Amish in the News

St. Charles, Minnesota - An Amish farm family has had a frightening week after a horse-and-buggy accident last Friday. It started when Mervin Bontrager, 28, was driving the buggy with his wife and young children on County Road 37 south of St. Charles, just south of I-90. That's when something spooked the horse.

Car fanatics are quick to spew stats on how much horsepower their prized Camaro or Corvette has, but do they know what horsepower even means? For most of us, it has nothing to do with horses. For Mennonites, who live largely off the grid, what kind of literal horsepower do they have when they travel – as they do – by horse-drawn buggy? Local Old Order Mennonites Wesley and Esther Weber explain how horsepower factors into their life.

Summit Township, Pennsylvania - State police have charged an 18-year-old Pennsylvania man with using a BB gun to shoot a horse that was pulling a buggy, an Amish couple and their 1-year-old infant.

I a welcome and enjoy discussions about the Amish way of life. After receiving questions about what it’s like to be a young Amish woman and if I’d like to have a less strict way of life, I was motivated to grab my pen and write a response to those questions. So who are the Amish? Is it what is read in Beverly Lewis’s popular fiction books about the Amish? Is it like the far-out Amish Mafia shows? Or are they a strict group of people who refuse to socialize with the rest of the world?

Cleveland, Ohio - An Ohio judge on Friday formally ended a court effort to force chemotherapy on an Amish girl whose parents had defied a hospital over her treatment for leukemia, according to a ruling released on Friday. Medina County Probate and Juvenile Judge Kevin Dunn terminated the medical guardianship for the girl, ending a legal battle over the limits on parents' rights to make medical decisions.

Eau Claire County, Wisconsin - A right that the Amish have had in Pennsylvania for years is now available to them in the state of Wisconsin. An Amish dairy farmer in Eau Claire County has received the state's first waiver exempting him from provisions of Wisconsin's Uniform Dwelling Code.

In an era of declining church membership for most Christian denominations, one group of believers is experiencing healthy, unprecedented growth. In 2014, the estimated Amish population in Indiana exceeded 50,000, according to the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College. That’s bigger than the cities of Columbus, Jeffersonville or Kokomo and more than double the Amish population of 15 years ago.

LaGrange, Indiana - Lifelong Lagrange County resident Chad Fry is done horsing around and has been on a quest to get a county ordinance in place requiring horse manure be cleaned up by horse owners. Fry has attended several county commissioners’ meetings and has petitions in support of his plan with approximately 1,500 to 2,000 signatures. Fry will be presenting that petition and making his case at the commissioners' public meeting to be held at 9 a.m. Monday.

Belmont, New York – A 1-year-old Amish girl who suffered lye burns in her Centerville home about 1 p.m. Monday was taken to Women and Children’s Hospital in Buffalo for treatment of possibly severe burns. According to State Police, the little girl’s mother was carrying a bucket of the powerful chemical which she was using to wash laundry but she slipped and the bucket spilled on her and her daughter. The mother also needed medical treatment after the Allegany County incident.

Maine - Detectives searching for Harold “Butch” Knight, who has eluded police for eight months after the murder of his wife, say they are questioning Amish leaders in Maine about whether he is hiding among them. Detectives were recently going through the evidence, again, when it jumped out — the Amish books they had found in Knight’s pole barn near Fennville.

Wayne County, Ohio - A man has come forward saying he may have shot an Amish teen. The 17-year-old was plowing a field in Wayne County when he was hit in the head with a bullet. The teen underwent surgery and has since been released. Sheriff's officials tell WEWS-TV a man told them he was shooting at pigeons in the area, and thinks the bullet may have come from his gun.

Ava, Illinois - In Ava, Illinois, words were written targeting the Amish to move out, words that have neighbors in the area angry, frustrated and shocked. It was reported on Saturday, September 12 to the Jackson County Sheriff's Department that graffiti was spray-painted along Sharp Rock Road in Ava, Illinois.

Kidron, Ohio - A 17-year-old Amish boy was shot in the head while plowing a field Thursday morning in Kidron. The Wayne County Sheriff's Department reports John Hershberger was struck with a .22 caliber bullet just after 9 a.m. Investigators said it's possible the stray bullet was fired by someone hunting squirrels and it just happened to come down on top of John's head.

Eau Claire, Wisconsin - According to the Eau Claire County sheriff's office: A deputy was called to a home in the 13000 block of Highway M at 12:18 p.m. Saturday, and the 54-year-old resident reported finding a bullet hole on his house. There was a hole in the screen, along with a hole the size of a half dollar in the window. Later that day, another deputy was called to the same home, where the resident reported finding a bullet hole in another window.

Glasgow, Kentucky – The Barren County Sheriff’s Office responded to 4766 Nobob Road at 10:43 p.m. Monday night to assist several volunteer fire departments at the scene of a house fire. The fire claimed the life of a 4-year-old Amish male child, according to a press release from Sheriff Kent Keen. Preliminary investigation indicates the fire started from a coal oil lantern in the kitchen area of the home.

Honey Brook, Pennsylvania - A 6-year-old Amish boy died after he got pinned between two horse-drawn hay carts in Honey Brook on Wednesday, police said Thursday. The boy, whom police did not identify, was between the two carts and became pinned as they passed each other along North Birdell Road on Wednesday around 9 a.m, police said.

Aubury, Kentucky - Fines have been paid for a second time around recently for two Amish individuals who were in violation of an ordinance in the City of Auburn. The citations were given for not having collection devices on horses to catch manure. Fines are $50 per violation. Amos Mast and Wilbur Mast both received pre-payable citations for being caught in the City of Auburn without collection devices on their horses. This was the third time for Amos, who has been jailed already, along with his son Dan, for refusing to pay the fines and court costs for past violations. This is the first for Wilbur. Wilbur still has a pre-payable citation for not having proper slow moving vehicle tape on a piece of equipment.

Patton, Pennsylvania - The funeral was set for an Old Order Amish logger killed by a falling tree limb in western Pennsylvania. Cambria County Coroner Dennis Kwiatkowski says 20-year-old Benuel Swarey, of Allensville, was killed on state game lands in Clearfield Township on Friday morning.

Lagrange, Indiana - At a young age, Matthew Schwartz would hurry down the long driveway at his home when he heard sirens. Any emergency vehicle fascinated the Amish boy. Schwartz says his parents decided to leave the Amish community when he turned 13.

Kentucky - A new ruling allowing Amish people to ride bikes is creating chaos for motorists in Kentucky, according to local officials. While motorists have long been frustrated by horse drawn carriages on the roadways, now the community is taking to bikes as well.

Nappanee, Indiana - Six-month-old Noah Troyer smiled as his brown eyes twinkled between the straps of the brown helmet covering his skull. On July 22, the infant was ejected from the buggy he was riding in with four members of his Amish family during a crash at Ind. 19, south of C.R. 50 near Nappanee.

Smicksburg, Pennsylvania - A coroner says a 21-year-old man was accidentally shot by his 12-year-old cousin in an Amish community in western Pennsylvania. Indiana County Coroner Jerry Overman Jr. says the victim is Allen Troyer, of Smicksburg.

St. Lawrence County, New York - St. Lawrence County legislators are one step closer to finalizing an agreement concerning Amish buggy safety. Members of the Amish community agreed to increase the amount of gray reflective tape along with other measures to help motorists see buggies at night.

Wilmington Township, Pennsylvania - Police in Pennsylvania have identified the two teenagers whose bodies were found in a creek along the county lines of Mercer and Lawrence Counties. According to the Pennsylvania State Police 15 -year-old John Mast, of Mercer, Pa., and 16-year-old Seth Byler, of New Wilmington, accidentally drowned around 3:30 this afternoon in the Little Neshannock Creek in Wilmington Township.

Elkhart, Indiana - An Amish family did something out of the ordinary by filing a lawsuit after a 2012 crash killed their infant son. In a statement made to the Elkhart Truth, Steve Nolt, a Goshen College history professor who studies Amish Culture says filling lawsuits is "highly unusual" because it's contrary to their religious belief in "nonresistance and defenselessness." However, fatal buggy crashes are not out of the ordinary in Michiana.

Often viewed as outcasts by mainstream society, the Amish may seem downright bizarre to the average American. Foregoing technological advancements that many of us would be lost without, the Amish have created a way of life that fosters a connection with the land and environment, while also cultivating an impressive sense of community. And they are healthy -- exceedingly so. The Amish rarely experience disorders like cancer or cardiovascular disease, seemingly able to bypass illness altogether. What's their secret?

A large group of minors is being investigated after an alcohol-fueled, underage party was held in rural Livingston County, Mo., this past weekend. Around 100 underage minors reportedly gathered on a portion of secluded property without the landowner’s consent late Saturday night, said Livingston County Sheriff Steve Cox. Amish leaders contacted law enforcement on Monday after the location of the party was known and a group of Amish youth were allegedly involved in the soiree.

An aggressive vaccination effort in response to the 2014 measles outbreak among North American Amish communities in Ohio significantly reduced the transmission of measles and the expected number of cases, according to a new study, even though under-vaccination among the North American Amish and in other communities around the United States led to the highest national annual number of reported cases in 2014 in the last 20 years. In their new study--Modeling measles transmission in the North America Amish and options for outbreak response--Dr. Kimberly Thompson and her colleague at Kid Risk, Inc. (www.kidrisk.org), Kasper H. Kisjes, explored the impact of the 2014 outbreak response compared to no or only partial response. They concluded that "aggressive outbreak response efforts in Ohio probably prevented widespread transmission of measles within the entire North American Amish."

A 19-year-old Geauga County man who targeted Amish people in several robberies had his eight-and-a-half-year prison sentence affirmed this week in the 11th District Court of Appeals. Chase Kontur appealed from the judgment of the Geauga County Court of Common Pleas where he pled guilty to a consolidated indictment that included two second-degree felonious assaults, a lesser-included offense of third-degree robbery, one count of fourth-degree safecracking and six counts of fifth-degree breaking and entering.

Auburn, Kentucky - In this rural outpost near the border with Tennessee, Amish women park their horse-drawn buggies at the edge of town and walk in dragging wooden wagons behind them, returning with good stacked high. Some avoid town altogether. They fear ending up like Amos Mast and Dan Mast, an Amish father and son who face the possibility of jail for refusing to pay fines for not attaching a bag behind their horse to catch manure. The Masts say the bags spook the horses and that paying the town’s fines would set an unwelcome precedent.