Last night, Toms River Councilman Terrance Turnbach and others roleplayed homeless characters on the great lawn of the Toms River Township municipal complex in Downtown Toms River. Turnbach said he wanted to experience a night out in the cold, probably the first night he has roughed it in his entire life, to raise awareness to convince county officials that Toms River needs a homeless shelter.
There were some stark differences between Turnbach’s faux homeless encampment and your typical homeless encampment. Turnbach most likely had a nice warm, home-cooked meal and bundled up before heading out to pretend to be homeless.
Let’s start with that. First, Turnbach is a lawyer that makes a lot of money and owns two homes in Toms River. He makes his money as a criminal defense lawyer, representing criminals, sex offenders, child pornographers, and rapists. We have read through the testimony of many of his court cases and some are downright disgusting. A victim should never be shamed because you’re being paid to get your pervert client off the hook. That’s another story for later though.
First, Turnbach’s homeless encampment was complete with armed security, something an actual homeless person never has the luxury of. Second, there was catered hot food, another luxury the homeless don’t have. There were cases of water hot food, comfy sleeping bags, and everyone was properly and well dressed.
If Turnbach wanted to truly experience what it is to be homeless, he could have not bathed for a week, only drank black coffee and ate bananas and hard rolls for the day or two prior and pick out old, worn-out clothes found while dumpster diving.
No, Turnbach didn’t host a homeless encampment, he hosted a rich-guy’s night out camping out on town hall so the media would come to take pictures because after all, he has an election to win in just a few months.
I served in the Marine Corps and can tell you that Turnbach’s homeless encampment had far more amenities than we ever had out in the field for two or three weeks at a time. He probably even was allowed into town hall to use the bathroom. Homeless people also don’t have that luxury.
It’s cold out there this week, if Mr. Turnbach really cared about the homeless, he’d open the doors on one of his two homes and provide shelter for the week for some of Ocean County’s homeless sleeping out in the woods in 20-degree temperatures.
Stay tuned as we delve into the dark and twisted world of Turnbach’s clients as we continue pouring through court transcripts of pure evil.