News

GREENWICH, Ohio - Life in Mennonite and Amish communities in northwest Ohio center around family. The children intrinsically know how to please and provide. "If it's feeding calves, you know, they can do that before they go to school. A five-year-old can feed a calf," said Elvin Zimmerman. Everyone of Zimmerman's eight kids started doing chores at age five which included hand feeding calves. As they grow, their responsibilities grow as well. But in April, one of Zimmerman's sons was killed in a farming accident while operating a machine his dad made.

One look at the countryside and the beauty should take your breath away. "If you want to retire some place, this is the place to do it," said Justin Siak. "There's something to this." Amish country is nestled in northeast Ohio and is a snapshot of living life simple and serenely. Thousands of tourists are drawn to Holmes County each year, ONN's Denise Alex reported.

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- The man dubbed the Amish Bernie Madoff tried to disassociate himself from the notorious New York City swindler Wednesday, but a federal judge didn’t buy it. U.S. District Judge Benita Pearson rejected Monroe Beachy’s request to serve a term of home confinement, and instead ordered him to spend 6 ½ years behind bars, followed by a year of probation, for bilking investors out of millions of dollars.

FAIRBANK - A member of an Amish Community, William J. Yutzy, 30, of 33906 Hilton Road, Edgewood, formerly of 1370 Dillon Ave., Fairbank, pleaded guilty and was sentenced on one count of Sexual Abuse in the Third Degree, a Class C Felony, in Buchanan County District Court on Tuesday, June 5.

I was born in Holmes County Ohio. I don’t remember much about my time spent there. Soon after I turned three years old my mother died and that’s when everything changed. My Father decided to move to Seymour, Missouri. We had left the Amish but not left the lifestyle completely. I suppose my Father never really knew how to assimilate into society, so that was his way of leaving, but not completely. I grew up in a very violent household, my Father was a very strict man, and very headstrong.

9 comments

MIDDLEFIELD -- Some Amish leave the faith to pursue further education. William Troyer grew up in Middlefield and left the Amish community at age 18. "There's nothing wrong with being Amish, it just wasn't for me," says Troyer. He is now a student at the University of Akron who plans to become a teacher.

MIDDLEFIELD -- Some Amish leave the faith to pursue further education. William Troyer grew up in Middlefield and left the Amish community at age 18. "There's nothing wrong with being Amish, it just wasn't for me," says Troyer. He is now a student at the University of Akron who plans to become a teacher.

HUNTINGDON, Pa. — According to criminal complaint obtained by 6News, a Huntingdon County man charged last month on accusations of sexually abusing three boys was slapped with new charges this week. State police filed 145 child sex abuse charges against 65-year-old Larry Myers in April, after three boys told investigators that they were molested and sodomized by the man inside his home and on trips when he hauled mulch with his truck.

A group of Amish men are currently in court because they refuse to install smoke detectors in their New York homes:

On May 10th, 2012 we buried our two year old nephew, the son of my brother William (former Amish) and his wife Jenica. When we first heard that Dalton passed away, it made little sense and was almost unbearable to accept. Dalton (front right), two years old, was mischievous and had no fear. His mother was cooking a wild turkey on the stove, which had been boiling in water for four to five hours and as the family eagerly waited for the turkey to get done, little Dalton was behind his mother at the oven and tried to pull himself up by the oven door handle. When he did that, the whole oven tipped forward and all the hot water poured down over his body. William and Jenica just moved into this fully applianced house less than two months ago and had no idea that the oven was not anchored down and the oven could tip. We would like to encourage you to leave a message for William and Jenica. Your message will instantly be send to both of their email accounts.

123 comments

GALLIA COUNTY, Ohio (WSAZ) -- An Amish store was robbed at gunpoint Monday morning. The Gallia County Sheriff's Office says the robbery happened about 7 a.m. at Yoder Lumber in Walnut Township.

I grew up in an Amish home and I don’t remember my parents ever telling me that they loved me. Never got a hug or any praises that I recall. I guess there may have been times though, that they expressed appreciation for something my brothers, sisters or I had done. But for the most part it seemed we were always being pushed and yelled at.

6 comments

On a chilly April morning, Amishman Moses "Mose" B. Smucker joined Mennonite and Evangelical friends, all of them Stoltzfus descendants, to talk of faith and heritage in an unfinished Wyomissing barn. It was a cold barn, smelling of freshly cut wood and earth, not passing for a church or temple but somehow evoking the sacredness of a manger. Thoughts of words in the Bible's 1st Corinthians resonated: "For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ."

PULASKI, TN (WAFF) - The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation arrested a Pulaski, Tennessee man on several sex charges. Investigators said 80-year-old Maurice Dale "Jimmy" McAllister abused male and female victims over the course of seven years. Residents in Pulaski said they were shocked the allegations happened in their community.

My name is Marvin Schlabach, but I like to be called MJ. I come from an Old Order Amish community in Smicksburg, Pennsylvania. I have three brothers and two sisters. My dad left the Amish in 2001 when I was eight years old, and he was gone for two months and went back. I can easily remember what a shock it was for everybody. I think that is when I first started to think about leaving the Amish. The longer I thought about it, the worse it got.

14 comments

Two collisions that crushed horse-drawn buggies and critically injured two Amishmen in Mercer County this month have renewed attention to the mismatch between fast, heavy metal motor vehicles and slow, lightweight wooden buggies. Most Amish and Old Order Mennonite communities have worked diligently to make their buggies visible at night. The trouble is that new research shows that nighttime isn't the most dangerous time for buggies. Instead it's sun-blindness. And often the problem is not the buggy, but a distracted motorist.

One guy came back and went Amish again, the way he was learned. He said, don’t let anybody tell you it don’t bother them out there, where you are now. He knows better. The spirit that won us over, is the one we are working for. Good or bad? Another thing that tells me a lot is a good number of these that went the way you are headed now say, or have before they died, that they wouldn’t do it now. But it’s too late. The old timers used to say, when the devil is satisfied he has them tied up in knots, he lets them fall and goes and looks for someone else.

8 comments

I am a formerly Amish atheist. Life can get a little lonely when there’s no other person that you know of that shares your background and your skepticism. This post is a shout-out to ex-Amish atheists everywhere. We need to get together, socialize, and support each other. If you’re an ex-Amish atheist or agnostic, please comment on this page so we can get to know each other. I have also started a group on Atheist Nexus for people like us. Please come and join me;

WOOSTER, Ohio – A Wayne County man convicted of causing the death of an Amish girl in a drunk driving accident was sentenced on Wednesday to two years in prison. The crash happened in August 2011, when the girl’s family was heading home from a produce auction in Congress Township, and their wagon was struck from behind by a pickup truck. Four members of the Amish family were ejected from the wagon, which was outfitted with lights and reflectors. Sarah Zook, 11, was killed, and her brother and sister were seriously injured.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) — Esther Miller found a calling in her strong hands. They are bringing relief to the aching muscles of her clients at Hutchinson's Anointed Massage. The 24-year-old Miller can't believe how her life is coming together. Not only does she have her own business; she recently became engaged and is planning her wedding to Devin Schoonover, a man she met at church. She hasn't always felt so grounded or certain about life. Miller briefly lost her mooring when she chose to leave behind the traditions of her Old Order Amish roots. Though she has remained close to her family, through soul searching she has been led to a church that feeds her hungry spirit.

The scene couldn’t have been more idyllic. Four women gathered around a large quilt, intently sewing and averting their eyes from curious gazes. Their plain, black dresses and hair covered in a cap identified them as Amish. Faint strains of German could be heard in their muted conversation. Then a cell phone rang, breaking the peaceful silence. The oldest Amish woman lunged for her purse, dug around for a cell phone and, successfully finding it, screamed “Hello?” into the modern contraption.

CLEVELAND — An Ohio man will plead guilty in federal court to defrauding fellow Amish in 29 states out of nearly $17 million as part of a case the man’s church had hoped to shield from publicity and outside involvement, the government said Tuesday. The attorney for Monroe L. Beachy, 77, owner of A&M Investments in Sugarcreek, filed a recent notice informing federal court of his “intention to plead guilty as charged.”

RIPLEY, N.Y. -- A Chautauqua County Sheriff's Department patrol car collided with an Amish buggy as it was responding to a report of an underage party on Sunday at 7:15 p.m. The Amish buggies were traveling northbound in both lanes of Clymer Hill Road in Sherman, N.Y. when the patrol vehicle approached them, said the Chautauqua County Sheriff's Department.

PARKMAN OH -- A three-year-old Amish girl was found unresponsive under a chicken coop that apparently fell on top of her and her sibling Wednesday afternoon. Lt. John Hiscox with the Geauga County Sheriff's Department says deputies and rescue crews were called to a Bundysburg Road farm Wednesday afternoon.

MANSFIELD OH -- One teenager who recently left his Amish community to live and work in the city was killed and two others were hurt in a single-car wreck early Tuesday, according to the Mansfield post of the Ohio Highway Patrol.

New York state law enforcement officials say two Amish children are in critical condition after the horse-drawn buggy they were in was rear-ended by a package delivery driver. The auto accident was about 330 miles north of Newburgh in the border town of Massena, in St. Lawrence County.

How do Americans deal with religious zealots? In the case of the Amish, many take bus tours through their compounds, buy their goods, take snapshots of their kids from afar and make a weekend trip out of watching their spiritual direction.

PENN YAN — The Penn Yan man at fault in a July 19 crash that killed six Amish farmers, and brought hundreds of mourners to the town of Jasper, pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide and other charges Wednesday in Yates County Court. Steven A. Eldridge, 42, pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicular homicide and aggravated vehicular assault, both felonies, reckless driving and driving while ability impaired by drugs. Eldridge will be sentenced to 12 to 24 years in state prison on the homicide charge as part of the plea.

I would like to share with you all how God changed my life in so many ways. I left the Amish community at the age of 17 in July 2011. I was living an ungodly life, very rebellious and hiding all my sins in my heart, pretending I was a good person as long as I did some good things, which that was kind of the way it was where I grew up. But God knew everything that was in my heart. I sometimes felt guilty but pushed it away, knowing if Jesus came now, I had no doubt, I was going to hell.

14 comments

FRANKFORT, Ky. -- In a high tech world of iPads and smart phones, an old-fashioned Amish man showed that pen and paper remain effective communication devices.Jacob Gingerich wrote 138 simple, heart-felt letters to lawmakers in Frankfort. The letters are being credited for the Senate's quick passage of a bill that would allow Kentucky's Amish residents to use reflective tape on their horse-drawn buggies instead of bright orange triangular signs that some object to on religious grounds.