Amish buggies in Barnesville, Ohio can no longer use the village’s historic B&O Railroad tunnel as a shortcut into town. Signs now prohibit horses there, following complaints about manure, as well as safety concerns. This is a community of over 400 Amish people in Belmont County in eastern Ohio, a couple counties southeast of the Holmes County settlement. The tunnel is now part of Barnesville’s…
Plain People in Maryland are getting stopped in their tracks by a tech roadblock when trying to pay their taxes. And it’s causing them some real headaches – and expense. Amish and Mennonite families in St. Mary’s County, Maryland are receiving estimated state tax bills as high as $16,000 when they owe around $400 — the result of the state’s move to online-only tax filing,…
Two Amish communities in Mille Lacs County, Minnesota say the county’s building permit rules discriminate against their religious beliefs — and they’re threatening to sue if it isn’t fixed. The complaint centers on one thing: the county moved its building permit system online. Old Order Amish generally don’t use computers, for religious reasons. But there is now a way for them to file using paper…
Lawyers for the Amish plaintiffs in New York’s school vaccine mandate case say their clients will petition the Supreme Court next month – and that if they lose there, the families intend to leave the state. That comes from the New York Post, which reported from the Fort Plain and Canajoharie area this week. Both points answer questions left open when we covered the Second…
The Amish community in Lawrence County, Indiana is just a small one – maybe 10 or 12 households. But it’s still big enough to have earned the ire of at least one resident. That person voiced a number of concerns – on road damage and more – at a recent County Commissioners’ meeting. As reported at WBIW: [Resident Evan] Hunter addressed the commissioners to highlight…
The Bedford Township ordinance we’ve been following for the past three weeks is not happening. And in contrast to the last township meeting, where residents spoke out passionately against the steel wheel ban and manure ordinance, there was no more drama to it. Supervisors have simply scrapped it. Residents arriving for the August 4th meeting found a sign posted on the door telling them the matter…
Some in Michigan are concerned that the Amish won’t be able to vote if the state adopts a photo ID requirement. WWMT reports that a bill which “mirrors the federal SAVE America Act” has already been approved by the Michigan House. But it doesn’t currently have the votes to pass in the Michigan Senate. It might get there, though – if the balance of power…
The Morrisons Cove Herald has a fuller writeup now of the July 21 Bedford Township (Bedford County, PA) meeting we’ve been following. It’s the one where supervisors were set to vote on the steel wheel and manure ordinance, but in the end – likely responding to the backlash from attendees – didn’t. We first covered the proposed ordinance a couple weeks back, then wrote about…
A proposed ordinance that would ban steel-wheel buggies in a Pennsylvania township is on hold after dozens of residents packed a supervisors’ meeting Tuesday night to speak against it. Despite the planned vote, Bedford Township supervisors (Bedford County) did not take one in the end. They now say they plan to meet with the local Amish community – which they apparently never did (more on…
A proposed ordinance in Bedford County, Pennsylvania would force local Amish to adapt their buggies to be more “road-friendly”, at least from the perspective of some residents. At the same time, others are concerned it could “disproportionately impact” the Amish community. From the report at WJAC: BEDFORD COUNTY, Pa (WJAC) — A proposed ordinance in Bedford Township is drawing scrutiny ahead of a vote scheduled…