This is one of the few negative stories I’ve seen so far, concerning relations between English and Amish people during the ongoing coronavirus situation. Non-Amish neighbors have complained after an Amish household held a large wedding yesterday in a southern Michigan community. This happened in California Township in Branch County. As you’d expect for an Amish wedding, hundreds of people attended: CALIFORNIA TOWNSHIP, MI (WTVB)…
Sam Mullet was the pseudo-Amish bishop of a breakaway church who orchestrated the beard and hair-cutting attacks which terrorized an Ohio Amish community in 2011. Mullett is currently serving out the end of his 10-year, 9-month sentence in a halfway house. He would like to be released to finish his sentence under house arrest due to the coronavirus threat. Mullett is 74 years old and…
Ohio lawmakers want all 75,000+ Amish in the state to make some changes to their buggies. A proposed law would require a buggy-top flashing light, and a new kind of tape. From the Wooster Daily Record: Rep. Scott Wiggam (R-Wooster) and Rep. Darrell Kick (R-Loudonville) announced a bill Monday designed to make buggies more visible. The bill would require animal-drawn vehicles to display a new…
On our recent post “Nearly 40 Amish Youth Partygoers Arrested,” reader Al in KY commented about an unusual billboard. It can now be seen on the edge of Shipshewana, the center of the northern Indiana Amish community where the arrests occurred: Near the intersection of Hwys 5 and 20 (the main, very busy intersection as you enter Shipshewana from the south), I saw a large…
Lenawee County, Michigan authorities hope to find a compromise with Amish over sewage and water violations in an ongoing conflict in this southern Michigan community. That’s according to a new article in the Daily Telegram. The report contains more details about how waste is handled by the Amish: The health department said it started receiving complaints in 2015 about how the Amish were disposing of…
In August we learned that a Michigan county had deemed Amish homes “unfit for human habitation.” The reason? Outhouses and lack of running water, which created what were described as unsafe living conditions. Photo by Mary Speer/WTOL Eviction loomed, and jail and fines were possible. There was even a threat of the homes being bulldozed. Now the Lenawee County Health Department has been sued by a…
This story caught my attention first for how the paper framed it with their headline: “Horses lead the way to a less peaceful coexistence in Amish country.” Is that meant to be a cute title? It sounds like it is strictly blaming the Amish for the conflicts, at the least. The article addresses two issues, both of which we’ve had an eye on here. One…
Some Amish people make a supplemental income – and sometimes a full living – through what might be termed “alternative animal breeding”. These are not your everyday cows, pigs, and chickens we’re talking about. The authors of Nature and the Environment in Amish Life explore this topic in chapter 6 of their book (“Tinkering with Creation”), identifying four main categories of this activity found among…
Amish father Jonas Stoltzfus recently filed a lawsuit challenging a new New York state law requiring students to be fully immunized against contagious disease. Stoltzfus says he was informed that his three children will be blocked from attending their Cranberry Marsh School, a traditional Amish school in this Seneca County settlement of six church districts. All 24 students at the school are Amish. An Amish…
An 11-year-old Amish boy was shot and killed Wednesday afternoon by his sibling in the Adams County, Indiana community. Details are vague at this time, but sources are describing it as “accidental”, and I’d assume that to be the case. Images by wpta21.com (update: article has been removed at source) This is just one of numerous shootings involving Amish children and youth over the past…