Mashpee Wampanoag First Lady brawls at Pequot pow wow

Cheryl and Cedric Cromwell loving a good fight

Mashpee Wampanoag First Lady Cheryl Frye Cromwell went beyond her ambassadorial duties at the Pequot pow wow this past weekend in Connecticut.  A tribal member who witnessed the episode Sunday night told the story on condition that their identity  remain anonymous.  Reportedly,  Cheryl Frye Cromwell  shoved a Pequot woman pretty hard and the woman shoved back.  It digressed to a fist fight hair pulling brawl.  Frye Cromwell, who is pushing 50, the mother of 5 and several grandchildren, reportedly is missing large clumps of hair. Her husband, Chairman Cedric Cromwell reportedly tried to separate the screaming cursing women without success as they rolled around clearing a path. We don’t know if assault charges have been filed. Such is the legacy of Cedric of Dorchester  losing the battle and the war courtesy of his lovely wife Cheryl. Such exemplary representation of the tribe.

Frye Cromwell has a long history of erratic behavior.  When elected to the Council, during meetings, she would stomp around the Council conference table,where members were seated, constantly rolling her eyes, making snide remarks and disrupting the meeting. Of course   countless other episodes have occurred….totaled out tribal cars (no police report), the misrepresentation of her title and role in the tribal health office.  The misrepresentation of her level of education and lack of professional credentials, which seems to be a husband wife thing. A legacy tribal members don’t want to be reminded of.

On to more bad business.  The administration is in default for the tenth time on the farm. Yet they’re opening a New Bedford office this weekend, to appease the Helms family.  The Helms family that  heretofore had nothing to do with the tribe, has been waiting for all Cedric’s promises to come true, so this office is some kind of appeasement? Who will run it.  They say it’ s the famous Bobby Foster ! His mom Joanne Frye has been demoted and works under Leon who is the Tribal Administrator  (purely because the Self Determination grant mandates it). And Marge is out of finance and over  there with Leon.

A little press release that appeared as a story  in the CCT about the Community center is old news .  The Cromwell administration dug it out and recycled it  because it was getting loads of bad press. Apparently the paper fell for it and failed to mention that the money was secured by the previous administration.  Mark Harding looks sooooooooo  happy because  he has cornered the market on contracts designated for Native Americans…and he grabs them despite the fact that he has been told he cannot sit on the governing board that  allocates money to his company, let alone be the treasurer.  The story of Mark Harding and that extremely expensive ramp for the health facility and his very slow itty bitty payment to the woman who actually built it, is worse than you would believe. It’s called conflict of interest and a violation of federal law. The feds don’t like that.

Oh yeah….Cedric and his administration plan to tear down the historic tribal council building that was given to us years ago.  That’s comparable to erasing an important part of our history.  But if you just made it on to the rolls in 2006 you have no idea what’s important to our people and what’s not do you ?

USDA Rural Development Financing Provides Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Government Center and Health Clinic, Creating or Saving Over 300 JobsThe Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe of Mashpee, Massachusetts, was awarded a $12.7 million Community Facilities Recovery Act Direct Loan from USDA Rural Development on August 23, 2010. The loan will be used to construct a 46,000 square foot Tribal Government Center and Health Clinic.
Signing the loan: Picture (L-R) USDA RD Business and Cooperative Specialist Jennifer Lerch, Tribe Chairman Cedric Cromwell and Tribe Treasurer Mark Harding.