News

MIDDLEFIELD, OH  — Work to widen roads and make other safety improvements is planned in an area of Ohio’s Amish country plagued by crashes resulting in injuries, according to federal and state officials.

A group of Amish dairy farmers have lost their milk buyer, putting their livelihood and way of life at risk, as a crisis deepens in America’s dairyland.

Daniel Weaver does not vote, drive a car, read a paper, listen to music, watch sport of any kind, own a mobile phone or use a computer. But as we eat the food grown in his garden outside the window, he confesses that he did once see a film. He refuses to disclose what, brushing aside my questions as we sit talking around the dining table with his wife, five of his eight children and one grandson. “I am not proud of that,” he says. “I went against my parents’ wishes.”

MIDDLEFIELD, OH - Fire officials in northeastern Ohio say a blaze that killed a 2-year-old child and injured 10 members of an Amish family began with a lamp that used liquid fuel.

Thelma Miller feels the pop, but tells herself not to worry. She’s 31 weeks pregnant, too early for her water to break. But this baby is coming nonetheless.

As an auctioneer pressed his Hartly audience toward the highest bid possible for a set of dishes, an Amish man watched from the side of the tent, his arms crossed as he leaned on a tent pole.

This week I helped with preparations for the wedding for Lovina’s niece Emma. As an outsider, I am impressed by how beautifully orchestrated these events are. Family, neighbors and the church community all pitch in to help with the work of hosting weddings.

GOSHEN, IN — Dale Raber sees a range of mental health needs as a therapist at Oaklawn Psychiatric Center, but his clients all have one thing in common: They’re all Amish.

PRESTON, MN — For the last week, four members of the Swartzentruber Amish community have listened to arguments on whether their religious beliefs would allow them to not comply with state wastewater regulations.

I was born and raised in the countryside of LaGrange, Indiana. For the first twenty years of my life, I lived with my parents in an Amish community. My home situation was not the most ideal, and I struggled with life for a good portion of my growing up years. I quickly learned that I had to fight for myself in order to survive; and all though I was a pretty “good” kid, my heart and soul was anything but good. I hated life, myself, my parents, and especially God. Depression and darkness were some my closest friends.

1 comments

When Walid Abdul-Wahab met the Amish and Mennonite farmers he now works with, they didn't suspect he was a Muslim from Saudi Arabia. "They assumed I was Amish because of my beard," he says.

MIDDLEFIELD TWP, OH - A fire swept through an Ohio home on Wednesday night, killing a two-year-old and injuring 10 members of an Amish family, officials said.

PAINT TOWNSHIP, OH - Authorities are searching for a driver who struck an Amish buggy and then drove off following a crash in Holmes County on Tuesday afternoon.

ORWELL, OH - Grand Valley Superintendent William Nye said Orwell is getting close to being the next Middlefield when it comes to the size of Amish settlements.

An Amish farmer in Kentucky is asking President Donald Trump for a pardon after he was sentenced to six years in federal prison for mislabeling homemade herbal products.

WATERLOO – Gene Raffensperger stood next to the big yellow school bus in front of a country school and watched as Amish schoolchildren came out of the school. They were crying as their mothers embraced them, and then someone yelled “Run.”

It was supposed to be a new start when Misty Griffin - just shy of 19 - went to live with the strict Amish community. After an isolated childhood on a remote mountain farm – raised in Amish ways and dress since she was around aged six – Griffin was initially hopeful. However, her new community’s emphasis on forgiveness, she says, meant they allowed a convicted sex offender to live nearby and the way they dealt with molestation and rape was up to six weeks of ‘shunning,’ what they called placed in the Bann.

A campaign rally with Vice President Mike Pence in central Ohio on Wednesday included two unlikely voters, farmers Levi Miller and Ben Hostetler, who are part of a determined effort by Trump supporters and the Republican Party to get members of the conservative Amish and Mennonite communities to the polls.

LAWRENCEBURG, TN - A surge in crashes with Amish buggies in Lawrence County has the Tennessee Highway Patrol sending out a serious warning for drivers.

LANCASTER, PA - I live in Lancaster County, Pa., home to one of the largest Old Order Amish communities in the world. My work brings me into regular contact with the Amish.

One of the highlights of the recent 2018 Annual Council was Andy Weaver’s incredible testimony shared with World Church delegates on Monday, October 15

VERMONT - Vermont Digger reports that 10 Amish families have moved to Vermont’s quaint and pastoral Northeast Kingdom over the last two years. The paper says the families are “loosely related” and have come from Ohio and Pennsylvania.  

BIG RAPIDS, MI - Mental illness: that’s what the family of a former law enforcement officer says was the motive for murdering a dad of seven. 

Two members of the River of Life Church are about to embark on an exciting mission trip to the Philippines.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker is hustling down a dizzying spiral staircase in the United States Capitol. He’s cutting through the cavernous basement hallways and around security guards, up more stairs and down others.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker is hustling down a dizzying spiral staircase in the United States Capitol. He’s cutting through the cavernous basement hallways and around security guards, up more stairs and down others.

SULLIVAN TOWNSHIP, OH - A West Salem man has been charged with a felony count of aggravated vehicular assault in connection with an Amish buggy crash that injured seven people, the Ashland County prosecutor announced Wednesday.

GLADWIN, MI - An Amish man will spend more than a decade in prison for sexually assaulting three girls over a several years.

The day after wrapping up the Amish Heritage Foundation’s inaugural conference, executive director Torah Bontrager posted a letter of gratitude on Facebook.

"I want off the system," Gregory announced, turning to Bethany. "Let's sell the business, let's sell the house and go to Tasmania and buy a little farm. We'll turn the electricity off, sell the car. Let's not do this anymore." And that's precisely what the McCallums did. They turned Amish.