Amish in the News

Geauga County, Ohio - An Amish man has admitted sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in Parkman Township. Raymond F. Miller, 18, of Parkman Township, pleaded guilty Monday in Geauga County Common Pleas Court to rape. He now faces between three and 11 years in prison when he is sentenced in six to eight weeks by Judge Forrest W. Burt.

Cleveland, Ohio - A 71-year-old man found guilty of harassing Amish women has been sentenced to three years probation which requires him to stay away from local members of the religion and out of the area they live in south of Owen Sound.

Ohio — The alarming saga of Andy and Anna Hershberger and their 10 year old daughter Sarah, who is now in complete remission from lymphoblastic lymphoma, an aggressive form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, has taken yet another dramatic turn. A heated court battle has been ongoing for months since Andy and Anna decided to forgo a second round of chemotherapy treatments for Sarah at Akron Children's Hospital in Ohio after witnessing her terrible suffering and her continual pleading for the treatments to stop. Andy and Anna opted instead for the guidance of another physician at a wellness center along with the use of natural medicines. At that point, Akron Children's Hospital sued for medical guardianship of Sarah to force the chemo to continue, guardianship that was granted by an appeals court earlier this month.

Many people have misconceptions about the Amish and their way of life. While many people know that Amish are frugal, one of the biggest misconceptions due to this is that they maintain a way of life that’s reminiscent of “the good old days” and that doesn’t rely on money. However, many of the beliefs people hold about Amish culture are nothing more than myths. Here are a few different money related myths about the Amish:

Pennsylvania's laws governing non-nurse midwives are so "murky and disjointed" that the safety of mothers and their newborn babies is at risk, a Lancaster County investigative grand jury is contending. In a report issued this week, that jury and District Attorney Craig W. Stedman are urging Gov. Tom Corbett, the state Health Department and the Legislature to tighten the regulation of such midwives, who now operate without licensing or hardly any government oversight.

COLUMBUS––The nationally covered trial of a group of Amish involved in a forced beard-cutting against other Amish members made an impression across the county, but some Ohio judges recently learned about complicated realities behind the community. Highland County Magistrate Cynthia Williams was one of around 50 Ohio judges and magistrates who learned about the Amish community during an Ohio Supreme Court Judicial College course. The group traveled to the heart of Amish country to Berlin in Holmes County where about 45 percent of the county’s population, or 30,000 people, are Amish. “I’m overwhelmed with their knowledge of our culture and how little we know about them,” Williams said.

SPENCERVILLE, IN - The Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration (IOSHA) has handed down more than $4,000 in fines toward the Amish pallet factory Timberline Crating, located near Spencerville. This comes several months after a 15-year-old girl’s arm was cut off by a woodworking machine and the state cited the factory for a dozen child labor violations.

A couple with Mennonite beliefs has filed a countersuit against the Iowa Civil Rights Commission after a complaint was filed against them for refusing to host a same-sex marriage at their wedding venue. Dick and Betty Odgaard's lawyer says the Civil Rights Commission is seeking to force the couple to host same-sex ceremonies at Görtz Haus Gallery, which 'violates' their beliefs and is in breach of their civil rights. In August, the Odgaards turned Lee Stafford and his partner Jared away from the Görtz Haus Gallery in Grimes, Iowa after discovering they hoped to hold a gay wedding.

Lancaster County, Pennsylvania — Among the flowers and plants in Marie Monville’s sunny yard sits a rosebush, a gift from her first husband, Charlie. A few years ago, Monville painstakingly unearthed the roots and transplanted the bush from her old house 10 miles away - a house that Charlie had thrown into tumult and grief. The bush’s prickles recall the pain she and her family have endured, Monville said, and its peach-colored blossoms offer a yearly reminder that God creates new life from old. After years of silence, Monville is now telling a story herself. It’s the story of how a milkman’s daughter became a murderer’s wife, and how she found a divine calling after a devastating tragedy.

An Anabaptist publication says the television show "Amish Mafia" is a "bigoted attack on Amish identity" that shamelessly exploits recent tragedies including the Nickel Mines massacre to gain ratings. The publication, the Mennonite World Review, calls "Amish Mafia" the latest and most disparaging of a string of similar productions that degrade Amish identity. "The time for these shows to stop was years ago. But Amish Mafia enters new territory. And the difference lies in what's real and what's fake. While the show portrays the obviously fake and clownish criminal antics of its Amish and Mennonite actors, it despicably makes use of the real-life Nickel Mines school massacre and recent violent attacks on Amish families by an Ohio cult to supplement the entertainment," the Mennonite World Review states.

In Clarion County’s Licking Township there are vibrant green hills, windy narrow roads and traffic signs posted just as much for the trucks and tractors as for the horses and buggies. It's a small, rural farming community north of Pittsburgh. When you pull up to Emmanuel Schmidt’s home, you see acres of land, his woodworking shop and carriages. The 49-year-old Amish farmer knows Obamacare is coming, but he doesn’t quite know what that means. "I’ve wondered, I’ve really wondered what’s going to happen with the health care, I don’t know," he said.

Pa. — Police say a man stole a cash box from a roadside farm stand on Saturday afternoon, but was caught by police a short time later. East Lampeter Township police said they responded to a report of a heavy set man who spent a long time ordering a lot of produce and talking to the Amish woman tending the stand along the 2800 block of Irishtown Road around 1 p.m. When she walked away for a moment, he grabbed the cash box and fled in a blue Scion TC coupe, according to police.

ASHTABULA– A father and son have plead not guilty to 13 felonious assault charges after police said they allegedly shot at a van filled with Amish teens, seriously injuring two. Kenneth and Michael Jameson of Huntley Road in Ashtabula were arraigned Monday and remain free on a $250,000 bond. The shooting happened in July, when the teens went to Jameson’s property around 11 in the evening to get items they had in a storage area.

On September 14, 2013 at approximately 3:10 PM the Sauk County Communications Center was notified of a child that had drowned at a residence of an Amish family on STH 154 in the Township of Washington just outside of the Village of Hillpoint. Sauk County Sheriff’s Deputies, Hillpoint First Responders, and Reedsburg Ambulance Service were immediately sent to the scene. The preliminary investigation revealed that a 2 year old boy, who did reside at this farm, was playing outside when his mother briefly lost sight of him and began to look for him. She did find him a short time later floating face down in a water tank. Resuscitation efforts were not successful and the child was pronounced dead at the scene by the Sauk County Coroner Office.

An Amish West Farmington man was sentenced 20 years to life in prison Monday for sexually assaulting seven girls between 11 and 13 years old. Daniel Miller, 47, of state Route 534, pleaded guilty as charged Monday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court to five counts of first-degree felony rape that carried life-in-prison maximum sentences, one count of second-degree felony sexual battery and 10 counts of third-degree felony gross sexual imposition.

A three-year-old Amish boy died Wednesday afternoon after he was run over by the trailer of a horse-drawn wagon in Seneca County. Lester Schumucker and his brothers Daniel, 10, and Victor, 6, were riding on a wagon driven by their father Chris Schumucker Jr., 36, of Junius about 4 p.m., said Lt. Michael Schell of the Seneca County Sheriff’s Office.

Many outsiders assume the Amish reject all new technology. But that's not true. One Amish man in Lancaster County, Pa., checks his voicemail about four times a day. His shop is equipped with a propane-powered forklift, hydraulic-powered saws, cordless drills, and a refrigerated tank where milk from dairy cows is stored. The difference between Amish people and most other Americans is the deliberation that takes place before deciding whether to embrace a new technology. Many Americans assume newer technology is always better, and perhaps even inherently good.

PARADISE — Police say four people were injured, one critically, and a horse was killed after a minivan collided with the animal in central Pennsylvania. The (Lancaster) Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era says the minivan was heading west on Route 30 in Paradise Township in Lancaster County. State police said the driver apparently didn't see a horse running east in the same lane and struck the animal head-on, killing it, at about 11:30 p.m. Sunday.

(ORLEANS) - An Amish man was killed in a sawmill accident Monday afternoon. According to Orange County Sheriff's Department Public Information Officer Bill Fullington, 23-year-old Jacob Stutzman slipped and fell, landing on a moving saw blade.

WEBSTER COUNTY, Mo.— A Missouri Amish man says he castrated himself, but deputies aren't sure why or if he's telling the truth. Deputies in Webster County found Jacob Schwartz lying in his bed and covered in blood. We want to warn you, some of the details of this story are graphic. On the morning on July 23, Deputy Adam Hughes found himself at a farmhouse in Seymour. Nothing could have prepared him for what he saw next.

Expect no great rush of people converting to Anabaptist groups such as the Amish, Mennonite and Hutterite communities that in work, dress and communal life are separate in varying degrees from the larger culture. These communities trace their origins to a movement in 16th-century Europe that in general emphasized adult baptism and separation of church and state. They set demanding membership standards. Their growth is largely due to relatively high birth rates.

OH — An appeals court has sided with a hospital that wants to force a 10-year-old Amish girl to resume chemotherapy after her parents decided to stop the treatments. The court ruled that a county judge must reconsider his decision that blocked Akron Children's Hospital's attempt to give an attorney who's also a registered nurse limited guardianship over Sarah Hershberger and the power to make medical decisions for her.

OWEN SOUND, Ont. — An Owen Sound man charged with harassing members of the local Amish community became fascinated with them in 2008 and came to believe he had received “a commission from God to find an Amish wife,” court heard. That's what Crown attorney Michael Martin said on the first day of Keith Roland Miller, 71. Miller has pleaded not guilty to charges of criminal harassment against both the Amish community as a whole and Lori Watt, a bus driver who took Amish people to and from Owen Sound to shop for groceries.

EATON, N.Y. — In a quiet corner of Madison County, you'll find Bradley Brook Reservoir, the perfect, peaceful spot to drop a line and relax for awhile. The location is so perfect, it is apparently worth fighting over. The reservoir and Hatch Lake are run as one community. The claim is that the Amish are overfishing the lakes. Carey said the community reaction has gone too far. She claimed, "They've been screamed at on the lake, they've been sworn at, their picture has been taken." Carey said she even saw a party barge try to run over an Amish family in a canoe. She's contacted state police and the sheriff.

Newburg, PA — Laura and John, who has his own construction company, live with their boys - Aiden, 7; Thomas, 4; and Micah, 3 - in a spacious house in tiny Newburg, 150 miles west of Philadelphia. John, 31, designed and built the house, which is lit with the help of solar panels during the day and gas lights at night. He also built a barn that houses his office and the family horse and buggy. The land - 10 acres, bought from his father - was part of the original Lapp family farm, and John's parents and two of his three brothers still live close by. It's an arrangement few "English" wives likely would embrace, but Laura seems genuinely delighted.

A central Pennsylvania man convicted of robbing and assaulting three elderly Mennonite sisters has been sentenced to 12 to 40 years in prison. The Lancaster County sentencing judge Thursday said 22-year-old Dereck Taylor Holt is a danger to the community. Holt will get psychiatric treatment in prison. Authorities say Holt pretended to be an insurance salesman to get inside the Clay Township home in December, then bound the 85- to 91-year-old victims, hit them with a stun gun, sprayed their home with household chemicals and left them for dead.

MEDINA, Ohio — An Ohio hospital wants a court to give it limited guardianship over a 10-year-old Amish girl with leukemia whose parents decided to stop her chemotherapy. Akron Children's Hospital plans to appeal a juvenile judge's decision that blocked a hospital attorney who's also a registered nurse from making medical decisions for the girl.

It was nice to know that people in the Amish community also read “Across the Fence.” I find it interesting that as I write about the way life was lived when I grew up, I’m also writing about the way the Amish are living life today. This is a case where the past and the present meet and the past is still alive and relevant. It’s not just a memory. I think that’s why I love going for rides through Amish country. I can still relate to the life they’re living.

Ohio — Approximately 200 Amish residents in Trumbull County gathered at the Mesopotamia fire station Monday evening for an open forum to discuss drug issues relating to heroin and methamphetamine. Then meeting was called at the request of bishops within the Amish community, who reached out to the police for help. Our station was asked not to show video from inside the meeting, but two police officers and a member of the Trumbull Ashtabula Group drup task force spoke, and went over meth and heroin awareness tips.

Wisconsin: Seven Amish families in the towns of Bridge Creek and Fairchild could be added to the number of Amish evictions enforced by Eau Claire County. Now Judge William Gabler has in essence ordered the eviction of one Amish family's chickens from their chicken coop by September 27th. Why? Because the Amish have a religious objection to smoke detectors. What do smoke detectors have to do with chickens?