This is one you don’t see every day: Amish in a Michigan community want to be allowed to build a river crossing to make buggy travel safer. It’s a project that would otherwise cost the government millions of dollars. But – and here’s the kicker – the Amish want to do it themselves, bypassing red tape. Not only that, they want to cover the full…
Twenty years ago, I had the pleasure of spending the night in my pickup truck, heater on blast, in the parking lot of a Middlefield, Ohio, gas station. The reason? A heavy, early-April lake effect snowstorm had caught me off guard while I was in the area selling books. The roads too slick to exit town, and nary a hotel bed to be found, I…
It’s been a month since Amish teenager Elmer Borntrager lost his life on a Clarke County, Iowa backroad, killed when a driver struck his buggy and fled, leaving him to die on the roadside. A search for the vehicle operator ensued; several days later, his car was found. And now it’s been reported that the driver himself has been arrested. Here are the basic details,…
It’s still deer hunting season – and that means in many Amish communities, the men (and some women) are taking full advantage of the chance to go after a prize buck. And in Perry County, Pennsylvania, one group of hunters managed to get that trophy – only to have it swiped away by a thief. The report from CBS 21: PERRY COUNTY, Pa. (WHP) —…
Christmas is right around the corner and Ben & Rose are back with their take on a Christmas classic: “Away In A Manger”. It’s a lovely soft rendition with Jordan Davis and Mark Davis helping out on drums and bass, and producer Conrad Fisher adding guitar. I particularly like the addition of the fiddle by Jason Barie which gives the tune a rich warm lift….
This story comes out of the Amish community in Williamsburg, Indiana. Fortunately no one was hurt, but as you can see by the photo the greenhouse took significant damage. Aerial technology came into play to help firefighters knock out the blaze. More on that from the Richmond Palladium-Item: WILLIAMSBURG, IN — No injuries were reported after a fire damaged Country Side Amish Greenhouse on the…
News today: the Supreme Court has “erased” a decision against New York Amish parents who objected to vaccination mandates for children in Amish schools. The Amish refusal to comply following a 2019 change in New York state law resulted in three Amish schools being fined a total of $118,000. To this point, the Amish side had faced multiple losses in the case, with a federal…
An interesting story appeared recently about a young woman who has made an unusual faith journey: from a non-Amish Christian family, to joining an Amish community, and most recently to Judaism. Nechama Leapley grew up as Briana Leapley in a non-Amish (aka “English”) Christian home – though in an “Amish-sized” family: she was the oldest of seven children, described as “homeschooled and mostly isolated”. Her…
An Amish father of two has died following a hunting accident in the mountains of Juniata County, Pennsylvania. The man was accidentally shot by another hunter while participating in a “deer drive” – a technique using two groups of hunters, where one group flushes deer out for others to shoot. More from WJAC: JUNIATA COUNTY, Pa. (WHP) — A 26-year-old hunter is dead after another…
Anthony Miller was a 10-year-old boy living the life of an Amish child in his community in St. Joseph County, Michigan. But Anthony’s life was abruptly cut short, one year ago this week. On December 2, 2024, Logan Thomas, 30, driving a pickup truck at a claimed speed of 50-55 mph, plowed into a group of four Amish children on the roadside, one of whom…