After last week’s story of an Amish neighbor unexpectedly returning a favor, Haley Straw returns with a story in a similar vein. Only this time the favor is of the “pay-it-forward” variety – and on a much larger scale. Snuggled warm in bed, hoping to catch up on sleep, my phone rang interrupting a sweet dream. Blurry eyed, I fumbled for my phone thinking, “It…
It has been three months since the devastating February 3rd crash in Jay County, Indiana that killed four members of the local Amish community. The crash drew national attention to the question of “chameleon carriers” in the shipping industry. Since the tragedy, there have been several significant developments — including that the semi driver has been formally charged, and the van driver who survived has…
A recent piece by Marjorie Struckle in Lancaster Farming does a good job profiling something that, across the nearly 700 Amish settlements in North America, I suspect is not too uncommon — a rural community where the Amish and their non-Amish neighbors have built something genuinely mutual. The setting is Otsego County in central New York. That county is home to a full three Amish…
A three-year-old Amish boy was seriously injured yesterday afternoon after being run over by a horse-drawn planter on a farm in Centre County, Pennsylvania, as reported by WTAJ. Pennsylvania State Police say the accident happened Monday on Brush Valley Road in Rebersburg. The Daily Voice notes that emergency crews treated the child at the scene before he was airlifted to Geisinger Hospital in Danville, where…
Sam Shetler, the Amish man who led the Mercy and Truth Retreat in Cooper County, Missouri, was indicted by a grand jury Friday — and the indictment includes an upgrade that puts life in prison on the table. This is the latest development in a case we’ve been following since Shetler’s arrest in late March. If you’re new to the story, Shetler was arrested March…
A rear-end crash involving an SUV and a buggy carrying three people in Logan County, Ohio has left one Amish man dead, and two others (likely his sons) hospitalized with critical injuries. From the report at Peak of Ohio: A Saturday morning crash involving an SUV and an Amish buggy has left one man dead and two others critically injured. According to the Logan County…
We’re back with Part 3, the final part of our conversation with Don Burke and Laura Graber on Amish horse-drawn transport in Jamesport, Missouri. In Part 1, Don and Laura covered the smallest and largest vehicles on the road — from pony carts to draft horse wagons. In Part 2, they moved to the three most common buggy types: the standard enclosed buggy, the surrey,…
It’s been about a month since their last release, but Ben and Rose are back with a new song just out this afternoon. After covering a contemporary Christian song in “Mighty To Save“, the Amish-roots couple shift back to country music, striking a somber chord with this cover of a song popularized by Hank Williams – “Lonely Tombs”. Shot in part with the backdrop of…
Author and Amish taxi driver Haley Straw is back to share a new story – of an Amish neighbor who remembered a kindness – and made sure to pay it back, in his own way. The gravel crunched under my tires as I pulled into the pasture, the old ticket booth still sitting where it had been for two years—waiting. I had big plans for…
A young Amish man in the Seymour, Missouri community was tragically killed Sunday in a frankly head-scratching set of circumstances. He was struck while riding his bicycle in the very early hours of the morning – reportedly without lights and traveling on a highway in the middle of the passing lane. From the report at the Webster County Citizen: A 25-year-old man was killed early…