relations with outsiders
Schwartzentruber Amish Man Faces Jail Time
Andy Schwartzentruber, the Cambria County, Pennsylvania, Amish man who refuses to let sewage officials dictate how he will handle waste in his outhouses, may be heading for jail in another month. Hauled before county judge Norman Krumenacker on Thursday afternoon last week, Schwartzentruber was held in contempt of court for ignoring the judge’s earlier rulings […]
Amish Refusals to Follow Building Codes
The Associated Press released a story last Saturday describing the religious opposition to local building codes among some conservative Amish families in New York State and Wisconsin. The AP writer was obviously unaware of the sewer and building code violations that have roiled some Schwartzentruber Amish families in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, in recent months but […]
Hutterite Hog Barn Smells
While Hutterites normally maintain harmony within their colonies, the powerful odors from their large, hog-raising operations can challenge relationships with their rural neighbors. One Hutterite colony in southwest Alberta appears to be trying to do something about the hog-barn stench that sometimes wafts over a nearby town. The Pincher Creek Echo last week carried a […]
Hazards of Amish Buggies
Several Amish people have had severe problems with “English” motorists while driving their buggies along rural Pennsylvania roads recently. On Monday, May 5, Evan Byler, a 22 year old Amish man, was the victim of a hit-and-run accident on a rural highway east of Greenville, in Mercer County, the northwestern corner of the state. When […]
“English” Attitudes Toward Old Order Amish [journal article review]
On January 3, 2008, patrons driving toward a dry goods store in rural Central Pennsylvania paused to stare at a hostile sign posted along a gravel road. “Any Amish trespassing on any Maple Glenn farm Property will be arrested Complements of David Yoder [pseudonym].” James Wolf [pseudonym], the man who signed the posting, obviously has […]
Amish Negotiations Settle Conflicts [journal article review]
Increasingly, the Amish are able to resolve conflicts with the mainstream society through negotiation, an approach that often produces very positive outcomes. A recent journal article by Wayne F. Miller describes some of the 1400 different ways the Amish resolve their conflicts—a figure, the author tosses out, which is based on the number of Amish […]
Central Pennsylvania Amish Couple Threatened with Jail
The horse and buggy culture, symbolic of the Amish and their resistance to contemporary lifestyles, is not always appreciated in the bucolic valleys of Central Pennsylvania. When conflicts arise with their non-Amish neighbors, the Amish tend to lose. In a case that has been dragging on for nearly two years, a local judge decided in […]
