Reel Wamps

Brian made NCAI history alright, as the first officer facing felony charges. NEWS ALERT-he also claims membership in the “Eel Clan”. How about none of this nonsense improves your life.

Brian Weeden’s image enhancement plan backfired. Before he stepped off the plane in Boston, Mashpee Tribal members got the word and were grousing about him becoming First Vice President of the National Council of American Indians. Established in 1944, NCAI is a prestigious organization that develops policy, governance and lobbying strategies benefiting tribal nations. Clearly, the Weeden aversion to work of any kind, defies that whole concept. It’s another title for a Tribal Chairman who’s done nothing but ignore huge problems. He has failed to live up to the legacy of landmark achievements by Mashpee Wampanoag “on a national level.” You know the real Tribal leaders past and present. There are many!

National level? How about doing the work of a tribal chairman? That amounts to a (Dunkin) Donut. What they left out was that he’s the first NCAI officer to be facing felony charges of grand larceny. And there were arguments against his nomination by members of the Aquinnah Tribe.  So, $370,000.00 later the

Members don’t accept clans as part of our culture. But the chairman does. He chose the delicious but revolting eel as his family moniker… like picking a web domain name. Anyhow, we went further and for clan fans, here’s what’s available: Scrod, Blue Fish, Herring Roe, Mussels, Lobster and Quahog. Grab one!    MMMMMMM good.

member of the self-anointed “Eel Clan” (Never heard of it.  Maybe because we don’t have animal or fish clans) has done nothing to move us forward. He does get that check regularly. When the scramble for money got tight, there was talk of cutting officers pay, he said, “You ain’t cuttin’ mine.”

With the continued postponements of Brian’s pretrial hearing (#7 scheduled for December 13) we will have paid him (some kinda way) $505,000.00 salary by the February 2025 election. Ya, stuck in crisis mode.  You have to wonder if Plymouth County is punishing us! Brian was constantly screwing with Plymouth Plantation.  Maybe this is payback.

SOME GOOD NEWS 

The Department of Interior/ Bureau of Indian Affairs helped us defeat the Littlefield’s lawsuit to take our land out of trust.  That was excellent.  But those people are relentless. Let’s pray the Creator holds them at bay. We need all the help we can get.

The restoration of the Parsonage is finally underway which is another important project we complained about. No word on the museum rodent eradication, but Anita Peters tendered her resignation from her job there. So somethings going on.

THE LACK OF TRANSPARENCY, 

Remains an enormous problem. The efforts to coverup in this Tribe are pretty futile.  Everyone knows what’s going on. Brian took over operations and continues on his junkets across country.  There was bad behavior in New Orleans, the housing mess was escalating unchecked, we have no budget, but the

David is expert at self-promotion and a failure at doing his job. And guess what? He doesn’t give a damn if you like it or not.

spending goes on. They are still paying two directors who have no grant resources and ignoring the continuing crises stalled by Brian’s inability to run the government.  Thus, the very low member attendance at Council and Sunday meetings.  The people have given up.  At Reel Wamps, we keep waiting for good news and progress that rarely comes under this chairman. To all our detractors, be reminded that your own family and so-called friends rat you out at a steady clip. We do not tell all because it doesn’t help matters and the stuff is awfully cruel detailed stories.

THE BACKSTORY TO AN ONGOING SAGA

Again, David Weeden, AKA Da Magpie has added a new route to his struggle bus tour. A couple of months ago the Middleboro historical society was alerted to some tribal remains in what appeared to be at two burial grounds. They wanted authentication.  Well, they called a tribal member who referred them to the Chief. And when the Chief said he was referring it to Magpie, well, there was silence on the other end of the line. The Chief was following the proper protocol being that Magpie is the historic preservation director. And the Chief probably thought Magpie had reformed his ways since he had chewed his _ss out about the museum, the Meeting House and other maintenance negligence (that have plagued his image reboot). So, somebody went over to Middleboro to check things out, but it wasn’t anyone fitting the description of Magpie. Here’s why. Magpie is the Director of Historic Preservation soooooo he’s supposed to be certified by the Department of Interior, wait for it….as a Tribal Historic Preservation Officer. You know the rest. He has the job, the $80 k salary and had no intention of doing the work. He never did the training or paperwork to get the certification which means he delayed the release of grants for years. That was probably behind his thinly veiled plan to derail the HACCP oyster farm facility. He threw a temper tantrum in council because the Vice Chairman wanted to remove a dilapidated building without consulting him as “the historic preservation officer.” He couldn’t verify a damned thing if he wanted to. In the end his worthless research amounted to the name of a family of Johnson’s who lived there in the 1800’s. So he insisted that the VC get the town to make the determination. The raggedy building was not on the state or federal historic registers but it was blocking the project. Magpie was stalling the project and covering up his lack of credentials.

Magpie is chained to the struggle bus. But he’s all over the place playing Indian in our name representing us in a fictitious way, never following through or delivering.

BACK TO CLANS

This clan business has everyone talking.  Most members say for us, there’s no such thing. That’s true. The Elders say it’s fabricated, annoying and inappropriate. Okay, so the next question is how did we distinguish ourselves from each other? Simple.  By family. We still do it today. Each family has distinguishing features that have transcended time. Whenever someone is trying to remember one of us they start with the tribal family, the parent, brothers sisters and so on. Anyway in the picture below are some substantial Mashpee Wampanoag who were pretty extraordinary in their day and are responsible for our existence. If you’re not related to them or the names on the list below, you’re probably not Mashpee.

Standing: Nelson Simmons, Priscilla Pells, Dorcus Coombs Gardener, Eben Queppish, Annie Pocknett, Alex Pocknett, Rhoda Sturgis, Sarah Amos Pocknett (daughter of Blind Joe Amos), Selena Coombs (child), Mattie Edwards, Cyrus Edwards, William Simons. Seated: Elizabeth Mills Coombs, Charles Peters.

Mashpee Wampanoag families: Amos, Apes, Attaquin, Bearse, Combs, Cowett (Couet),DeGrass, Edwards, Hicks, Hendricks, James, Mills, MIngo, Mye, Oakley, Pells, Peters, Pocknett, Queppish, Simmons, Sturgis, Webquish

Read more about our people and heritage start with The Wampanoags of Mashpee by Russell M Peters (you will see all your relatives there) and The Mashpee Indians Tribe on Trial by Jack Campisi. There are many more books published by tribal members who offer a diverse perspective on our rich heritage.

We should be teaching our children our tribal history.  It would make a big difference in their lives.

Is it true? That “It’s not the crime it’s the coverup?” The insidious 45th President wears a famous idiom around

Delay, delay, delay…the ultimate desperate measure.

his neck like an uncomfortable shirt collar. So, Trump is in such bad shape his only option is trial delays because of the overwhelming evidence against him.  And he’s taking all of his conspirators down with him. The parallels are similar surrounding the Plymouth Episode. The hearing in Plymouth has been “rescheduled” 4 times. Let’s see what happens today on September 19 because the charges are hard to ignore. There have been many efforts to try to make it appear that the Tribe supports what allegedly happened that November night in Plymouth….  which is a stretch to say the least. Topline here: Trump can’t rally people to publicly defend him and likewise, Tribal members are not endorsing bad behavior. Course our Tribe is feeling the pinch that is actually impacting our ability to find investors for the casino mostly. Economic development that is desperately needed is also taking a hit because some view us negatively.

LATE TO THE POW WOWS 

Tribal members have started getting more email notices about the Council meetings and the reason is obvious. Attendance on the Zoom calls have dropped dramatically. While summer has a lot to do with it, rumors abound. And word is out about all the operations management failures and financial issues. The last Council meeting revealed some good results by Councilwoman Rita Pocknett’s department, Indian Health Services. Course Rita’s programs are totally independent of the Tribe. She answers to the federal government only. Early drafts of a permanent building were unveiled.  They were impressive.

Once again Magpie missed an opportunity to score benefits for the Tribe because he won’t do the work. Thus the collapse of the Tribes’ Historic Preservation program under his direction.

Next came what turned out to be a dog and pony show and it was very interesting because of the MOA (Memorandum of Agreement) concerning Vineyard Wind 1 (the controversial windfarm off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard) was front and center.  David Weeden went into Magpie mode with a full throttled (20 minutes) lecture to government officials. Those poor people looked like they were going to their execution. He droned on about government-to-government relations, sovereignty and our sacred relationship with the ocean and all nature, at nauseum. It was embarrassing. This project is described as the nation’s first commercial scale offshore wind farm. It’s a monster.  About 15 miles south of the Vineyard 62 turbines will go up in federal waters and through underground cables connect with the Cape’s Cod’s center south shore in Barnstable. This was a 10-year battle with everyone. The Aquinnah, Barnstable and we were against it but not really players in the discussion. A major PR program that spent a lot of money pushed the deal through.

Barnstable got the best end of the deal of course, $16 million. The tribes’ benefits were negligible. Course Magpie kept talking about wanting more out of the deal. So, he went on about scholarships….over and over and over. We certainly need to expand our scholarship programs. But that’s all he had. Course that’s because he never even scanned the 500-page document. But Councilman Nelson Andrews did, pointing out that the Tribe should receive $4 million or more annually instead of over a 30-year period as is stated in the MOA. This is Magpie’s wheelhouse and as usual, he’s late to the pow wow or absent altogether. So they’re back to the negotiation table, thanks to Nelson. But sitting through Magpies nonsensical lecture was killer.

Mimicking the Trump Management Style

So in March, Chairman Brian Weeden took over Tribal Operations by making his

Greendeer in Boston, in full regalia having his own pow wow,  in the middle of the work week. Wow! That’s not what we pay him to do. So, did he take a vacation day? No need.

buddy, Tribal Administrator David Greendeer report to him. And the rapid disintegration of finances, programs and governing essentials is scary. First, you have a TA of questionable character and ability who does not come to work and ignores the problems. He’s spotted all over the country hanging out and still getting paid $125 K a year…but who knows. They give out raises freely! Supposed to have been fired but he’s staying right by Brian’s side just long enough. Still hanging out, grinning, chilling, and drumming.  Throw a damn dart at a map of the United States…his behind is probably there. Anywhere but at the Council. His hire, the comptroller can’t put a budget together, ain’t put a budget together. That guy makes $150k a year. Crisis mode is constant without resolution. The answer to the homeless crisis was a task force that went absolutely nowhere. Committees and commissions try to function and get no support or guidance from the management. We all know the other huge problems that Greendeer ignored and that’s why we are in this mess.

And for those who don’t want to talk about this chaos or cover it up…. everyone knows about it! Unless you live in a cave you have to know that you can’t hide what’s in plain sight.

If you think we’re “going off the rails” again…..you’re right. But we can’t leave out the good that happened resulting from the February election. Cromwell holdovers were reduced to a three-member minority on the Council …Winnona, the only one elected out of 6 candidates, Bobby who became treasurer on a technicality and David who is up for election in February 2025 with the officers. It appeared the chairman was not happy about that at all. That’s because the Council is all powerful.  Nothing happens unless the Council votes to make it happen. Firing, hiring, committee appointments, contracts, budgets, grant approvals, anything

Brian has worked hard to empower himself at the expense of a Tribe weary of standing still and languishing.

involving tribal governance. That’s according to the Tribal Constitution, that also spells out the duties of the Tribal Chairman.  Most people don’t know it, but the chairman does not vote, unless there’s a tie. And he signs contracts (even that’s tenuous now). That’s the extent of his power. It’s a perception thing and Brian has exploited that.

The influence of the chairman is another thing. The Chairman has always empowered himself as a leader that develops strategies to move the Tribe forward. He’s the face of the Tribe as spokesman and our emissary to the world.  Now, like them or not, Russell Peters, Glenn Marshall and even Cedric (early on) were leaders with ideas. Russell and Glenn had a passion to serve tribal members. Our current chairman has his priorities.  They are mostly traditional in nature and getting our land back. We’re prohibited from doing the later and neither put food on the table or get us help of any kind.

Let’s rewind for a minute.  So, the chairman’s alleged episode in November 2022 and the resulting Council action caused him to throw a lot of tantrums. Ironically, he turned to Paula Peters (Smoke Signals) and her son Steve to defend him against the nationwide avalanche of embarrassing negative press. Just months earlier, he wanted to fire them.  By January 2023 he made security march a qualified new employee out of the building, ordered important projects stopped (without authority) as he ranted through the building. That was just a few bad actions. So, by February 2023 when the new Council was elected, he was convinced they would remove him. So, he stalled swearing them in for weeks, went on vacation. He made moves to usurp administrative authority from the Vice Chair based on an illegal resolution used by Cedric under the guise of a non-existent “Executive Order.”  Well, the Council stopped him by voting to rescind the resolution. But now we’re back here again.

STATE OF EMERGENCY

Indeed. The homeless problem is huge. The Del Sol facility should be able to provide substantial relief, by

Those who fail to learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. That’s what they say.

housing 40 people.  But a bunch of problems create the “State of Emergency.” First, the renovations have been slowed dramatically by the red tape coming from TERO (Tribal Enforcement Rights) officer Ellen Frye Sharp. TERO is an enforcement mechanism designed to ensure that qualified Tribal contractors get the jobs. It appears that she’s complicating the process rather than expediting it, on large or small simple jobs (under 25K) that do not need to be bid out. Tribal contractors had to ask Council members to intercede to get the work going again.

Meanwhile, there’s an ongoing struggle to get the necessary staff, security and community partnerships to run the facility properly. Right now, one person oversees the operation.  That’s Robyn Sweeting. It’s been that way for a while. And, for a while we’ve been waiting for policies and procedures, let alone the badly needed staff. When a state declares a State of Emergency, it is usually an appeal to the Federal Government for money. For now, a task force was appointed. That’s it. This is not the best way to accommodate the homeless. Because we can’t get out of our own way,

Robin can’t run the shelter alone. Ahem.

things are mismanaged.

The bright spots over the last 5 months have been the Sober House, the shellfish farm project and the homeless shelter. Also added to the list is the $9.3 million federal Broadband grant that Ellen also oversees. This is where it gets very dicey or funky.  Back around 2006, Ellen was in charge of a project that provided funding to pave the old council parking lot.  It was a sizable amount of money that was never accounted for. So, the Council stipulated that Ellen would never be allowed to work for the Tribe again. But here we are. Again.

Best management practices need not be applied.

The TRIBAL ADMINISTRTOR HAS A PROBLEM and it is OURS

The guy doesn’t hide his impropriety or his lack of professional integrity. We have paid a heavy price with the failure to correct violations in many areas.

Back to mismanagement. On a technicality, the chairman reversed the Council vote by having Tribal Administrator report to him. Well, that did it because Greendeer who manages the tribal staff and departments became even more trifling. Staff call him “The Ho Chunk Ghost” who is under the chairman’s protection. They’re literally in it together. He answers only to him. All Greendeer’s indiscretions are ignored. Greendeer promised to use his “connections” to bring major deals to the tribe.  Nothing happened. He philandering was outrageous and went unchecked.  Even a vulgar sexually explicit text to a female council member was ignored by the chairman. Any other tribe or corporation would have fired the Ghost a long time ago. When it looked like he was about to get canned he said he was looking for a job. So are we his employment agency? Who’s going to hire him? He was supposed to resign at the end of July. Then he said he was only staying through December.

By the way, the November episode has had a chilling effect on investors that is stalling the (half dead) casino project. That serves to remind us that the TA and the Chairman make a lot a money… $125k each a year and no one can tell you what they do to earn it.

But The Ho Chunk Ghost gets his job evaluation August 9. It’s time to stop paying for nothing.

There are few things more dangerous than a mixture of power, arrogance and incompetence.

Chiefie can counsel us as we face new problems. That’s the best news in a long time.

There were several proud moments for the Tribe recently. We came together to unify and strengthen the community by selecting Earl Mills, Jr. as Chief. Known to us as “Chiefie” he is steeped in Wampanoag traditions under the tutelage of his father Chief Earl Mills Sr, a preeminent scholar of our ways. It’s a comfort to know that treasured knowledge will be passed on. But he also brings much needed balance to many of the protocols that were abandoned by the Cromwell regime.  Tribal members have commented on the calming affect he has had on Council meetings, giving the membership a reprieve from the petty nit picking and personal attacks by certain Council members.  Moreover, some of the ridiculous excuses and solutions to obvious negligence is quickly slapped down. The Chief has the ability to apply the “old ways” and decency in a way that helps solve our problems. That’s a good thing.

Sherry Pocknett, another Mashpee triumphant in realizing her dreams.

Chef Sherry Pocknett won the prestigious James Beard Award as the Best Chef Northeast.

The well deserved James Beard Award

She received the metal as the first Indigenous woman to do so at the Chicago ceremony June 5. The award acknowledges talent and achievement in the culinary arts, hospitality and food media. Sherry’s lifelong cooking experience resulted in her fulfilling a dream to own her own restaurant featuring game and fish fare. “We lived by the seasons. I grew up in the ’60s and my dad was a hunter and a fisherman so we always had stuff from the wild in the refrigerator.”

In 2021 she opened Sly Fox Den Too In Charlestown, Rhode Island. The menu offers everything from venison to eel.  It’s well worth the visit. An inspiration to all Tribal members who have dreams to fulfill.

More Mashpee Wampanoag children graduated from Mashpee High School ….another victory for us.  Many of them starting their journey in life and the next level of higher education. Congratulations to your families!

                       Tribal grads 2023

Peters long challenged America to protect Native American children. And he won.

Tribal nations received a major victory today when the US Supreme Court rejected

Slow Turtle’s vision for the future served Indian Country well.

all of the challenges to the Indian Child Welfare Act, “some on the merits and others for lack of standing,” Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote in her majority opinion. The surprising but welcomed decision ensures that neglected or orphaned native children are placed in tribal homes.

Once again, a Mashpee Wampanoag is responsible for change that benefited Indian Country.  Supreme Medicine Man John Peters, “Slow Turtle”  spearheaded the federal law that passed in 1978. He also successfully advocated for the legal use of peyote and other indigenous herbs as traditional medicines for rituals. Repatriation of Native remains was another successful effort lead by Peters.

Indian Country beathed a sigh of relief on this decision.

As luck would have it, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland visited the Tribe today.  Her name is on the Supreme Court ICWA filling because as Interior Secretary she represents the US government on behalf of Native Americans, It is pretty remarkable that she’s visiting the Tribe whose Medicine Man is responsible for one of the most significant laws impacting Indian America.

The New York Tines did an excellent job of chronicling Peters’ life and work.

John Peters, Indian Advocate In Massachusetts, Dies at 67 – The New York Times (nytimes.com)T

The Haaland visit

But since we are talking about the Haaland visit, we have to say the purpose was a little foggy. But we have a pretty good idea, so do you. Allegedly, it was arranged by the Weedens and their new best friend, the cheeky TA David Greendeer and pal Alex….ahem, there were originally all kinds of silly restrictions for those attending.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland

We’ll get back to that weirdness. But it was so strange that the Elders did not have a place of prominence in this event.  Bad optics for sure. The other foolishness was that they were not going to let anyone take pictures but “PR.” So were they taking everyone’s phones? As it turned out after the dinner with the Council, Haaland made remarks, graciously took selfies, group pictures and enjoyed herself. Tribal members enjoyed the social also. And you know Photo Op Wamps media mogul Paula Peters was the first one to take a picture with the Secretary. What an amateur. Another highlight was that Sherry prepared the meal for Haaland, Another star making us proud.

Thank God we had a bunch of REAL Wamps up in there.