Monthly Archives: July 2012

Our Hunting and Fishing Rights

For the benefit of those of you who don’t know, or don’t remember, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts acknowledged that our fishing and hunting rights were “ancient and aboriginal.”  Having attained federal recognition further enhanced the legitimacy of our claims.  Why would we need to have the Commonwealth take charge of or alter our rights?  The compact that the Cromwell regime “negotiated” with the state is a confusing mishmash of concessions by the  Tribe and total lack of protections.  Let us refuse the language in the compact.

Here is the 1982 resolution.  Click to enlarge:

Blast from the past… A hypocrite steps on his own…errr… toes.

For your reading pleasure.  Mark Harding’s request for monthly financial reports, before he became treasurer.  How soon they forget, or rather, hope we forget.  Ask yourselves, how many (real) financial reports, budgets, and powwow reports has Mr. Harding submitted since 2009?  How much income has Wampworx derived from the Tribe?  These are some hard questions that you must ask!

 

 

Compact delayed Traditionalists ask for talks with Governor & Lawmakers

Last nights meltdown resulted in Traditional leaders looking to meet with the Governor and legislative leaders to discuss the make up of the controversial compact  or “treaty” between the tribe and the Commonwealth.  The Cromwell administration is now back peddling and trying to hold a forum to review the compact with tribal members after the fact. After the fact .

Tribal members had no input nor were they  consulted, as is the tradition in the tribe, or allowed to review the deal.  Council members were given an hour to review the document and then it was taken up.   Carlton Hendricks, Jr. as always complained bitterly about the process that shut out any participation.

Quan Tobey who heads the tribal environmental department red flagged the deal and informed the committee members who were enraged.

Leaders of the  the Game and Fish committee were furious with Cedric Tobey Cromwell and his cousin Aaron Tobey,   who negotiated the deal,  because both are considered ill equipped to represent the cultural and traditional needs of the tribe…..or anything else.  Traditionalist were angry about  a host of sections in the plan that erode aboriginal rights.

Cromwell has so disenfranchised the tribe from the process, tribal members want to make sure that Governor Patrick,  the Speaker and Senate President  know that they have no confidence in their representation of tribal needs to the Commonwealth. The issue has also shown that the Governor has no interest in ensuring the integrity of the process  by continuing to deal with an  administration so reviled by it’s people and operate without a mandate or authority.

Sen. Montigny says slow this baby down

This afternoon, New Bedford Senator Mark Montigny “ laid it ( compact ) on the table.” That basically means the legislation is dead in most legislative proceedings, because it is too controversial to deal with right now. It may be delayed, but even Montigny said it was moving “too swift and speedy.” There may be other reasons involving his constituents in Southeastern Ma…..but whatever, he granted the tribe a reprieve from one of the worst treaties in Indian Country. If we had LIT the Feds would never accept the 21.5 to be paid to the state.  It almost appears intentional.

It explains why  the Cromwellians are trying to get an extension on the July 31 deadline.

They can’t get it done.

Negotiating away what we had in the “Crappy Compact”

Tonight’s  Tribal Council meeting was a sequence of screaming matches  lead by a large group of over 50 tribal fishermen who declared war on the outsiders who signed away our aboriginal fishing rights in the “Crappy Compact.”  Curtis Hendricks and and other Mashpee who earn a living or feed their families in the old way denounced the travesty…..loudly and clearly. “We have the right to hunt and fish all over the country….why would you negotiate that away?” they asked. “When have  you ever hunted or fished? they asked chief negotiator Aaron Tobey.

Everyone knows the closest Aaron came to actually hunting or fishing was when he caught a bee sting and almost died from the allergic

Heritage negotiated away

reaction.  Back to the “Crappy Compact.” So after 21/2 hours of fierce assault and a lot of    f bombs Cedric said he ” didn’t know everyone was so passionate about the issue.” Course not  Cedric, course not. They don’t teach you about fishing or hunting at Roxbury Community College, or in the IT cubicle at Fidelity or on the streets of  Dorchester.

If you are not Mashpee…which Cedric is not, nor Aaron, or Mark Harding, then you would not understand the importance of being able to fish and hunt on your ancestral land.  It’s bad enough that they stole our land from us.  Now according to the ” Crappy Compact” the state is the high authority dictating how we exercise our aboriginal rights. It’s so absurd, it’s not worth talking about. It is degrading and it violates federal law.  The tribal lawyer said they would do a MOU (Memorandum of Understanding)to make it right.  ” The deal is done and being finalized an MOU won’t fix shi-,” according to Carlton Hendricks Jr.  Hendricks is the only one who voted against the 60 page “Crappy Compact.”

So the “Crappy Compact” violates federal law and the damned fool negotiated the worst compact in the country.  But we warned that this would happen.  Who the hell would believe that we have these people negotiating anything on our behalf ? Its a horror story that never ends.

And it does go to  heart  of our identity because hunting and fishing is the only thing we HAD left.

Duval Patrick knew exactly what he was doing when he cut this deal with members of this illegal government.  He didn’t have to worry about a thing because he knew the caliber of the people he was dealing with. Stupid, desperate, scavengers.

 

Mr. Opposition Research

Lookin' for something?

The Cromwell Crew is trying to stay in office anyway it can. With CeddieLou’s popularity plummeting to an all time low, the alleged tribal chairman  is launching his campaign with a spying expedition aimed at one of his presumed opponents and that would be David Pocknett.

He’s assigned Pocknett’s neighbor and cousin Billy Pocknett to the task of monitoring who comes and goes from D Pocknett’s house. B Pocknett is the leader of Aaron Tobey’s Bomber Jacket Elders….you know, the made-up elders…..any way, true to form the CeddieLou’s crew is part of the clown patrol that can’t do a damned thing right.

You see, all B Pocknett’s reports will have to be oral cause they say he can’t read or write.

Well  sah.

Ronda just can help herself!

 

Aaron is the sole provider

Vice President Aaron Tobey sure can pick ’em.  His salacious love affair with Ronda  Jones Hughes; previously married to a to his cousin, convicted of smuggling some potent weed into Florida in a private place on her person in 2010, fired because she forgot to tell the Council she had a drug conviction  when she filed out her application as head of the Indian Child Welfare Act program.  When she was exposed  and fired, Aaron was furious.  But she had to go.

Ronda "Lumbee Lie" outta gas in Mass.

Soooooooooo Ronda languished without work  for a long time. Then a certain tribal member who works in Boston in his father”s old job…yah him, got her a job at Native American Lifelines as a site manager.  Well, the place helps Native people with drug and alcohol problems and inmates reintegrate back into society.  You have to wonder if she lied on that application too, because they certainly would have problems with her record.

Sources say her recent termination had to do with her handling of other peoples checks and so on. She was only there for a matter of months.

Sure put a crimp in plans for that love nest. But Aaron reportedly can’t keep up with her because shes  about 20 years his junior.  It’s tough for old guys to keep up, we all know that.  Like we said Aaron.  You sure can pick ’em.

Proof that the Tribal Court is a myth

 

For years we have talked about the Tribal Court having no authority or jurisdiction, because we have no trust lands, and below is a Federal case that parallels our situation to prove it.

http://turtletalk.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/dct-order-granting-pi.pdf

It further goes to the heart of the challenges this administration faces with its serious issues of legitimacy.   The elections fraud, and the tribal courts role in that fraud is alarming.  Even with the membership understanding how abusive this group is…. The Tobey Cromwell administration continues to dupe some tribal members into thinking they have some redress when they clearly do not.

It continues to make fools of tribal members who file cases thinking something is going to happen. Nellie Hicks went to tribal court to make a point and she was very effective in doing so.

Tonight Cedric Tobey Cromwell and Mark Harding will make another run at the Federal Charter because it will enshrine them and allow them to be in power indefinitely. They will establish another tribe.  It is such an unpopular idea that they had dredge up ” Parables” ( Greg McKinney) to pitch the idea again.  He actually thinks he’s going to get something out of this. The approval of the Charter will literally allow Cedric and Company to  push us over the cliff.

Not a single tribal member outside the family members of these Council members and staff have benefited (unless it was Indian Health or the Environmental Department) from this administration.  The housing loans alone are outrageous, the ” Tribal Goodwill” of millions and millions of dollars to unknown people.  The $600k of monthly expenditures by the Council.  Outrageous and consistent. They are relentless about getting that pay check and spewing propaganda to the few newspapers that write about their fraudulent actions.

Say what you will about Russell  Peters or Glenn Marshall.  At least they would face you when you disagreed and cussed them out.  They were accountable to you politically and morally. If you’re a “New Jessie Baird” tribal member recently added to the rolls and don’t know what we’re talking about, that tells you about your Johnnie Come Lately status.

With these outsiders, there’s nothing like that accountability.  It’s so unconscionable the real Mashpee literally do not know how to react.  It is foreign for sure.

We will remember this dark time in our tribal journey when no one stepped up or spoke up except the Elders who were banished and abused.  True leaders are at their best when challenged and their people are in trouble.

We are being governed by an illegitimate government that has destroyed the essence of who we are. Sad.

 

 

 

CeddieLou put on a show

Uncle Herrin’,

Cedric’s Indian Circus turns out to be worse than the reports from The Pond.

Hoka Bro ! Where were the Indians?

Several Elders said it was the worst excuse for a pow wow the tribe has ever had.

No publicity, no tourists, no attendance.  No money made on the gate. In the hole $125,000.

Pow Wow during the previous administration made $10k – 25k.

Fewer Tribal members attend this year than last….only those with small children who want to dance.

Even Annawon boycotted and hung out at The Pond like everyone else.

Many, many costumed non Natives in the circle, and Grand  Entry. They outnumbered the Natives.

CeddieLou heightens the embarrassment by shouting, and chanting Native words he doesn’t even know the meaning of.

People are still talking about how he made a fool of himself, and was barking orders and changing everything.

Can’t pay the kids who worked and give them vouchers. Mark Harding was paying drummers with checks…good luck on that one eh ?

The few Canadian Natives and others looked on horrified as the chaotic circus played out.

Cheryl’s Frye Cromwell kids won top prize in their categories and so did her brother Daryl’s boy.  Such a coincidence !

The worst was the so called moccasin burn that lumped men and women together and ended up being a 40 minute non stop dance marathon Sunday night. That did not help our battered reputation.

Fights in parking lot and the torture of CeddieLou’s  epic jibber jabber.  It was pure torture.

We were spared the trauma

But there was a bright spot.  CeddieLou did not wear that God awful Buzzard Crown.

That is my report , July 8, 2010

Your Niece,

Minnie Ah Hah

Mashpee Wampanoag Private Investigator

No judicial authority…You’ve been “Hazeled”

Nellie Hicks asked tribal judge Robert Mills for two things; to see the sign in sheets for the 2009 election and to invalidate that election because of constitutional violations of the process for the resolution of the election challenge filled by Nelllie. You will recall that Nellie filed the challenge 24 hours after the election and  elections chair Patricia Keliinui dismissed it without calling together a tribunal of Elders to decide on the complain as specified in the Constitution.

The Tuesday hearing or whatever it was, lasted all of 10 minutes.  The tribal attorney was clueless and mouthed the same foolishness that Howard Cooper filed in the motion to dismiss ( that he delivered to Nellie, months ago, as though it were a ruling) saying that Nellie filed the request too late.  Of course he didn’t know that Nellie filed the request on February9, 2009, because there’s no record of that. Patricia Keliinui has no record of that, indeed.

Just like there’s no sign in sheets…no tribal court , to legitimate government, no audio tapes of hundreds of Council meetings, no land into trust, no sovereignty,  no plan for our financial security, no financial report,s no education strategy for the survival of the nation, no respect for the Elders no nothing.

Patty Oakley asked Mills. ” Where’s your judicial authority Robert? We don’t have land in trust.  You know this is bullshi-.”

The White lawyer said ” You’re quite the conversationalist.” That boy was lucky Nellie was in the room.  Patty gave him the look but not the finger.

Robert said ” I cannot compel the Council to give you the documents.”  ”  Course,” Patty said ” Course you can’t, you have no authority, plus they’ve been destroyed, if they’re not at the BIA in Nashville.”

If you’re wondering where our man Socabasen was…he was in Salem…and we’re in the ditch with an illegal government of really scary people, negotiating with the state like they’re legitimate.

Wrong David

Is that a real Indian?

Reel Wamps is making a correction to the previous post.  David Pocknett was engaged in verbal battle with CeddieLou.  It’s the annual confrontation between the two because David Pocknett cannot contain himself when Ceddie Lou starts  “Playing Indian.”   We were correct that the flair up was over  the manner in which  CeddieLou was presiding over the 151 pow wow. The F–BOMB was just a flyin‘.  Every year everyone, especially CeddieLou’s own family, the Tobeys, complain bitterly about how ” awful he is” as the MC.   And every year he puts himself front and center.

Unfortunately, the mainstream media did a poor job of showcasing the Mashpee.  On top of it all Mashpee Wampanoag learned of a new naming cerimony  and it was laid out in the paper.  You make someone a regalia, give them a hug and give them an Indian name. Great way to preserve traditional heritage eh? Wow.  Its come to this.

Out of 15 people in the photogallery of the CCT, only 2 were Mashpee.  The caption for the drummers said an Aquinnah was drumming with Mashpee Wampanoags.  That was not correct either. Oh well.  It was probably to hot to stay out  there too long.