board's decision. Polumbo said she is glad this "fiasco is over" and is ready to prepare for the Miss America Pageant. Polumbo will represent the Garden State at the next Miss America pageant, a date for which has not been set. Polumbo said she learned a lot from this experience. She vowed to never again post another personal picture of herself on the Web and said she will use what happened to her as the impetus to strengthen her platform, which is now Internet safety through the education of youths and adults against Internet predators. "I am now working with i-SAFE, a worldwide leader in Internet safety education," she said. "I want to educate people on how to protect their identity from dangerous people who will attempt to destroy their reputation." Polumbo said she was hesitant to release the pictures that were at the center of the controversy because she wanted to protect the identity of others who were in the photos. She said she was embarrassed and it was difficult for her to reveal photos of her private life to the public. She did, however, release the photos last week during an appearance on NBC-TV's "Today" show. The pictures generally show Polumbo and other young people acting in a gregarious manner. There is no nudity in any of the photos. According to Polumbo, who is a student at Wagner College, New York, phone and e-mail will now be the only way others may reach her. She said, "I don't think I have a need anymore to post anything. I used my Facebook page as a way to network with other classmates." Mark Soifer, public relations director for Ocean City and the Miss New Jersey board of directors, told the Tri-Town News, "This is the first incident of its kind that the Miss New Jersey board has ever experienced. We found nothing that would merit taking her crown away. The contestant has learned a valuable lesson in all of this: do not put anything on the Internet if you do not want it to be seen by the public." According to Soifer, one thing that influenced the board's decision to allow Polumbo to retain her title was the fact that the person who sent in the photos with the threat to make them public had put captions on the pictures. "That showed they did not have any confidence to let the pictures stand alone," he said. Although Polumbo had to publicly battle the threat alone, Mayor Joseph DiBella had asked the Howell community to support her. "I want to applaud her for her courage for speaking out and not being bullied around by some cowards who are unwilling to put their names on something, and try to humiliate this young lady who comes from our town," he said. "So I ask this entire community to stand with this young lady, Ms. Polumbo, who has really represented this town magnificently." Despite all that has happened to her, Polumbo remains optimistic and said she has never lost sight of herself. "No matter what happens around you, you cannot change the qualities within," she said.