TurlockNow: Live at the City Council meeting

Turlock residents...what is truly funny is that Howze's complaints about others usually apply best to his own behaviour. However suggesting to burn down Sacramento at the council meeting has to go in the "Best of Howze" archive. I believe that is what was really said (check the council recording on the city website, if it worked this time) In an interview with the Bee last spring he compared councilwoman Jackson to the Gambino crime family because she had legal council after he sent the Grand Jury after her on a wild goose chase because he didn't want to talk more about the homeless shelter. He uses these public threats and name calling a lot and it's completely inappropriate.  For example, he doesn't hide his unconditional support of fire and police financially and otherwise, and yet somehow I heard on a local blog that he has a license to carry a concealed weapon. Better yet, in order to hide this fact he applied for privacy status (usually reserved for battered women and such) on the license. So he wantsall of us to trust the public safety officials here unconditionally but they aren't good enough to protect him?

Are you all aware of him receiving a summons to testify in the robo-call investigation in Turlock? He loves to throw the Grand Jury at everyone else but when they come after him no one is allowed to talk about it?

And then there is his most recent venture...artificial turf at Turlock High. Howze has been trying to fast track the approval to use RDA money to install artificial turf at Joe Debley Stadium. Keep in mind RDA money should be used for very specific purposes (like developing under used areas and reducinb blight) and this is not one of them. He figures that with his usual three votes from his musketeers that it doesn't matter that this doesn't serve the greatest good in a time when people are jobless, homeless and our downtown is virtually empty. The public has come to speak out against this artificial turf at every meeting, not to mention the two bonds that Turlock tried to pass to spend taxpayer money on the stadium in past years and it failed both times. Worse yet, he won't step down from the vote on this item despite the fact that he has three sons that play youth football in the stadium in question, he coaches youth football, and he also sits on their board! City Attorney Norton apparently found that he technically doesn't have to step down. Here comes the kicker....when he sent councilwoman Jackson to the grand jury in some personal "witch hunt" as our mayor put it they found her innocent of any wrong doing, but they did state that in order to avoid all perceptions of conflict of interest it's is best to step down when there is even slight public perception of a problem. He was the head cheerleader on that case and yet in this case he refuses to ackowledge the clear perception by the public of conflict of interest. If he is trying to get re-elected I can't see it happening when he keeps fast tracking his private adgenda and dragging Bublack and Spycher along with him in these efforts. 

The night that the Turlock City Council voted on the prayer issue, Howze held his tongue the entire time until the very end and then said something to the effect of " I should probably just stay quiet..." and then went on to insult everyone in our city that doesn't believe in the same idea of afterlife that he does. Guess what Howze, if you and Spycher want to talk about what would Jesus do...I suggest you embrace the idea of actions speaking louder than words. You don't have to force your style of prayer or religion on anyone else in order to be a good Christian because that is something that you carry inside of you no matter what. A true Christian focuses on helping the greater good, like the homeless and the less fortunate. Why don't you spend some time at Samaritan's (instead of trying to close them down) or Salvation Army, that's what Jesus would do!