News
Police Identify Two Amish Teens who Drowned in Wilmington Twp. Creek
| August 2, 2015Wilmington Township, Pennsylvania - Police in Pennsylvania have identified the two teenagers whose bodies were found in a creek along the county lines of Mercer and Lawrence Counties.
According to the Pennsylvania State Police 15 -year-old John Mast, of Mercer, Pa., and 16-year-old Seth Byler, of New Wilmington, accidentally drowned around 3:30 this afternoon in the Little Neshannock Creek in Wilmington Township.
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Samuel Yoder
| July 31, 2015My name is Samuel Yoder, and I grew up in an Old Order Amish community. Most people associate the Amish with good food, big families, and large groups of friends that make for a great sense of community. It was for these three qualities that I loved growing up Amish.
Buggy Crash Lawsuit Prompts Reminder for Safety on Roads
| July 30, 2015Elkhart, Indiana - An Amish family did something out of the ordinary by filing a lawsuit after a 2012 crash killed their infant son.
In a statement made to the Elkhart Truth, Steve Nolt, a Goshen College history professor who studies Amish Culture says filling lawsuits is "highly unusual" because it's contrary to their religious belief in "nonresistance and defenselessness." However, fatal buggy crashes are not out of the ordinary in Michiana.
Indiana Man Explains Why His Family Broke Away from Amish Church
| July 29, 2015The Amish populate some parts of Michigan and many parts of the Hoosier State. Indiana is one of three states where the group primarily resides in the United States, according to the Young Center at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania. As a sect of Anabaptism, the Amish believe in voluntary adult baptism.
Therefore, Amish youth have the choice whether or not to stay with the church. At the age of 16, youth will enter a coming-of-age period called Rumspringa. The Amish have an 85-90% retention rate, meaning most youth choose to stay with the church, despite continuous evolving pressure from the modern world.
What the Amish Can Teach Us About Health and Happiness
| July 29, 2015Often viewed as outcasts by mainstream society, the Amish may seem downright bizarre to the average American. Foregoing technological advancements that many of us would be lost without, the Amish have created a way of life that fosters a connection with the land and environment, while also cultivating an impressive sense of community. And they are healthy -- exceedingly so. The Amish rarely experience disorders like cancer or cardiovascular disease, seemingly able to bypass illness altogether. What's their secret?
Authorities Probe Amish Drinking Party
| July 29, 2015A large group of minors is being investigated after an alcohol-fueled, underage party was held in rural Livingston County, Mo., this past weekend.
Around 100 underage minors reportedly gathered on a portion of secluded property without the landowner’s consent late Saturday night, said Livingston County Sheriff Steve Cox. Amish leaders contacted law enforcement on Monday after the location of the party was known and a group of Amish youth were allegedly involved in the soiree.
Aggressive Vaccine Prevented Amish Measles from Spreading
| July 27, 2015An aggressive vaccination effort in response to the 2014 measles outbreak among North American Amish communities in Ohio significantly reduced the transmission of measles and the expected number of cases, according to a new study, even though under-vaccination among the North American Amish and in other communities around the United States led to the highest national annual number of reported cases in 2014 in the last 20 years.
In their new study--Modeling measles transmission in the North America Amish and options for outbreak response--Dr. Kimberly Thompson and her colleague at Kid Risk, Inc. (www.kidrisk.org), Kasper H. Kisjes, explored the impact of the 2014 outbreak response compared to no or only partial response. They concluded that "aggressive outbreak response efforts in Ohio probably prevented widespread transmission of measles within the entire North American Amish."
Teen who Attacked, Robbed Amish Victims Loses Appeal
| July 16, 2015A 19-year-old Geauga County man who targeted Amish people in several robberies had his eight-and-a-half-year prison sentence affirmed this week in the 11th District Court of Appeals. Chase Kontur appealed from the judgment of the Geauga County Court of Common Pleas where he pled guilty to a consolidated indictment that included two second-degree felonious assaults, a lesser-included offense of third-degree robbery, one count of fourth-degree safecracking and six counts of fifth-degree breaking and entering.
Increasing Tension over some Amish Beliefs as Communities Grow
| July 7, 2015Auburn, Kentucky - In this rural outpost near the border with Tennessee, Amish women park their horse-drawn buggies at the edge of town and walk in dragging wooden wagons behind them, returning with good stacked high. Some avoid town altogether. They fear ending up like Amos Mast and Dan Mast, an Amish father and son who face the possibility of jail for refusing to pay fines for not attaching a bag behind their horse to catch manure. The Masts say the bags spook the horses and that paying the town’s fines would set an unwelcome precedent.
Man Faces Charges in New Auburn Buggy Crash
| July 7, 2015New Auburn, Wisconsin - Richard A. Atkinson had a theory on why the green 2001 Ford Windstar he was driving ran into the back of a horse-drawn buggy, injuring two people on May 24 in New Auburn.
A criminal complaint detailed that Atkinson, 49, of 2723 3 ½ Ave., New Auburn, transports the Amish and felt terrible about hitting the buggy. It read: “Richard Atkinson thought that the reason he did not see the buggy was because the front lights on the buggy were not activated because, ‘They sometimes like to save batteries.’”
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Letter to the Amish Churches
| July 7, 2015This letter was written in January of 2015, and later sent to area ministers in Northern Indiana; We write to you today concerning an issue in our Amish churches.
Long Road to a Dream: Raised on Amish Farm, Andy Yoder becomes a Doctor
| July 7, 2015Sugarcreek, Ohio - Andy Yoder is a bona fide doctor. Seven years after graduating from Goshen College in Goshen, Indiana, he has completed medical school and his residency at Ohio State University, and is working as a hospitalist at Aultman Hospital in Canton
There was never any doubt that Yoder would complete his goal of becoming a doctor, but the path that led him there was difficult.
Amish Woman Mistakenly Committed to Mental Hospital
| July 6, 2015Lancaster, Pennsylvania - It took three days, but Elma Byler, 66, was finally released from the Lancaster County Mental Health Facility after being mistakenly committed a few days earlier. Byler spent the last month telling her friends and family that she was “retahren.” When she revealed this news to her physician, Dr. Mark Barenger, during a routine check-up, he immediately contacted the LCMHF.
“She told me she was…in poor mental health,” said Barenger. “Just outright told me.”
Amish Schools Find Ways to Serve Special-needs Children
| July 6, 2015Clark, Missouri - Maryann Yoder, 5, will join her sister Edna, 7, and other Amish children in a local one-room schoolhouse in a few years. But until then, speech therapist Anna Crusha provides a different education for the girls, just for the two of them, in their tidy home every Thursday.
Crusha, working for the Sturgeon R-V School District, uses board games and other activities to improve their speech. The sisters are both partially deaf.
Lightning Strike Leads to Amish Man's Death
| July 1, 2015Seymour, Missouri - A 30-year-old Amish man died Friday morning after a lightning strike hit his horses as he plowed a garden at his farm on Smith Road, about six miles northeast of Seymour. Samuel H.K. Beechy was leading his two-horse team, pulling a cultivator, when lightning struck the horses at about 11:30 a.m., Webster County Sheriff Roye Cole said Monday morning.
“The question still remains, as of today, whether his death is the result of the lightning strike or the result of a secondary injury, such as injuries sustained in the impact after the strike,” Cole explained. “Regardless, it is safe to say that the lightning strike did lead to his death.”
What can you learn from Amish parenting? Multitasking Moms and Dads
| June 29, 2015I’ve been fascinated by the Amish since my first trip to Holmes County, where my sister and I donned bonnets to play in a buggy, and my brother got a wooden rubber band gun.
Every year we went, stopping first at the Shearer’s outlet store in Brewster to stock up on sustenance for our day of exploring. We’d stop at the wooden toy store outside Wilmot and the World’s Largest Cuckoo Clock in Winesburg, and whatever else looked enchanting.
Man, 2 Horses Die after Lightning Strike in Missouri
| June 27, 2015Seymour, Missouri - A man has died after being struck by lightning in a southwest Missouri farm field.
KYTV reports the 30-year-old Amish man died Friday morning along with two horses he was using to cultivate the field near Seymour.
Amish Avoid Jail Time for Now
| June 26, 2015Russellville, Kentucky - Jail time was averted, at least for now, by an Amish father and son who refuse to pay fines for violating an Auburn city ordinance requiring owners to prevent waste from horses from falling on city streets.
Logan District Court Judge Ken Williams deferred a show cause hearing for two weeks in the cases of Amos and Dan Mast.
Amish Community Growing in Blanchard
| June 26, 2015Blanchard, Michigan - Horse drawn buggies clatter across the streets of Blanchard in increasing frequency.
Shops are often patronized by customers dressed in homemade garments, reminiscent of the 1800s.
As the Amish community continues to flourish in the small Michigan farming town, residents work to adjust to their hardworking but softspoken new neighbors.
Update: One Killed in Car-Amish Buggy Crash
| June 24, 2015Jefferson County, Ohio - A child was killed after a pickup truck crashed into her horse and buggy on Tuesday afternoon along County Road 58 in Bergholz.
Officials say an 86-year-old who lives nearby was heading westbound behind the 11-year-old child, who was operating the horse-drawn buggy.
Texas Woman's Riveting Escape From Amish Life, In her Own Words
| June 22, 2015Emma Gingerich said the past nine years have been the happiest she's been in her entire life. That's all because, she said, she's committed to her dream of abandoning her Amish community, where she felt she didn't belong, to pursue a college degree.
"I didn’t fit in," Gingerich of Texas told ABC News. "Other girls my age were a lot happier than me. For Amish women, they're very secluded and always kept in the dark."
Gingerich, now 27, grew up one of 14 children in the small town of Eagleville, Missouri, where her parents sold produce and handmade woven baskets to passerby.
Road Master: Carl Cisney has Spent 40 Years Driving the Amish
| June 22, 2015Four decades ago, Carl Cisney’s life changed when he gave an Amish neighbor a lift to a welding shop.
The neighbor introduced him to an Amish man named Steve Esh.
The Amish population is growing and needs drivers, Esh told Cisney. If you get a van, I’ll make sure you’re busy, he promised.
Amish Have Three Days to Pay Fines or be Held in Contempt
| June 22, 2015Auburn, Kentucky - Amos Mast and his son Dan Mast are scheduled to appear in court Thursday, June 25 to pay fines they owe to the City of Auburn, as well as court costs they owe to the county after being found guilty in April of violating an animal ordinance.
Amos Mast owes the court $386 and Dan Mast owes $193. Since the trial Amos has been cited again for the same violation.
From the Racetrack to the Buggy
| June 21, 2015By 8 a.m. on a June day, the stables clustered around The Meadows racetrack, 25 miles south of Pittsburgh, are buzzing with activity. Standardbred horses pulling jogging carts — two-wheeled chariot-like contraptions with a seat for the driver — clip-clop back and forth between the stables and the track for their morning workouts. Veterinarians make their rounds, stable hands muck out stalls. Dozens of horses, vehicles and people are heading in every direction, with right-of-way always going to the horses, the stars of the show.
What Did Michelle Obama Give The Babies Who Have Everything? Alpaca Blankets & An Amish Chair
| June 18, 2015In case you missed it, The First Lady took over London earlier this week and she did not arrive empty handed!
While having tea with none other than Prince Harry at Kensington Palace on Tuesday, Mrs Obama brought gifts for him to give to his royal nephew and niece. The Prince was said to be very pleased to host Michelle at the palace after the pair bonded back in 2013 over their joint work to honour veterans and support their families.
Amish Men Pleaded Guilty this Afternoon
| June 9, 2015Carroll County, Missouri - Two Amish men accused of sex crimes in Carroll County entered pleas of guilty this afternoon.
KMZU’s Kim Nuelle was in the court room when Melvin Gingerich, 29, pleaded guilty to one felony count of first degree child molestation. He was given a 5-15 year sentence, which is suspended while he is placed in a 120 day sex offender assessment program in Farmington, Missouri to decide if he will be a repeat offender.
Man Rode Bike past Kids Several Times before Indecently Assaulting Amish Child, Police Say
| June 2, 2015Lancaster County, Pennsylvania - A man rode a bicycle past a group of young Amish children several times in Lancaster County before police say he stopped and assaulted one in the group.
Police responded to the reported indecent assault around 5:30 p.m. on May 25 in the first block of west Center Square Road, according to a news release from East Lampeter Township police.
Amish Woman's Fine Paid
| May 28, 2015Auburn, Kentucky - Clara Mast, an Amish woman who was cited recently in the city of Auburn for violating an animal ordinance, will not be heading to court since someone came into City Hall and paid her $50 fine.
Ms. Mast looked as if she would be following in the footsteps of two other Amish individuals, who also violated the ordinance, but so far have refused to pay the fine and court costs associated with taking it through the judicial system.
Man Gets 40 Years in Prison for Sexually Abusing Amish Boys
| May 27, 2015Fonda, New York - A St. Johnsville man was sentenced today to 40 years in state prision after being convicted of sexually abusing six Amish boys at his farm.
Robert Madsen, 48, of 1489 Kringsbush Road, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court by Judge Felix J. Catena.
Bill would Allow Maine Amish Hunters to Wear Red Instead of Orange
| May 26, 2015Augusta, Maine - Emergency legislation was submitted Tuesday to allow Amish hunters to wear red items of clothing instead of the standard orange during hunting season.
The Amish faith prohibits the use of bright colors, but Amish hunters are forced to use the bright, fluorescent hunter orange to comply with safety regulations, Maine Senate President Mike Thibodeau, R-Winterport, said in a prepared statement issued Tuesday afternoon.