To the Editor:

This letter is to express our support for a request from Kenneth White’s sisters and adoptive mom sent to Kenneth’s Army asking them to stop using Kenny’s name and likeness for their fundraising and publicity purposes [“It’s time for Kenneth’s Army to separate itself from Kenneth White and his family,” Altamont Enterprise letter to the editor, June 2, 2022].

Cheyanne, Christine, and their adopted mom, Linda Dunn, do not want anything or any money from Kenneth’s Army. What they want is for the Army to stop using Kenneth White’s name and likeness to raise money for who knows what purposes.

An annual scholarship for $1,000 and the adoption of a family for Thanksgiving does not explain what they do when they raise over $7,000 at a motorcycle run they’ve been doing for eight years using Kenneth’s name [“Kenneth’s Army keeps name for 8th annual motorcycle run to stem child abuse,” The Altamont Enterprise, June 6, 2022].

Their Facebook post reads “profit from Saturday’s Kenneth’s Ride is $7068. Thank You all so much! We will continue to help children.” What children are they going to help?

I would tell you to go to their Facebook page to see all the great things the group has done, but you would first have to get their permission to join their “group.” You could also go to their webpage, “kennethsarmy.com,” but you get a message that says, “This site can’t be reached.”

Why is the Army’s Facebook page “Private” when its purpose is supposed to be to bringing awareness to child abuse? I posted on their website twice and not only did they delete my posts but they removed me from their Facebook group. One post simply said that I hope to see Cheyanne and Christine at Berne’s park dedication for Kenny.

In the Enterprise article [“Adoptive mother of Kenneth White’s sisters asks Kenneth’s Army to stop using his name,” May 31, 2022] Ms. Claire Ansbro-Ingalls suggested, “If it bothers the girls, according to Mrs. Dunn, then she does not have to go on the Kenneth’s Army [social media] page.”  Ms. Ansbro-Ingalls won’t have to worry about that because she also unfriended and blocked Mrs. Dunn from the private Facebook page!

After 36 years as foster and adoptive parents, my husband and I have spent years with many children of all ages who were abused and experienced unbelievable horrors.

Part of the Army’s “mission” was to keep Kenny’s sisters safe. When children like Cheyanne and Christine suffer from multiple psychiatric diagnoses, especially Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, reminders of the events that caused the PTSD are a constant source of extreme emotional pain and distress.

The adoptive mom of Kenny’s sisters made it very clear that the Army’s use of the tragedy of Kenny’s death for publicity and fundraising only serves as a constant reminder to the girls of the trauma and tragedy they experienced [Editorial: “There is a reason. In fact, there are two,” The Altamont Enterprise, June 6, 2022].

If this group’s purpose is to stop child abuse and bring awareness to child abuse, why are they so reluctant to make an adjustment to its name, when they can continue to do what they do under any other name?

It seems like a simple request that would certainly make a big difference to Kenny’s sisters, Cheyanne and Christine, and would help in their much needed healing.

Elaine and Tom Person

Altamont

Editor’s note: Claire Ansbro-Ingalls said that Kenneth’s Army has increased its $1,000 Berne-Knox-Westerlo scholarship to $1,500 and that the group has enough money in reserve to fund it for five more years. She also said that she anticipates the group sending $1,000 to the school district in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 schoolchildren and two teachers were shot to death in their classrooms late last month. She declined to comment on the other claims in this letter.