By Samuel Strait, Reporter at Large – June 11, 2021 – Picture credit to kiem-tv.com It would appear that the Howard/Inscore obsession with Japan and sister cities has been temporarily grounded. At a recent Board of Supervisor's meeting the public tax payer dodged the proverbial bullet when a request by the newly formed "Kamome Foundation" for public money was panned. This new group of which both Chris Howard and Blake Inscore are members, came hat in hand asking for $2,190 of tax payer money inorder to pay the start up costs of becoming a nonprofit. To add insult to injury the group's president, Bill Stevens, claimed that the group was "built upon the non-governmental Sister City relationship" and also wished to be built on the back's of the local taxpayers in a non-governmental fashion. This would likely give both Howard and Inscore the opportunity for more vacations in Japan, a clear case of double dipping. The County currently has funding in a special account which would allow more money to be spent on "vacations" to Japan in the name of being "educated in Emergency Preparedness". One blessing from Covid is that due to the virus neither Howard or Inscore was able to take their annual vacation to Japan. Never fear, the Howard/Inscore cabal came up with a ready solution, form a foundation and access the County's special fund that way. Apparently this skulduggery was missed on the part of Supervisor Darrin Short as he made a motion to approve the "donation". Supervisor Valerie Starkey, who had the fund request removed from the "Consent Agenda" questioned the need for tax payer dollars to fund a foundation that could offer little back to the community. It has not been a common feat at the Board of Supervisors for someone to actually use their brain. Supervisor Short clearly is lacking in that capacity, hence his motion failed to receive a second and the "Kamome Foundation" went away empty hat in hand. Perhaps the best way for the taxpayers in the County to avoid further "Japanese travel" vacations is to elect replacements for Supervisor Howard and City Councilman Inscore. Otherwise this is something that refuses to die gracefully. As Supervisor Starkey illustrated "there is little to offer back to the community" by its continuation both in the form of County Government and the "Kamome Foundation". Money from the County treasury has supported this nonsense with the propaganda that there were valuable lessons to be learned in "emergency preparedness" as well as exposure at the 2020 Olympics in 2021 Japan. This of course would necessitate further trips to Japan by Howard and Inscore, quite possibly for Supervisor Short as well. He hasn't been yet. The Sister City boondoggle began as a benign exchange between two high schools and has evolved into a very counter productive encroachment by local government. Had it remained as it began it would have provided a exceptional cultural experience for our young people. The fact that local government, adults and leaders mind you, choose to usurp this exchange has and will always be a travesty where most reasonable adults would refrain from injecting themselves into the process. When you combine that abysmal behavior with monetary gain and travel at taxpayers expense, it is well past time for change at both the County and the City.