The reporter has done a fine job of investigate reporting. There does, however, exist a second child support order in the State of California for another "nasty" divorce that Mr. Kerr went through. While it is unclear why this one was not pursued to the extent the AZ one was, great care and concern should be used before money is given to someone who owes so much.

There's an interesting comment about all this on The Sit and Spit. (Here is a link to the post but you'll have to hunt for the comment.)

Posted by Debbie Gregory:
On Saturday, we were sent faxes with disturbing information on Michael Kerr including an article that was published in a newspaper called "The Orange County Weekly titled "A Snow Job Success"
This is a link to the article:
http://www.ocweekly.com/news/news/a-snow-job-success/26318/

We are very concerned and need you to answer questions after repeated attempts.

MilitaryConnection.com has provided a great deal of pro bono resources and services toward this event because we are committed to helping the spouses and children of fallen soldiers and the military community. We helped get out the word to those who eligible by sending out over 50,000 press releases to organizations as well as obtaining articles in military base newspapers. We have put our good name out there. We brought on Amy Walker-Davis of Meeting Site Solutions who secured hundreds of free hotel rooms for spouses and children.

We paid for a full web national release to get out the word so those who can come would be cognizant of the events. We have fielded and paid for hundreds of phone calls. We have spent a great deal of time and effort on this project as have many other organizations. Everyone wants to do good for these families.

When I asked Michael Kerr very basic due diligence questions, he not only stonewalled me but went on the attack against me and MilitaryConnection.com. I have received calls and emails providing documentation of this. Mr. Kerr also has made threats to say negative things about us at the event. Why? Because we have been asking questions. I guess the best defense is a good offense and this has been the case with Mr. Kerr.

Michael, perhaps you might be willing to answer these questions on this blog.

Why do widows and children have to sign off an Irrevocable Photographic Release for you to use their photographic images video and/or audio recordings that can be for any purpose? This is not consistent with respecting their privacy as you assured

P.S. And yes, I did always think the "Snowball" part of this was an unfortunate choice of names for a charity event! ;)

Guess I'm having a tough time keeping up--I posted this to the previous article, so forgive the repetition. Keep digging!

Hey Gustavo,

Thanks for your article which a friend pointed out to me last night. (Sorry–I've been out of town.) A couple of items to add:

1) Do the people donating money to this project realize that it's not a registered charity (501 c(3))? I'm just assuming this is the case since a registration like this takes awhile and I can't find any record of the Kerr Family Foundation at the AG's website. I think there could be more here than meets the eye. This could be another Esperanza-Fire-type-situation.

2) Has Mr. Kerr served some jail time too? You might want to check into that.

3) What is Mr. Kerr's "visible means of support" now that he has left the Saywitz company?

4) Didn't there used to be a Snowball Express run by Mr. Kerr in Phoenix?

Thanks again; also enjoy hearing you on KPCC when I get the chance to catch the program.

Marky

In the October 12th edition of the Sun Post News, the hometown newspaper for San Clemente, there is a front-page article entitled, "Easing Their Pain".
It shows Mr. and Mrs. Kerr present day with a smaller photo of their prom picture. This pair of high school sweethearts reunited after 30 years, started the Snowball Express, and told their hometown newspaper the following: "Now, they reside in Laguna Niguel with a collective five children- Sean, Greg, Emily, Chris and Claire. "We're sort of like the Brady Bunch gone awry",
said Kerr. This is a lie. Only two of the five listed live with the Kerrs, who married in late August 2006.
These two step-children have never met, spoken with, or been in the same town, let alone the same household as their step-siblings. The Kerrs would have the readers believe that they are one Big Happy Family. They are one
disfunctional family, with Kerr kids watching and reading about their dead beat Dad's "charity" events.
Today, an Anonymous comment pointed out that Kerr also has an outstanding Child SDupport case in California.
You have to ask yourself...are these donations paying Kerr's back child support?

[...] Today on All Things Considered, reporter Howard Berkes picked up the Weekly's story on Michael Scott Kerr, the man behind the Snowball Express and who we've shown over the past week to be little more to be a con: a negligent father, possessor of an child support arrest warrant in Arizona, and a resume-padding liar. Kerr, of course, denied it all–not to us, but to another blog, where he also dismissed us as "a local smut paper selling porno and the like." [...]

I spoke to Michael Kerr in June 2006 when he called the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWAPA). As the Comm Chair we spoke about his concept that came to pass this past weekend. It was a daunting task for anyone, much less someone who had the background Michael has.

Was I aware of the problems in his past at the time? No.

Was the intriguing part him or the concept of making 1000+ military family members forget the pain of their loved ones for a weekend in a grand fashion? Absolutely.

An idea to help others that sprung from outstanding service given out by our members on board a Southwest aircraft nearly 8 years earlier is compelling to support, so compelling our Board of Directors for the Association voted 16-0 to support it in Sept '06 after a presentation by me. Our Association had never supported a charity before so it was truly unprecedented what our BOD did.

Southwest Airlines came on board (again as they had in the '98 version of this program in Phoenix) and donated tickets for many of the families to fly out for free. I'm proud of my company and our pilot union that can join together in such a worthy cause.

This was never about Michael Kerr but about the families. Am I reluctant to work with other sinners who have made mistakes in their lives? NO. It is more of an intriguing story that a man who has gone from riches to rags and now back to some degree of stability has focused not on his own problems but reached out to help others who needed more help. What a refreshing attitude to run across and which exemplifies what all of us should be trying to do.

I will let the readers determine if the author of these articles crticizing Michael has a resume of helping others that matches what this man has done with one weekend by sacrificing a year of his life. How many of us would walk away from our jobs and sacrifice personally in the manner he has? Very few.

I worked at the event from the time I arrived in Orange County on the 13th through the 19th. I spoke to many of the wives, children and visited every event that the Snowball Express organized. We had many Southwest Airlines employees who went the extra mile to help these families. These families deserved our best and they received it.

I was in the Disneyland parking lot starting at 6:00 PM for 6.5 hrs with Michael Kerr with temperatures exceedingly cold helped family after family prepare for the bus ride back to their hotels. After spending 10+ hrs at Disneyland many were in tears thanking Michael for his effort. Michael could've gone home to his warm bed earlier that day or that night at any time but he stayed in the parking lot to make sure every single family got transportation back to the hotels.

When a mother who was sitting at near midnight with her daughter sleeping on her lap she tells me that words won't describe the moment that while her daughter was walking down Main St in Disneyland as they entered the park earlier that day her daughter smiled for the first time since her father had been killed in Iraq.......the criticism of others over Michael's past transgressions seem rather petty. Lives were changed this weekend thanks to Michael, military families and volunteers.

Michael Kerr isn't the face of Snowball Express, these families, wives, husbands, & children are along with the volunteers....we're all in the Snowball family now, warts and all. We need more Michael Kerr's out there helping others but if we're only taking applications to help others from those who have a flawless pedigree, well we know how short that list is considering it is Christmas time.

BTW, thanks to the thousands of folks who lined the streets outside of Oakley Headquarters who waited in the rain and cold to cheer for these families....every military spouse I spoke to talked about what a moving event that was. To the hundreds of Rotary members who pitched in...what a fine group.....to the corporations that joined in from Rotary, Panda Express, Oakley, Hilton, Holiday Inn, Westin, and the many other hotels that donated space for the families....what a class act. Orange County shined last weekend and for a Texas resident to say that, well it makes me proud to see such patriotism that rivals our own state toward our military and military family members.

Roy White
Southwest Airlines Pilots Association

I to was at The Snowball Express party for I was a participant. My son and I flew out on friday, was met by volunteers immediatley and was taken care of the whole trip. I spoke to Mike Kerr many times and and was so happy with everything that he had done for us. He didn't have to make us feel like we were important but he did a great job at it. And all of the volunteers...well I can't thank everyone enough. I met the most special people over the weekend and my son and I will never forget not one of them. We can't thank all of you enough. It was great!!!! Take care to you all. And to Mike Kerr...We've all had problems in our past But keep on smiling. You know how to keep others doing it!!!

Everyone that is critical of Mr. Kerr agrees that his idea was a good one, worthy of supporting and doing again. And we can all agree that it is possible to redeem your life, make amends to those you've hurt and go on to do great things.

The problem here is Mr. Kerr claims to be a redeemed man, but continues to lie about his past and act vindictively towards those who have asked legitimate questions.

He has stated that he put $100,000 (sometimes he says $20,00) of his own money into the project. Either he did--at the expense of his children--or he lied.

He has stated that he quit his job at Saywitz to devote himself full-time to the project. But nearly every item on his resume is at least a gross exaggeration, which could well have lead the company to dismiss him. Saywitz cannot comment for fear of being sued over any disclosure, so we have only Mr. Kerr's story of his extremely brief history at Saywitz.

When this story broke, Mr. Kerr denied everything and then was forced to admit most of it. Bottom line--he lied.

Forget Mr. Kerr's past and look at his present--new explanations every day, clearly inconsistent, and mostly plain untruthful.

Now he wants to divert attention from his dishonesty (considered by many to be a fundamental and dangerous character flaw) by exploiting the goodwill built with the military families. Instead of leaving them with the memories of a weekend of love and support, he now wants to drag them into this mess to help him battle the forces of conspiracy.

Clearly, he has full access to the families' contact and background information. If he cannot even wait until after Christmas to contact them to draw them into this nonsense, what does that say about how he will use this information in the future?

It's time for him to stop evading the questions. The sooner he stops blaming the press, his former employers and even supporters of the Snowball Express for his current problems, the sooner everyone will be able to move on and build on the great work accomplished this year.

Mr. Kerr, as a relatively new member of Rotary, needs to memorize and take its Four Way Test to heart. It begins:

Is it the Truth?

I was at the 2006 and 2007 Snowball Express with my 2 beautiful children as partcipant and we truely had a dream come true weekend. In our lives we all make mistakes. Who are we to judge? Mr. Kerr is such a special man as well as all the volunteers. My kids and I will never forget what everyone has done for us. All I can say is THANK YOU SNOWBALL EXPRESS