So lotta dangerous stuff happening. Literally.
The Tribe put Elders first by giving them preferential access to the new homes. Now, it must be proactive by protecting them.
At tribal housing, there were two troubling incidents.
The Shooting.
Course nothing happened, no investigation by the Tribe or Mashpee Police Department. The talk on the street was pretty hostile and the blame for inaction went to Kevin Frye…for his typical “do nothing say nothing response”. The lack of security in the community dominated by elders has been a long-standing concern. Nothing happens. Not Good.
Carbon monoxide leak This is another emergency that could have killed an elder. Poor plumbing, septic, and construction overall are the culprits. Another close call that should never have happened.
So the Tribal Council is aware of the shoddy work done by the Cromwell administration and is going through the homes assessing and repairing. The big task is finishing the remaining homes with the quality and care worthy of their occupants.
ICWA the silent beast. Huge huge problems here that are consistent. We will not detail them because it only hurts the kids who are not being properly served. We all know who they are and can blame no one but ourselves because it keeps on happening over and over. Again we have to be proactive before the worst happens.
Hail Hail the TA
More substance Mr. Greendeer. No more magic acts…. Ta-dah!
Ok, so David Greendeer has been here three months. He finally had a staff meeting Tuesday and it was different no doubt. He also had a strategic planning meeting with the Council members the day before. Absent from that meeting was Rita Pocknett (on sick leave), Tah Tah ( she called in sick saying she had a headache) Winnie, and Yvonne (who was out of town). There isn’t much to report according to three sources. Other than the app that he wanted council members to plug into it was rather vague without much of a framework to fill in. The staff meeting appeared to be a last-minute thing.
We all know that a new TA would normally hold a staff meeting within a month of getting on board. It was ” ceremonial,” he said. During a presentation, he used the Ho Chunk language on flip cards. Ta daaah!
Lot of confused looks at that meeting.
He promised a more “formal” meeting soon. Sigh.
So as we said a month ago, the April 8 meeting will allow tribal members to talk about their priorities. In an all-day meeting, let’s hope the council has the agenda organized for discussion so we are talking about issues in some order.
We need to be proactive to avoid crisis.
