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…
After last week’s animal cruelty case, I really wasn’t looking to write more on Amish-owned dogs coming to harm. But here we are. Today we see a report on an Amish dog breeder named John S. Stoltzfus Jr. The Lancaster County resident got himself into trouble after it was learned that, in late 2023, he had killed four Sheepadoodle puppies which weren’t selling. From the…
Amish parents in New York face a setback in the latest of a back-and-forth series of court decisions. In news released Tuesday, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled against the Amish parents and schools in the long-running case over vaccine requirements in New York schools. As a reminder, the current NY law requires vaccines not only in public schools, but in privately-operated ones…
The county, for its part, “vehemently den[ies]” that claim, according to new reporting at Cowboy State Daily. The issue is one we looked at last week in the Amish community at Hulett, Wyoming. A non-Amish rancher claimed that Crook County officials were driving Amish families away due to how it was handling a dispute over Amish use of outhouses. The man in question claimed that…
A really sad, and maddening, story was reported last week out of upstate New York. Some of this is hard to read. Via WWNY: POTSDAM, New York (WWNY) – Warning: the photos and description of the dog’s injury may be upsetting The St. Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a suspected case of animal cruelty after a severely injured dog was brought to the Potsdam…
Another conflict over outhouses has roiled an Amish community in America’s least-populated state, with a rancher claiming threats of massive fines have caused local Amish families to start leaving. Hulett in Crook County is the site of Wyoming’s largest and oldest Amish settlement – about 190 people according to Young Center estimates, or roughly 40 families according to the report by Kate Meadows at Cowboy…