Shinnecock Scuffle Over Who Owns What

By Greg Burt

Two weeks ago, at least four people were injured in a brawl when two members of the Shinnecock tribe confronted a group of adult campers on the beach at Westwoods in Hampton Bays and informed them they were trespassing and had to move. The confrontation has spurred Southampton Town to discuss with the tribe exactly who gets to do what there - and who doesn't. And camping out isn't the only activity at issue. Driving on the beach or landing a boat there are also in contention.

The 80-acre Westwoods property, located along Newtown Road, several miles from reservation boundaries, is owned by the Shinnecock Nation but is not technically part of the reservation, having been acquired separately. Since there is no public right of way through Westwoods from the main road, you can only get onto the beach by boat from the water side, scrambling down the cliff face from the land side, or driving along the water's edge in a sort of neutral zone, between the high and low water marks. That right of way, said to be 75 feet wide, was put in place back in the 1600s. The founding fathers wanted to make sure there was access to the plentiful timber and stone in the area.

The right of way still exists today, sort of.

Under more recent laws, which say that a waterfront property owner's rights end at the high water mark, the road is generally considered to be open to the public. And in fact, on Monday, Shinnecock tribal leader Lance Gumbs confirmed that the tribe does not recognize a public right of way along the shore, whether the town does or not. "We predate all that," he said. Gumbs also said that the tribe has come to a private agreement with the association of property owners on the land adjacent to Westwoods regarding use of the old beach road.

According to Eric Shultz, Southampton trustee specializing in land use, because the Shinnecocks disagree so adamantly, there have been reports of tribe members telling non-tribe members that they could not use the right of way, or pull boats up onto the beach, water marks notwithstanding. Camping, obviously, is out altogether. Schultz says he's heard that a security guard was being used to keep non-tribe members out of the area. In the aftermath of last week's fight on the beach, State Police are looking into whether the campers were actually on Shinnecock property, or just too close for comfort. The Shinnecocks do not fall under Town law, and State Police are generally called in to investigate when there is trouble on Shinnecock land.

Beverly Jensen, Communications Officer for the tribe, said that an official party line on these issues would have to come from tribal elders. She did, however, confirm that the tribe does conduct security patrols in the area. Her unofficial opinion as to why that's necessary is that people who come onto the property or adjacent beach areas don't show much respect, with garbage dumping being a major issue. The Shinnecocks believe this goes beyond mere bad behavior, and that at least some of it is deliberate. "It's reprehensible and deeply offensive," Jensen said.

There are a few clear, non-negotiables. Camping or otherwise trespassing without permission on Shinnecock land, as with any other private property, is illegal. Mooring a boat offshore is allowed, but picnicking or otherwise using the beach is not. Driving along the shore is okay with the Town, but not with the Shinnecocks, and until recently, not with adjacent non-tribal property owners, either. The right of way crosses several miles of non-Shinnecock land and residents in those areas have, in years past, complained about the Shinnecocks using the road to get to their own beach, specifically on the day of the tribe's annual picnic.

Any way you look at it, the current arrangement includes a number of rather loosey-goosey boundaries that are almost guaranteed to rub up against one another and lead to trouble. After a couple of hundred years of misunderstandings, it would be nice to see everybody finally agree on what goes and what doesn't in the area. The Southampton trustees are working on that, but they've got their work cut out for them. Shultz says that the ancient and often contradictory lineage of codes and titles, along with the current state of heated emotions, make coming to a fair conclusion an extremely difficult, but not impossible job. He and the other trustees have committed themselves to doing the necessary research and then sitting down with the Shinnecock tribal leaders to try and come to an equitable agreement.

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