Ramapough Nation Presents Case For Lifting Restraining Order

MAHWAH, NJ — Members of the Ramapough Lenape Nation packed a courtroom Tuesday morning as arguments were made in a case involving the tribe building structures on sacred land without the town's permission.

The nation presented a motion before Bergen County Superior Court Judge Charles Powers that would lift the temporary restraining order the town filed against it over its efforts to hold religious ceremonies on the Sweetwater prayer site at the Ramapo Hunt and Polo Club.

"We have a right to practice our religious and ceremonial rights on this land and the restraining order is prohibiting us from doing so," said Steven D. Smith, a.k.a. Owl, a spokesman for the Ramapough nation.

Smith said Powers would announce his ruling in a day or two.

RELATED: Tribe Will File Motion Against Teepee Restraining Order

The Ramapough Lenape Nation has owned the land at 95 Halifax Road and conducted religious ceremonies on it for hundreds of years. The land borders the Ramapo River. The restraining order bars nation members from having teepees and other structures it erected there in November without the town's permission.

The tribe previously said it put the teepees up as a gesture of solidarity with Standing Rock and to protect local water against the proposed Pilgrim Pipeline project.

The township issued two summonses against the Ramapoughs for not getting the required zoning permits and permissions before constructing the structures. The nation submitted the paperwork, but its zoning application was denied. The tribe had lumber delivered and began constructing a platform thereafter.

"If this order prohibiting gathering for prayer and free speech is allowed to stand, then everyone's right to assemble, to speak and to pray is at risk, not just Ramapough's," said Dwaine Perry, the nation's chief.

Perry and Smith made headlines recently after they were arrested in connection with acts of vandalism at the Ramapo Hunt and Polo Club last month.

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