Bellicose Bumpkin

These stories don’t have anything in particular to do with Middleboro or the proposed 5*RTHTHAC¹ aka casino. But they came up in my google alerts and piqued my interest.

Former Mashpee Wampanoag tribal chairman Shawn Hendricks claims that his wife hit him with her car.

Imagine claiming that someone tried to run you over in a parking lot or run you off the road. Shocking allegation. I’m glad nobody in Middleboro would ever do something like that. A shameful lie like that could really damage someone’s reputation and business.

Also in the news, my friend and Mashpee Wampanoag tribal elder Amelia Bingham had another set back in her court case to recover land that were deeded to her descendants. Amelia of course was shunned by Glenn Marshall for asking questions about agreements between the tribe and investors. She was absolutely right of course and subsequent analysis by the current tribal council has shown the deal to be rather crappy, not unlike our deal in Middleboro.

I’m not so sure that Amelia would describe me as her friend, but we have had a number of interesting meetings. First on June 5, 2007 Amelia and her grandson came to former CFO president Jacquie’s house. She had a stack of papers about Glenn Marshall that she showed to myself and Jacquie. From there we took her to the selectman’s meeting where she warned the board to find out more about Marshall. She was ignored. Ever since that meeting, I strongly advocated for her to be unshunned – for whatever that was worth.

I’ve only met Amelia on three other occasions – each time at court hearings for Glenn Marshall. We had a nice discussion each time.

Back to point. So far Amelia has proven to be right every time. While the tribe continues to pour effort in the casino pipe dream, they are letting the real prize get away – more than 15,000 acres of prime Cape Cod real estate.

¹ 5*RTHTHAC – FIVE STAR RESORT(that happens to have a casino)

The Cape Cod Times has an interesting article titled “Disgraced leader remains active in Mashpee tribe”. The article is an update on Glenn Marshall and the Tribe one year after he stepped down as tribal chairman due to his rape conviction and lies over his military and police service. There are several things that bother me about this article.

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Two weeks ago, Glenn Marshall stood in the shadows at a party in Middleboro, where Mashpee Wampanoag tribe members and Middleboro casino supporters were celebrating a “Gathering of Communities” held earlier that day.

“He has a right to go to all the meetings and the Powwow. That’s not right,” said Amelia Bingham, one of four tribe members shunned by the tribal council under Marshall’s watch. Bingham, her son, Steven, Stephanie Tobey-Roderick and Michelle Fernandes unsuccessfully sued the tribal council seeking financial records and were punished for the effort. The shunning bars the four tribe members from attending meetings and participating in tribe activities for seven years.

“All I asked was what he was doing with the money. Where’s the justice?” Bingham said.

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That Marshall is still involved with the tribe doesn’t bother me that much. What concerns me is this “Gathering of Communities” event. It’s clear that as far as the Wampanoag and Middleboro leadership are concerned, the Middleboro “community” only consists of people who support the casino. This exclusinary pro-casino prom is the sort of divisive activity that led to much of the animosity of last summer.

The other thing about this article that raised my hackles is the fact that Amelia Bingham is still shunned while Glenn Marshall is playing wallflower at the pro-casino cotillion. Looks like the Mashpee have the same policy going on – you’re either pro-casino or shunned.

This sort of artificial division is the kind of thing that keeps Middleboro from moving forward. When we continue to stick to our own circles, we are maintaining the status quo. It reminds me of a recently formed local community group whose officers are entirely pro-casino activists.

The battle lines formed by the casino issue are alive and well with no end in sight.

The Cape Cod Times reports:

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Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe members held a march and gathering yesterday afternoon in a show of support for shunned tribe members.

More than 20 people showed up for yesterday’s event, with about half making the 1½-mile walk from Mashpee town park to the Old Indian Buria

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Back in January

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Members of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe yesterday voted overwhelmingly to rescind the shunning of four members, according to tribe members.

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This is the sort of thing that makes tribal leadership look exceeding bad (along with rape, lying, steroid usage, and restraining orders). These four members were stripped of their tribal rights because they asked to see the agreements the tribe had with casino investors and eventually filed suit.

So come on Shawn Hendricks. Your members want this questionable shunning to be removed. What better time to do it with the Pow-wow coming up? Do the right thing. How is it that Glenn Marshall is not shunned but Amelia Bingham is?

And tell Scott Ferson(still waiting to do lunch Scott) that CFO has no plans to protest the powwow … just like we had no plans to do it last year.

The Cape Cod Times reports that the lawsuit against the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council has been dismissed.

Recap. Tribal elder Amelia Bingham and 3 others were shunned – essentially kicked out of the tribe – for asking to see financial records for any agreements signed between the tribe and the casino investors. When the Tribal council would not let them have access, Bingham and others sued and were shunned. That suit was dismissed on the grounds that the tribe were a sovereign entity. This latest lawsuit was a civil rights case – with the Binghams claiming that the shunning violated their civil rights. This suit has just been dismissed again due to sovereignty issues.

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Last Friday, the Binghams appeared in the Suffolk courthouse with their attorney, Michael Altman, who asked Judge Robert Cosgrove for a preliminary injunction to allow the mother and son to attend the annual powwow in Mashpee — a tribal homecoming celebration, which begins July 4.

Council leaders last year asked Mashpee police to enforce a no-trespass order against the Binghams and two other shunned members, Stephanie Tobey-Roderick and Michelle Fernandes, to keep them out of the event.

During the hearing, the judge questioned whether the use of local police was in fact a waiver of sovereign immunity.

“The judge seemed to get the point,” Altman said yesterday. “It is pretty remarkable that this small group of people (the council) who have resisted the demands of all of the members of the tribe … can exercise this kind of power, including calling in the police.

The same day, lawyers for the tribal council argued the case should be dismissed because a Massachusetts judge does not have jurisdiction over a sovereign Indian tribe — a fact a Barnstable Superior Court judge attested to in a June 2007 ruling.

Altman, however, argued this case was different because it targeted the nonprofit organization the tribe operated as before being officially recognized in May 2007.

“Our sovereignty as an independent nation has been reconfirmed for the second time,” tribal council Chairman Shawn Hendricks said in a prepared statement. “We have worked for well over 30 years for the right to establish our constitution and laws to govern ourselves. We are more than pleased with Judge Cosgrove’s decision.”

The tribe recently hired an outside tribal judge, Rochelle Ducheneaux, who will be responsible for hearing all legal matters within the tribe, including the shunning issue, council spokeswoman Gayle Andrews said.”

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Having met Ms. Bingham I can tell you that she possesses an air of dignity that is sorely lacking in the current and former Tribal chairman(Hendricks and Marshall). The thought of her being denied access to the annual pow-wow by armed police is quite outrageous.

The Cape Cod Times is reporting on the civil rights suit against Mashpee Wampanoag tribal leaders:

Amelia and Steven Bingham, shunned by the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe in December 2006, yesterday filed a civil suit against tribal council leaders in Suffolk Superior Court in Boston.

They are asking a jury to overturn the tribal council’s sanctions as a violation their of civil rights. The suit also seeks unspecified financial compensation.

Four members of the tribe were shunned after they filed suit to get access to financial documents. Simply – they wanted to see the contracts that the tribal council had entered into with the casino investors on behalf of the tribe. A reasonably request from my perspective.

One of the high points of last summer among the many low points was meeting Amelia Bingham. The former president of CFO had contacted her and she agreed to come to a selectman’s meeting. Now – Ms. Bingham is not anti-casino – in fact she is pro-casino. Her only agenda was to warn the town to do their homework on Glenn Marshall.

Anyhoo, I went over to JT’s house and spoke for some time with Ms. Bingham. She showed us documentation about some of Glenn Marshall’s interesting expenses on a tribal credit card during a visit to Vegas. I was impressed with her(and disgusted with Glenn).

After the news broke about Glenn Marshall and his rape conviction and lies about his war record, I blogged about Amelia once again supporting that her shunning be revoked. That was August 25, 2007. The following January, the tribe voted overwhelmingly to remove the shunning.

So far this has not happened.

Shawn Hendricks – why not?

Town of Mashpee gets what they want
Some notable quotes from a Cape Cod Times article:

MASHPEE – Mashpee Wampanoag members approved a deal between the tribe and the town by a nearly 2-1margin on Sunday.

The positive vote at Mashpee High School could help jump-start plans for a $1 billion Indian casino on 539 acres in Middleboro, which had faced a series of blows in recent weeks.

I think “jump-start” is a little optimistic given Governor Patrick’s recent objection to the land into trust application. That said, the agreement prevents the tribe from opening a casino in Mashpee or reopening land claims against the town. The honor of hosting a casino will go to Middleboro.

This was a smart move by the town of Mashpee. They had the tribe over a barrel and got exactly what they wanted. What would Middleboro have gotten if we told them to shove off last summer. I’ll tell you what we would have gotten: More than twice as much as we got including a percentage of the slots.

Happy-happy fun boy Glenn Marshall rears his ugly head

Glenn Marshall, the Mashpee Wampanoag leader ousted last August after his rape conviction and military lies were exposed, was one of more than 200 tribe members to vote on the agreement. Most were seeing the 20-page document for the first time.

The meeting started with a heated exchange after four tribe members, shunned one year ago for bringing suit against tribal council, were turned away by security. The four – Amelia Bingham, her son Steven, Michelle Fernandes and Stephanie Tobey-Roderick – were kept out, which led to some shouting and shoving.

Great – serial liar and rapists allowed – wrongly shunned members shown the door. This is just plain wrong.

De-Nial is not just a river in Egypt

Several tribe members tried to block a Times photographer from taking photos of the confrontation. One tribe member shook a chair the photographer was standing on. “This is our ancestral land,” he said. “Don’t you forget it.”Right – what’s up with that? Is this the sort of transparency we can look forward to when the tribe starts running a $1B+ dollar business on sovereign land? Color me skeptical.

It was Marshall’s first appearance at a tribe meeting since resigning in April. Marshall is under federal investigation for his handling of tribe finances during his tenure as tribal council chairman. He walked into the meeting smiling and exchanging hugs with a few tribe members.

Marshall left about an hour and a half into the proceedings without comment. “I wouldn’t talk to you if it was the last day on earth,” he told a reporter.

So what did that mean? It sounds to me like he is blaming the press for his problems. This tells me that he has not owned up to the fact that his public humiliation was the fault of one person and one person only – Glenn Marshall. The fact that Marshall is still so welcome is disturbing when viewed in the context of the shunned members. On the one hand we have a group of people wrongly stripped of their tribal rights for asking to see the secret deals that party-fun-boy Glenn Marshall made with a bunch of non-Indian investors. On the other hand we have Glenn Marshall – the person who spearheaded the shunning – yucking it up with his buddies and playing bad-boy to the press.

The Mashpee Wampanoag tribal council and leadership leave a lot to be desired in my mind. Until they take care of their own business properly – I for one don’t want them running a business in Middleboro – or anywhere else for that matter.

Is that harsh? Consider this: The Mashpee Wampanoag are a sovereign nation. They elected a tribal council. The tribal council appointed Glenn Marshall. During his reign as tribal chairman, he lied to Congress about his war record and misrepresented his birth date to prevent discovery of his criminal past. When his transgressions were discovered, the tribal council did nothing to discipline him.

That speaks volumes to me. And volume I is titled “Don’t do business with this group of people”.

The Whittlesey Agreement
Some time back, I got a copy of the Whittlesey agreement. This was the agreement negotiated by professional gaming attorney Dennis Whittlesey for which he was paid (I think) somewhere near $200K. Given that the whole idea of the casino is dumb, hiring Whittlesey was one of the few smart things that the town did. If you’re going to jump off a cliff, you might as well buy a good parachute.

Whittlesey spent nearly a month talking to department heads, figuring costs and impacts, figuring out what would silence CFO, and crafting an agreement that was probably 15-30% more than we could expect to receive. This of course is negotiation 101 and is designed to give room to deal and give concessions to the other side – in this case Sol Kerzner and Len Wohlman – the dual exhaust holes pushing the tribal donkey forward. This agreement would have given Middleboro somewhere around $32M according to my calculations. Keep in mind that this was a starting point that would have been negotiated down somewhat to a more reasonable number for both sides.

Once presented with the Whittlesey agreement, the tribe put on a big public show:

Marshall also expressed his distaste with the “unnecessarily hostile tone” in the town’s counteroffer, details of which have not been made public.(Ed – until now)

The town’s proposed agreement would “strip the tribe of the very sovereignty it has fought so hard to secure,” the letter says, complaining of an “unprecedented set of commitments and restraints which treat the tribe as if it were a nation with no sense of discipline.”(Ed – like respect for woman, truthfulness, lawfulness)

One unacceptable condition, according to the tribe, would prevent the tribe from exercising civil jurisdiction over non-tribe members on tribal land, according to the letter.

Glenn just cares about civil jurisdiction… uh-huh.
Let me tell you folks. It is doubtful that convicted rapist and serial liar Glenn Marshall was worried about “civil jurisdiction over non-tribe members”. Since this clause never made it to the final agreement – I don’t think anyone can argue with that. He was worried about the fact that this agreement would have paid Middleboro over $32M per year. Or more specifically, the casino investors were.

Over $32M per year. Hmm,, hasn’t CasinoFacts.org been saying all along that the town should have gotten north of $20M dollars? Well, they were right.

Of course Whittlesey claimed that this was just a wish list and a starting point for negotiation. Bull. This agreement is very similar, and in in some ways not quite as good, as an agreement Whittlesey has just negotiated for Shabbona, Illinois for a class 2 bingo hall.

The Healey legacy
So what went wrong? Middleboro messed up. They approached the tribe with no public discussion and the BOS allowed Jack Healey to negotiate an agreement that paid us only $7M plus infrastructure. By the time Whittlesey came along, the expectation had already been set, and for all I know maybe a gentleman’s agreement had been in place all along. That $7M has not changed since the very beginning. Where did it come from? Why $7M? Maybe because $7M is around twice our current commercial tax revenue? Maybe because it would sound so good to say that we were getting twice as much from this one facility. Didn’t Wayne Perkins say that the Mashpee Wampanoag came with an offer?

Shabonna hired a professional to negotiate for a class 2 bingo hall and had the tribe pay for Whittlesey’s services. The Middleboro BOS allowed Jack Healey to do it, then hired Whittlesey, paid him ourselves to the tune of $200K, and then didn’t use his agreement. Repeat after me. Stooopid.

Adam was right
I have a clear memory of the meeting where Amelia Bingham warned the BOS that they had better find out more about the morally challenged Glenn Marshall. Adam Bond to his credit had done some research and mentioned several firms that specialize in this sort of work. He also managed not to laugh when Marsha suggested we might find such an expert in town. It was Adam that brought in Whittlesey. At this same meeting, Adam pointed out, and rightly so, that once you set the bar, it is very hard to change it. Well he was right. Jack set the bar so low – just $7M – that the tribe’s lawyers must have been holding in their guffaws until they went out for drinks and spent the next 6 hours slapping one another on the back and laughing their arses off about what a bunch a backward rubes we were.

At the point where the Tribe rejected the Whittlesey agreement, Middleboro should have held the line and told them to walk. That in fact is what I recommended at the time. Instead, we rolled over like a bunch frightened children and accepted a slight increase over the incredibly poor agreement negotiated by Jack Healey. If we had stuck to our guns, they would have come back to the table.

The deal we should have received
So brace yourselves, here are the highlights of the Whittlesey agreement along with my estimate of the value.

• Similar pre-trust tax payments
• $20M – 2% of the net win from class 2 and class 3 gaming
• $7M – (no increase due to CPI versus the 3.1 we have)
• $4M – All current and future local sales and use taxes such as a 4% hotel tax. This would not have been subject to comping.
• $1M – Personal property tax for all non-tribal entities such as vendors. Total guess.
• All infrastructure improvements(town and road)
• Excise Tax on non-tribal vehicles(vendors etc)
• Monthly payments for municipal services
• Pay for a full time planner and clerk prior to opening
• Any percentage to town from state compact deducted from our 2%
• Tribe will pay for a traffic impact analysis and mitigate all issues
• Pay full retail to Middleboro G&E rather than the favorable rate they got
• $520K – pay for 8 police officers and 2 cruisers – forever w/ cruiser replacement every 5 years.
• A portion of new police station
• The demands of the casino will require a town run ambulance service. The tribe will buy 2 ambulances and fund the training and salary of 12 fire/ems workers

According to my calculator, that’s $32.5M. And for those of you who believe this was just a starting point for negotiation, Whittlesey’s Shabbona agreement paid 2.5% of the net win versus our 2%. Surely there would have been some concessions. Whittlesey probably added in 15-30% wiggle room that he was prepared to give away – maybe $8M – which would have brought us down to about $24M – exactly what CFO has been saying all along

Where the BOS went wrong
If you are comfortable with a casino, and I’m not, this was Middleboro’s big chance to get some money that could really help the town. If nothing else it would have spared the town several dozen blogs from me complaining about how crappy our deal is.

Healey really blew this deal. And the BOS blew it when they didn’t hang tough after the Whittlesey agreement was rejected. I personally spoke to Adam a number of times where we both agreed that 2% of the net gaming revenue was about right. These conversations were before the Healey and Whittlesey agreements. Adam knew where the bar should be set. I was completely shocked when I saw the final agreement and was quite sure that Adam would reject it. Boy was I wrong.

Adam – why did you do it? The rest of the BOS didn’t do any homework and didn’t know any better. You did. You knew this deal was far less than what it was worth. I going to go on record as saying that if we had let Adam run this negotiation from the very beginning – before Healey ruined it we would have gotten a good financial deal even without Whittlesey. Adam is more than capable of taking a few IGA’s, picking various pieces and massaging them for the specifics of Middleboro. And he would started with an inflated amount that could be negotiated down until we were left with 2% of the gaming revenue and a few other perks.

The rest of the BOS probably still don’t know what an awful deal this is. They are clinging to the final agreement deluding themselves that it isn’t a terrible deal and hoping that we can make up the difference with ancillary development. Ask Adam guys. He’ll tell you that I’m right.

What we should do at this point is reject the deal outright, submit a complaint to the BIA that we were rushed and intimidated, and demand that we re-open negotiation starting with the Whittlesey agreement. Then we let them talk us down and maybe give up the $7M yearly payments. That will give us a nice even $25M and would be a fair deal.

Update – The chief and the tribe’s medicine man, Guy “Soaring Eagle” Cash, joined a gathering of approximately 150 members on Monday night who unanimously voted to revoke an order to shun the 63-year-old Bingham; his mother, Amelia Bingham; Michelle Tobey Rogers and Stephanie Roderick. The members were shunned after they accused the tribal council of financial mismanagement.

Bingham acknowledged Wednesday that only the tribal council can officially reverse the shunning, and said the four dissidents plan to go through an appeals process with the tribe’s elders judiciary council.

Tribal council spokesman Scott Ferson said the tribal council has no intention of reversing the shunning order, which bars the dissidents from participating in tribal activities or receiving benefits for seven years.

Some might be expecting us pro-community people to be gleeful over the recent Glenn Marshall revelations. No doubt some of us are. The rest of us are not. It’s not pleasant to watch the complete destruction of someone – even an adversary. Mr. Marshall and his casino have been like a plague – ruining our town in some ways before the first shovelful of dirt has been turned. The allegations make us more concerned than ever about the honesty of the people we were negotiating with. The past ties with Jack Abramhoff, the current ties with Detroit and South African developers put an icy chill on any good feelings we might have about entering into an agreement with the Mashpee Wampanoag – a good people with a proud history who have been unfortunate in their choice of leader.

Despite all the bad that Marshall has brought and the pall that lies over the casino – it is not only Mr. Marshall that suffers. He made his choices and will pay the consequences. Connected with him are a family, a Tribe, and a community that will all suffer along with him on one level or another. No decent person could derive glee from seeing the innocent suffer.

Which brings me to Amelia Bingham. I realize I’ll probably be vilified(what else is new) for daring to comment on a Tribal matter but I can’t remain silent. I hereby call on the new Tribal Chairman to rescind the shunning of Amelia Bingham and her associates. Make it so.

As background – Amelia Bingham is a Wampanoag Tribal elder who demanded to see the agreements that former Chairman Marshall had entered into with the casino backers. She clearly had doubts after such information was not forthcoming from Mr. Marshall. She took great umbrage with hired guns like Scott Ferson speaking for her tribe. Mr. Marshall seeminlyg invented “shunning” to silence Amelia and strip her of her status as a member of the Tribe she had belonged to all her life.

Why the connection between Glenn and Amelia? Glenn is a man who lost everything as a consequences of his actions. Amelia is a women who lost the thing she loved best – her Tribal identity – as a consequence of her actions. The glaring difference is that Amelia’s actions were done out of a concern for her Tribe. She had the courage for stand up to something that was wrong. Out of concern for her people, she took one for the team just as the prospect of vast gambling riches were coming to fruition. For some people personal integrity has no price. Amelia is one such person.

On the one hand we have Glenn Marshall – who shunned Amelia Bingham, a man we now know is a convicted rapist. A man who has a cocaine arrest in his past. A man who lied about being a police officer. A man who lied about his war record. A man who may very well wind up in jail. On the other hand we have Amelia Bingham. A woman of grace, dignity, and integrity who was wrongfully cast out of her Tribe. The tribe she has belonged to for eighty-four years. The tribe she belonged to while Mr. Marshall was claiming to be Portugese and taunting Wampanoag kids.

So I say again to vice chairman of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Shawn Hendrick: Do the right thing. Restore Ms. Binghams Tribal status. Show her the respect she has earned in her long life. Do away with shunning completely. And let your Tribe know what sort of deals have been made on their behalf. And if you can’t do all those things. Do the one thing that matters most. Make things right for Amelia.

After media reports on his 1981 rape conviction and allegations that he lied about his Vietnam war record, Glenn Marshall has temporarily stepped down as Tribal Chairman issuing this statement:

“I am proud of my service in the Vietnam War and stand by the service I provided for my country during that horrific period of history. Like others who were part of the war, the years that followed my service are not something I’m proud of. I am proud of the rehabilitation and turnaround in my life following those years, and am proud of what the Tribe has accomplished. I am sorry to have distorted my record and to allow it to stand uncorrected.

Like a lot of veterans from that era, I realize I have my own demons that I need to deal with. I have asked the vice chairman of the Tribe, Shawn Hendricks, to assume my day-to-day responsibilities so I can properly deal with the mental and physical issues I’m facing.”

The fact that Marshall has a past conviction is not really the issue. The severity and brutality of the crime is nonetheless disturbing. As a felony, it would preclude a normal person from getting a liquor license for a clam shack let alone open up the world’s largest casino. (disclaimer – clam shack analogy stolen from some article)

Particularly troubling is the misrepresentation of his war record. From this article:

In 2004, during a congressional oversight hearing on the tribe’s request for federal recognition, Marshall testified he survived the siege of Khe Sahn during the Vietnam War. He had also made that claim in a Cape Cod Times interview in 1998 and before a state gaming panel in 2002.It is truly a pity that one who put himself in harm’s way in Vietnam – had to taint that deed by lying about his service. As far as I’m concerned, just showing up in-country in Vietnam is impressive enough without the need of any further embellishment.

When Marshall says “I am sorry to have distorted my record and to allow it to stand uncorrected”, it seems a bit of a weak admission of the circumstances.

The real issue is one of credibility. Former Tribal Chairman Marshall came to Middleboro – making a bunch of promises – none of which were codified in the final deal. He played the race card when Jacquie asked to read a letter from a Connecticut Selectman about the effects of the casinos. This of course was just the first in a long line of racism charges against the anti-casino residents. Our final agreement contains the term “good faith” 12 times. This covers sections of the agreement that were not really complete but would be negotiated later in “good faith”. I for one don’t have a lot of faith about the person we have been dealing with all along. The good “steward of the land” who has nothing but Middleboro’s best interests at heart.

Adding more cracks to the veneer of credibility is the treatment received by Tribal elder Amelia Bingham. Ms. Bingham was essentially kicked out of her own tribe for asking questions about the financial deals that Marshall had entered into. To date these deals have not been made public. Back in early June CFO brought Ms. Bingham to a selectmen’s meeting. Ms. Bingham tried her best to warn the Middleboro BOS that the Wampanoag people had deep concerns about Mr. Marshall and specifically warned:

“perhaps you haven’t done enough research into the people that your are dealing with. I think you need to really do a little more investigation there.” A video is available on the CFO site. I was embarrassed by the treatment Ms. Bingham received in this meeting … but I digress.

When a Wampanoag tribal elder offered to come and speak to CFO – we listened. Too bad no one else did.

So here we are. Substandard agreement in hand, past warnings from CFO unheeded, and promises of “good faith” negotiations made with a person who has a chronic honesty problem.

And perhaps the saddest thing of all is the effect on the Wampanoag Tribe. Former Chairman Marshall has done them a huge disservice – jeopardizing all their efforts by not being forthright about his demons. Our selectman were deceived, our townspeople were deceived, Governor Patrick was deceived, and the Wampanoag people were deceived.

This casino and associated agreement is like a dead fish – it just stinks more each and every day. It is time to rip up the agreement and start over following these steps:

1. Public debate and information meetings
2. Public election – “Do you want a casino?”
3. Hire professional negotiators to create agreement with input from area towns and the state.
4. Lengthy public debate on agreement substance.
5. Public election – “Do you want the casino agreement?”

Had we we followed these steps from the beginning, we would not be in the mess we are in and our once lovely town would not be so bitterly divided.

We had a CasinoFacts.org directors meeting on Wednesday night 8/1/2007 to discuss the next steps in the campaign to oppose the location of casino(Wampanoag or otherwise) in Middleboro or Massachusetts for that matter. This was the first meeting since the 7/28 Town Meeting.

Treasurer Penny reported the difficulty she had getting signs back from a local proponent who had gone around collecting them. But that’s not the story here. She finally did get them back and was told by the pro-casino sign collector that Glenn Marshall wanted 5 signs for a “museum”.

Glenn – if you want some signs, they’re $5 each and can be obtained by putting in a request at CasinoFacts.org just like anyone else. I shouldn’t have to remind you that they are private property. I don’t want to see your Chairman-mobile sneaking around town chucking CFO signs into the back. I don’t think there would room in the trunk anyhow – it’s filled with BOS scruples, the rotting corpses of due process, and the dusty skeletons of fair play. On opening day at the casino, I expect to be shown a receipt for any signs that might be part of a “gloating over grassroots citizens” exhibit.

On a more personal note, we’re touched that you think so much of us that you want to feature us in your museum. We would have been more touched if you’d cared about the people of Middleboro enough to meet with us even once. We would have been really impressed if you coded the promises you made at the Nichols School presentation into the ripoff agreement you hoodwinked Adam Bond into agreeing to. You know the promises to personally re-imburse impacted homeowners and businesses. We also would have been very impressed if you had honored your promise about putting the casino in a community that wanted it. You promised over and over again that you wouldn’t force the casino on a town that didn’t want it. But when things looked tight, you stood at Oak Point and basically told everyone that you were coming anyway – regardless of what the vote said.

This of course was all part of the “vote yes or else” misinformation campaign that was run from the highest level down to the lowest.

On a completely unrelated topic – why don’t you show everyone that somewhere deep down you have a shred of decency by un-shunning Amelia Bingham and her friends and come clean to your Tribe about the deals you’ve cut with your financial backers. That’s all she asked for and it was a reasonable request – particularly if you have indeed made a deal that is beneficial for the Tribe. While you’re at it why don’t you disavow Scott Fersons charge that CFO was behind Ms. Bingham’s protest at the annual Wampanoag Pow Wow.

CFO is still here and we’re not going anywhere. It’s not too late to speak with us if you have any interest in the concerns of Middleboro’s citizens. But be forewarned. We won’t stand for any of that “steward of the land” baloney. We’ll expect real information about the facility you are planning to destroy our town with. You might take a page from this tribe that seems to actually care what their host communities concerns.

You might be able to razzle-dazzle the weak-minded with your emply platitudes – we’ll be a tougher audience.

And by the way. $20K a year for addiction mitigation isn’t just insufficient – it’s insulting. Just how dumb do you think we are? I take that back – the agreement we just signed answers that question – and the answer is: Pretty darn dumb.

Some pro-casino people have been engaging in illegal and threatening activities to try to intimidate casino opponents.

• Signs are being stolen off of private property. The frequency of the thefts suggest an organized campaign. In one alarming case a car drove onto the lawn to run over a sign – just feet away from where the resident’s children often play.
• CFO members have been called and harrassed at their homes and busineses – in some cases in the middle of the night.
• A woman had her car spat on when a man saw the “No Casino” bumper sticker.
• Incendiary and inaccurate news reports seeking to discredit the opposition.

Most of these incidents are not being carried out by the organized pro-casino movement in town. The exception would be the news reports.

Note to Wampanoag Tribal Spokesman Scott Ferson: You make me ashamed to be a Democrat. Your smear campaign against CasinoFacts.org on behalf your corporate overlords shows a complete disregard for fairplay and decency. Note to Glenn Marshall: If you sanction Scott’s public statements – shame on you. Note to all: CFO is not affiliated with the Democratic party or any other group.

Tribal Elder Amelia Bingham and other shunned Wampanoags showed up at their own pow-wow literally surrounded by a phalanx of armed police. For those who don’t know, Ms. Bingham was effectively kicked out of her own tribe for asking to see the Tribe’s finances and get an explanation of any deals the Tribe had with the casino developers. This woman is the living embodiment of integrity and tenacity.

After daring to show up at her own pow-wow, Scott Ferson tried to discredit CasinoFacts.org by accusing CFO as being behind her protest. I’d be flattered if Scott believes we have such power over the Wampanoag people. He doesn’t. It’s just part of his ongoing attempt to threaten, bully, and discredit the opposition. Scott – if you can’t sell the casino on it’s merits then you have a serious PR problem on your hands. Selling it by trying to discredit a grassroots citizens group with $80 worth of an internet site is a cheap shot.

This isn’t his first swing at us. When the idea of doing a silent casino protest at the Wampanoag pow-wow was brought up at a CFO meeting, we rejected the idea as being disrepectful to the tribe. The “suggestion” was made by a person who turned out to be pro-casino. Scott took this event and ran with it – attacking CasinoFacts.org for plans that never existed. All this after a CFO member told Glenn Marshall personally that we had no plans to disrupt or protest at the pow-wow.

CasinoFacts.org is a grassroots group of Middleboro residents who are trying to preserve their town’s character. We are fighting a huge multinational corporation with limitless resources at their disposal. It is a true David versus Goliath story. Casino advocates like Ferson – lacking a compelling argument to sway the public, have resorted to cheap attacks against the opposition. They’re not arguing for the casino – they’re arguing against opponents. Mr. Ferson – the Democratic party I know would work on behalf of the small citizen group that is trying to protect their homes and families. You ought to be ashamed of yourself.

Keep on swinging at us Ferson. It just makes us more determined. Your cheap attacks make us sure that we should not be involved with people who would use such tactics. You represent a giant international corporation that is only interested in making a buck and has no concern for Middleboro. We are the people of Middleboro. Our motives are pure. Our message is about issues not about attacking people. And yes I realize that this very blog is attacking you. It’s just that I’ve turned the other cheek so many times I was getting dizzy from spinning around.. and had to stop for a minute.

As I said earlier. You have a serious PR problem on your hands. Your tactics and motives are transparent to everyone and we’re going to beat you. Let’s see how your next potential corporate overlord feels about your “stellar” performance here in Middleboro. I don’t think you’re earning your money if you’re having such trouble with a “vocal minority” whose resources consist of little more than conviction and an $80 web site. I’d love to see how you’re going to spin the “Middleboro job” on your resume. Maybe you can find a way to blame CasinoFacts.org for your poor job performance.

Maybe next time you’ll try to treat people with respect and dignity and let them make an informed decision on their town without threats, bullying, misinformation, and personal attacks. Try it. It just might work next time.

Sleep well tonight Scott. I know I will.

PS to the man who spit on the women’s car. Thank you. Her father was ambivalent about the casino. He is now working very hard on our behalf.