Have you ever watched Amish “reality” TV? This type of programming made its first big splash in 2004 with “Amish in the City”. The series followed five Rumspringa-age Amish youth paired with a similar number of non-Amish young people living in a home in Los Angeles. “Amish in the City” was just a precursor of what was to come. The genre’s heyday came about a…
From the Salamanca Press: Amish school children in Cattaraugus County will probably have to find another way to school this fall if they currently are transported by school bus along with public school students. New York’s new vaccination regulations eliminating religious exemptions — such as those claimed by the Amish — go into effect this September at the start of the school year. It also…
Accompanied by their attorney, Amish shared their views on proposed regulations at a standing-room-only supervisors’ meeting in Washington Township (Lycoming County, PA) Monday. Township officials and other residents voiced their views as well. At issue are 3 proposed new requirements for Amish buggies: Horse diapers to prevent manure falling on roadways Rubber horseshoes to prevent damage to roadways 4-inch-high numbering on all four sides of…
Lycoming County, PA’s Washington Township wants local Amish buggies and their horses to change – in a pretty big way. From Pennlive.com: ELIMSPORT – “Blatant discrimination” is what an attorney for Old Order Amish says about proposed ordinances in a rural Lycoming County township that would require horses on public roads to wear a device to collect feces and to have rubber horseshoes. A third…
It seems the most contentious issue with Amish moving into Lancaster County towns and subdivisions has to do with housing horses. Amish have been seeking allowances to keep horses on smaller-than-normally-permitted properties. Who among the Amish wants to live in a suburban or “in-town” home? These may be young families, or older retired couples, who have downsized from the farm, but still need to keep…
The four Swartzentruber Amish plaintiffs who filed a lawsuit against the state of Minnesota over gray water disposal ended up losing their case in a ruling delivered in April. If you missed it, here’s a summary of the case/events, and our original post on the matter. Brian Lipford, the attorney for the Amishmen, has since asked for a new trial (article no longer online) along with…
It appears that the Lancaster County area will see a second controversial development come to fruition. Following the newly-approved satellite casino in Morgantown (technically in Berks County, on the edge of Lancaster’s Amish region), the Oregon Village housing development has been approved on a 3-2 vote by the Manheim Township Board of Commissioners. The development will bring over 500 new residential units to the rural…
Looks like gambling will be coming to the doorstep of Lancaster County’s Amish region after all. Despite protests from residents, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board voted yesterday, unanimously, to approve a new casino project: Pennsylvania regulators on Wednesday approved Penn National Gaming’s proposed satellite casino in Berks County to attract gamblers from Philadelphia’s growing western suburbs, the first of five so-called mini-casinos licensed under a…
An intoxicated driver rear-ended an Amish carriage Friday, taking three young lives: A fatal Friday collision involving an allegedly drunk truck driver and a horse-drawn buggy killed three children, said Michigan State Police. The Algansee Township crash, in which the pickup truck driver drove into the back of an Amish buggy, threw seven passengers — five children and two adults — from the carriage. MSP trooper…
From the Portland Press Herald: AUGUSTA — Operators of horse-drawn buggies in Maine will be required to outfit their carriages with reflectors and lights due to a new law in the state. The proposal is designed to improve safety on the roads in Amish communities in the state, and Democratic Gov. Janet Mills signed it into law on Thursday. The new law states that it…