News
Former Ontario farmers creating Amish paradise on Prince Edward Island
| October 11, 2016MONTAGUE, P.E.I. - Home Hardware owner Mark Beck says they've been busy supplying new customers with lumber, hardware, and paint. They've even started stocking a specific model of straw hat. About 14 pioneer Amish families from southwestern Ontario have bought farms here this year, lured by low land prices, and settled in the communities of Dundas and Summerville. Many more families are expected.
Update on Amish buggy on I-69
| October 11, 2016COLDWATER, MI - There has been public outrage that the couple who took an Amish horse and buggy the wrong way down I-69 Sept. 17 were not charged with drunken driving. Michigan law does not allow that. Assistant Branch County Prosecutor Scott Smith said Michigan’s drunk driving law is very clear. As adopted in 1949, Section 257.625 of the Michigan Vehicle Code deals only with “Operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated” and does not include a horse, a horse and buggy or a walking person.
Donald Trump's Amish Outreach Efforts Are Having Shocking Effects
| October 4, 2016OHIO/PENNSYLVANIA - The Republican Party has been reaching out to the Amish for a number of election cycles, but saw their first real positive gains in 2012. With religious liberty—and a candidate who has made a vow to protect it for Christians a central theme of his campaign—it appears it may be paying off much more this year. There are about 70,000 potential Amish voters each in Ohio and Pennsylvania. The margin of victory for President Obama in those states was 166,000 and 310,000, respectively, in the 2012 election. So while the "Amish vote" can't necessarily swing either state on its own, it could be an indicator of a larger movement.
With help of horses, Amish houses hit the road
| September 22, 2016ARTHUR, IL - That old house sitting behind him on wheels hitched to eight Belgian Amish horses? Yep, Ervin Yoder was born in it 80 years ago. His seven brothers and sisters were raised there, too. They are to become the cornerstones of the newly established Illinois Amish Museum and Heritage Center. The Yoder home and the Schrock home, built in 1882, were nearly demolished in 1999. But thanks to the efforts of Ervin Yoder and Wilmer Otto, the president of the Illinois Amish Heritage Preservation Foundation, the homes were saved and stored near Yoder's Amish Kitchen in Arthur until Tuesday.
Man gets a year probation for crash that killed pregnant Amish woman
| September 20, 2016GLADWIN, MI - As long as he stays out of trouble for the next year, a Coleman man, Kevin D. Toner, 58, who crashed into a buggy, killing a pregnant Amish woman while he had THC in his system, won't be jailed. Toner in August pleaded guilty to one count of involuntary manslaughter in exchange for prosecutors' dismissal of operating a motor vehicle under the influence causing death.
No help for road damage from Amish buggies
| September 19, 2016LANSING, MI - The day that new paving went down on Southern Road - east of Fremont Road - last month, there were visible chips from hardened horseshoes from Amish buggies. The chips were clearly visible in the new blacktop, between the buggy wheel marks. State Rep. Joel Johnson (R-Clare) sponsored bills to charge a $50 registration fee for horse-drawn vehicles. The bill says the money can only be used for road repairs.
Amish-Mennonites plant outpost in Wyoming
| September 7, 2016WYOMING, KY - Forrest Mast’s Kentucky congregation felt a call to plant a church where there are few Mennonites. They found that place in Wyoming — home to about 100 conservative Anabaptists in a small handful of congregations. “One of the goals of our churches is when they get to a reasonable size and financial means, we reach out,” he said. “We’ve been reaching out in the East; there are a lot of churches there, and I’ve always had this vision to start our type of churches in the West.”
Holmes County law enforcement raid large Amish party Saturday night
| September 6, 2016MILLERSBURG, OH - About 75 people, adults and juveniles, were arrested for underage consumption of alcohol late Saturday night and early Sunday morning when local law enforcement raided a massive field party along County Road 400.
Peaceful community, jobs draw American Muslims to Topeka
| September 6, 2016TOPEKA, IN - There is one stoplight in Topeka. It blinks red at the downtown crossroads, an indication that the 1,200 town residents are in no hurry to get from here to there. As Amish buggies trot by and bicyclists ride past on South Main Street at noon on Fridays, a large number of Muslim men gather to worship in a makeshift mosque they have created in a worn building that was once a restaurant. The mosque serves between 30 to 40 Muslim families.
3 arrested in connection with burglaries from Amish homes, officials say
| August 31, 2016MADISON, WI - Three people were arrested Monday in connection with a string of burglaries affecting numerous Amish homes in Columbia and Marquette counties, according to a release. Grant G. Pulver, 21, of Portage, Alex A. Moulton, 20, of Portage, and Dylan J. Bartaczewicz, 20, of Pardeeville, were arrested on a tentative charge of felony burglary.
Man charged with DWI after he tried to hit Amish buggy
| August 29, 2016FREWBURG, N.Y. - An intoxicated Frewsburg man who repeatedly tried to strike an Amish buggy and horse with his vehicle on Friday was arrested, New York State Police said. Ryan Fusco, 30, was charged with aggravated driving while intoxicate.
Trump Supporters Target Ohio Amish
| August 24, 2016AKRON, OH - Supporters of presidential candidate republican Donald Trump want you get out the vote in Ohio from a group not known for participating widely in elections. They've set up an Amish PAC, a political action committee, to target the religious community. It's estimated about 70,000 Amish live in Ohio and about 17,000 of them are registered to vote. With me to talk about the outreach to the Amish is Benjamin Walters who came up with this strategy.
5 Facing Charges In Amish Buggy DUI Incident
| August 18, 2016INDIANA CO., PA — State police reported an underage DUI incident involving five Amish men last month in Indiana County. The four passengers, 20-year-old Andrew D. Coblentz, 18-year-old William W. Byler, 20-year-old Raymond E. Kurtz, and a 16-year-old known juvenile, received citations related to their alcohol consumption and possession.
Amish man gets 25 years in wife's death
| August 10, 2016BETHANY, MO - An Amish man who admitted to poisoning his wife to death 10 years ago was sentenced to 25 years in prison Monday. Samuel Borntreger, 39, admitted to poisoning his former wife, Anna Borntreger, 26, over the course of about a month in 2006 while he lived near Bethany, Missouri, in Harrison County. In a written statement, Borntreger admitted to using antifreeze and battery acid to bring about his wife’s death.
Caring for the Amish Children of Wisconsin
| August 10, 2016WISCONSIN - In 1989, in a cornfield in southeastern Pennsylvania, Holmes Morton, MD, built a timber-frame clinic to care for the area's Old Order Amish and Mennonite children, many of whom had poorly understood, complex medical problems due to inherited disorders. Dr. Morton spent his first day in Wisconsin at a community health event at the Scenic Bluffs Community Health Center in Norwalk, near one of the more concentrated Amish settlements in the state.
How cows and the Amish may help prevent asthma in children
| August 8, 2016INDIANA - A study published Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2015, explored reasons why asthma is so uncommon among Amish communities, where children play barefoot in dairy barns and farm fields. Experts have long recognized that exposure to farm animals – and the microbes associated with them – protects children from asthma.
Lewis County man facing sex abuse charge
| August 4, 2016CANTON, MO - A Lewis County man is facing a sex abuse charge for an alleged incident in 1997, according to the sheriff's office. Henry Schwartz, 53, of Canton, was arrested Wednesday on a first-degree sodomy charge.
Police investigating claim horse was beaten by Amish man until it collapsed
| August 4, 2016PITTSBURGH, PA — Pennsylvania police are investigating a case of alleged animal cruelty after photos of the incident surfaced on Facebook. The woman who made the post claims the horse wasn’t able to pull a wagon full of watermelons, and the man began beating the animal.
14-year-old Amish girl 'gifted' to man 33 years her senior in exchange for financial help: court hears
| August 3, 2016LANCASTER COUNTY, PA -14-year-old Amish girl 'gifted' to man 33 years her senior in exchange for financial help: court hears. "Fourteen," the young woman responded when asked: How old was she when she began having sex with Lee Kaplan, a man 33 years her senior? She was 14 when she moved in with him, she testified, 15 when their first child was born, and 17 when the second one came. Police said the adults claimed the teenager was given to Kaplan at 14 in exchange for his having helped the Stoltzfuses out of financial ruin, but Savilla Stoltzfus' attorney has disputed that account. He also has said he will seek to sever the cases.
Quarryville couple, man they're accused of 'gifting' daughter to, ordered to stand trial
| August 3, 2016LANCASTER, PA - Daniel Stoltzfus, 43, and his wife Savilla Stoltzfus, 42, both of 10 Locust Lane in Quarryville, are accused of providing their then 14-year-old daughter to Lee Kaplan as part of a 2012 agreement.
Daniel Stoltzfus told police he "gifted" his daughter to Kaplan, 51, of 428 old Street Road, Feasterville, as a thank you for helping his family out of financial ruin.
Mission Ambition
| July 28, 2016From the time I was a young Amish boy, I thought that I wouldn't mind being a preacher. In my early teens, I memorized large portions of scripture in German, and practiced quoting them as I heard them in church, imitating my favorite preachers. As I grew older, the desire to do something for God grew stronger. I wanted to rise above the ordinary, dull life I seemed to be destined for.
Father, 2 sons charged in sex assaults of 3 girls at Drumore Twp. home
| July 28, 2016DRUMORE, PA - Father, 2 sons charged in sex assaults of 3 girls at Drumore Twp. home. Ephraim Zook and Daniel Zook are each accused of assaults involving one girl while Ivan Zook allegedly assaulted two of the girls, court papers show. The girls ranged in age from 6 to 14 at the time of the alleged assaults.
Amish upbringing influences Shenango graduate
| July 28, 2016University Park, PA - Amish upbringing influences Shenango graduate. Raised in an Amish community in Pennsylvania until the age of 23, Linda Byler, a 4.0 student who graduated from Penn State Shenango in December 2015, knew at a very young age that she would leave the old-order sect to pursue her dreams and live a life that included more than what limited options were available to her. “I really did not mind working in the fields,” said Byler. “Sure, it could sometimes be exhausting, but there is something very satisfying about working together as a team and accomplishing a difficult task.
Amish on road maintenance: ‘Let’s do our share’
| July 18, 2016DECATUR, IN - More than 100 Amish men, many of them bishops in their church, along with a handful of members from the English community, attended a public informational session at the Berne Senior Center Monday night on the possible implementation of a wheel tax in Adams County. What is commonly referred to as a wheel tax is actually two different taxes: a wheel tax and an excise surtax. The excise surtax applies to passenger vehicles, motorcycles, motorbikes and trucks weighing less than 11,000 pounds. The wheel tax applies to larger vehicles like semis, buses, recreational vehicles and trailers.
Courts Vindicate Amish Farmer for Fourth Time
| July 18, 2016HOPEWELL, PA - If at first you don’t succeed at harassing a farmer out of business, try again…and again…and again. That has been the tack the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and Hopewell Township have taken since 2012 against Amish farmer and FTCLDF member Chris Zook. All four actions against the farmer have stemmed from Chris Zook’s building of a new barn on his farm to replace the original one that had been destroyed in a 2011 fire. Hopewell Township issued Zook a permit to rebuild his barn, but both the Township and the Commonwealth objected to Zook using part of the barn as a retail store.
Assessing child safety on Lancaster County farms
| July 11, 2016LANCASTER, PA. - Medical professionals are trying to minimize the number of farm fatalities in Lancaster County. The county leads the state in fatal farm incidents with more than 60 deaths since 2000. In 2011, a team from Lancaster General Hospital visited an Amish farm to see what was causing so many injuries. Children, they found, were falling through barn hay holes, rectangular openings in the structure’s upper level that provide ventilation and are used in the feeding of cattle below. The holes can be as high as 10 to 15 feet off the ground.
The sex-crazed Amish man who ‘plotted’ to murder his wife
| July 9, 2016In 2009, the Amish community was rocked by the murder of one of their own, Barbara Weaver, in Apple Creek, Ohio. Even more shocking was when her husband, Eli, was charged with aggravated murder. It was only the third time an Amish man was suspected of killing his wife in the 250 years the Amish have lived in America. On the day of her murder, Weaver’s alibi was solid — he was fishing with friends. But neighbors and family kept mentioning one name: Barb Raber.
400 Amish hear lesson about dangers of drugs from Indiana State Police trooper
| July 5, 2016ELKHART, IN - Nearly 400 members of Elkhart County's Amish community recently learned about the dangers, warning signs and law enforcement efforts related to the illegal drug epidemic. "They are simply being proactive and I applaud them for that," said State Police Sgt. Trent Smith, spokesman for the Bremen post. "This is something that they have done in the past with other agencies. The difference being the entire community was present, parents and children at the same time."
An ex-Amish pyrotechnic
| July 5, 2016ARTHUR, IL - Larry Schlabach, a former member of the Amish community turned pyrotechnic, spends all year preparing for it. A homemade cannon with bowling balls as ammunition gave Schlabach, his brothers and his cousins — all of whom were raised Amish — their start in pyrotechnics. Many members of the nearby Old Order Amish population — about 4,500 strong — sit atop the roofs of their sheds, barns and houses to watch the fireworks and flames.
Ernie (Stoney) Burkholder
| July 1, 2016I was born and raised in a Beachy Amish community. I didn’t really think much about growing up in the Amish culture; it seemed normal to me. My father was always very preoccupied and distant, but my mother was different; she was loving and very understanding. Considering that my mother had eleven children and still made each of us feel special always made me feel like I had the perfect mom.