Amish in the News

SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP, IN - An Allen County couple are inheriting an unusual manufacturing venture – building horse-drawn buggies for the area Amish community.

ERIE, PA - State Police in Warren are still investigating an incident in which an Amish buggy was shot with a BB gun, injuring a young girl who was inside.

As seems customary, or maybe just lucky, clear skies, a bright sun and balmy weather greeted the 2019 edition of the Amish Clearview School Quilt and Consignment Auction held July 27 at the school grounds on Highway 104 between Brodhead and Albany in Green County. The annual auction—this was the 23rd annual—is held to benefit the Clearview school serving the 40 or so children from the Amish families in the area.

ELIMSPORT, PA — It was standing-room only at the Washington Township supervisors meeting Monday, with Amish community members standing along a wall and some unable to make it into the packed social hall.

ELIMSPORT, PA – “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.

CANTON, NY — A horse that was observed galloping down the road Friday evening near the corner of County Routes 21 and 25 is back with its Amish family.

WOOSTER, OH - An Ohio trooper was forced to conduct an unusual traffic stop when he spotted a runaway horse pulling an Amish buggy without anyone at the reins.

DELTA, PA - A compassionate pizzeria owner had a reputation for ensuring that his Amish neighbors never went hungry—so when his rural restaurant later burned down, they were sure to repay their debt.

CALIFORNIA TOWNSHIP, MI — Amid gently rolling hills in southern Michigan, there was nothing gentle about what happened during a June collision between the old world and new.

FARMINGTON, IL — Authorities said Thursday that it was unlikely a 16-year-old would be charged with manslaughter for crashing his truck into the back of a Mennonite buggy two weeks ago, saying it didn’t appear the boy was drunk or driving recklessly.

Pennsylvania has a large Amish population, particularly in Lancaster County, who move around on state roads by horse and buggy. Horse and buggy traffic is increasing in eastern P.E.I. with the arrival of Amish settlers there.

CHISHOLM TOWNSHIP, ONTARIO — At time when public schools in large urban areas like North Bay are amalgamating and schools are up for sale, the need for elementary education is growing in Chisholm where the Amish community hopes to break ground later this year for their second parochial school.

FARMINGTON, MO - Visitation for a 7-year old boy who was killed when a pickup struck the horse-drawn buggy he was riding in was Monday.

ST. FRANCOIS COUNTY, MO — A small cross with flowers sits on the side of Highway OO in Fredericktown. It was not there as of Thursday afternoon.

A Moultrie County judge last week awarded guardianship of an elderly Amish woman to the woman’s daughter, capping a fight that has spilled from the insular world of the Amish to the civil court system.

BERLIN, OH — The board of directors of an Amish Mennonite-run charity rocked by revelations that one of its workers sexually abused dozens of boys in Haiti has now placed two of its top officials — Paul Weaver and Eli Weaver — on leave pending an investigation as they have acknowledged that they allowed a confessed pedophile to return to Haiti, where he then continued to serially rape young boys. The man is currently free after fleeing back to the United States, but the organization believes he should be sent back to Haiti to face up to his crimes.

An attorney for Wallace J. Schmucker, 55, of Punxsutawney filed a motion to modify his bail to allow him to be released and return to a treatment facility.

CLARKSVILLE, TN - A crew of Amish workers has been hammering and chiseling atop a downtown Clarksville building for the past week, taking apart the 140-year-old Hodgson/Dabbs building by hand.

COLDWATER, MI -  The Branch County District Court preliminary examination for an Angola, Indiana man who is facing charges in connection with the deaths of three children in a June 7, 2019 Algansee Township traffic accident has been rescheduled.

North Stonington, CT — Having arrived at 6:30 a.m. after an hours-long drive from central Pennsylvania, five Amish carpenters constructed a pavilion at Hewitt Farm in less than six hours Monday, piecing together pre-cut and pressure-treated wood planks stained with beeswax.

PRESTON, MN — Four members of the Amish community in Fillmore County have asked a judge to amend his April ruling or grant them a new trial in the years-long struggle over residential wastewater disposal regulations.

Amos and Elizabeth Lapp, an older Amish couple looking to move off the farm, eyed a cozy, two-bedroom house for sale. It was in the middle of a quiet street of little houses close to New Holland.

The Amish and Mennonite communities will have to prepare for an arduous push to implement a new law ending religious exemptions for school vaccinations in New York.

An Amish man faces charges including DUI after his horse-drawn buggy collided with a car in Kentucky. 

An Amish man faces charges including DUI after his horse-drawn buggy collided with a car in Kentucky. 

Followers of Jacob Byler's faith tend to shun the trappings of technology and their usual mode of transport is a horse-drawn buggy.

ANGOLA — A northeastern Indiana man who pleaded guilty in a drunken-driving crash involving a horse-drawn carriage has been ordered to pay $427,000 in restitution to the crash victims.

ANGOLA, IN - A northeastern Indiana man who pleaded guilty in a drunken-driving crash involving a horse-drawn carriage near the Michigan state line has been ordered to pay $427,000 in restitution to the victims

MICHIGAN — An Indiana man who hit an Amish horse-drawn carriage in southern Michigan killing three children told police he was drunk at the time of the crash.

In the last five years, there have sadly been a few major crashes between motor cars, and horse drawn buggies. One accident even sent four kids to the hospital, and a horse died. Up to this point, there didn't seem to be many laws on the books really targeted at trying to make horse drawn buggies safer to drive at night.