News
Sheriff: Man Confessed to Poisoning Wife to Death
| January 11, 2016A Barren County man confessed Sunday to killing his wife nine years ago when the couple was living in Missouri, according to a release from Barren County Sheriff Kent Keen.
Samuel Borntreger, 39, of East Nobob Road, told Barren County sheriff's deputies that he poisoned his late wife, the release said.
Two Dead in House Fire in Southeastern Minnesota
| January 11, 2016Authorities pulled two bodies from the rubble Monday afternoon after a large fire engulfed one of three houses on an Amish family's property in southeastern Minnesota.
The blaze erupted shortly after 1 a.m. on land just north of Canton and 14 miles south of Lanesboro in Fillmore County, where there is also a saw mill operation, according to Sheriff Tom Kaase.
Amish Man Found Not Guilty
| January 8, 2016Auburn, Kentucky - An Amish man was found not guilty in Logan District Court on Friday morning by a jury of six individuals. John Mast was cited on Oct. 8, 2015, in the city of Auburn for violating an ordinance that requires a collection device on all large animals that travel through the city limits.
Mast is one of many that has been through the court system in the last year for violating the ordinance, however, he is the first to be found not guilty. Two other Amish individuals were found guilty last year for the violation and went to jail for not paying their fines and court costs.
Man Accused of Supplying Alcohol to Youth in Amish Community
| January 8, 2016Livingston County, New York - A man has been arrested and charged in Livingston County for supplying alcohol to minors after a large party in July.
Michael Yutzy, 22, Jamesport is charged with two misdemeanors for supplying liquor to a minor.
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Ray Miller
| January 7, 2016Ray enjoyed growing up in the Amish, and he loved his heritage for some of the same reasons that many people are drawn to the Amish today. The characteristics of solid family values, simple lifestyles, and strong religious roots stood out to Ray as he was growing up. His relationship with his family, however, was not overly close. Most of the time, he didn't feel comfortable opening up to them and sharing. He did know deep down, though, that his parents tried to have his best interest in mind, and he always knew that he was loved and cared for by them.
Amish Man Asks for Trial - Again
| January 7, 2016Auburn, Kentucky - Another Amish man has asked for a trial regarding a citation he received Oct. 8, 2015, for being in violation of an ordinance that requires a collection device on large animals within the city limits of Auburn.
According to the city's police chief, John Mast of Pilot Knob Road asked for a jury trial at his preliminary hearing on Dec. 10. Chief Larry Jones stopped Mast after seeing him travel down Wilson Avenue in a buggy pulled by a horse without a collection devise.
Amish Family of 8 Displaced by House Fire
| January 6, 2016Paradise, Pennsylvaia - Emergency crews put out a house fire at the home of an Amish family in Paradise, Lancaster County on Wednesday morning.
It happened at 853 Strasburg Road.
Officials say the home belongs to an Amish couple and their six children. Four of the family members were home during the incident.
Syrian Refugees Find a Safe Haven in Amish Country
| December 31, 2015Lancaster, Pennsylvania - As people debate allowing Syrian refugees to enter the United States, Farhan Al Qadri and his family are actually doing it.
The Al Qadris - Farhan, his wife Muna, and four of their nine children - moved to the United States in June. Their first glimpse of the U.S. was the inside of JFK Airport in New York, before they were shuttled to the farmlands of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where they now live in a three-bedroom rowhouse in the heart of the city.
Tractor-trailer Destroys Bridge after Driver Flubs Truck Weight
| December 30, 2015Indiana - A formerly Amish truck driver destroyed a historic bridge in Indiana because she flubbed the math on the weight of her big rig, police said.
Mary Lambright, 23, drove a 30-ton tractor-trailer full of bottled water over the Paoli Bridge - a delicate iron span built in 1880 - at around noon on Christmas Day, causing it to collapse, according to the Herald Times.
Tractor-trailer Destroys Bridge after Driver Flubs Truck Weight
| December 30, 2015Indiana - A formerly Amish truck driver destroyed a historic bridge in Indiana because she flubbed the math on the weight of her big rig, police said.
Mary Lambright, 23, drove a 30-ton tractor-trailer full of bottled water over the Paoli Bridge - a delicate iron span built in 1880 - at around noon on Christmas Day, causing it to collapse, according to the Herald Times.
Is Amish fiction here to stay? Projections for 2016
| December 29, 2015When my book about Amish fiction, Thrill of the Chaste, came out in the beginning of 2013, lots of people asked me, "Is Amish fiction here to stay?" Those in-the-know added, "Or will it go the way of Christian chick lit?" That is: to the grave? (In 2005, an article in the New York Post suggested that Christian chick lit was "one of the biggest growth industries in American publishing." Within a year the subgenre had "lost all momentum," according to literary agent Steve Laube.)
Protests Planned Against Dog Kennels
| December 23, 2015Winona, Minnesota - Animal welfare protesters may soon descend on Amish farms in Winona County. For the last few years, several Amish men have been operating kennels where they breed and sell scores of dogs to pet dealers. Their operations are licensed and inspected by both the federal government and the state of Minnesota. Over the last three years, USDA inspectors found some violations of health and welfare rules that were later corrected, including a couple instances where injured dogs had not received veterinary care, according to USDA reports. Amish men said they are very careful about following state and federal animal welfare rules - if they did not they would be shut down.
Sicko Couple who Sexually Abused Amish Girls get Centuries Behind Bars
| December 17, 2015A New York man and his girlfriend were sentenced on Thursday to 580 years and 300 years in federal prison, respectively, for drugging and sexually exploiting half a dozen young girls, including two Amish sisters they abducted from a roadside farm stand, according to court records.
Ex-Amish Farmer Gets Prison for Newaygo Pot Grow
| December 7, 2015Read MoreGrand Raids, Michigan - A former Amish farmer who joined his cancer-stricken brother in an elaborate Newaygo County marijuana grow operation that netted 860 marijuana plants and 780 pounds of harvested pot was sentenced to more than three years in federal prison, despite his attorney's plea for leniency.
Moses Mast, a 40-year-old father of five, was sentenced to 37 months in prison for conspiring to grow marijuana.
Ex-Amish Farmer Gets Prison for Newaygo Pot Grow
| December 7, 2015Grand Rapids, Michigan - A former Amish farmer who joined his cancer-stricken brother in an elaborate Newaygo County marijuana grow operation that netted 860 marijuana plants and 780 pounds of harvested pot was sentenced to more than three years in federal prison, despite his attorney's plea for leniency.
Moses Mast, a 40-year-old father of five, was sentenced to 37 months in prison for conspiring to grow marijuana.
Lancaster County Doc's Story of Amish Sisters Helped by Genetic Medicine gets National Attention
| November 26, 2015Lancaster, Pennsylvania - A Lancaster County doctor's account of how genetic medicine helped an Amish family has caught the attention of the national scientific community.
Dr. Kevin A. Strauss, medical director of the Strasburg-based Clinic for Special Children, used pseudonyms to tell Scientific American the story of Esther, who was born with Omenn syndrome, a rare and lethal condition.
Amish Family from Pennsylvania Moves to Idaho to Open Country Market
| November 25, 2015Baker, Idaho - The new Country Market in Baker has become a bit of a tourist attraction thanks to a Nov. 10 report by KIDK 3 out of Idaho Falls.
The market is owned and operated by the Millers, an Amish family that recently moved from Pennsylvania to Baker — eight miles outside of Salmon.
“Since the TV interview, we’ve seen a lot of people,” said market owner Paul Miller. “We’ve seen people come all the way from Rexburg, Pocatello and Boise.”
Plain & Growing: Amish Population Doubles Every 20 years, Now Totaling 300,000 in US and Canada
| November 24, 2015Back in 1973, Sam Stoltzfus helped prepare a directory for the Lancaster Amish settlement.
It listed 50 church districts.
The one for 1995 listed 100 districts.
Today, there are more than 200.
So when researchers say the Amish population doubles about every 20 years? “I can vouch for that,” said Stoltzfus, an Amish historian and small-business owner in Gordonville.
Man Arrested in Fatal Horse-buggy Crash
| November 23, 2015Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin - When Christopher Kempf's horse-drawn wagon was hit by a pickup truck, he was only about 400 yards from the driveway of his home.
Kempf and his 10-year-old son were bringing a load of corn stalks out of a field a short distance from their home at about 6 p.m. Friday when a pickup slammed into the back of the horse-drawn wagon, said Nicole Fox, who lives outside of Arpin and is a driver for the Amish community. Kempf has six children, including the oldest, who was on the wagon, Fox said. She's afraid the children will never forget what they saw that night.
Leroy Stolzfus Clocks a 3:05 at Harrisburg Marathon in Full Amish Garb
| November 20, 2015Leroy Stolzfus, 22, of Gordonville, crossed the finish line of the Harrisburg Marathon Nov. 8 in three hours, 5 minutes and 45 seconds.
That's a pretty impressive time for anyone, less than a minute away from a Boston Marathon qualifying time for a man his age. But Stolzfus ran the whole 26.2 miles in slacks, a long-sleeve button down shirt and suspenders, as he is Amish.
Steven Nolt Mamed Young Center Senior Scholar; Succeeds Amish Expert, Donald Kraybill
| November 16, 2015Dr. Steven M. Nolt, widely recognized for his scholarship on the history, life and culture of the Amish and Mennonite communities, has been appointed Senior Scholar at the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown (Pennsylvania) College. The professor and prolific author succeeds Plain Sect researcher Dr. Donald B. Kraybill who retired as Senior Fellow from the Young Center this past July.
Amish Child Flown to Hospital After Fire
| November 14, 2015Jefferson County, Pennsylvania - A fire broke out in the basement of an Amish home in Henderson Township on Saturday morning.
The father of Simon, 14, that was involved in the fire said his son was trying to light a stove when the fire broke out.
The father said he believes Simon used kerosene when he was unable to light the stove in the basement.
Buggy Catches Fire near Waterford
| November 11, 2015Waterford, Ohio - A burning Amish buggy, pulled by a horse on Waterford Road, was completely burned up Tuesday morning and no driver was found.
Fredericktown Fire Chief Scott Mast said a motorist spotted the burning buggy about 7 a.m., called the fire department and followed for about a mile between Batemantown and Whitney Road, just south of Waterford, where it turned into a home, though not the home of the owner.
Warren Man Arrested for Stealing from Amish
| November 10, 2015Jonathan W. Young, 50, of 4170 Parkman Road, Warren was arrested Monday for allegedly stealing from the Amish.
On Nov. 9, Geauga County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to Glacier Block Company, 14430 Madison Road, Middlefield Township, in reference to recent thefts from the Amish in the Middlefield and Parkman areas.
Goshen Man Accused by U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission of Defrauding Novice Investors of $3.9 Million
| November 9, 2015South Bend, Indiana - Federal officials are accusing a Goshen man of committing securities fraud after they say he bilked $3.9 million from at least 70 novice investors — many of whom were Amish — by fraudulently persuading them to invest in two companies he owned.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a federal lawsuit that accuses Earl D. Miller, 36, of committing a fraudulent scheme through two private investment vehicles — 5 Star Commercial LLC and 5 Star Capital LLC. In the suit, the commission said “Miller repeatedly lied to prospective investors” about how their money was being used.
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Daniel Beechy
| November 3, 2015I grew up in the Amish and lived with my parents until I was nineteen years old. At the age of seventeen, I was majorly depressed and suicidal. I had a job that involved farrier work, and one of my customers was a drug addict. One day, I told my customer that I wanted to kill myself, and he said, “don’t kill your-self; ask God what you should do.” I just blew it off thinking “Whatever; that’s weird” because my Dad had taught me growing up that reading the Bible could lead to crazy ideas.
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Polly Girod
| November 3, 2015I was born in Nunnelly, TN. Then, we moved to Homer, MI, Granger, MN, Downing, MO, and Keytesville, MO. We seemed to move about every five years! When I was seventeen years old, I took instruction classes and joined the Amish church. I enjoyed being with the other young folks, and so Sundays were always the highlight of my week.
They Live Like Amish, but They are Not
| November 1, 2015There are many mentions of Ukrainian Amish community in western Ukraine, but they are wrong.
Small religious communities living in Ternopil and Ivano-Frankinsk oblasts are identified as Amish, but are not.
They are closed Christian communities who have no name for themselves and live in rural settlements along the Dniester River.
Amish Man Sues to Buy Gun without Photo ID
| October 28, 2015This isn’t your usual gun rights story. Nor is it the religious freedom tale you’re used to seeing in political forums. It’s both!
Andrew Hertzler, a man who apparently has no criminal record of note nor any other impediment which would prevent an adult American citizen from purchasing a gun, wants to do just that. But he’s not being allowed to. The somewhat complicated reason is that Mr. Hertzler, of Pennsylvania, is Amish.
Crook Caught on Camera Stealing from Amish
| October 27, 2015Wayne County, Ohio - An Amish-owned business in Wayne County went high tech to catch crooks stealing from the front porch.
A manager at Kidron Sports Center set up a network of motion-activated surveillance cameras, after someone stole close to $5,000 worth of equipment, including three generators and nine tree stands.