Reel Wamps

You have to laugh when people get out “over their skis.”

Tonight’s Council meeting will be full of action. Some playing out for the Tribal public and some in Executive Session. You need to pay attention. Last month a lot of moves were being made that raised eyebrows. Personnel problems that have been ongoing and of course the budget, that is also getting squared away.

The issue of the Clan Mothers vs Elders in the Raising of the Chief seemed to be resolved at the Sunday meeting with the Constitution (and the Recognition documents) providing the guidance through a resolution finalizing the process.

Preserving all aspects of our Tribal history is important.

Keep an eye on those resolutions…

Good news.  The Parsonage funding of $1.6 million came through which means historic renovation and jobs. Again, thanks Vice Chairman Hendricks and Secretary Jackson for their hard work. This building is on the state historic register.

So the Council meeting was a full agenda.  A major move forward is the plan to

It’s bad enough that New Seabury was built on what we considered our land, but to name it after  one of our heroes is beyond ironic.

establish a living tribal village designed to present a true picture of how we lived 400 years ago. The grant for $175K will launch the project that could be located near the farm. Talia Landry and Councilman Nelson Andrews are spearheading the effort. The idea of presenting our traditions and heritage to the world as we see it has been discussed for over a decade. Now it’s coming to fruition.

The copyright of our mystical hero Maushop tells you the value and limits of ownership of branding (Maushop Village) and intellectual property.

There’s one potential problem. Naming it Maushop Village might not work because New Seabury probably has the development copyright named after our mythical hero.  Which brings us to the language copyright controversy. There was a joint meeting between the town and Tribal Elders over a project honoring Tribal veterans. The group wanted to use the Wampanoag language to inscribe a message on a plaque. The town representative said they had to check with Jessie Baird to get permission. Right. To avoid copyright infringement is what it’s called. So Jessie owns the copyright to our language that is thousands of years old? What do you think? So did Jessie write our language and copyright it?

Okay, to be clear, copyright means you own the intellectual property that you created.

Jessie has used the Tribe to get millions of dollars in language grants while her cousin Cedric was Chairman. We may never know what went on. Are the Weedens far behind?

People, corporations, governments copyright music, books, logos, brands, but languages…no. Jessie is scamming again circulating misinformation because people really don’t know how that works. She has never told us where she got her undergraduate degree, so she could not acquire a masters, and she lied about having a doctorate.

Jessie is still working to get back into the tribal structure anyway she can.  She had the nerve to try to get on the enrollment committee.  Ahem.  That didn’t work.  She made it on to the pow wow committee.  All in all she earned a new name of “Little Red Box.” Her legacy of adding hundreds of people to the roll from the Red Box. Ask her about the Red Box.

More on what constitution revision really means.  You will be shocked. It’s coming your way.

A record number of Mashpee were on the Tribal Council zoom meeting last night. So were some of Reel Wamps’ contributors.

Herrin’ and Roe say Da Magpie needs to stop talking and recapture the grants needed to run his program and pay his $70,000 salary.

Herrin’ ” That was quite meeting last night. What they call a “mixed bag” of activity.

Roe ” I should say so. It went on forever. Da Magpie, probably hurt his nephew, the chairman more than helped on that Executive Order business.

Herrin’ “ Da Magpie?”

Roe ” Ya David Weeden is a Magpie… a talkin’ ass bird that never stops.  It mimics sounds, even barking dogs.  Da Magpie is notorious for talking nonsense all the time, in circles, running out the clock. You can see Council members nodding off on the zoom. Nap time.”

Herrin’ ” Wow, so he’s an expert on Executive Orders? Reads ’em all the time he says.  Reads the ones by President Biden and such.  Oh Yeah. And he says that his nephew has the same authority as President Biden, Damn right!”

Da Magpie’s politics on the Board of Selectmen and the Tribal Council are not benefiting the town or the Tribe. His quest for relevancy is not in our best interest.

Roe ” You know the whole Tribe was up in arms at the thought of taking voting power from

Ramona Peters’ grew the Tribe’s historic preservation program in to a success story with a
$500k annual budget. When Magpie took over a few years ago, everything went south.

the Council and handing it over to his nephew through some Executive Order.   But no, Da Magpie kept on and on about how the White people do it and other governments do it. That our Constitution is ” awful.” Like our laws aren’t real. Indian law. Too hell with the Constitution then?”

Herrin’ ” Well, the Council members pushed back with the answer. Executive Orders don’t exist in the Tribal Constitution.

They voted to revoke the Executive Order by a 6-1 vote. That was a relief.”

Quahog Pie: ” Uncle Herrin’ isn’t Councilman Da Magpie in charge of historic preservation? Is that why he kept talking? To keep us from tearing down that old torn up building?

Quahog Pie knows the  answers to all his  questions. Ridiculous spectacles are his specialty…

To stop the construction of the fish market? Cause he couldn’t prove that the old building was a historic building like he was supposed to? And then turned around an told the Vice Chairman that he had to prove it was not a historic building even though the Vice Chairman already did? Is that why he talked for 15 minutes about getting an inspector to go in and do all that research which will cost thousands of dollars and delay the project another 3 months, when he already knows it has no historic relevancy to the Tribe?

Herrin’ ” That’s it.”

Quahog Pie ” So does Councilman Da Magpie get paid to stop projects?”

Roe: ‘ Boy, we don’t know what he gets paid to do or why. What we do know is his $70,000 salary comes out of the federal money from the American Rescue Plan meant for Tribal members.  He spent down hundreds of thousands of dollars in the historic preservation grant and never restored it to run the program or pay his salary.”

Weetamoo: ” Well then, he’s about self-preservation, right?

The world has changed since Weetamoo’s time, But Winnie’s lack of decency is a abnormal to her and even modern day Wamps.

Herrin’: ” Probably. Da Magpie’s spotty career path was started by his pal Cedric Cromwell. But a few years before that he was running up

Winnie & Da Magpie, fierce Cromwell loyalists failed to denounce the corrupt regime. Winnie refused to face the reality of loosing badly to Hendricks for VC and the recent Council re-elect. campaign. She needs to get help.

and down a hotel hallway trying to put all the White people out screaming, ” Get out Get out. This is our land.”  That was during the King Phillips Ball. Magpie’s mouth got us in so much trouble. Because of him, the Tribal events at  Cape hotels  have been banned. That shut us down for years.”

Roe: “He’s such an Indian. Using it when it’s convenient. You would never know it judging by how he praises the town and punks us. And now he’s Chairman of the Mashpee Board of Selectman after raising hell and playing the race card. He likes to play Indian, but he don’t wanna be Indian.”

Weetamoo: ” I want to know about the Winnie person who was attacking the Vice Chairman at the meeting. Is there something wrong with her? She was screaming and yelling, cursing, and lying about all kinds of things. I hear it’s a regular occurrence.  Is that how Mashpee Wampanoag women act these days?

Herrin’ “ No it is not.  But people are tired of Winnie’s madness.  Every time she sees the Vice Chairman she looses it. If there’s a microphone around she really goes berserk. She’s banned from the Elders, the farm and she’s headed for serious trouble with the Council.  She would not shut up. Took foreva to mute her. The chairman threatened to shut down the meeting, she still didn’t stop attacking.  She was kinda hard to understand at one point. Just spitting and babbling.”

Roe: ” Consider it a blessing.”

The complaints about Greendeer and his potential legal problems have not stopped him from obsessing on all the wrong things. He has produced nothing but scandal.

Minnie Ah Ha “ I need to know about what I saw earlier this week. I

Minnie is stunned by Green deer’s audacity. But so is everyone else.

walked into the government center and in the rotunda, all the department directors were standing in a circle around the TA. What’s his name Cujo?

Herrin’ ” Not really it’s David Greendeer. The guy is a mess.

Minnie Ah Ha ” I should say so.  He had them standing in this meeting for nearly an hour. Elders, a pregnant woman standing as he prayed for 15 minutes. He talked a lot of nonsense for most the time before he asked what was on their calendars for next week.

Roe “Puttin’ on quite a show for all to see. He was trying to chat Natalie up the other day.  That had ta be comical. But his actions speak louder than silly words.. Maybe if he showed up a did some work instead of chasing all the women in the Tribe he wouldn’t be in so much trouble.”

Minnie Ah Ha “Oh my. How do you know this?”

Herrin’ ” The man’s prolific, brazen. Women complain about him openly and loud…in the building, out of the building. The dude knows no boundaries.”

Minnie Ah Ha ” But he has legal issues pending right? I just don’t understand.”

Roe ” Don’t worry.  He’ll understand soon enough.

The Chairman is taking it mighty slow at our expense.

The election results sent a message. The Tribe wanted change. Apparently, the Chairman was in no rush. He cancelled the Wednesday Feb 15 Council meeting and scheduled one for March 8, That’s nearly a month’s delay. Instead of performing the ceremonial swearing in of the six council members, he delayed it for ten days. So, maybe it will happen this Wednesday. Who knows? And then there’s the budget.  It will be delayed again. He’s headed to an NCAI meeting, his second major trip in a month’s time. You try to figure out what this is all about because we don’t get it.

Sober House living room

 PROJECTS MOVE AHEAD, TRIBE ON TARGET WITH CRITICAL PROJECTS

The men’s sober house has been fully renovated and will be ready for occupancy in March. The home will accommodate 8 men in the 4 bedroom, two bath, house.  The house has a large Livingroom, dining room and kitchen. The live in director has an apartment downstairs. Tribal members and friends

The place is so nice you don’t want to leave.

donated the furniture, and appliances for men in recovery. Vice Chairman Carlton Hendricks, Jr. says this community partnership will help to make the program a success.  He adds that another home is set to be renovated soon.

A tour of the oyster farm (HACCP facility) is pretty remarkable. The

The facility will pump thousands of dollars into our economy.

building (60 x 60)is closed in, and the finishing touches are being made for the processing of shellfish. The latest equipment including conveyors, to sort, clean, and distribute shellfish is set for

David Pocknett, Jr. shows off hundreds of traps made by the team.

delivery. The HACCP team made the hundreds of traps that line the building. Tribal men have played a major role in building this facility that will move the tribe into the marketplace on every level. We will be competitive by producing, harvesting, and selling oysters and clams. A fish market is also on the horizon.          

The shelter for the homeless is also close to opening.  It’s another project opening to serve an urgent need.

This is what the tribal government is supposed to do. Serve. Do the work. With the new diverse Council all the weight will no longer be on be on the Wamp 5 (2 officers and 3 Council members) The 7 will help us catch up after loosing so much time and so many lives.

That was a common phrase uttered when Mashpee people reacted to a bad incident. And

Ms. Mabel Avant never, ever turned away from a fight for Mashpee.

often they were talking to Mrs. Mabel (Pocknett) Avant. Mabel Avant was quite an influencer back in the late 30’s through the 60’s. She was not only politically powerful, but our cultural guardian. And she was essentially a woman sachem.  Now in the White world, that was extraordinary. But our culture is built on a matriarchal system. We say with certainty that Mabel Avant stood alone as a defiant advocate for Mashpee. And our legendary male leaders bowed to her prowess.

During town meetings when White businessmen and speculators would try to exploit us in some way, everyone would smirk and wait for the imposing Mabel to stand up and respond to the proposal. She would start with, “Why, why?” reveal the scheme snapping it like twigs, as tribal members laughed. The perpetrators would scurry out of the old town hall never to return. So the Natives in the ” Old Indian Towne on Cape Cod” weren’t so dumb after all.

This history snapshot is important when you look at our current situation.  We resolved some terrible leadership failures only to fall into a morass led by a small group. Holding on to political power at any cost is the goal. And the moral compass is clearly broken.

Hold overs from the Cromwell régime may be in the minority but try to dominate and disrupt

Winnie’s chaos is unmatched. She doesn’t see anything wrong.

the council. Enter Winnie whose legendary tirades just keep escalating. To show you how bad it’s gotten, during the candidate’s forum, she was asked a pointed question about her behavior (the screaming, cursing rants) in council meetings and the workplace. She said something to the effect of “I don’t approve of that kind of behavior.” Boy, that went over well. The eye rolls were nonstop.

Almost as well as her pledge to give members ” per capita stipends.” Last campaign cycle it was $500 to Elders that never materialized. Campaign pledges are one thing but her obsessive attacks are embarrassing and exhausting for everyone. Her previous assaults are well known.

The majority of the attacks are launched at Vice Chairman Carlton Henricks, Jr, in Council meetings. Everyone keeps trying to figure out why these attacks are so vicious. Some of the stuff is so bad we cannot talk about it, but you probably heard. There are no secrets in Mashpee.

She’s done some doozies in the government center. A recent episode was when she worked for the Elders helping at Lunch and Learn. One day she was loud talking on her phone and a worker told her to quiet down because she was upsetting the Elders.  Well she had a fit and threw a paper bag at the woman.  She was banished from the job and switched over to the farm where she’s supposed to take soil samples and weed the garden. Sure. You could make a bundle in a pool about her upcoming antics.

The list goes on… but Miss Unbecoming is a little short on accomplishments too.   She has not advanced one project that has helped anyone. She’s the liaison to the CDC and the Pow Wow Committee to which she contributes nothing, nor does she help.

You have to wonder why she’s running because her style is public service can’t be what the Tribe needs right now.

Ain’t it awful Mabel?”