From the Bangor Daily News: Despite a very divided vote by the legislature’s IFW Committee, the state’s Amish hunters won the right to wear red instead of orange while deer hunting in Maine. LD 426 was sponsored by Representative McCrea of Fort Fairfield, who was joined at the hearing by several young Amish men who testified that their religion forbid them from wearing orange because it…
From the Bowling Green Daily News (Kentucky): RUSSELLVILLE – A trial date has been set for 13 members of Auburn’s Amish community who have been cited for violating a local ordinance that requires them to clean up after their horses. Authorities have accused the Amish defendants of running afoul of Auburn’s ordinance setting forth the need for large animals traveling within the city limits to…
If you’re not familiar with the term “Amish taxi”, this refers to a service common in Amish areas of size. Non-Amish drivers, often with large-volume passenger vans, provide hauling services for their Amish clientele. Taxi drivers ferry their Plain passengers to and from doctor’s offices, shopping outlets, family visits, and work destinations. You’ll see ads for Amish taxi drivers posted on local bulletin boards, and…
Why are we fascinated by stories of people both joining – and leaving – the Amish? Over the ten years I’ve run this website, stories on those topics have consistently gotten a lot of attention here. We could point to several reasons. For one, I believe entering or exiting a community with firm boundaries contains its own built-in potential for drama. Amish-born writers like Ira Wagler and Saloma Furlong have penned memoirs revealing the pain…
It might surprise you to read the words “Amish” and “heroin” in the same sentence. But Amish people are hardly immune to the scourge of drug abuse. Amish in Wayne County, Indiana recently invited former addict and anti-heroin campaigner Michael DeLeon to speak to their community. RTV6 did a story on the meeting, accompanied by a pair of videos. In the first video below (videos unavailable),…
Amish involvement in the dog breeding industry has gotten a lot of attention over the years, in particular due to several highly-publicized cases involving mistreated animals. The term “puppy mill” is often used to describe these businesses (and is sometimes extended to describe breeders in general). Amish are aware of the negative perception. The Lafayette Journal & Courier reports that Amish breeders in the Daviess County,…
In January we learned the unusual story of Amish convert Matthew Secich and his premium meats and cheeses business, Charcuterie. A former chef working in some of the country’s top restaurants, Secich had found his way to becoming a member of the Amish community at Unity, Maine. This story which achieved a national reach got him a lot of attention. Now he has issues with…
Amish people rely on literal horsepower, and those animals leave behind their own waste products which land on the roads. This inevitably gets run over by cars no doubt perturbing their owners, and is hardly the most picturesque side of life in “Amish Country.” So from time to time you come across news stories from corners of America where this is a point of conflict between Amish and…
An update on Sarah Hershberger, an 11-year old Amish girl who was recently the focus of a public battle over child welfare and parental rights. Sarah was diagnosed in 2013 with a form of leukemia described as “highly curable.” After undergoing conventional chemotherapy, Sarah’s parents elected to remove her from the treatment due to the adverse side effects. In lieu of a conventional approach, they…
From newsnet5.com: KIDRON, Ohio – The Wayne County Sheriff’s Department believes they have identified the man who accidentally struck an Amish boy in the head with a bullet who was plowing a field. The 34-year-old told police he was shooting pigeons at the time of the incident. The man fired one shot into a group of pigeons and then fired a second shot when the…