Trial Against Mahwah's Ramapough Lenape Tribe Begins Monday

MAHWAH, NJ — A Bergen County Superior Court trial will begin Monday involving the Ramapough Lenape Nation tribe, the township, and the Ramapo Hunt & Polo Club.

The township and polo club want to prevent more than five Ramapough from using the tribe's land at 95 Halifax Road and force the tribe to remove its sacred prayer circle.

The trial begins at 9 a.m. The tribe said it acquired the land through a private transaction in 1995. Native Americans have said the land is theirs and dates back 10,000 years. It used to be home to an ancestral villages and burial ground.

The land, which the tribe calls the Sweet Water Prayer Site, is at the mouth of the Ramapo and Mahwah rivers.

Mahwah and the polo club want to prevent more than five Ramapough from coming onto the land. They also want a prayer circle made up of ceremonial carvings of masks on poles and a sacred stone alter removed.

The case is the latest in a series of legal proceedings involving the parties that date back years.

A Superior Court judge ruled in January the tribe violated local zoning laws when they erected tepees and other structures on the land.

The tribe argued that has a First Amendment right to assemble at the property and hold religious ceremonies on the Halifax Road property.

Judge Keith Bachmann, of the Bergen County Super Court Appeals Division, decided to uphold a 2017 ruling that Mahwah officials were correct in issuing more than 100 summonses for building the tepees and other structures without permission, NorthJersey.com previously reported.

Bachmann also cut the fines the town issued against the Ramapoughs in half — to about $5,000. The fines were related to a tent they erected on the land for 102 days and then removed.

A Superior Court judge denied an injunction in December 2017 filed by the Ramapo Hunt & Polo Club Association against the Ramapoughs. (See related: Judge Denies Ramapo Polo Club's Injunction Against Ramapoughs)

The land is located near the club. The club wanted to prevent "any religious" activity on the site and block people from staying there overnight. The club also wanted large gatherings and "activities that cause loud noises, smoke and air and water pollution" banned.

New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal announced in March that New Jersey settled an agreement with the tribe and acknowledged it officially recognizes the nation as a tribe. (See related: Mahwah's Ramapough Lenape Nation Recognized As Tribe)

Email: daniel.hubbard@patch.com