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March 12, 2014 | forsythherald.com | 73,500 circulation Revue & News, Johns Creek Herald, Milton Herald & Forsyth Herald combined | 50¢ | Volume 17, No. 11
Jesse’s House a safe haven for teenage girls By CAROLYN ASPENSON carolyn@northfulton.com
CAROLYN ASPENSON/Staff
Jesse's House administrative staff, Executive Director Amber Black, Shakaria Evans, Shannon Kern and Caitlin O'Steen prepare for the residents to return from school.
CUMMING, Ga. — The walls are lime green; the couches, big and comfy. “We want the girls to feel like they’re safe and in a homelike environment,” Executive Director of Jesse’s House Amber Black said. Opened in 1998, Jesse’s House, in Cumming, is a nonprofit organization that provides emergency and long-term care to female youth in need. “Jesse’s House came to be after Kennesaw State University conducted a needs assessment study for the North Georgia area,” Black said. “The results showed the need for an emergency youth shelter focused on at-risk female youth, ages 7-17.” The nonprofit houses girls from the metro Atlanta area who have been removed from their homes through the juvenile justice system or DFACS.
Our girls come from homes where there was physical or sexual abuse, drug and alcohol problems or neglect.” Amber Black Executive Director of Jesse’s House
“We can house up to 12 at a time and as of today, we have 11,” Black said. The nonprofit has about 20 direct care and administrative employees, most of whom work directly with the girls.
See JESSE, Page 29
Alpharetta cop allegedly sold guns to convicted felon By ALDO NAHED and JONATHAN COPSEY aldo@forsythherald.com FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. — An Alpharetta Police officer with 23 years of service was arrested by the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office after investigators say he sold guns to a convicted felon. Craig A. Garner, 54, a Dawson County resident, was arrested and charged with two counts of selling guns to a
Garner
Cummings
felon, according to Forsyth County Sheriff’s Maj. Rick Doyle. “It’s never easy having to
arrest a law enforcement officer, and as a law enforcement officer you are held to a higher standard,” Doyle said. “We take every allegation seriously and it’s unfortunate when it gets to a point where evidence shows that and an arrest is warranted.” The investigation was launched March 3 when the sheriff’s office got a complaint that a known felon was in possession of a firearm. Sheriff’s investigators
learned that Michael D. Cummings, 44, of Cumming, who is a convicted felon, was in possession of a semi-automatic rifle and a shotgun. Cummings had charges dating back to 1996 out of Union County for burglary, false imprisonment and aggravated assault. “Through our investigation, we learned that he acquired the weapons from an Alpharetta Police officer,” Doyle said. There were gun deals on two separate occasions, Doyle
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said. Cummings was arrested on March 6, and Garner turned himself in March 7. Cummings was charged with two counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and one count of criminal solicitation. Bond was set at $22,220 for Garner. Cummings wasn’t allowed bond because he was on active probation in Gwin-
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