Amish Are being Persicuted!

General Discussion
21

@Whitey - that’s wrong. He joined a lawsuit from his subdivision to stop construction of a water tower that may or may not have broken zoning laws. The water tower could supply water for fracking, so the traffic was a concern too, it sounds like.
Here’s the actual information:
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304899704579391181466603804

Traffic, noise, infrastructure concerns are all legitimate issues that need to be addressed. And fracking deep shales doesn’t contaminate aquifers, they’re typically a mile or more away (shallower). Any contamination in these areas is now being blamed on fracking, of course, deep pockets and all.

Like I said, there are real problems that need to be addressed as far as infrastructure, air pollution, etc. The ‘poisoning the aquifers’ paranoia is just that, and prevents us from making rational decisions.

22


Like I said, there are real problems that need to be addressed as far as infrastructure, air pollution, etc. The ‘poisoning the aquifers’ paranoia is just that

Paranoia??? I don’ think so.

Fracking is fairly new…and we may not see the full effect of it for years to come.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-08/gas-fracking-chemicals-detected-in-wyoming-aquifer-epa-says.html

http://www.takepart.com/article/2012/05/14/new-study-says-fracking-chemicals-will-poison-aquifers

23

Is it just me, or do the Amish come up in here a lot?

As important as it is to understand fracking, I’m afraid the thread is appearing less and less car-related as posts come out.

24

I don t know. fuel supply seems related to me.

darn barkydog starts a topic and then lets us hang. lol

25

@texases‌

I disagreed with you

26

I think equating “$50 per year road fees” to “persecution” is rather hyperbolic. I don’t think the Amish are all that concerned about good roads though: they represent the “lazy way” of doing things, and make it all too easy to ramble, and put “worldly” concerns ahead of community and God.


They ought to be happy the gov’t doesn’t decide to put road taxes on oats as an “alternative fuel…”

27

The difference is that the trucks pay a fuel and road tax to use the roads. Horses don’t pay a fuel tax or road tax and not even a license fee so I can see if they are using and damaging the roads, they could be charged for it.

28

Amish are ANYTHING but lazy

I bet the average Amish old man could work circles around most young non-Amish men

29

Precisely. That’s one of their digs against technology. (AND that it leads to being worldly, acquiring possessions, etc.) They’d probably prefer a worse road that required more effort to travel far on.

30

“wagon talk”

31

The Amish just need a GPS for the upcoming “mileage tax” like is being tested in Oregon.
(Never mind; need some pesky electrons for the GPS.)

32

““wagon talk””

So are you suggesting a separate Amish forum? Tool talk, wagon talk, general talk? Not cars, but wheels anyway.

33

It’ll need a veterinary category for engine work.

… At least motor swaps are easy. :wink:

34

a carriage is a car…

35

I’m not quite sure why this forum seems to have developed into an Amish-advocacy group of late, but one thing is for sure, and that is the lack of reality that many people have about the Amish and their growing acceptance of technology.

Even back when I was a kid, the Black Bumper Amish drove cars, albeit with the chrome trim painted-over with black paint. Circa 1958, I can vividly recall my father’s car being overtaken (and cut off) by a bunch of Amish teenagers in an all-black '51 Mercury.

Almost all of the Amish who run a local market drive cars or SUVs, and they most certainly utilize electricity at their place of business.

For many years, Amish folks have used electrically-powered equipment in their barns and utility buildings, and many of them have used battery-powered devices in their homes for quite some time. Now, according to a current article in Business Week, smartphones and I-Pads are commonly seen, and it is not unheard-of for Amish businessmen to utilize the internet for their businesses.

For those who believe that the Amish are totally non-dependent on electricity, think about this…
If they don’t use electricity…How would they be charging these modern devices?

Anyway…the saddest part of this article is that some of them appear to be susceptible to hucksters who have promised to make them richer. As the article states, they survived persecution, but they may not survive their new-found prosperity.

36

"well, they should pay the gas tax like every one else"
Since horses don’t use gas, that’s impossible, so I suspect that the $50/yr fee is designed as an alternative.

No matter who originally made the roads, they use them and IMHO it isn’t unreasonable for them to share the cost.

37

your right. I m just being a pain

38

You might enjoy this.

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=weird+al+songs&qpvt=weird+al+songs&FORM=VDRE#view=detail&mid=64594D760ABC17EC5A1264594D760ABC17EC5A12

39

I Agree with VDC driver…they use electricity…maybe not like, or as much as we do.
I’ve been professional Farrier (horseshoer) for 37 years and back…a few years after I started, I was told about an Amish fellow who sold shoes, nails and tools at lower prices than we were paying at the supply house.
I drove over there on a Saturday to check things out. I found the house and asked the kids playing in the yard if Mr X was around. They pointed me down the road at a travel trailer on the corner…about 300 yards away. I figured that he was over there visiting with friends that came to visit. I went over and asked the gentleman sitting in a patio chair…watching the ball game on a little portable TV…and drinking a can of beer, where might I find Mr X. He spoke up and said…“That would be me”.
He had a man cave way before any of us ever heard the term. The Electric Company put in a pole with a meter, breaker box and about 6 outlets.
I had heard later that this man was shunned from another community in another state, because he didn’t follow the Amash way.

So there are all sorts that make up the world. Some Amish communities are stricter than others.

I understand that it is not electricity that they feel strongly against, it’s the power lines that connect everyone together. Many have a Gas or Diesel generator to run the tools in the shop, and the milking machine, etc., etc…

I think that the $50 tax is only right, but it should be on ther carriage, not the horse. Though the horse is the one that damages the road…because of the type of shoe…the carriage should have a plate, just like a car.
The reason why I don’t think it would be fair to tax the horse, is because a horse being ridden will normally be ridden on the shoulder and the grass. The buggy borse is alway in the traffic lane.
It is the shoes with Drill Tec/ Borium that damages the road. These are traction devices to keep the horse from slipping on the smooth pavement. Even a bare footed horse will have more traction on the pavement than a plain shod (without traction devices) horse.
Drill tec/ Borium are trade names but they are small chips of tungston carbide in either a steel tube, or a brass matrix, that is welded or brazed onto the heels and toe of the shoe. And believe me they put on way more than they really need.

I’m getting way too long here, but in the end it is the tungston grinding at the road that does the damage…along with the fact that these horses are driven down the road…not just to church on sunday, but maybe everyday to run an errand, visit a neighbor, the store, the doctor.

I have to warn my clients when I put this on their horse. “Do not let your horse stand tied in the aisle of the barn and walk away for 20 minutes. When they get bored they will paw the ground and they will literaly chew up the surface of the concrete”.

By the way, the Amish didn’t make the roads the Settlers did, and few were Amish!!!
Yosemite

40

I think it depends on which sect of Amish you are talking about and we tend to lump them together with Menonites etc. Some drive some don’t. Some still use buggies and lanterns and some don’t. Read about the number of buggies run into at night with only their lanterns glowing. In Rochester I used to see them in the lumber yard driving their new trucks but the women dressed in 1850’s garb and the men wearing beards and black hats.