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NEW WILMINGTON, PA - A mother who is fighting the Child Protective Service system to get her children back was threatened during a mediation hearing last week. Elizabeth Byler of Pennsylvania, who grew up in an Amish community, appeared at the hearing last week. Elizabeth Byler of Pennsylvania, who grew up in an Amish community, appeared at the hearing without her lawyer present, due to her attorney’s scheduling conflict. Byler was allegedly given an ultimatum by court officials—to take down the Facebook page “or else,” they would “come after” her.

COLDWATER, MI - This area's state Senator Mike Shirley will not pick up or vote for legislation to require a fee registration for horse-drawn vehicles, namely Amish buggies. Past proposals have died in prior sessions, without committee hearings or votes. In February, Shirkey met with local officials and law enforcement who had pushed in past sessions for authorization to charge a $50 registration fee, requested to help pay for road damages, identifying owners, and for safety concerns.

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REBER, NY - Midnight is dark in this remote stretch of fertile landscape, where country lanes creep through fields ringed with misty mountains. Motorists must combat a thicket of possible difficulties that only magnify at the crepuscular hour, including snowdrifts, wild animals, single-lane bridges and hairpin corners along unpaved roads with low visibility. In the small pocket where the Amish have planted roots — at least three settlements in Westport, Essex and Reber — numerous signs warn motorists of variables: deer, snowmobiles, horseback riders, tractors, firetrucks and diesel trucks. But there are no warnings for the buggies, which are jet black and are not outfitted with headlights or the orange triangle displayed on other slow-moving vehicles — only the lanterns.

DOVER, OH - Marlene C. Miller was able to forgive the father who beat her and the mother who let him after she gave her life over to God. Her conversion occurred after her Amish husband’s brother had spoken to her about eternity. She was washing dishes, she recalled, when her sin began weighing on her. “I asked God, ’Where will I go when I die? I heard the answer in my heart: hell,” she told an audience at Dover Public Library recently.

MONTOUR, PA - A member of the Amish sect allegedly indecently assaulted two girls several times over a more than six-year period. Amos Stoltzfus Lapp, 43, of 170 Hillside Road, faces two counts of aggravated indecent assault of a child, two counts of aggravated indecent assault, three counts of indecent assault, three counts of corruption of minors and six counts of indecent assault. Police allege the assaults occurred between Feb. 1, 2007, through Aug. 21, 2013.

GEAUGA, OH - Chipmunk Lane in Burton Township is normally a quiet street, but that peace was shattered for William Yoder and his family several weeks ago. "We came into the driveway, and I seen the tire tracks and the ruts in my yard," Yoder said. "My wife tells me that both front doors were standing open . So I walked into the master bedroom and saw the nightstand open. I told her to check her purses and both of them were gone," Yoder said. Geauga County Sheriff’s deputies said 39-year-old Lisa Bishop, of Montville Township, is responsible.

MIDDLEFIELD, OH - A group of Amish taxi drivers, who serve the Amish in Middlefield, Ohio claim, in some cases, the Ohio State Highway Patrol is unfairly pulling them over for safety checks if they see Amish passengers in their transport vans. Dale Eloph, who transports Amish passengers 10,000 miles every month, believes multiple drivers have been pulled over without probable cause, simply because Amish passengers can be seen inside the vehicles.

AROOSTOOK, ME - Hoping to avoid seeing a legal confrontation between the Amish and state government, Rep. Dave McCrea, D-Fort Fairfield, wants to let Amish community members hunt wearing red rather than blaze orange in accordance with their religious customs. Dozens of Amish families have settled in Aroostook County and other parts of Maine in the last decade, and they now operate farms, carpentry shops, bakeries and other businesses. While they avoid most kinds of modern technology, they do participate in one of Maine’s oldest traditions: hunting, with firearms.

My name is Aaron Swartzentruber, and I grew up in a very strict Schwartzentruber Amish community. I liked living in a culture where I could work when I wanted to and was taught as a young child how to build things. I also appreciated the culture’s stress on the importance of forgiveness. I had a good relationship with my parents as long as I “walked the line” and obeyed all of the rules and guidelines. The problem is that I wanted to explore. I had an issue with the Amish rules and therefore wanted to leave the Amish.

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SEYMOUR, IA - Rebuilding is well underway on farms in Wayne County, after an EF-2 tornado struck Monday night. The twister also damaged the school and homes in Seymour. Four Amish farms as far as six miles southwest of town were damaged. Vernon Mullet's farm had three buildings destroyed, including his house, a barn, and a huge shop used to build

BELLEVILLE, PA - One woman was injured when the Amish buggy in which she was traveling was hit with a BB or similar projectile. According to the release, officers were dispatched Tuesday to the area of Trella Street in Belleville. A woman passenger said she and the buggy were hit by a BB or similar projectile while the buggy was traveling toward South Penn Street.

I am writing my testimony in hopes of helping those who have left the Amish. In addition, I hope that it is a help to those that had a rough childhood as well. I have noticed that many young people grow up in rough and unpleasant home situations. As a result, they leave their homes and start a new life with hearts filled with bitterness toward their parents, and in some cases, also towards other Amish that they grew up with just because they feel that everyone wronged them in some way.

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LANCASTER, PA - On Tuesday, a man riding a bicycle exposed himself to young Amish children who were walking home at 3:15 p.m. from Forest Hill Amish School in Upper Leacock Township, near Leola. He approached the children on West Center Square Road, just west of Forest Hill Road, while the children were still within sight of their school, East Lampeter Township police said.

LANCASTER, PA - Lancaster County is home to the United States premier center for academic research into Amish and other Plain Sect culture, and it's expanding. Two wings totaling about 3,500 square feet will be added to Elizabethtown College's Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, increasing its size by 60 percent.

The Allen County Sheriff's Department gave a detailed account today of the death of Sgt. Joseph Cox, 48, a 19-year deputy who died Sunday after suffering a medical emergency while on duty. Sheriff David Gladieux said Cox, 48, was investigating an accident involving a horse and buggy and an automobile about 8:30 p.m. The driver of the buggy had apparently fallen out of the buggy and the horses had taken off, running out of control, when the buggy was hit by a car. Gladieux described that night's events as hectic. Cox was one of three deputies who responded to the scene to investigate the crash and get the horses under control.

HUNTINGTON TWP, OH - When Levi Shetler and his friend and work partner Jon Swartzentruber were hit by a driver Jan. 18 in an accident that left Swartzentruber dead, it was the 14th time Shetler was hit while traveling in an Amish buggy. Shetler, 54, of Huntington Township, is recovering from the crash on state Route 58 and looks remarkably unscathed for a man who has had so many brushes with death. He’s attending outpatient physical therapy, is up and moving and a neighbor drives him to appointments. He said this accident was by far the worst of the 14, and ligaments in his neck and other parts of his body cause him constant pain.

My family has been really struggling lately, and I am reaching out in hopes of finding some help for my sister. Earlier this year, she moved states away with her husband and children, so she could join an Amish community. Her husband felt the call to make this move from our culture into the Amish culture, and as a wife, she feels that it is her duty to follow him and be submissive without question. This move has been really hard on me as well as my parents. We have tried to talk with them and share scriptures as well as talk about God and his plan for us, but everything we say seems to fall on deaf ears. We are crying almost daily as we truly feel we have lost a family member.

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HILLSDALE COUNTY, MI - State Sen. Mike Shirkey, R-Jackson is working to improve safety on the road for areas of Hillsdale County that encounter automobile and Amish horse-and-buggy collisions. According to Shirkey, road safety concerns seem to be a big issue for the county, and he plans to speak with Amish bishops in the area to understand how they perceive the situation before working toward a solution. The county does not have a record of how often the accidents occur; however, several county officials and Amish residents find it necessary to improve the situation.

My name is Carl Miller, and I was born and raised in an Old Order Amish community. When I think about my childhood and what I appreciated most about the culture, I automatically think of the closeness I got to experience with my family and the hearty Amish meals I got to enjoy on a daily basis.

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As I sit here in my cell, I am actually happier then I have been in all of my life. So many don't see or know what their purpose is in this life. If I think about it, if a person doesn’t have Christ in their hearts, they probably do have trouble finding purpose. I look back on my life, and the only thing I wish is that I would have become a born-again believer sooner.

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I got married to Leroy Mast at the age of 19, and we had 5 children. Before the fifth child was born, Leroy got discouraged with the Amish lifestyle and drifted away from me, but kind of stayed on until the baby was born; then he left me and lived with another woman. He always came back to see us whenever he wanted. I stayed Amish because I thought I had to in order to get to heaven! After six years, our oldest three children decided that they wanted to live with their father, and so they also left, which caused me even more heartache.

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My name is Katie, and I grew up in a typical Old Order Amish community. I appreciated certain aspects about the culture I experienced growing up; some of these aspects included the culture’s honesty and good food. I did notice some flaws within my culture and home as I grew older, though. I felt many of my relationships with friends, family, and the community were closed and strained. In addition, I could never get any answers as to why we did the things that we did.

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Please come back to the Amish! Please go home to your parents; they are not in good health. We realize that you have some issues with your Dad, so go make peace with him. Don’t we all want to go to heaven and be with our loved ones? But how do we plan to get along in Heaven, if we can’t get along here on earth? I believe that life is a test. If we don’t pass the test here on earth, we won’t pass the test in Heaven either.

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OWINGSVILLE, KY - I know it sounds like I made up a terribly inflammatory headline... but it's not JUST inflammatory. It's true, the Girod indictment is below. Amish farmer Sam Girod of Owingsville makes 3 products: a chickweed salve, a bloodroot salve and an essential oil blend called Sine Eze. The photo of the 3 products was just taken on my iPad on my desk. You can find similar products online. In fact, you’ll find the recipes online. You can make these products in your kitchen, it’s not rocket science. A few years ago, the FDA came after Sam for labeling crimes — Sam said his salves could cure certain things and that’s a big FDA no-no. Sam immediately fixed the labels as per FDA demands.

SUGARCREEK, OH - "THE BUDGET" is the name of two newspapers, headquartered and coexisting in Sugarcreek, Ohio. One is a local newspaper, with readership and news content limited to the Sugarcreek community and environs. Budget National is another matter, entirely. Its readers and subscribers are the Old Order Amish, Amish Mennonites, Beachy Mennonites and Mennonite communities all across the United States, in Canada, South and Central America. Beyond that, the weekly 52-page broadsheet has subscribers and news reports from the rest of the world. A news source index on the front page lists submissions from Ghana, Ethiopia, England, Ireland, Liberia, Israel, and Romania. The Amish and Mennonite groups are separate groups, with differing histories, practices, life styles and degrees of liberal or conservatism, but they all share The Budget.

Greetings of love sent to you! In your letter, you mentioned that you were going to visit family this spring or summer. I wanted to make sure you knew that we don’t want you to visit our home at any time unless you are back in the Amish. Please don’t show up unless you have decided to come back and become Amish again. Our children know you are not Amish, and I don’t want them to see you in the “English” state that you are. Do you understand what I mean?

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LEBANON, PA - William Kautz grew up in the Chesapeake Bay's backyard. He remembers standing in water up to his hips that was so clear he could see his feet. A few decades later, he couldn't even see his shins. Environmental activists have targeted Amish farming, human waste disposal and animal waste disposal practices as a leading cause of pollution. Meanwhile, farmers who resent the cost of laws requiring more eco-friendly agricultural practices are frustrated by rumors that the Amish don't follow the same rules.

I am currently in an Old Order Mennonite church where rules are religion. I am getting sick of people relying on the preacher to be their god. They believe if you question any of their rules, you are being nothing shy of rebellious.

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LANCASTER, PA - Automotive-style brakes and tubular-steel torsion bar suspension.LANCASTER, PA - Automotive-style brakes and tubular-steel torsion bar suspension. A dash console with LED components and switches for headlights, taillights and turn signals, all powered by cordless tool batteries. That Amish buggy you see traveling down the road in Lancaster County isn't in quite the time warp you might imagine. The technology keeps evolving, reports Popular Mechanics magazine, which recently interviewed a Lancaster County buggy maker about his work and the industry's latest innovations.

NORWICH, ON, CANADA - High hydro bills are a thing of the past for one man who turned off every light in his house, rejected all forms of modernity, and joined a local Amish community. “I tried everything to conserve electricity, but nothing seemed to work,” explained Jakob Yoder of Norwich, formerly known as Stan Bisla from Ajax. “I turned everything off during peak hours, used cold water to wash my clothes, insulated my windows for winter, and unplugged all of my electronic gadgets, but my bill barely budged in price.”