Receptive crowd at tribe's Mashpee hearing
Mike Solimini, front, a 15-year Middleboro, Mass. resident, displays a sign expressing his disapproval during a public hearing to debate a proposed gambling casino in Middleboro, Mass., Tuesday. The ostensible purpose for the first of two public hearings this week was to assess the possible enviromnental impact of building the 600,000 square foot casino on the 539-acre site [Associated Press]

By Stephanie Vosk
Cape Cod Times staff writer

MASHPEE — It was almost entirely tribe members who filled the rows of seats behind Jessie “Little Doe” Fermino as she took the podium Wednesday night.

Welcome to Wampanoag territory, she told the officials from the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs who sat on stage.
“I was born in this town and ... my bones will be in this town,” she said, then gestured to the audience. “All of these people are my family.”

The hearing at Mashpee High School Wednesday night was the second in as many days on the tribe’s application to put land in Mashpee and Middleboro into trust with the federal government. About 140 acres in Mashpee would be used for tribal housing and services. About 539 acres in Middleboro would be used to build a casino resort under federal gaming laws.

Wednesday night’s mood and crowd were remarkably different from the previous night’s Middleboro hearing.
In Middleboro, opponents filed to the podium one after another. Some argued the negative impacts of a casino while others questioned the tribe’s ties to the Middleboro land.

Wednesday night, there were six speakers in total; five were tribe members, and hardly a negative word was spoken.

The only complaint at all came from tribe member Michelle Russell, who argued the town of Mashpee was not giving enough land to the tribe.

In her remarks, Fermino said she hopes the tribe will be able to build on its agreement with Mashpee later.

Fermino also responded to claims made Tuesday night that the Mashpee Wampanoag do not have the necessary historical connection to Middleboro to seek reservation land in the town.

Two leaders of the Massachuset tribe spoke at the Middleboro hearing and accused the Mashpee Wampanoag of invading their territory and going against the native way by forsaking the environment to build a casino.

Although other Native Americans have asserted ties to Middleboro, the Mashpee Wampanoag and the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) are the only Bay State tribes recognized by the federal government.

“It takes more than putting on some beads and braids and calling yourself an Indian or a tribe,” Fermino said. “We’ve been a tribe when it was not fun, when it was not convenient.”

With her Wampanoag headband proudly displayed, tribal elder Princess Smiling Wind told the Bureau of Indian Affairs officials that the Mashpee tribe needs the casino to “get to where we want to be.”

Coreen Moore, chairwoman of the tribal housing commission, spoke about the need for the Mashpee land to be put into trust. “For us to provide safe and affordable housing, we must be able to develop our land on our terms.”

Land held in federal trust is exempt from state and local taxes and laws.

In his opening remarks, Tribal Council Chairman Shawn Hendricks described the tribe’s connection to the Indian museum, meeting house, parsonage, and burial ground — historic sites that are part of the Mashpee land trust application.

“We have always been a tribe, and this, the scoping meeting, is another step to regaining what is rightfully ours,” he said.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs will accept written comments on the tribe’s land trust application through April 9. After that, a draft Environmental Impact Statement for the land parcels will be prepared, and the public will again have a chance to comment before the environmental report is finalized.

Mashpee residents will get another chance to comment on the tribe’s land trust proposal at a special Town Meeting April 7, when residents will vote on an intergovernmental agreement with the tribe.

Selectman George “Chuckie” Green, who is also a tribe member, said he expects at least a few more complaints at that meeting.

Wednesday night’s hearing was a quiet and cordial affair, but Town Meeting is a “whole different ballgame,” he said.

Stephanie Vosk can be reached at svosk@capecodonline.com