Amish in the News
Amish Mafia is a shameful, unrealistic portrayal of plain people
| December 13, 2012If anyone thinks that the Discovery Channel is about actual discovery of, say, science, history, space, or tech, as their Web site claims, think again. Or if you think that its sister company, The Learning Channel (TLC), is about learning new insight or information, you are mistaken.After TLC’s first run of the reality television show “Breaking Amish,” with paid persons assuming the roles of rebellious ex-Amish, the Discovery Channel has produced a more scripted “Amish Mafia,” admitting on their site that scenes are reenacted. The show, which airs in early December, brags a behind-the-scenes “first-ever look at the men who protect and maintain peace and order within the Amish.”
Amish Man Sentenced For Fraud
| November 30, 2012In a two-day jury in October, Paul A. Graber, 46, was found guilty by a 12-member jury on two counts of fraud on a financial institution.
In Kosciusko County Circuit Court today, approximately 20 members of the Amish community were present for Graber’s sentencing. One man said loudly in the courtroom before the judge entered, “Jesus Christ is Lord.”
Jailed Amish can't attend wedding: Five convicted in beard and hair-cutting attacks can't leave jail
| November 23, 2012CLEVELAND — Defendants convicted in beard- and hair-cutting attacks on fellow Amish lost a bid Wednesday to leave jail to attend a family wedding after prosecutors argued they might flee or commit similar attacks while on furlough.
U.S. District Court Judge Dan Polster, who presided at the trial of 16 Amish convicted in the attacks, ruled against requests by five of the nine locked-up Amish, who are awaiting sentencing on Feb. 8. Seven other defendants remain free pending sentencing.
Man jailed for attempted robbery of Amish-owned store
| November 21, 2012A Kirkwood man will spend up to five years in prison for attempting to rob an Amish-owned grocery store last year — and leaving empty-handed. A female clerk at the Colerain Township store refused Matthew Larrabee's demands for cash but Larrabee is still headed to state prison, a judge ordered Monday.
Amish sect moving on
| November 16, 2012After a 15-year stay in northwestern Cambria County, the Swartzentruber Amish are moving on.
We expect they will leave behind many friends they made in Barr and Blacklick townships. And hopefully they are taking with them more fond memories than those of conflict and confrontation with agencies and the county courts.
The ultraconservative sect of Anabaptists are migrating to what they hope will be greener pastures.
Garfield Heights man honors an Amish 'buddy' he never knew for Veterans Day
| November 10, 2012MIDDLEFIELD, Ohio — Mike Prorock slowly walked through an Amish cemetery nestled in an area of Middlefield where "Share the road" buggy signs outnumbered political placards last month.
Clenched in his fist were small American flags, tokens of respect to be placed at the grave of a fellow World War II veteran.
Amish culture and breaking free
| November 2, 2012PARKE COUNTY, Ind. (WTHI) - There's a part of our Wabash Valley community that leaves many answers unsolved. That community; the Amish. Hundreds live among us, with several families in Parke County, Indiana. However, for most people, how the Amish live is a mystery.
LETTER: Spanking data questionable
| November 1, 2012If spanking has all the negative effects that these researchers say that it does, why is it that the Amish people and the conservative Mennonites (those OK with automobiles and electricity) who spank their children without hesitation have a much lower rate of all those items such as aggression, violence and delinquency?
Amish man asks for safety upgrades to keep buggies safer
| November 1, 2012"...if he can help it, Emanuel doesn't want want to go heaven by Highway 38. "They've come up on us around the curve and they're up on us. You can hear the tires squeal sometimes," says Emanuel."
Amish community remains close, yet fearful after Samuel Mullett and others were convicted of hate crimes
| October 22, 2012BERGHOLZ, Ohio -- Inside a one-room schoolhouse, Lizzie Mullet pulls her attention away from her students and focuses on the biggest issue facing them: their families. "We're doing the best we can to keep our spirits up, but we're worried about what will happen next," Mullet said.
TN's rural areas provide fertile ground for the Amish
| October 12, 2012Ethridge TN -- Diann Pollack isn’t exactly sure when the Amish first came to Ethridge. Some locals say it 1942. Others say 1944. “When I give a tour, I just say it was in the mid-1940s,” said Pollack, manager of the Amish Welcome Center along Highway 43 in Ethridge.
What do the Amish think of a Mormon presidential candidate?
| October 9, 2012Mr Romney, who is trailing in the polls in Pennsylvania, should not pin too much hope on the Amish vote, though. Perhaps a thousand are registered to vote, I was told.
Seven of nine Amish can remain free before sentencing
| October 2, 2012An attorney for another woman, Lovina Miller, said she has eight children she works hard to support and wasn’t a flight risk because she travels by horse and buggy and has strong beliefs against air travel.
Schrock and Lovina Miller were among the seven defendants the judge allowed to remain free.
Dozens Of Dogs Pulled From Amish Farm In Pickaway County
| October 2, 2012CIRCLEVILLE, Ohio - Dozens of dogs were pulled from what investigators called deplorable conditions on Monday.
Ohio SPCA members from across the state gathered at an Amish farm in Pickaway County, where deputies said as many as 50 dogs were being neglected.
Investigators arrived late Monday morning to serve a search warrant to the property owner.
Breaking Amish' called ‘fake' by Jeremiah Raber's ex-wife Naomi Stutzman
| September 27, 2012On Tuesday, the ex-wife of Jeremiah Raber, one of the stars of TLC’s ‘Breaking Amish,’ spoke out about the new show calling it “fake.
Amish Farm Shut Down For Selling Milk
| September 27, 2012A yearlong sting operation and a 5 a.m. armed SWAT team raid on an Amish farm in Pennsylvania may seem surprising to some, but the federal government deemed it necessary in order to stop the selling of illegal contraband to willing Washington, D.C. residents. The contraband: unpasteurized milk.
4 charged in attacks on Amish
| September 21, 2012They needed money for a move to the city and drugs. So they donned gas masks, carried baseball bats and cruised through the rural roads of Berne in a faded-green Chevy Malibu looking to target horse-drawn buggies. On Monday, they hit up four of them.
Amish man jailed for firing deadly shot into air
| September 12, 2012COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - An Ohio Amish man who fired a shot into the air that killed a 15-year-old girl driving a horse-drawn buggy more than a mile away will go to jail for 30 days, a prosecutor said Wednesday. As part of an agreement with prosecutors, Marion Yoder, 28, pleaded guilty Tuesday to a misdemeanor count of negligent homicide, said Steve Knowling, the prosecutor for Holmes County in northern Ohio.
Woman charged with burglarizing Amish homes
| August 25, 2012LAGRANGE COUNTY, Ind. (WANE) An Elkhart, Indiana woman is accused of burglarizing Amish homes in LaGrange County while the residents were attending church on Sundays.
For the Amish, Big Agribusiness Is Destroying a Way of Life
| August 20, 2012In upstate New York, small farmers are being squeezed out by thousand-cow dairies and genetically modified crop producers. The buggy-driving members of a traditional sect may be hit hardest of all.
Judge: Feds can raise sex issues at trial of Amish
| August 20, 2012CLEVELAND -- Prosecutors will be able to tell jurors about alleged sexual "counseling" of Amish wives by a man charged with masterminding beard- and hair-cutting attacks on fellow Amish in Ohio, a federal judge ruled on Monday.
Trial Due for Pastor in Dispute on Custody
| August 6, 2012The curious involvement of an Amish-Mennonite sect in a high-profile case of international parental kidnapping will be on display — and perhaps become clearer — in a courtroom in Burlington, Vt., this week.
Estimate: A new Amish community is founded every three and a half weeks in US
| July 28, 2012A new census of the Amish population in the United States estimates that a new Amish community is founded, on average, about every 3 1/2 weeks, and shows that more than 60 percent of all existing Amish settlements have been founded since 1990.
125 Amish churchgoers help save horses in fire Sunday morning
| July 26, 2012Quick work by Amish church goers of the Northwest District at the farmstead of Neal Borntrager, 5570 Eagle Ave, Kalona, saved 12 horses from a building that caught fire about 10 a.m. Sunday.
Lightning kills pregnant Amish woman on due date
| July 24, 2012A pregnant Amish woman picking berries in the woods near her Pennsylvania home was killed by lightning on her due date. The fetus also died.
Woman pleads guilty to Amish store robbery
| July 22, 2012BELLEFONTE — The young woman who robbed an Amish family’s store at gunpoint last year in Aaronsburg has pleaded guilty as part of a plea agreement.
Prosecutors will ask that Brittany Wingard, 20, of Aaronsburg, get three to seven years when a judge sentences her next month.
Court: Amish man failed to make case for no permit
| July 19, 2012An Amish man failed to show how obtaining a permit for his new sawmill violates his religion, a state appeals court ruled Thursday.
The 4th District Court of Appeals found Joni Borntreger's arguments too vague to conclude the permit requirements infringed on his beliefs and kicked his case back to the circuit court level. The ruling reversed a decision by Jackson County Circuit Judge Thomas E. Lister, who initially ordered Borntreger to pay a forfeiture before changing his mind and dismissing the case.
Amish couple held up at gunpoint
| July 16, 2012An Amish couple in a horse and buggy was held up at gunpoint Sunday by a bandit who pulled his car in front of the buggy and then drove off when the victims didn’t have any money, police said today.The attempted robbery occurred about 12:20 p.m. near the intersection of Holly Island Road and Bryants Corner Road in Hartly, Master Cpl. Gary Fournier said.
Amish firefighters: Flashing lights may seem out of place, but service to others is key
| July 15, 2012LANCASTER, Pa. — Daniel is a publicity-shy member of the Old Order Amish Church. But it thrills him to jump into an ambulance vibrating with wailing sirens and flashing lights.
The 24-year-old Leacock Township father of two recently became certified as an emergency medical technician. For five years previously, he was a firefighter.
New York Amish vaccinate horses against deadly brain disease
| June 29, 2012Amish farmers, whose beliefs stop them from inoculating their children but not their horses, thronged a first-ever free veterinary vaccination clinic this week to fend off a disease that has killed a dozen horses and a four-year-old girl.