Open Letter to Fred Wiseman Sr, Ph-Duh.

Hello,

I am sending you this email because I want to ask you a few questions about your “lecture” at the Missisquoi general meeting this past Sunday. I was one of the many people who had to pause for coffee/bathroom breaks because quite frankly, you were boring the living crap out of everyone.

First of all, why did you bring up the Elnu and Nulhegan groups? Allow me to remind you that this was a general meeting of the St.Francis/Sokoki band of the Missisquoi Abenaki Nation, not the Nulhegan and not the Elnu!

Second of all, I spoke with quite a few people who were personally insulted by your “lecture”. They felt that you were using your status as a Professor at Johnson State College to lecture us on what is supposed to be OUR heritage, not yours, not the Elnu and certainly not the Nulhegan. These folks and I as well feel that you were talking down to us in a manner that you had no right to do.We, the St.Francis/Sokoki band, were here long before Luke Willard and his merry band of greasy-haired “indians” came along. We were insulted by your dog and pony show.

Third of all, how did you come to become a member of the the Missisquoi tribal council? As much as I hate to be the bearer of bad news, you are not, and never will be, an Abenaki, no matter how much you try to convince yourself. That council should be open to only members of the St.Francis/Sokoki band. This reminds me of a similar play by Jeff Benay to weasel his way onto the VCNAA, though he too, has absolutely NO Abenaki heritage. Either the Missisquoi council is naive, or you just had to find a way to get involved.

I know that in the past, you have accused people like myself of being “hate bloggers”. You must hate the St.Francis/Sokoki band enough to put the Elnu and Nulhegan people above us at our own general meeting! Why aren’t you riding the coattails of one Luke Willard, ex-chairman of the VCNAA? You should be up in Brownington, patting these frauds on the back instead of talking down to the good people of Missisquoi!

For years, we sat by and watched you tell lie after lie about our heritage while simultaneously back-stabbing each and every one of the St.Francis/Sokoki band members.

We sat there and watched as you helped the Elnu, Nulhegan and Koasek frauds obtain recognition that they were never entitled to in the first place!

Come October, we will no longer sit and watch. We will take action. We will use the power of Democracy to cast you out of our tribe and our community.

We will take back our band and Missiquoi for ourselves!

Just when you thought I was gone for good…

Whoooo’sss back? I am!

Buckle up, boys and girls! It’s going to be a bumpy ride for the usual suspects mentioned on this blog!

Yours truly has come back into this fight with a renewed vigor. 

Who were the “4 Indians”?

I’m Back!!!!

So, which of you pretend Abenakis missed me the most? I hope your new year has been free of turmoil and pain thus far. Me? I’ve spent the last 4 months getting back into shape, having lost 75lbs. Honestly, this Abenaki monkey business was starting to drive me up a wall. It still does and that’s why you don’t see many posts.

It would be nice for once if certain politicians within the state of Vermont would come forward and admit that they’re shielding these fakes. That’s something I’m wishing for in 2012 that will likely never happen anyway. There’s too much money at stake and these folks want to milk that magical Abenaki cash cow until it stumbles home, sore and dry.

On a more interesting note, I’m re-posting this video created by Douglas Lloyd Buchholz. It’s amazing how folks like Luke Willard and Carollee Reynolds have stood by the 4 Indians claim as “proof” of their ancestry. Mr.Buchholz demolishes that with his research.

Oh, and I’ll finish this post with a quote that I feel fits this recognition bullshit very well:

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”

-Joseph Goebbels

Oh and if you’re reading this Howard Knight, I hope you understand the points in that quote (LARGE TEXT!)  because much like the rest of the Wannabenakis, you’re continuing a lie that is now accepted as truth by some.

What? No News?

I’m still around, even if this blog is kind of dormant at the moment. I believe that if there is nothing to report, there’ s no need to post.

I do not worry too much about recognition of “tribes” and so forth. After all, people are suffering from the effects of Hurricane Irene. I believe that takes importance over continuing a pointless feud, especially after the pictures I saw of my “second home”, Brattleboro. I spent six years attending a private school for the hearing impaired there and it is heart-wrenching to see such pictures and wonder how my friends down that way are holding up.

If you do have anything worth reporting, feel free to contact me directly. Until then, I shall remain in the darkness of the rafters.

VCNAA Meeting Minutes 6/21/11 (with my commentary)

I believe that the VCNAA website needs someone that knows how to work on websites because the link for the May 17th minutes brings one to the June 21st minutes.

Not bad for a website funded by the taxpayers of the State of Vermont!

(By the way, this was one of the same points that the Vermont Indigenous Alliance used when attacking the former commission.)

VCNAA Meeting minutes June 21 2011

My commentary as follows below:

1. Approve minutes of May 17, 2011.
Charlene moved to approve the minutes. Melody seconded and all agreed.

As I just mentioned, where are these minutes?

2. Testimony of Senator Hinda Miller
The testimony was cancelled. No rescheduling was needed.

Oooh, Hinda decided not to testify? Oh pray tell, what could be the reason behind that? Hinda Miller’s been a strong proponent of this VCNAA/Alliance bullshit from day one. I don’t think her testimony means a goddamn thing at this point.

3. Consider Draft Recommendation Report to General Assembly for: St. Francis/Sokoki Band

The commission looked over the recommendation report with the following changes:

1. Page 6: line 2: add “…with portions of Swanton, Alburg, Highgate
towns and other areas in Franklin…”
2. Page 6: line 4: remove “map of Lake Champlain”
3. Page 6: line 10: add “…Sokoki Band, I. E. clothing, tools,…”
4. Page 6: line 11: start new paragraph with “Many Indian identifying customs, such as keeping fish eyes warm by keeping them beneath tongue, separated Missiquoi Abenakis from their Anglo and Franco-VT neighbors…”
5. Page 6: line 12: replace “gross” with “primitive.”
6. Page 6: line 13: remove “would”
7. Page 6: line 16: remove “Abenaki”
8. Page 6: line 17: replace Vermont with “the region”
9. Page 6: line 18: remove “to destroy”. Add period after “some of these
sites. Begin new sentence with “Missisquoi…”
10. Page 6: line 20: replace “destroyed” with “threatened”
11. Page 6: line 21 & 22: Remove “80 of these grave sites were located in
the Boucher cemetery which was later purchased by the State of
Vermont where the exhumed bodies were…”
12. Page 6: line 25: replace “house” with “housing”
13. Page 6: line 26: start new paragraph with “Today Missiquoi…” and
replace “yearly” with “annual”
14. Page 6: line 26 – 28: remove paragraph “Reaching out to the community…oral history and its people.”
Discussion was held. Charlene moved to accept the draft with noted edits. Shirly seconded.
All agreed.

Now we’re crackin’! The fun part of these minutes is where they take pre-existing information (courtesy of Mr.Freddy M. Wiseass PH.D(umbass)) and modify it to make it more “acceptable” to these flakes.

Nowhere is there a mention of the tribal rolls, which I assume they wish to keep the same.

4. Indian Child Welfare Act
Discussion was held. Luke will continue meeting with Sherry Gould and Betty Johnson regarding Abenaki children in foster care. Luke will set up a meeting with the Department of Health & Human Services.

Sherry Gould? The same Sherry Gould that’s currently working to scam the state of New Hampshire in the same way that Luke Willard and his co-horts have done to the state of Vermont? Give me a break!

1. Abenaki Heritage Week in May
Discussion was held. Luke suggested to get in touch with people who participate in the previous heritage week. Questions that came up: Funding resources? Presenters? It was decided to speak with Jeff Benay regarding the previous events. Charlene will work on next year’s event and bring to the next meeting.

It’s no shock that the Missisquoi Pow-Wow was canceled this year. Perhaps they didn’t “raise” enough money to pay the vendors to come?

2. Nulhegan requesting assistance in securing funds for DOL INAP and Title VII
Indian Education Fund.Luke read a letter from Nulhegan Chief Don Stevens requesting assistance inimplementing the programs in the Northeast Kingdom. Discussion was held. Luke willdraft a letter from the Commission to DHP and the Governor’s office requesting the necessary resources.

It wouldn’t be long before they starting requesting “funds” that we all know are going to go straight into the pockets of Donald Stevens and perhaps also into Luke’s pockets over time. Don’t lie to us, people. You’re not fooling anyone but the State of Vermont.

3. Special meeting
It was decided to invite Jeff Benay to attend a special meeting to discuss Title VII and Abenaki Heritage Week. We’re looking at a special meeting at National Life at 5:30pm at a date most convenient for Jeff.

That is, if Jeff stops hiding under a rock long enough. Trust me, you don’t want his advice on anything at this point.

There we have it, folks. Meeting minutes from your wonderful sham of a Commission. I shall continue to comment on their foibles and hold nothing back. After all, only the people can hold each other accountable in situations such as this.

Abenaki leader Merrill’s Exploitation charge dropped Burlington Free Press 6/16/11

Abenaki leader Merrill’s Exploitation charge dropped-Burlington Free Press   Sam Hemingway  6/16/11

Text as follows:

The chief of the St. Francis/Sokoki band of the Abenakis in Swanton has been cleared — for now — of a charge alleging that she improperly spent money belonging to a vulnerable man in her care.

April St. Francis Merrill was arraigned in March on charges she’d financially exploited Louis P. Lafrance of Highgate Center. According to court papers, Merrill spent $30,697 between 2008 and 2010 on items that did not benefit Lafrance, also an Abenaki member. Lafrance died in October.

Merrill, 42, of Highgate did not respond to a phone request for comment Wednesday. Her lawyer, Peter Langrock, said Merrill was glad the charge had been dropped. He said Merrill may not have been a perfect bookkeeper, but that she did “not steal a nickel.”

“Chief April St. Francis Merrill at all times has maintained her innocence and claimed that all monies that came into her control on behalf of Louis Lafrance were spent on his behalf and at his direction,” Langrock said.

Franklin County State’s Attorney Jim Hughes confirmed his office had dropped the charge against Merrill but said he intends to file new, more specific felony charges against her in the Lafrance matter in the near future to resolve a procedural issue raised by Langrock in the original case.

“The defendant filed a motion requesting specificity on all the different acts,” Hughes said. “So we’ll be filing at least a dozen charges we feel can be proven.”

Hughes said he expected to file those new charges in the next week or two. “They’re coming,” Hughes said.

Langrock said he didn’t think Hughes would re-charge Merrill once he studies the facts in more detail.

“I’d be very surprised if he does,” Langrock said. “He doesn’t got anything.”

According to court papers, the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department began investigating Merrill’s handling of Lafrance’s money after Lafrance’s family raised questions about expenditures listed on his bank and credit card records and alerted police.

Among the transactions that came under scrutiny were instances where Merrill withdrew money from Lafrance’s account via an ATM while in Rutland, where Merrill has family, and at the Veterans of Foreign War post in Swanton, where she is a member but Lafrance wasn’t, court documents said.

Other purchases she made occurred while Lafrance was in the hospital or a rehab center. Still others involved things such as buying pizza and paying for a car wash. Lafrance, who lived on Social Security payments, did not own a car.

Langrock said the car wash was for Merrill’s car and was done after Lafrance had become sick while in the car. As for the pizza purchases, Langrock said the food was for Lafrance and his friends. “I don’t think she got a single piece of free pizza out of it,” Langrock said.

Merrill became chief of the Sokoki band of the Abenakis following the death of her father, Homer St. Francis, in 2001.

Putting aside all personal vendettas, one must still look at the facts in this case. It will be interesting to see if Mr.Hughes does indeed file these charges as mentioned.

Personally, I have a feeling that there is more to this case than meets the eye. April Merrill has been accused for years by others of mis-managing money but this is the first time that she has been before a court of law to answer to those accusations.

The only other thing I have to say is that if they can find something that will prove her guilt, then they should approach it by all means.  Otherwise, there is nothing more that can be done.

Much like politicians that are forced to step down after scandals, it is only fitting that Merrill step down from her tribal leadership. Rumors abound that this has happened but until solid proof surfaces, it really is her call.

I do want to ask our readers a question: If you were in charge of someone else’s finances, would you ever feel the temptation to spend them on pizza or car washes, even if you know that they could be scrutinized?

Time will tell as this case unfolds further. Some may claim that it does not affect the Vermont Indigenous Alliance. I believe otherwise as the character of leaders in our society must be upheld or else, they do not deserve to be leaders in the first place.

 

Letter to St.Albans Messenger regarding Swanton VCNAA forum

This is my letter to the St.Albans Messenger, which was published shortly after the VCNAA forum up in Swanton back in April.

The letter concerns the media coverage of this event by Leon Thompson.

I don’t think it’s much of a surprise that the media in Franklin County would be supportive of (now ex)Chief Merrill and her merry band of cohorts. You can say the same for various other newspapers in the State of Vermont.

I remember a time when journalists had integrity. Nowadays, it’s nothing short of a free-for-all in which most newspapers are at a race to the bottom. You can’t read actual news in a Gannett publication either  (Burlington Free Press).

Nowadays, it’s all sensationalist fluff and feel good stories.

 

On Elnu & Nulhegan Recognition

This is the last time I will address Gluscabi directly.

Seriously, what the hell was I supposed to say about recognition of these fraudulent bands? The criminals in the VT Legislature decided they were going to go along with the ruse, instead of doing their research. They ignored all of the research that was done because they saw $$$.

State recognition does not mean jack-squat because these groups will NEVER gain Federal recognition.

Their land claims?  They will be laughed out of court.
Their requests to sell tax-free cigarettes?   Ditto.
Their requests to label their crafts as “Abenaki”?   Ha fucking ha. Don’t get me started.

The fact that Gluscabi quoted the white man’s book makes me laugh even harder as

a. I am an atheist
b. The bible makes good fodder for a campfire when no brush is available
c. Harold Camping is a quack that made millions off of his scam

Oh, I have an idea. Why doesn’t the VT Indigenous Alliance pull a similar scam? There’s no money in being Abenaki.

You can make more money fleecing sheep.

Perhaps they should start with their own flock.

Calm Before The Storm

If you’ve been wondering why there hasn’t been any new posts on this blog, you need to look no further than the lack of news worth reporting.

Until the minutes for the latest VCNAA meeting are released (5/17/11 in Rutland) or another breakthrough comes through, there will be no new posts.

You see, instead of wasting my time and energy on combating fools that run other blogs, I prefer to stick to the facts.

Though a little birdie tipped me off to the identity of one of these wanna-be bloggers.

Simon, I’m watching you.