trying to align text in a table but how do I remove the highlighted area?

There is a lot to know about tables. I recommend you work by means of table and cell styles. Here is all the helpfile to make sure you are familiar with how it all works and is edited:

https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/creating-tables.html

Especially the next section about applying cell styles.

In a table, a heading row can be marked as a header, and also have its own cell style. The cell style, in turn has a paragraph style. But no paragraph style for the header can alternate first centered, then left-aligned, then centered, then left-aligned. 

So either choose all one or the other, or else make two cell styles for the heading and make one centered and one left-aligned, and then manually apply the cell styles to each column header.

Also, be aware that column widths are not defined by styles at all, so they must be sized manually.

Is it a real table - or text with tabs? 

Can you post a screenshot not in Preview Mode? 

With all edges and hidden characters visible?

But if it's a real table - you can select a whole column and then delete it.