Someone Is Throwing Rocks Through Amish Windows In Ohio
And not only rocks. Someone (or someones) is attacking Amish homes in the early morning hours, throwing dangerous objects through home windows. This has played out in a series of attacks on Amish residences in north-central Ohio over the past several months.
From the report by News 5 Cleveland:
MEDINA, Ohio — The Medina County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a string of crimes committed against Amish people.
Detectives are trying to figure out who is responsible for throwing railroad spikes, rocks and other items into homes, shattering windows and creating fear.
Deputies have responded to 14 similar calls for service and six police reports have been filed.
Since the Amish seem to be specifically targeted, the incidents could be considered hate crimes, according to Det. Larry Covey.
“They’re picking specifically on the Amish. Nobody else is reporting this. It’s been all Amish victims at this point,” Covey said. “I don’t understand why we would pick on that portion of our residents in the county. It just doesn’t make sense to me.”
Most of the criminal damage has taken place in the last two months in Homerville, a small community in the southwest section of the county largely populated by Amish.
Other objects have included soda cans, bottles filled with rocks and tuna cans. Here’s an image of one of the railroad spikes that went through a window:
Fortunately no one has been reported injured. But if there have been 14 calls to police, that probably means there have been a lot more actual incidents than that. Amish people generally report crimes less often (and the plainest Amish, with more limited access to telephones, are even less apt to do so).
Unfortunately it sounds like they don’t have much to go on as far as the perpetrator, other than “a dark-colored four-door sedan that has been reported near some of the homes.”
Cleveland 5 also got commentary from a member of the community who wished to remain anonymous:
An Amish man who lives and works in the area said the crimes have created a lot of worry. He did not want to be identified.
“They’re scared. They have a family to protect,” he said. “One of the first ones that was thrown was an Estwing hammer through a window in a living room on a rocking chair at like 3 o’clock in the morning.”
He’s grateful no one has been hurt, but worries that could happen if the crimes continue.
“I mean, railroad spikes— that’s dangerous,” he said. “If there’s anything against us, or what makes it happen? That’s the thing I have a question about. Whatever makes this happen, if people could talk to us, if we could sit down and talk together and be friends.”
A hammer thrown through a window to land on a rocking chair in the early morning hours – where someone could conceivably be snoozing. It goes without saying that someone could be killed. What kind of charges would the perpetrator or perpetrators face for this kind of thing, if and when they are caught? I would hope severe ones.
Homerville is in the large Swartzentruber Amish community in Medina and Ashland Counties. Swartzentruber Amish are of course one of the plainest of all Amish groups. And I don’t have data to support this, but I would suspect the most conservative Amish are more often victims of such harassment and attacks (have a look at this study for more on reasons why some target the Amish).
The plainest Amish groups are the most different from non-Amish in terms of culture and lifestyle. In some ways they’re even quite different from higher Amish groups, for that matter. I suspect this greater cultural distance makes it easier for non-Amish evildoers to harass and even do violence against them. They are clearly “not us”, after all.
And there are sadly plenty of such examples. Last year in this same area, teens were caught for throwing water bottles at Amish children coming home from school. Prior to that someone used a truck to harass and frighten an Amish person in another Swartzentruber community. There have been even more serious attacks. The one that stands out is the case of gunshots fired at Amish homes in Wisconsin.
At the same time, it should be noted that sometimes the people behind attacks and vandalism are actually wayward Amish youth, or Amish-raised people harboring ill will towards their former communities. And to be fair, I have even heard of harassment going the other way.
What am I talking about? Once a former Amish family that had left the community told me that their former church members had been vandalizing their property. Humans are humans I suppose, though I’ve much less often heard of those types of stories.
As with car versus buggy accidents, in these types of stories Amish usually come out on the losing end. It’s good that this conservative Amish group sees a need to involve law enforcement to this degree to get these dangerous attacks stopped.
We are in a religious war against the globalists.
From wikipedia: A series of vandalizations, church arsons, and suspicious fires in June and July 2021 desecrated, damaged, or destroyed 68 Christian churches in Canada.
They are creating a one world cbdc currency and one world religion, The Abrahamic Family House
Other Amish?
I hate to think it, but there’s a good chance it’s other Amish doing it. Either as a prank, to get attention, or as retribution toward other families. I’ve seen other acts of vandalism by Amish youth in the past.
That many attacks(and probably more since we can only count how many were reported) in a certain area….most likely it’s a local or someone connected to the community(or was connected).
Sadly, it’s another example how pathetic people can be. There’s literally no reason for this type of behavior.
Rock and spike thrower
Evil exists and eventually the rock thrower will get caught and punished severely I pray. Whoever must be sneeking onto their property because usually their houses are on farm land away from roads. I suggest having a dog to warn who’s on the property and plenty of solar lights will help. But with no phones how can they call for help? They cant defend themselves except for getting the biggest meanest dog that might rip the pants off whoever doing it. I’d get a few.
Whatever the story behind this, it’s terrible. I hope it is quickly resolved, that the person(s) gets the help that they clearly need and that the attacked community finds peace.
Not so uncommon
I have been collecting crime stories where/when the Amish are victims, from petty theft to a few cases of armed robbery while a family is on the open road in a buggy. Likely, their rates of victimization are much lower than the general population, but incidents of crimes against the Amish can be found in nearly every issue of The Budget, Die Botschaft and The Diary.
Rocks & Spikes
I am shocked and horrified. But it’s good that so many people know
about this because perhaps anyone living near this community
(English) can keep their eyes open and help catch the culprit(s).
I hope justice prevails for the victims. No excuse for this sort of
thing.
Plea for information
Good day,
Maybe Amish America fans can help me? I am looking for the
mailing address for Mrs. Gloria Yoder. She lost her husband,
Daniel, not too long ago. I would like to send her family a small
gift. Have turned my house upside down, but cannot find her
address. Can anyone help me? I’d be ever so grateful. Hope
everyone has a wonderful day.
Hi KD let me jump in here, I remember where we posted this: https://amishamerica.com/gloria-yoder-where-to-send-cards/
Assuming she hasn’t moved (I don’t think so?), here’s the relevant bit from that:
you can mail cards, notes of encouragement, or checks directly to: Gloria Yoder, 10510 East 350th Ave, Flat Rock, ILL 62427.
This is very sad to see
This is sad to see someone throwing objects through these Amish homes, windows (Glass) is very dangerous and sharp. I can’t see English people doing this because, why would they? I guess we will never know until they catch the vandals doing this?
I see someone describing a black 4 door sedan driving off after this happens? There is usually someone from the Amish Community that has been shunned or Mennonites doing this as we know they are allowed to drive only black vehicles, while Swartzentruber are forbidden to drive any vehicle other than a horse and buggy. I hope whoever it is gets caught fast before something bad happens.