Or is he ….

By , January 11, 2009 2:14 pm

I reported yesterday that Shawn Hendricks and Desire Hendricks-Moreno were placed on administrative leave following a vote an an emergency meeting of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council and budding Bingo Hall/Casino managers.

Seems that Mr. Hendricks doesn’t like that idea. Man, this is like watching a train wreck in slow motion:

A simmering factional struggle in the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe reached a fast boil Friday night, when a minimum quorum of the tribal council held an emergency meeting and voted to place chairman Shawn Hendricks on administrative leave and reverse the shunning of several tribe members.

Hendricks and the tribe’s legal team contend the emergency meeting was invalid, and a battle over Friday night’s votes seems inevitable.

“There is no justification for an emergency meeting of any sort, because there is no crisis to warrant it,” Hendricks wrote in a letter to tribe members dated Jan. 6, citing advice from three of the tribe’s legal counselors including William McDermott, who was hired by the tribe’s casino investors.

What word or phrase means the opposite of “capable self-governance”?

While Hendrick’s status seems uncertain, there is as yet no one challenging the un-shunning .. err … de-shunning … err .. unshunification of Amelia Bingham etal.

While the tribal body has voted multiple times to have the shunned members reinstated — both at unofficial and official meetings — the four have still been barred from tribe meetings and events because the tribal council had until Friday night resisted the pressure to reverse the shunning order.

This time, the shunned members say, they’re hoping their reinstatement is for real.

“You’re excited and happy for the moment, and then they throw something (at) you,” Tobey-Roderick said yesterday. “Here comes McDermott or here comes the backers, not to let us in. I’m afraid of that.”

Fernandes said she has been advised by a council member that an official letter detailing Friday night’s vote on the shunning is on its way.

“I wasn’t worried about benefits and monies and checks and all that because my status as a Wampanoag will always be,” Fernandes said. “If this is the way the board felt, it should be resolved “¦ then I’m pleased to hear that we won our rights back through the majority.”

Amelia Bingham said she is ready to vote in the February election, which will be held two days after her 86th birthday.


categories Middleboro

5 Responses to “Or is he ….”

  1. Middleboro Review says:
    January 11, 2009 at 8:07 pm

    Tribe’s Attorney Resigns seems to indicate
    ‘… [McDermott's] resignation is due to frustration on the part of the tribe’s legal team that council members have been ignoring legal advice by calling for emergency meetings.’ That leads you to believe there’s more going on.

  2. Anonymous says:
    January 11, 2009 at 11:33 pm

    This on going news story is kind of scary. We have entered into an agreement with a group with an assumed trust and “good faith” between us and them.

    These news stories make me think to the future when the town may have to ask the tribe to act in “good faith” towards the town. My confidence in the tribes ability to act in “good faith” has been greatly diminished by the inability to manage themselves.

  3. Bellicose Bumpkin says:
    January 12, 2009 at 12:25 am

    My confidence in the tribes ability to act in “good faith” has been greatly diminished by the inability to manage themselves.
    I’ve been pretty critical all along of the number of “good faith” statements in the IGA.

    If the faith is good, nobody would object to them being codified.

  4. Jacquie says:
    January 12, 2009 at 7:04 am

    good faith?

    Please, this whole thing is such a sham.

  5. Smoking Owl says:
    January 12, 2009 at 11:46 am

    What word or phrase means the opposite of “capable self-governance”?

    Hmmmm, the termed F’ed UP comes to mind.

    Former Tribal representatives always liked to play the sovereignty card. Well, they’re a sovereign nation now. I don’t see where any U.S. court would have jurisdiction over inter-tribal matters. Mr. Hendricks and his associates are just going to have to take their lumps. They better get used to it cause once Glenn Marshall spills his guts, the lumps will be coming from the Feds.

Leave a Reply

Panorama Theme by Themocracy

Switch to our mobile site