By BROOKLYN BROWN
One Feather Reporter
CHEROKEE, N.C. – On the afternoon of Thursday, April 2, the Dinilawigi (Tribal Council) of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) voted to suspend the members of the Qualla Enterprises, LLC. board and remove the chairperson.
Qualla Enterprises, LLC, an entity of the EBCI, operates the Great Smoky Mountain Cannabis Co. dispensary as well as a cannabis farm in Tsisqwohi (Birdtown) which supplies the dispensary.
Res. No. 181 (2026) to suspend board members Albert Rose, Morgan Owle Crisp, Jacob Reed, and Tagan Crowe, with removal pending investigation by the Office of Internal Audit and Ethics, was submitted by Dinilawigi, with a motion by Wayohi (Wolftown) Rep. Mike Parker seconded by Tutiyi/Tsalagi Gadugi (Snowbird/Cherokee Co.) Rep. Michael Smoker. Wayohi (Wolftown) Rep. Bo Crowe abstained. All other members voted to pass.
The decision stemmed from a different resolution, Res. No. 177 (2026), submitted by the Qualla Enterprises, LLC. Board to remove board member Tagan Crowe, alleging dissemination of confidential information. Dinilawigi discussed the resolution at length during the morning part of the session, breaking for lunch and later amending the resolution to state that there was insufficient investigation to remove Crowe. All voted to pass, except for Rep. Crowe who abstained.
Another resolution, Res. No. 180 (2026), submitted by Dinilawigi in the afternoon, also passed, removing Qualla Enterprises, LLC. board chairperson Carolyn West from her position, stating that during the April 2 council session, she “disclosed information and conducted herself such that she would be removed from the board.” Rep. Crowe abstained.
The Qualla Enterprises, LLC. Board alleged in their resolution that by Crowe sending Qualla Enterprises documents to his personal email, he violated his oath of office. Kolanvyi (Big Cove) Rep. Lavita Hill argued that by the same logic, Chairperson West should be removed from her position for sending a document titled, ‘first amended consultant agreement with amendment,’ to the outside emails of parties who were not board members in 2023, and made a move to amend Res. No. 177 (2026) and replace Crowe’s name with West’s.
Aniwodihi (Painttown) Rep. Michael Stamper also made a move to amend Res. No. 177 (2026) to suspend the entire board, citing a lack of faith in the board’s function.
During the morning deliberations, Rep. Stamper addressed Qualla Enterprises consulting attorney Rico Frias, “I’m ecstatic to hear how you’re answering these questions because one of the main comments that we get from our departments here that try to cooperate with Qualla is that you’re very argumentative and that you’re very standoffish and that you choose not to answer questions and that you choose to utilize language that would be threatening to any of our departments. For instance, whenever we need to access financial information, we have several new Council members here that are just trying to gain traction and learn some of these processes, learn operating agreements, read documents, you know, we’re met with stalled efforts, essentially. And whenever we meet with these new members and they have stalled efforts, that prolongs their ability to learn and gain traction in these seats which further constitutes the whole argument that these terms are short, and it’s hard to learn whenever our LLCs are preventing us from learning.”
Rep. Stamper went on to say, “We only have authority over the board members, so if Tagan needs to gain information and he’s getting that information and its on one of our paths, we look for Tagan to do that. I mean that’s for every board member. If that’s being met with some kind of resistance from the attorney that would represent that board, how is this process flowing? And why is it as rigid as it is? It seems like there are a lot of processes that are wrong, and if the board has not addressed these processes, and allows them to prolong and go on further, then it doesn’t matter who we appoint and replace if we were to remove Tagan. The new member is going to be met with the same resistance. I would say that there’s little to no faith in the board members that are currently seated there if they themselves hired you as an attorney to be as obstructive to these processes that we have in place already well before you.”
Frias stated that he has never threatened any staff of EBCI members and is concerned by the allegation.
While fielding questions, West asked for Dinilawigi to enter closed session, “Vice Chair, if we could go into executive session, we can explain to the Tribal Council why this is of such urgency and who the adverse parties are to the tribe.”
Her request was denied, with Taline Gahvsgi (Vice Chairperson) Wolfe polling Dinilawigi, “There’s been a request that we go into executive session. Do I have a move to go into executive session? No moves to do that.”
Tsisqwohi Rep. Owle asked if there was any evidence that Crowe shared confidential information, “My question is, the bottom line is, was there any statements that he said that he shouldn’t have said, was there anything confidential, any information that he shouldn’t have shared with some of our adverse parties, was there any evidence of that?”
Frias replied, referring to a panel on which Crowe sat and allegedly shared confidential information while attending a conference, “I wish we were able to get that evidence. That’s the reason I called up to try to get the video of it. Unfortunately, they don’t video tape it. And so, we’re not able to get ahold of that information.”
Kolanvyi Rep. Venita Wolfe reiterated Owle’s line of questioning. “You all can twist and turn this, but the fact is, you all perceive he did something with no evidence, no hard evidence, yet you all decided unanimously as a board to have him suspended, and unanimously as a board to bring this resolution in to have him removed.”
Rep. Wolfe also echoed statements made by Rep. Owle that the Office of Internal Audit and Ethics should have received a complaint of misconduct, rather than Dinilawigi receiving a resolution. “We have a structure for a reason. We have Ethics for a reason and if you had any concerns, that should’ve been the first place you went, not publishing this so that everyone in the community can see what you all think of this person.”
Rep. Wolfe added concerns surrounding Sovereign Cannabis Solutions, an independent contractor of Qualla Enterprises, LLC.
“My concern is the managerial company, Sovereign Solutions, what are they doing that is adverse to us? We don’t know that. My concern is a lot of intellectual property, the seeds, the growing, where is that information? The cash, who handles that? There’s a lot of questions and these aren’t questions that are just coming from me, these are questions coming from my constituents, people in the community, that are not happy with the way that this has been run, the veil of secrecy that has been put between this company and our people, our stakeholders. We are the sole ownership of this organization, yet we can’t get any information. As a new person, I would like to know this information, so I know exactly what I’m dealing with, and I know not to disclose things that I’m not supposed to.”
Elawodi (Yellowhill) Rep. Shenelle Feather said she is also upset by the resolution submission rather than an ethics complaint.
“This community is very close, and I’m kind of just speaking to Rico here, our visitor. We are very tight knit, as the board knows, we’re family, and this isn’t the way to do this. This is not the way to do this. I think it’s just in poor taste. I would’ve loved to have had this come to us and have a conversation about it before this went out into the public for their opinions. We all have opinions. I just think that this is not the right way to do this in Indigenous community. The public shaming aspect of this does not sit well with me. It doesn’t sit well with how I was taught, and how I was brought up, and how I was raised in a traditional way. We come and talk to each other about these things. That’s how we do traditionally to be respectful of our community members. I’m assuming you grew up in community with your relatives. I’m hoping that you have those same teachings, because a lot of Native tribes are very similar in the way that they treat each other. This is out of balance. This is not Tohi. I don’t like that. I just wanted to share that. Whenever we move, we have to move like this water, Oconaluftee River right here, we have to move consistently. This isn’t consistent. This doesn’t feel good to me. I just wanted to say that, respectfully.”
Aniwodihi (Painttown) Rep. Shannon Swimmer shared her legal perspective, “You said that there was the ‘appearance’ that confidential information was shared. A couple of my other fellow council members alluded to this. The appearance of confidential information being shared could have also happened at the RES panel that happened [that other Qualla Enterprises board members attended and spoke at recently]. If appearance is enough to bring an action like this, then that seems to be a pretty low bar to me. And by the way I am also an attorney, so I get your legalese and all that, but appearance again is a very low standard.”
Crowe also gave remarks. “I stand before you today not just to defend myself, but to speak openly and honestly about what’s happening inside Qualla Enterprises… The real reason I believe I’m here today is not because of any wrongdoing on my part, but because I chose to speak up.” Crowe alleged that the resolution is retaliatory for Crowe raising concerns regarding what he perceives to be a lack of comprehensive meeting minutes, no adherence to Robert’s Rules of Order, board decisions being ‘heavily influenced if not controlled’ by independent contractors, overspending on infrastructure, a lack of transparency of vendors, employee safety issues, and a failure to follow the consulting agreement with hiring and firing and training of employees. Crowe said he also suggested a $25,000 spending cap to require board approval, which was denied.
In regards to the allegations against him, Crowe said, “I never shared those documents not once and there is zero evidence that I did. But what’s more concerning is this: independent contractors, someone who doesn’t answer to the tribe, had access to all of my emails. And now, they’ve used that information against me—the contractor, not the board, but the contractor raised that issue in the board meeting. It wasn’t brought to my attention by any board member. Who gave them access to my account? Why do contractors have that level of control over this tribal enterprise?”
Crowe added, “I stand here today denying any wrongdoing, but more importantly, I stand here asking you to look beyond me, look beyond how this board is operating, and look at the influence of contractors. Look at the lack of oversight, transparency, and accountability because this is bigger than me.”
