Amish in the News

HILLSDALE, MI - An Amish family in Camden is getting some help for two children with Muscular Dystrophy thanks to the Children’s Special Needs Funds from the State of Michigan.

ARTHUR, IL - At first glance, this village might look like any other small town in Central Illinois. But, then you see all the horses and buggies. It's how you know you're in Arthur, Illinois.

A Commonwealth Court panel has given an Old Order Amish widow some wins and some losses in a battle with her township over an outhouse.

MADISON, WI - University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers are working to expand newborn genetic screening for Wisconsin’s Amish and Old Order Mennonite, collectively known as Plain sect communities.

LAWRENCE COUNTY, TENNESSEE - Just 80 miles from Nashville, there are about 250 farm families who choose to not have electricity, telephones, computers, cars or indoor plumbing.

WISCONSIN RAPIDS, WI - The Wood County Traffic Safety Commission heard discussion on Wednesday regarding the Amish population’s compliance with the recently passed Act 228.

The Amish have negotiated a pact with modernity. Whereas much of the contemporary world sees technological progress as inevitable, even a moral imperative, the Amish ideal lives in the past, circa 1850.

MIDDLEFIELD, OH - To many, Mary Yoder’s Amish Kitchen is the quintessential Amish experience.

BELLEVILLE, PA - Dr. D. Holmes Morton, who founded Strasburg’s Clinic for Special Children with his wife in 1989, is making progress on a similar clinic about two hours from Lancaster.

HUNTSBURG TOWNSHIP, OH - In Amish society, young people between the ages of 16 and 21 are encouraged to explore the outside world before choosing the simple life and that often includes the use of alcohol.

CAYUGA COUNTY, NY - Late last month, after responding to the third horse and buggy accident in three months, members of the Cayuga County Sheriff's Office sat down to discuss what had gone wrong on the road. 

Three men caught stealing a freezer full of ice cream from an Amish freezer house have been indicted on charges of breaking and entering, and petty theft.

ADAMS COUNTY, IN - Two Amish midwives have been charged in Adams County with illegally practicing medicine and administering medication to mothers and babies.

CLEVELAND, OH - The leader of a breakaway Amish group in Ohio convicted in hair- and beard-cutting attacks has lost an attempt to appeal his sentence in federal court.

The photograph accompanying this column tells the story of a phenomenon that somehow escaped the Scribbler’s attention when he discussed big-wheeled Amish scooters a few years ago. One of two sources, both of whom want to remain anonymous, took the picture.

BRASHER FALLS, NY - With the number of Amish families growing in their community, members of the Brasher Town Board have adopted a resolution that asks the state commissioner of motor vehicles to require members of the Amish community to install slow-moving-vehicle emblems on all of their vehicles that are used on public roads and highways.

PINECRAFT, FL - Each winter, for close to a century now, hundreds of Amish and Mennonite families have travelled from their homes in icy quarters of the U.S. and Canada to Pinecraft, a small, sunny neighborhood in Sarasota, Florida. Arriving on chartered buses specializing in the transportation of “Plain people” from areas such as Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and Holmes County, Ohio, they rent modest bungalows and stay for weeks, or sometimes months, at a time. It’s vacation. For many, it’s the one time of the year that they spend with people from communities other than their own.

Histories of church denominations are always interesting, and there are many.

Not all the accidents between cars and Amish buggies happen at night, and many of them could be avoided without any more legislation.

ST. LAWRENCE, NY - In 2015, state and St. Lawrence county officials met with representatives of the Amish community to discuss how to increase safety when it comes to horse-drawn buggies. The all-black buggies can be difficult to see by drivers at night as well as in poor traveling conditions. Injuries and deaths often occur when motorized vehicles strike buggies using the same roadways.

MADISON, WI - Gov. Scott Walker signed into law this week a bill drafted to make roads safer for both auto and buggy drivers, mainly by requiring more visibility for horse-drawn vehicles. Authored by Rep. John Spiros, R-Marshfield, and Sen. Jerry Petrowski, R-Marathon, the bill mandates that animal-drawn vehicles have a rear flashing yellow or amber strobe light, in addition to the one white headlight and two red rear lights already required by law. 

Illinois - The proposed Illinois Amish Heritage Center has the potential to do more than inform the outside world. The Illinois Amish Heritage Preservation Foundation has set an ambitious goal: to build a heritage center in southwestern Douglas County. Already, the group has more than half of the $1.7 million needed to bring its plan to fruition. On 5 acres along Illinois 133, the Illinois Amish Heritage Center is to become a living-history farm and museum, so modern-day visitors gain an appreciation and understanding of the unique life and culture of this Illinois faith community that dates back to the mid-19th century.

MIDDLEFIELD, OH - Two West Farmington men are among three suspects accused of stealing a freezer full of ice cream in an Amish community. The Geauga County Sheriff's Office says Raymond Welz, Jr. and Mark Boggess, both of West Farmington, as well as Michael Pascal of Middlefield, have been arrested in connection with the crime. Detectives say Welz and Pascal were charged on March 21 with breaking and entering and theft after they were caught on a trail camera allegedly stealing a freezer an Amish freezer house on Old State Road in Middlefield Township.

WEST CHESTER, PA - A Sadsbury man was formally sentenced Tuesday to state prison for a series of burglaries at Amish owned businesses in western Chester County and Lancaster County. Jesse Lewis Johnson, 30, had pleaded guilty to three counts of burglary, and single counts of robbery, simple assault, flight to avoid apprehension and fleeing and eluding police in January. His sentence of 7 1/2 to 15 years behind bars was dependent on whether he paid restitution to his victims. If he did not, he would have faced trial and possible additional time behind bars.

MOUNT HOPE, OH - A sobering commitment to nonresistance in wartime was the theme given the most attention at the 13th Anabaptist Identity Conference. Hours of lectures on the experiences of nonresistant Christians during the American Revolution, the Civil War and World War I made up the bulk of the talks given March 15-17 in the horse sale barn at the Mount Hope auction complex.

Palm Desert resident John Peters, 66, came from a confused family background—which, in anyone else, might have led to dysfunction, insecurity and/or any number of psychologically traumatic results. But this ebullient man has not only prevailed—he has triumphed. Peters was born the youngest of four children in Intercourse, Penn. (Yes, that’s really the name.) His father died when Peters was 6 months old—and his mother remarried and moved, leaving behind the four kids. His two brothers were sent to an orphanage school; his sister was placed in a similar school. “There were no social programs back then for a young mother like there are today,” Peters says gently.

While most tourists are planning their trips to smorgasbords and souvenir shops, the heart of Lancaster County gathers every year in the mud. It's mud sale season: The time of year where Amish and non-Amish (or "English") gather to bid on goods while eating hot dogs and drinking milkshakes. Farm equipment, hand-made quilts, horses, furniture, wagon wheels, a circular saw that "runs good" — it all can be yours at a mud sale, if you're quick enough with your bid.

SARASOTA, FL - There’s a subtle quilt pattern that runs through Sarasota’s newest hotel. The small squares of color, along with handmade furniture and a few tastefully hung straw hats behind the front desk, set a unique tone for the 98-room Carlisle Inn off Bahia Vista Street near Beneva Road, just northeast of its sister property, Der Dutchman restaurant. This is a simple but elegant place.

Iron bars slammed shut with a clang in March 1958. It was the sound of the old order colliding with the new world. Horse-drawn buggies filled parking spaces outside Wayne County Juvenile Court in Wooster as dozens of Amish people waited quietly for the proceedings to begin March 12. The men wore black suits, suspenders and long beards. The women sat in long black dresses, black bonnets and boots.

LOOGOOTEE, IN - Stanley Knepp hears it all the time from friends and acquaintances outside the Church. Questions about avoidance of technology, beard styles and the differences between Mennonites and the Amish. “If I don’t know the answer, I’ll tell you I don’t know the answer,” he says before breaking into a big grin. “It never gets old.”