Posted on 10/05/2006 7:18:10 AM PDT by NYer
Horse-drawn buggies clip-clopped past roadblocks Thursday morning as Amish families gathered to bury four of the five young girls gunned down inside their tiny rural schoolhouse.
All roads leading into the village of Nickel Mines, where a milk truck driver took 10 girls hostage and opened fire, were blocked off for the funerals.
The Amish families had asked for privacy as they pray at three homes before burying Naomi Rose Ebersole, 7; Marian Fisher, 13; and sisters Mary Liz Miller, 8, and Lena Miller, 7. The funeral for a fifth girl, Anna Mae Stoltzfus, 12, was scheduled for Friday.
Five of their friends caught in the schoolhouse attack continued to fight their injuries, at least four of them still hospitalized.
Country coroner G. Gary Kirchner said he had been contacted by a doctor at Penn State Children's Hospital in Hershey who said doctors expected to take one victim off life support so she could be brought home. Dr. D. Holmes Morton, who runs a clinic that serves Amish children, said Thursday that the reports that a 6-year-old had been taken off life-support and taken home to die were accurate "as far as I know."
"I just think at this point mostly these families want to be left alone in their grief and we ought to respect that," Morton said.
National mourning of similar tragedies, such as the massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado, has been enabled in part by media coverage — something the Amish generally shun.
In Lancaster County, there have been memorial services for the Amish school shooting victims at nearby churches, but the traditional funerals for the girls were private.
About 300 to 500 people are expected at each, with services held in the homes, said funeral director Philip W. Furman.
Amish custom calls for simple wooden caskets, narrow at the head and feet and wider in the middle. An Amish girl is typically laid to rest in a white dress, a cape, and a white prayer-covering on her head, Furman said. The cemetery sits on the crest of a hill in Georgetown.
The girls' families, Amish neighbors and friends are coping with the slayings by looking inward, relying on themselves and their faith, just as they have for centuries, to get them through what one Amish bishop called "our 9/11."
The attack began Monday morning, when Charles Carl Roberts IV, a 32-year-old milk truck driver, took over the one-room school, sent the adults and boys out and shot the 10 remaining girls before turning the gun on himself.
State police have said Roberts, who brought lubricating jelly and plastic restraints with him, might have been planning to sexually assault the Amish girls but there was no evidence that he did.
In the aftermath of that violence, the Amish have reached out to Roberts' family.
Dwight Lefever, a Roberts family spokesman, said an Amish neighbor comforted the Roberts family hours after the shooting and extended forgiveness to them. Among Roberts' survivors are his wife and three children.
Roberts revealed to his family in notes he left behind and in a phone call from inside the West Nickel Mines Amish School that he was tormented by memories of molesting two young relatives 20 years ago. But police said Wednesday there was no evidence of any such sexual abuse.
Investigators spoke to the two women Roberts named, who would have been 4 or 5 at the time, and neither recalls being sexually assaulted by Roberts.
"They were absolutely sure they had no contact with Roberts," state police Trooper Linette Quinn said.
The horse and buggy of an Amish family drives past the HomeTown Heritage Bank near the village of Georgetown, Pennsylvania October 4, 2006. The bank, which serves the Amish community, is receiving monetary donations for victims of the Nickel Mines schoolhouse shooting. A group of Amish leaders had asked for assistance in centralizing the growing number of outside offers of support. REUTERS/Bradley C Bower (UNITED STATES)
PLEASE NOTE
Several funds have been set up to help with the victims of Monday's shootings. The first fund was set up to help cover the medical expenses for all the victims of Monday tragic events. Many Amish families do not have medical insurance.
Contributions for all victims may be sent to:
Nickel Mine School Victims Fund,
c/o Hometown Heritage Bank,
P.O. Box 337,
Strasburg, PA 17579
Two additional funds have been set up through the Coatesville Savings at 1082 Georgetown Road, Paradise, PA 17562. One fund is the "Nickles Mines Children's Fund." The other is the "Roberts Family Fund, for Children of the Roberts Family."
Members of an Amish family ride in their horse-drawn buggy along Mine Road to a funeral ceremony for victims of the Amish school shootings in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, October 5, 2006. The Amish community prepared for the funerals of the victims of Monday's schoolhouse shooting in Nickel Mines. REUTERS/Jason Reed (UNITED STATES)
Catholic Ping - Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list
Glenn Beck reported that a radio host offered an hour of airtime to the Phelps "protest church" if they would agree to stop protesting funerals.
Beck did an unscientific poll on the air just now about is it right or wrong to do this:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1714107/posts
see posts 28 and 29
Prayer for these grieving families........
Prayers for them all. May God bless and comfort them.
They may be a humble, quiet, gentle people but no wimps are they.
Here's the Mike Gallagher Live Thread. He's the great guy who offered to give them an hour to save the amish families the horror of having their girls called whores and worse by the church. (It's going on right now with the crazies.) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1714162/posts
I'm impressed at their Christian love and devotion.
Horrible. God bless them.
"Dr. D. Holmes Morton, who runs a clinic that serves Amish children, said Thursday that the reports that a 6-year-old had been taken off life-support and taken home to die were accurate "as far as I know."
The most painful decision ever for a parent. My heart is breaking for them.
I have to thank governor Rendell, congressman Joe Pitts, et. al.. A no-fly zone has been established and the State Police are keeping the prying eyes of the media and outsiders from these services. I heard on the radio this morning the owrds of an Amish Bishop, describing this tragedy as the 'Amish 9/11.' Thank goodness their right to privacy is being enforced. Prayers for the families and the community.
The white burial dresses of the little girls have to be handmade - and I had read the past two days that the Amish women were working on them.
*very sad*
Those kids are so cute....
An Amish man rides his cart past a flag at half staff to a funeral ceremony for victims of the Amish school shootings in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, October 5, 2006.
There are a few Amish here in Southern Indiana. I've found them to be honest and hardworking.
Wish they could know that there are prayers for the Amish community from lots of Americans.
RIP, young girls...
Prayers for the entire community.
I am very grateful that the governor and state police are insuring the Amish as much privacy as possible.
Prayers offered for these little angels. What a senseless tragedy.
.........this is certainly a terrible thing for
the Amish to have to endure, and my heart goes
out to all of the families....however, I'm
curious...... who ordered the U.S. flag to be flown
at half-staff....?? the following is from an
official U.S. flag website...
"When is it permitted to half-staff the U.S. flag?
Only the president of the United States or the governor of the state may order the flag to be at half-staff to honor the death of a national or state figure. Unfortunately, many city, business and organization leaders are half-staffing the flag upon the death of an employee or member. Instead, it is suggested to half-staff (if on a separate pole) the city, business or organizational flag. The federal flag code does not prohibit this type of half-staffing."
.....as I note, I'm just curious..... when I was in
the military, we showed great reverence to the U.S.
flag and always displayed it with honor and respect.....
I just hope that some individual did not take it upon himself to lower these flags, the tragedy of the situation notwithstanding....
all mankind is of one author,
and is one volume;
when one man dies,
one chapter is not torn out of the book,
but translated into a better language;
and every chapter must be so translated;
God employs several translators;
some pieces are translated by age,
some by sickness,
some by war,
some by justice;
but God's hand is in every translation,
and his hand shall
bind up all our scattered leaves again
for that library
where every book shall lie open to one another.
--John Donne
They know
I assume that the governor of Pennsylvania ordered the flags flown at half-staff. While it was once reserved to honor individuals, it has become common for presidents and governors to have flags lowered in response to tragedies.
I checked, and I don't know who asked the flag to be at Half-staff, but it suits my mood.
If nobody ordered the flags to be flown at half-staff, they should have.
At the presser on Tuesday at noon, Rendell announced that flags would fly at half-staff until the funerals are over.
I assumed he did. It was certainly the correct response.
Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine. et lux perpetua luceat eis.
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