Free Talk Live

Four attacks of hair cutting have alledgedly been perpetrated on Amish families from an isolated splinter settlement near Berghol -- said to be led with an iron hand by Sam Mullet, a prickly 66-year-old man who had become bitterly estranged from mainstream Amish communities and had had several confrontations with the Jefferson County sheriff.

A change in state police policy could create problems for Amish gun-owners in Illinois, as a rule requiring photos to be on gun-owner ID cards will soon be applied to their community.

As the blog Amish America writes Monday, many Amish people use guns to hunt deer and other game, and to disperse "varmints."

Another case of civil disobedience from the Amish. These Amish value their independence and do not recognize the authority of the state. Not a repeat.

The Amish do not experience autism, or any of the other learning disabilities that plague our technological society. The Amish live in a society that consists of outdated technologies and ideals, by contemporary standards. Their diet consists of eating organic, fresh, locally-grown produce, and of course, they do not follow the established vaccination routines.

A yearlong sting operation, including aliases, a 5 a.m. surprise inspection and surreptitious purchases from an Amish farm in Pennsylvania, culminated in the federal government announcing this week that it has gone to court to stop Rainbow Acres Farm from selling its contraband to willing customers in the Washington area.The product in question: unpasteurized milk.

Federal health care reform will require most Northern New Yorkers — but not all, it turns out — to carry health insurance or risk a fine.

Hundreds of Amish families in the region are likely to be free from that requirement.

Mose Yoder was told he owed $158 in fines and court costs for refusing to display a bright orange-red safety triangle on the back of his horse-drawn buggy. Judge Deborah Hawkins Crooks sentenced nine Amish men to between three and 10 days in jail, beginning late Monday night, for their refusal to pay the fines on religious grounds.

Amish farmers are facing growing scrutiny for agricultural practices that the federal government sees as environmentally destructive. Their cows generate heaps of manure that easily washes into streams and flows onward into the Chesapeake Bay. And the EPA, charged by President Obama with restoring the bay to health, is determined to crack down. The farmers have a choice: change the way they farm or face stiff penalties.

An Amish teenager has been charged after police in western New York say he led them on a one-mile chase in his horse and buggy.