News
Judge Orders Amish Family to Vacate Home
| March 23, 2015Fairchild, Wisconsin - A ruling Monday that an Amish couple and their four young children have to vacate their rural Fairchild home “immediately” for failing to obtain the proper sanitary and building permits may have a much greater impact, according to the family’s attorney.
Matthew Krische, attorney for renters Amos and Vera Borntreger and homeowner Clemens Borntreger, said the ruling by Eau Claire County Judge Kristina Bourget that the Borntregers were in contempt of a court order may influence whether a large segment of Old Order Amish remain in the county.
Conservative Anabaptists Reject Fundamentalism
| March 23, 2015Nappanee, Indiana - Chester Weaver believes in fundamentals of Christianity such as the virgin birth, Christ’s bodily resurrection and the creation story. Fundamentalism, however, is another matter — and one at odds with Anabaptism, according to him.
Participants at the Anabaptist Identity Conference peruse tables of books and CDs March 12-14 near Nappanee, Ind. — Rich Preheim
“Fundamentalism has taught conservative Mennonites to be spiritual abusers and to feel good about it,” Weaver, a Beachy Amish minister, told an assembly of theologically and culturally conservative Amish, Mennonites and Hutterites meeting near Nappanee March 12-14.
Senate Panel Advances Bill for Amish Photo-less ID Cards
| March 18, 2015Indianapolis, Indiana – The Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles could soon issue photo-less state identification cards under a proposal that an Indiana Senate committee passed Tuesday.
The Homeland Security and Transportation Committee voted 8-0 to approve the measure, which would allow a religious exemption to Indiana's photo requirement on state IDs. The measure now goes to the full Senate for consideration. The House already passed the measure on an 82-14 vote.
Amish Girl, 3, Killed in House Fire
| March 18, 2015Butler Township, Michigan - A 3-year-old Amish girl was killed in a house fire west of Litchfield Wednesday.
The fire broke out before 11 a.m. at a home in the 1100 block of Crandell Road east of Clarendon Road in Butler Township, according to the Branch County Sheriff’s Office.
Beards Encouraged but not Required: Brethren Openness Draws Converts
| March 15, 2015Gettysburg, Ohio - They aren’t Amish, but even many of their neighbors in rural Darke County, Ohio misidentify the little-known Old Order German Baptist Brethren, or Petitioners — a nickname bestowed on the group when they broke away from their larger church over a century ago.
The lack of attention suits the Petitioners just fine.
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Naomi Julien
| March 9, 2015My name is Naomi Julien, and I grew up in an Old Order Amish community. The Amish culture does a great job of teaching the importance of being responsible, being respectful, and appreciating even the small things in life, and for that, I am very glad to have had the opportunity to grow up in the culture. In addition, I had a really good relationship with my parents right up until I decided to leave the Amish, and I enjoyed all of the time we had together.
I ultimately decided to leave the Amish because I wanted my life to be of higher quality, and I wanted to be able to serve God as opposed to constantly being forced to obey man-made rules. Plus, my older sister had already left the Amish, and I knew she would be there to help me start out by guiding me and showing me which steps to take to start out my new, non-Amish life.
Missing Amish Teen Returning to Fleming County
| March 9, 2015Flemingsburg, Kentucky - An Amish teenager who ran away from her Fleming County family in February is returning home.
Sheriff Gary Kinder said he received a phone call from the father of 16-year-old Clara Shetler on Sunday. The father said Shetler had been living in Lake of the Ozarks, Mo., and was on her way home.
Hutterites Embrace Technology for Business, Education
| March 8, 2015Ritzville, Washngton – On a foggy morning, a woman in traditional black colonial dress darted from her home to the community mess hall, like a messenger with critically important news. Down the street, John Stahl Sr. sat at a wooden desk handmade by Hutterite colony members, typing on an iPhone 6.
“For us to survive, we got to be connected to the latest technology to be efficient,” said Stahl, a Hutterite and president of Stahl Farms.
Judge Cuts Prison Terms for Amish
| March 3, 2015Cleveland, Ohio - Eight members of an Amish sect received reduced prison sentences yesterday in the wake of a federal-court ruling in Ohio that they did not commit a hate crime when they cut off the beards and hair of fellow members of their faith.
Sect leader Samuel Mullet, 69, who had received the longest sentence of all 16 people charged in the case, was resentenced yesterday to 10 years and 9 months in prison, a reduction from 15 years. He has served three years in prison.
Amish Boy Hit by Car after Running Stop Sign on His Pony ...and His Steed was Killed on Impact
| March 2, 2015Clarion County, Pennsylvania - An Amish boy in central Pennsylvania was seriously hurt after he was hit by a car and thrown 30 feet when he ran a stop sign on his pony.
The boy's steed was killed shortly after impact on State Route 208 in rural Clarion County - about 90 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.
Amish teenager missing from Fleming County
| February 26, 2015FLEMINGSBURG, KY | The father of an Amish teenager missing from Fleming County is asking for help locating his daughter. Sheriff Gary Kinder said 16-year-old Clara Shetler disappeared from her home in the Tilton area of Fleming County on the evening of Feb. 20.
Federal Judge Indicates He Intends to Allow Eight Released from Prison in Amish Beard-Cutting Case to Remain Free
| February 24, 2015Cleveland, Ohio - A federal judge has indicated that he will likely allow eight of the 16 defendants in the Amish beard-cutting case already released from prison to remain free when he re-sentences the group on Monday following an appeals court's decision to overturn their hate-crime convictions.
U.S. District Judge Dan Polster wrote to attorneys that he intends to sentence those defendants to time served, according to an email sent Monday and obtained by the Northeast Ohio Media Group on Tuesday.
Keep Amish Leader Locked Up, Prosecutors Urge
| February 23, 2015Cleveland, Ohio - The resentencings of Amish people convicted in beard- and hair-cutting attacks on fellow members of their faith in Ohio should not result in significant decreases in their prison terms, assistant U.S. attorneys are arguing.
That’s especially the case for Samuel Mullet Sr., leader of the Bergholz community, who initially was sent to prison for 15 years, assistant U.S. attorneys wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed in advance of the 1:30 p.m. March 2 resentencing hearing.
One Injured in Crash Involving Three Amish Buggies
| February 23, 2015Old Washington, Ohio - The State Highway Patrol is investigating an accident involving three Amish Buggies that took place on Sunday night alongside I-70.
Troopers say a 17-year-old man was seriously injured as a result of the crash that took place on Bridgewater Road, near the intersection with Carlisle Road, just west of Middlebourne. According to Sergeant Eric Knowlton of the Cambridge Post, the victim attempted to pass another buggy traveling the same direction at around 8:30 p.m. Sunday and was clipped by a third, on-coming buggy, which ejected the victim from his buggy. The buggy the victim had just passed swerved to miss the man lying in the middle of the road and hit a phone pole.
Ohio Amish Leader in Prison for Beard Cuttings Seeks Release
| February 23, 2015Cleveland, Ohio - The leader of a breakaway Amish group in Ohio whose hate crime convictions for beard- and hair-cutting attacks were overturned wants a federal judge to release him from prison when he's resentenced next month.
All 16 members found guilty in the attacks that targeted Amish who had criticized them are to be resentenced March 2 in Cleveland since the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the most serious convictions against them.
Migrations Settle Differences without Conflict
| February 22, 2015Driving the pony cart along a Reno County road, Galen Yoder was headed to school with two rosy-cheeked, white-capped young girls by his side.
Galen, 14, and his two sisters Megan, 12, and Deanna, 9, still ride a horse and buggy to their one-room schoolhouse secluded off a county road alongside a tall row of pine trees in southern Reno County.
Despite a subtle migration of Old Order Amish away from Yoder, these children and many others still embrace the simple way of life. But for some it wasn't simple enough.
Lawrence County Man Jailed after Incident at Amish School
| February 14, 2015West Middlesex, Pennsylvania - A criminal complaint filed Friday against a Lawrence County man stems from an October incident when he tried to call out to children on a playground from a nearby outhouse.
Lucas Avery Klobetanz, 38, of Ellwood City, was arraigned Friday on a charge of luring a child into a motor vehicle or structure. He was committed to the Mercer County Jail on a secured bond, a Pennsylvania State Police release said.
Leaving Buggies Behind, Amish Snowbirds Flock to Florida for Winter
| February 14, 2015Pinecraft, Florida - It’s a weekday at 2 p.m. Though definitely past the peak lunch hour, there’s still a line of customers waiting to be seated at Yoder’s Restaurant. It’s an eclectic collection of patrons — overall-clad construction workers in yellow hardhats, college students in university sweatshirts and flip-flops and an Amish family from Wisconsin, easily recognizable in their bonnets, beards and plain dress.
Lancaster County Man Heads to Trial for Allegedly Touching Amish Girl, Woman During Separate Burglaries
| February 12, 2015Lancaster County, Pennsylvania - A Lancaster County man will face trial for allegedly touching an Amish teenager and woman while they slept during two separate burglaries.
Justin Schwanke, a Goodville parolee who has a prior burglary conviction on his record, waived a preliminary hearing Thursday morning before District Judge Rodney Hartman.
A Look into the Secret Lives of the Amish in Pinecraft
| February 12, 2015Pinecraft, Florida - Not only is the Suncoast a haven for snowbirds, but also a group of people who come from Holmes County, Ohio and Lancaster, Pennsylvania -- the Amish and Mennonites.
The Pinecraft community, located off of Bahia Vista in Sarasota County, is their vacation hot spot.
8 Sisters Bakery opens retail site in Marion
| February 4, 2015Marion, Ohio – Since she was 9 years old, Emma Lister had helped her mother, Sarah Schwartz, bake cookies, pies and breads in the kitchen of their home near Lancaster.
Her father, Levi Schwartz, then would take their wares to roadside stands, farmers markets and flea markets, where they would be sold.
"A lot of it is Amish heritage," said Lister, who "grew up Amish" before leaving the community with her father and four of her sisters over differences about speaking to non-Amish people about the Bible.
Donald Kraybill, Frequent Voice of Amish, to Retire
| February 1, 2015Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania - “Amish Mafia” notwithstanding, the man responsible for what many around the world know of the Amish is Donald Kraybill.
Now the widely known Plain Sect researcher is retiring. Kraybill is teaching his last classes at Elizabethtown College and will step down as senior fellow at the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, a research center at the college, at the end of June.
Middlefield Man Sent to Prison for Crimes Against Amish
| January 29, 2015Middlefield, Ohio - A second teenager has been sentenced to prison aftercommitting crimes against the Amish in Geauga, Trumbull and Ashtabula counties last year.
Christopher Barnett, 18, of Middlefield Township, pleaded guilty on Nov. 24 to two counts of third-degree felony complicity to attempted felonious assault, one count of third-degree felony complicity to robbery, one count of fourth-degree felony safecracking and four counts of fifth-degree felony breaking and entering.
House Panel Passes Bill for Amish Exemption on Photo IDs
| January 28, 2015Indianapolis, Indiana - Indiana House committee members have passed a bill allowing a religious exemption from photographs on state identification cards.
The Roads and Transportation Committee approved the bill Wednesday that would allow the Bureau of Motor Vehicles to issue a photo-less ID to applicants who have sincere religious objections to having their pictures taken. Instead a digital image using facial recognition technology would be kept on record.
Amish man charged with burglary, arson
| January 27, 2015Curryville, MO - An Amish man remains in custody after being arrested Saturday in connection to several fires that took place around the area south of Curryville Saturday afternoon and evening.
Parolee charged with sex assault of Amish teen during second burglary
| January 22, 2015A Goodville parolee has been charged with breaking into a second local Amish home. On this occasion, police allege, Justin J. Schwanke sexually assaulted a teen girl in bed.
Neighbors burn home of accused abductors of Amish girls
| January 20, 2015Herman, MY - Passing drivers would slow and stop to gawk at the Howells' house and barn and old mobile home, which were shrouded by a line of trees and overgrowth along the road. So the Matthewses did something they had never considered before. They bought the homestead, burned and buried it.
In Lancaster County, 5 trees mark 5 lost lives
| January 15, 2015Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania - The winter solstice is past and each cold but lengthening day brings closer the time when white flowers will blossom on five young trees standing in a shallow and tragic valley.
Five young Amish girls - named Anna, Lena, Marian, Mary and Naomi - were murdered there in 2006.
Some locals are unaware of the trees' significance. Others welcome the sight of them maturing, season by season.
With Safeguards, Amish in Public Schools Embrace Technology
| January 10, 2015Berlin, Ohio - For more than 30 years, Jerry Schlabach has owned and operated Berlin Bulk Foods, a quaint Amish mom-and-pop shop nestled in the heart of downtown Berlin.
His five sons all worked at the store. And each received a traditional Amish education, graduating after the eighth-grade. Despite this, Schlabach recognizes a need for increased technology and computer training in his community, a counterintuitive notion given the belief structures of the culture he was born into.
6-year-old Amish Boy Hit by Car, Killed, While Going for Hat that Blew onto Road in Richland
| January 10, 2015Richland, Ohio - A 6-year-old Amish boy was killed Friday afternoon when he was hit by a car as he reached for a hat that blew onto a road.
Police said Ronald S. Smith, 50, of Richland, was driving his 2002 Dodge Durango on Oswego County Route 2 in the town of Richland about 12:40 p.m. when Jonathan L. Swartzentruber entered the road going for the hat, which police said had blown off his head.