Amish in the News

LANCASTER, PA — When Miriam Esh learned of a devastating case of child sexual abuse emerging last year in a Lancaster County Amish community, she traveled here from her Lewisburg, Pa., home to offer support to the victims.

A judge imposed a 38- to 76-year prison sentence Friday on an elderly Amish man for years of sexually abusing four girls in a case that highlighted growing awareness of sexual abuse among Amish and related church groups.

When an Amish child fainted after running around outside, the family’s physician was stumped. Results from an electrocardiogram and exercise stress test were normal, and no other cause was apparent.

Township supervisors in Lycoming County have decided to not create an ordinance that deals with horse manure and Amish buggies. The supervisors were flirting with the idea of having the horses wear diapers or some other kind of collection device.

LENAWEE COUNTY, MI - As late afternoon sun streamed into the home’s spare living area, an Amish couple recalled the day this past August when a Lenawee County health official came to their door to post a notice.

As a child, Sadie* was carefully shielded from outside influences, never allowed to watch TV or listen to pop music or get her learner’s permit. Instead, she attended a one-room Amish schoolhouse and rode a horse and buggy to church—a life designed to be humble and disciplined and godly.

LAGRANGE COUNTY, IN - Noise and drinking complaints led the LaGrange County Sheriff’s Department to arrest 38 people in connection to two separate weekend parties with suspected underage drinking.

Research led by Mayo Clinic has solved a 2-decade-old mystery about why so many otherwise healthy children and young people in Amish communities have been dying from sudden unexplained cardiac deaths.

The 23rd annual Florida Haiti Benefit Auction raised an estimated $300,000.

Using an exome molecular autopsy, Michael Ackerman, M.D., Ph.D., and his associates conducted genetic testing of four siblings who each died suddenly during exercise.

Should Wisconsin residents guiding horse-drawn buggies and farm equipment down rural byways be forced to pony up money used to upkeep those roads they share with motor vehicles?

Located two hours southwest of Denver, Westcliffe is one of two Colorado towns officially designated as ‘dark sky’ communities. These are communities that limit nighttime lights to minimize light pollution and preserves the purity of the night sky. But it wasn’t so much the night sky that brought Joel Troyer to Westcliffe as it was the sunny days, open space and the chance to start a whole new life.

WARREN, OH – Christmas time may be over, but one group is still in the Christmas spirit.

MICHIGAN - In January 2020, readers asked us about the accuracy of reports that claimed officials in a county in Michigan had threatened to demolish more than a dozen homes in a local Amish community unless their owners upgraded them in a way that is antithetical to their religious beliefs. 

Waterloo Regional Police are looking for someone in a white pickup truck after paintballs were fired at a horse and buggy in Woolwich Township.

BEAVERTON TWP, MI – Officers arrested four men who were believed to be intoxicated and were tossing beer cans out of the buggy onto the roadway.

STRASBURG, PA - The only Amish man in the room stood by a window and stroked his long beard, listening to a Somalian refugee talk about his new life in America.

Amish residents in Michigan are suing the Lenawee County Health Department for violating their religious liberty rights by seeking to have their homes demolished if they don’t modernize water and sewage systems.

President Trump began the holiday break by hosting an Amish delegation in the Oval Office, the first time members of the reclusive community have received that honor.

DAVIESS CO., KY – The Daviess County Commissioners unanimously voted to increase buggy license plate fees in the county from $60 to $75.

ESCANABA TOWNSHIP, MI - A total of four Amish alert signs were stolen off county roads in September. Since then, the Delta County Road Commission has replaced the signs and the Delta County Sheriff’s Office has been working to deter others from stealing the signs again.

BINGHAM, NY - A 3-year-old boy was rushed to a Binghamton-area hospital after he fell out of an emergency window of a minibus headed south on Interstate 81 Saturday evening.

LANCASTER, PA - A 75-year-old Lancaster County man could face a prison sentence more than three times his age after pleading no-contest Thursday to 20 felony charges of sexually assaulting four pre-teen girls.

"It’s a typical mammogram room—if you went to a hospital it would look exactly the same," says mammographer Valerie Rice. "It’s nothing really different, except that it’s in a moving vehicle!"

LONG PRAIRIE, MN - A man dressed in Amish clothing was spotted skiing behind a horse-drawn cart in Long Prairie, Minnesota, on December 8.

DAVIESS COUNTY, IN - Daviess County officials are expected to raise the price on buggy plates. The Daviess County Commissioners have spent several weeks discussing the possibility of raising the price on the plates.

Republican strategists in Pennsylvania have set their sights on getting the politically inactive Amish to the polls to vote for President Donald Trump, according to the Washington Post.

When death visits the Amish, everything stops.When death visits the Amish, everything stops. A normally industrious family is stilled for a period of mourning. It begins the moment a loved one dies and extends until after the burial and repast.

FORT WAYNE, IN — Farmers in Nappanee are in shock after a truck driver accidentally ran over two young Amish brothers.

ELIMSPORT, PA - Amish families’ buggies have long traveled the gently rolling roads of White Deer Valley, a bucolic part of the state north of Harrisburg. But lately they haven’t been quite as welcomed. The problem is what the horses pulling them leave behind.