Candlelight Vigil To Honor Cherokee Domestic Violence Victims

The Cherokee Family Violence Center will host its annual Domestic Violence Candlelight Vigil later this month.

The vigil, which seeks to memorialize the 71 Georgia victims killed in domestic violence incidents this year, is set for 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 28 at the Park at City Center in downtown Woodstock.

This year’s event, held in conjunction with October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month, will feature a display of ribbons representative of many of the agency’s services to victims in our community this year, including nearly 1,500 calls to CFVC’s 24-hour hotline, 186 Temporary Protective Orders filed by CFVC Advocates and 275 women and children sheltered.

It will also feature survivors who’ve received services from the Center.

Two of Georgia’s 71 victims called Cherokee County home.

Cary Landers, 51, allegedly shot and killed his wife, Katherine Landers, 41, at their Woodberry Court home in Canton in May. Landers then turned the gun on himself. The family had a complicated history of abuse, as Mrs Landers was once arrested for domestic violence against her husband in March.

The case highlighted a need for increased awareness efforts by Cherokee Family Violence Center, the agency said in its press release.

“Domestic Violence far too often takes the life of those living in it,” said Cherokee Family Violence Center Executive Director Meg Rogers. “It devastates families, communities and our own sense of feeling safe in our home. The candlelight vigil is one opportunity we have every year to not only pay respects to those victims that we lost, but to truly honor those survivors of abuse who could just have easily become a statistic.”

Unfortunately, the Landers family story is not unique. The Georgia Domestic Violence Fatality Review Project 2013 Annual Report identifies that firearms were present in 98 percent of domestic violence related murder-suicides recorded in Georgia from 2010 to 2013.

The report, which is a joint project of the Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence and the Georgia Commission on Family Violence, examines the circumstances and consequences of domestic violence fatalities and near fatalities in Georgia for the purpose of saving lives and holding abusers accountable.

The 10th annual report, released earlier this year, points out that firearms are the leading cause of domestic violence fatalities in Georgia and the cause of death in 72 percent of all recorded domestic violence fatalities in 2013. That figure is greater than all other methods in the fatalities combined.

For nearly 30 years, the Cherokee Family Violence Center has provided safety, support and shelter for victims of domestic violence and their children. The agency also offers specialized education on lethality indicators present in domestic violence cases. Niki Lemeshka, a legal advocate at the Center, has led multiple trainings on lethality indicators and and is the organizer of this year’s vigil.

“We are hopeful that this year’s vigil will bring light to the complicated circumstances that exist in relationships where domestic violence is present,” Lemeshka added. “People often ask, ’Why doesn’t she just leave?’ What we know through our work here, is that it is never that easy. In fact, leaving is often the most dangerous time for victims.”

Cherokee County Domestic Violence Task Force Chair David Simmons added the task force and the center have both made “many strides in Cherokee County recently to address the factors that we know often lead to homicide, such as keeping firearms in the hands of batterers and ignoring the presence of strangulation during assaults, but we still have a long road ahead of us.”

Simmons, who is a sergeant with the Cherokee Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division, also serves on the Board of Directors at CFVC.

State Rep. Mandi Ballinger of Canton is one of those individuals who is committed to making strides in addressing the severity of domestic violence.

Ballinger sponsored House Bill 911, a vital piece of domestic violence legislation last session, which clarifies and strengthens the prosecution of strangulation under Georgia’s Aggravated Assault statute. Rep. Ballinger will speak at this year’s vigil.

Free, public parking is located behind the city center campus across the street, and on the lower level of the park. Community members of all ages are encouraged to attend.