Amish in the News

The Yale Law School Free Exercise Clinic co-authored an amici curiae brief in support of Amish plaintiffs’ challenge of a law compelling them to use modern septic systems for certain wastewater disposal in violation of their religious beliefs forgoing technology.

For decades, Hank Wiebe of Hillsboro has flipped pancakes during the annual Mennonite Relief Sale. He started out as a kid, helping his parents make Russian pancakes. Now, he is sharing the experience with his daughter Erin Hein and granddaughter Rylie Hein, 12.

CHARLOTTE, MI - When you pull up to the Charlotte Community Library, you may notice something new in the parking lot: buggy parking.

GREENFIELD, OH - The 14th annual Hillsboro Amish Community Consignment Auction, which will go to helping Amish schools, will be held July 9-10.

MINDEN, NY — An Amish barn, home and business were completely destroyed by a midday fire Wednesday that left a roughly seven-member family uninjured, although several horses and dogs perished in the western Montgomery County blaze.

A horse-drawn buggy was hit by a car on State Route 364 in Potter on Sunday, making it the second major accident involving a horse and buggy in the last ten months.

Jake Smucker's baseball card collection is worth tens of thousands of dollars, but the story behind his cards is priceless.

HARRISONBURG, VA - Eastern Mennonite School held its annual Community Service Day Friday.

If you think that the Amish and Mennonite communities get a free ride when it comes to paying taxes, think again. That’s a myth.

An 18-year-old in an Amish community was arrested for a DUI after crashing a horse drawn buggy.

ADAMS COUNTY, IN — Several Old Order Amish in Adams County are suing the county sewer district stating a violation of their First Amendment right to religious freedom.

WILMINGTON, PA – An 18-year-old was arrested on January 31 for DUI after crashing an Amish buggy in Lawrence County.

SPRINGS, PA - Firefighters from three departments responded to a house fire Tuesday evening in Springs.

An Amish community in Pennsylvania may have become the first group in the U.S. to achieve herd immunity, a local health official claims.

Visiting the dentist can be scary for so many but, for those in low-income areas of the United States, it can also be costly. So, to learn that many Amish remove their teeth willingly to essentially prevent multiple visits to the dentist isn't that surprising, even if it seems far too drastic of a solution to some.

The Christian Fellowship of Dunmore East, Co. Waterford is Ireland’s only Amish-Mennonite community.

The Jewish Coalition for Religious Liberty and the National Committee for Amish Religious Freedom filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the Amish gray water case.

Members of the Fillmore County Swartzentruber Amish community have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their case on whether the government can force them to install a septic system for the disposal of bath, laundry and dish water on their rural Fillmore County farms when it conflicts with their religious beliefs.

SARASOTA, FL – An all-ages crowd jammed the Softball Showdown between the aging Amish All Stars and the Sarasota Seniors Wednesday morning, in what’s turning out to be an annual event at 17th Street Park. But winners and losers were apparently a secondary consideration as this convivial clash of cultures split their doubleheader.

A Spartansburg woman will go on trial in Crawford County on charges she crashed into a horse-drawn Amish buggy last July, seriously injuring a young couple and their two children.

ETHRIDGE, TN — As ice and snow blanketed the midstate this week, Tennesseans have found creative ways to have fun. And, the Amish community off Highway 43 in Lawrence County is no exception.

OHIO - Drivers in areas with high Amish populations should keep their eyes on the road and watch out for slower-moving, horse-drawn buggies.

WASHINGTON D.C. - On Wednesday, Joe Keim joined tens of thousands of others in Washington D.C. for President Donald Trump’s “Save America Rally.” 

New York - We have many Amish and Mennonite families in Franklin and St. Lawrence counties. Amish buggies have been granted an exception to the requirement to display a Slow Moving Vehicle (SMV) symbol on the rear of their buggies and wagons for religious reasons.

LAWRENCE, N.Y. - Firefighters were able to save a good part of a house from a fire at an Amish homestead in the town of Lawrence Tuesday afternoon.

SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP, WI - One child drowned early Sunday afternoon after falling through ice on Twin Lake in Marquette County, the sheriff’s office says.

BROWNINGTON, VT — On a darkening December day several years ago, the temperature dropping to 10 degrees, a van with out-of-state tags pulled off I-91 and up beside the Sunoco station near this rural town. The passengers were 10 men carrying the whiff of barns and cattle. Most had bushy, untrimmed beards. All dressed plainly, as their faith demands — coarsely woven dark suits and broad-brimmed straw hats.

WEAKLEY COUNTY, TN — An 8-year-old Amish boy was killed when a fire destroyed his family’s home in northwest Tennessee late Wednesday night.

LANCASTER, PA - Prison inmate David Stoltzfus Smucker died Tuesday, less than a year after his sentencing in a case that highlighted the growing awareness of sexual abuse in his Amish community and related groups. 

COLUMBUS, OH - The Ohio House on Tuesday passed a bill that would require flashing lights on the backs of Amish buggies, a move meant to cut down on dangerous crashes.