In this week's edition of the Weekly, I profiled Michael Scott Kerr, founder of the Snowball Express, an organization set up to help out the children and widows of soldiers who died in Iraq or Afghanistan. Great cause, sure, but we found out that Kerr doesn't seem to care too much about his own children, owing around $49,000 in child support and having a Arizona child support arrest warrant in his name.
Kerr didn't respond to our requests for an interview, but he did take the time to refute our article on The Sit and Spit, the blog of writer Karen Spears Zacharias. Good luck finding his response, though: it's no longer there. But thanks to the miracle of Google, here's Kerr's response (second item down) and published in its entirety here:
“I went through a wicked divorce, I now pay my child support on time each and every month. There is no warrant it is old news. The issue with the former employer was a business issue and had nothing to do with my kids. We settled on the eight thousand dollar amount.”
More folo…
“The paper or the reporter never contacted me at all. I can post a statement but I really don't think I need to. There have been lots of good positive stories but no one talks about those. As to sponsors no one has pulled out
and more have come on board. I am not a bad guy, I am trying to help motivate the country to do the right thing. People learn from their mistakes and they can learn from mine. Much like we did concerning our
mistakes about how we treated people like you and all our vets in the past.”
Fascinating response, considering:
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1. The Maricopa County Sheriff's Department's website still lists an outstanding arrest warrant in Kerr's name. We called the department verifying if the postings on this website are still valid; they say it's updated every evening.
2. Kerr's child support case on file with the State of Arizona shows he made his last payment in August of 2004. The total balance Kerr owes now exceeds $50,000.
3. The court docket for a case against Kerr filed by his former employer that he mentions specifically mentions child support as being part of the case (scroll to the bottom)
4. I did indeed contact Kerr for the story. Read my e-mail below:
From: Gustavo Arellano
Date: Fri, 24 Nov 2006 12:41:57 -0800
To: in**@sn*************.org
Conversation: Michael Scott Kerr
Subject: re: Michael Scott Kerr
Hello,
My name is Gustavo Arellano, and I'm a staff writer with OC Weekly. In doing research on Snowball Express, I found that a Michael Scott Kerr is wanted in Maricopa County for failing to pay child support:
http://www.mcso.org/submenu.asp?file=mostwanteddetail&recordid=13120
This same Michael Scott Kerr is also listed in the Maricopa County Superior Court website as once having a judgment filed against him by Equis Corporation, regarding child support as well.
My questions:
*Is this the same Michael Scott Kerr behind Snowball Express?
*If so, how can Mr. Kerr explain the child support arrest warrant and the Equis case?
I can be reached via e-mail at this address or by phone at 714-550-59**. If the Michael Scott Kerr in question is not the same Mr. Kerr behind Snowball Express, my apologies.
Regards,
Gustavo Arellano
714-550-59**
GA*******@oc******.com
An e-mail sent to that address by our photo editor two days earlier was returned with a phone call by Kerr that very day.
We can go on about Kerr–and we will! Click here for the next post on Kerr!
