Protesters of Lincoln development found guilty of refusing a police order and blocking a public roadway

LINCOLN, Neb. (Nebraska Examiner, Paul Hammel) – A judge ruled Thursday that two protesters were guilty of obstructing a Lincoln development near a decades-old site of Native American sweat lodge ceremonies.

Lancaster County Judge Timothy Phillips, after hearing testimony over two days, ruled that Erin Poor and Wyatt Nelson violated two misdemeanor city ordinances: refusing a police order and blocking a public roadway.

Poor and Nelson were among those protesting the city’s approval of the 75-acre Wilderness Crossing housing development on the western edge of Lincoln, just across the road from Wilderness Park.

SEE ALSO: Niskithe Prayer Camp protests housing development at Lincoln City Council meeting

Sweat lodge ceremonies

The development is also across a gravel road from a private enclave called the Fish Farm, which has been the site of sweat lodge ceremonies since the 1970s.

Protesters maintained that the development would disturb and encroach on the religious ceremonies and that the city didn’t follow proper procedures in approving the project, located on undeveloped land owned by the Catholic Diocese of Lincoln.

After legal and political efforts failed, protesters erected a group of teepees on the site in 2022 to protest the city’s approval of the development.

Matters came to a head in February as construction crews moved in to remove trees and level the property. Sweat lodge participants had tied Native American prayer bundles to the trees.

Six protesters were arrested in all, including some who linked arms to block bulldozers from advancing down a road to the development site.

SEE ALSO: Five arrested on second day of protests against Lincoln housing development

Road had been closed off

After taking testimony from Lincoln Police and the protesters, the judge rejected arguments made by their attorney, Spike Eickholt, that Poor and Nelson couldn’t be found guilty of obstructing a public roadway since the road had been closed off to the public.

The judge set sentencing for Sept. 29.

The two misdemeanors are punishable by fines of up to $500 and the possibility of up to six months in jail.

Two other protesters were fined $50 each after pleading no contest to their charges.

And last week, the judge ruled that two additional demonstrators who requested a trial were guilty of trespassing on the development property but that the state had failed to prove that they refused to comply with a police officer’s order.