Amish in the News
Why Do 20 Million Americans a Year Visit the Amish?
| March 3, 2012How do Americans deal with religious zealots?
In the case of the Amish, many take bus tours through their compounds, buy their goods, take snapshots of their kids from afar and make a weekend trip out of watching their spiritual direction.
Steven Eldridge pleads guilty in deaths of 6 Amish farmers
| February 23, 2012PENN YAN — The Penn Yan man at fault in a July 19 crash that killed six Amish farmers, and brought hundreds of mourners to the town of Jasper, pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide and other charges Wednesday in Yates County Court.
Steven A. Eldridge, 42, pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicular homicide and aggravated vehicular assault, both felonies, reckless driving and driving while ability impaired by drugs.
Eldridge will be sentenced to 12 to 24 years in state prison on the homicide charge as part of the plea.
Amish Man's Letters Sway Lawmakers On Buggy Issue
| February 14, 2012FRANKFORT, Ky. -- In a high tech world of iPads and smart phones, an old-fashioned Amish man showed that pen and paper remain effective communication devices.Jacob Gingerich wrote 138 simple, heart-felt letters to lawmakers in Frankfort. The letters are being credited for the Senate's quick passage of a bill that would allow Kentucky's Amish residents to use reflective tape on their horse-drawn buggies instead of bright orange triangular signs that some object to on religious grounds.
Amish man jailed for alleged Vernon County sexual assault, violating probation
| February 13, 2012VIROQUA, Wis. -- An Amish man serving time for sexually assaulting young members of his family is back in jail for allegedly sexually asasulting another child.
26-year-old Isaac Yoder of rural Hillsboro told his parole agent he had assaulted the Amish juvenile in the Town of Union and violated rules for his electronic monitoring bracelet, Vernon County Sheriff John Spears tells News 8.
Feds Shut Down Amish Farm for Selling Raw Milk
| February 13, 2012The FDA has won its two-year fight to shut down an Amish farmer who was selling fresh, raw milk to eager consumers in the Washington region, after a judge this month banned Daniel Allgyer from selling his milk across state lines, and he told his customers he’ll shut his farm down altogether.
Two buggies struck by hit-and-run drivers (Police seek leads)
| February 6, 2012Two horse-drawn buggies were struck from behind by hit-and-run drivers in the past two days, police said. A young woman was injured early Monday when a vehicle struck the back of a horse-drawn buggy in Paradise Township, state police at Lancaster said.
Man exposes himself to school full of Amish children
| February 4, 2012KOSCIUSKO COUNTY – Police arrested 46-year-old Darrin Ray Gibbs at his home in rural Warsaw Thursday after they say he exposed and touched himself in front of several Amish children at a school located just southeast of Nappanee, in Kosciusko County.
According to police, Gibbs pulled up to the school in his van and took off his pants last Friday at around 8:30 in the morning.
Religion News: Author of ‘Why I Left the Amish' to be featured on PBS special
| February 3, 2012“There are two ways to leave the Amish — one is through life and the other through death,” writes author Saloma Miller Furlong, who grew up in an Amish community in Ohio. “To leave through life, one has to deliberately walk away.”
Furlong tells how she made this difficult break in her memoir, “Why I Left the Amish,” she will tell her story on PBS’ upcoming “The Amish,” which is part of its “American Experience” series. The show premieres Feb. 28, at 8:00 p.m. EST/ 7 p.m. CST.
Idaho Amish family embraces modern ways
| January 30, 2012In many ways the Miller family is as Amish as the people they left back home in Wisconsin 10 years ago, carrying on the traditional ways.
Father Harley, 40, is a master carpenter who has constructed the sprawling, ski-lodge-style house the family now lives in. Mother JoAnna, 40, with the help of her nine children, ages 8 through 21, cooks, sews, tends a garden and the family's large flock of goats and teaches the younger children their school work.
But in so many other ways the Miller family is helping to define a new generation of Amish people who dress in regular clothes, work outside the home, use computers, cellphones and DVDs and drive cars.
Natural Amish Treatments and Remedies Impress Doctor
| January 26, 2012While Dr. Patrick Quillin cautions that his book Amish Folk Medicine is not intended to replace the personal care of a physician, he says he was simply looking for wisdom from people who historically have lived closer to nature and done well. He found that aboriginal groups kept record of helpful natural remedies out of the need for survival, and it obviously worked for them.
Bill would help Amish who reject reflective triangles on buggies
| January 24, 2012MAYFIELD, KY. — On Jacob Gingerich's farm in Western Kentucky, there is no phone or electricity for his family of 12 children. He even sees putting an orange safety triangle on their black horse-drawn buggy as as violation of the simple and pious life his Amish faith requires.
He and other Amish men in rural Graves County have become scofflaws for not using the reflective signs, ignoring state law, disobeying orders from a judge and even going to jail for not paying fines.
Horse left at Ohio Amish-area Wal-mart needs home
| January 8, 2012Wally the Walmart horse is looking for a new home. That's the nickname given to a 9-year-old standardbred horse that a humane society says was left at a northeast Ohio store by an Amish teenager more than two months ago.
Amish Youth Get Friendly On Facebook
| June 19, 2011Lancaster, Pennsylvania - Kate's like a lot of American teenagers. She likes country music. She lists her favorite TV shows as "One Tree Hill" and "Friday Night Lights." And she's on Facebook, with more than 200 Facebook "friends."
And yet, Kate differs considerably from most other American teenagers on Facebook in one key respect:
She is — or at least, by her mode of dress, appears to be — Amish.
And she's part of what appears to be a growing — and, inside the Amish community, a worrisome — trend.
Ex-Amish woman finding new life
| March 7, 2011HARLINGEN — Emma Gingerich reached the age of 15 without ever having used a computer or talking on a telephone.
She never studied history or geography; for her, the earth was still flat.
The life she faced, she said, would be simple: a minimal education, which stopped at eighth grade, and little contact with those outside her immediate community.
Her purpose in life, she said, would be to raise children and continue the static traditions that were passed down to her from previous generations in the Amish culture.
