Posted on 03/17/2009 3:06:28 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
Ebensburg, Pa. (AP) --
A western Pennsylvania Amish farmer was sentenced Tuesday to 90 days in jail after refusing to bring a pair of outhouses into compliance with state sewage laws.
Andy Swartzentruber, of Ebensburg, cited his conservative religious beliefs in refusing to abide by a court order to make the privies used by schoolchildren compliant and pay a $500 fine.
Cambria County Judge Norman Krumenacker said he respected the Amish's religious beliefs but had no choice but to sentence Swartzentruber to jail and fine him $1,000 for being in contempt of court.
"Quite frankly, this is not a religious issue," Krumenacker said.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
This one smells.
Sure makes one think twice before buying any produce from any Amish. Might as well buy it in Mexico.
It seems to me one can keep things clean without using modern technology. It would be more work, but the Amish aren’t afraid of work.
The solution here is simple, don’t call them outhouses. Call them composting toilets. Swear that you owe allegiance to the great AlGore and are fighting to save the planet.
Gee, outhouses have worked for centuries - we still have one at the deer shack.
I’m sorry, but dumping raw sewage onto agricultural fields doesn’t seem the least bit “clean.” I agree with trying to avoid a lot of modern technology, but I have to draw the line at raw sewage.
I was stationed in Germany. When our convoy rolled down the back roads past a farm where they were using what we called a “s***slinger” to fertilize fields, you could really smell the difference.
Using manure from any source as fertilizer is an ancient and well established practice. But public hygiene can be protected with modern methods which this particular Amish sect chose to disregard.
Wonder if their kids know about the internet?
Shhhhhh, hope you don't live in PA.
We had 2 holers at my gradeschool in the ‘50s!
If I had to guess, I'd say some new homeowners didn't like the smell and complained.
I could be wrong.
I agree. I’d like to hear the “religious” reason for refusing to abide by the law.
I grew up around two holers in my yout’ in a rural country school and the farm in the early 60s. Talk about an experience in the winter. ;-)
I think it may be having to have an "outsider" come and pump out a "government approved" holding tank.
I’ll bet that if this guy was a Muzzy the story would be different.
The jailed farmer is a member of the Swartzentruber Amish sect, they shun the modern world and technology bigtime.
You're joking, right???
What do you think manure is??? It's sold in stores all over the country as "potting soil". Farmers have been putting poop on the soil as fertilizer since before the Egyptians were the dominant civilization on earth. All "organic" or "naturally grown" foodstuffs were fertilized with manure. Think about that when you pick up an organic bunch of carrots next time.
Creating rules and regulations without proper knowledge leads to stupid rules and tyranny. The regulation to use eco-friendly materials on the space shuttle external fuel tank lead to the destruction of the Columbia. The non-eco-friendly materials that were used were tougher than the "new" and "improved" materials. The across the board banning of DDT worldwide has caused the deaths of millions from insect borne diseases. Don't make knee-jerk reactions.
The government would be tripping over themselves to find the funding and union workers to put in the tank for a muzzie
Will the jail provide an outhouse for his use? Toilets may be too modern for him to be able to use during his stay and not providing an outhouse would violate his religious rights.
TROP would approve as well, as most are adorned with crescents. Most likely they are for shi’ites..
And now one of them gets to sample all the modern conveniences of the prison.
I hope he handles iron and stainless steel well. :-]
Thanks for that! I used to tell people my garden (which was one of the best if not the best in my small town of 750), that everything eaten from it was grown in pure manure. Of course it was composted cow manure but have you seen fresh cow manure? I could eat from the bounty of my composted manure but seeing a dog of ours slurp up some fresh cow manure sent me into a fit of gagging that would not quit!
Only the “Religion of Peace” could get a free pass on those charges.
Seesh, we’re all too removed from a lot of this stuff. I’ll wager there is no ‘raw sewage’, or even anything close coming from these outhouses going on to any fields that raise foods directly consumed by humans.
Amish are old fashioned, not stupid.
Check out any large dairy farm or hog farm. The excrement (i.e. raw sewage) is collected, stored, loaded into tanks or wagons pulled by a tractor, and sprayed on the fields. Any excess is simply sprayed on the farm next door, you know, the one that doesn't have cows or hogs, but grows tomatoes or cabbage, and that farmer says, "Thank you".
Are we heading for an Upton Sinclair moment?? Ban manure and our food production will gradually decrease to the point where we won't be able to feed ourselves much less the rest of the world.
Think about the E-coli problem that got blamed on the tomatoe growers.
Turned out to be MEXICAN peppers.
They will drop trousers and crap wherever they are...they don’t care where.
That round of E-Coli was just one example.
Leave the Amish alone for petes sake.
We have far more pressing matters and they are harmless decent people.
Side by side or over under ?
:-)
“I’m sorry, but dumping raw sewage onto agricultural fields doesn’t seem the least bit “clean.” I agree with trying to avoid a lot of modern technology, but I have to draw the line at raw sewage.”
I hear you, but I don’t think one needs to use the modern devices that are being prescribed. I think there are probably non-mechanical ways to deal with the sewage that are still sanitary. For instance a compost area were things are left to decompose until the bacteria levels get acceptable, or something.
Thanks, you’ve proved my point. We’re WAY too far removed from to know our food is produced, and that’s not a good thing.
I’ve raised over 250,000 hogs. Usually they received a big premium at the slaughter house because they were of the highest quality.
Among my other duties, I was the one who was in charge of pumping the manure onto the fields. One of my other distasteful duties was killing sick animals. I’ve shot thousands.
Many, many times I was drenched to the bone with hog manure, but none of what you posted was even remotely true, even way back then. With today’s EPA the foolishness you talk about would result in fines in the hundreds of thousands and no farm would risk it.
***Sure makes one think twice before buying any produce from any Amish. Might as well buy it in Mexico.***
Don’t worry. They wash with homemade LYE soap. It will clean anything!
I love the Amish, and would gladly eat anything they grew, cooked or processed. They are great people. One simple Amish farmer is worth more than all the stupid judges combined that we have in the U.S. today.
***but seeing a dog of ours slurp up some fresh cow manure sent me into a fit of gagging that would not quit!***
Many years ago we had cat that had the scours. As it stopped to “poop” (no time to dig a hole) our pet dog was there slurping it up. My dad saw it and got sick. He had a very weak stomach.
Composting entails taking the “"raw sewage"” placing it in a pile and mixing it with other leafy vegetation as well as other soils( depending on what you have on hand and your needs) occasionally turning it and leave it to "cook"i.e, breakdown by micros into nutrient rich soil after at least a year.
This is what you pay big bucks for this "potting soil" at your local garden store.
Farmers have been doing this for centuries, long before the era of petroleum based fertilizers times.
Raw sewage will burn the roots of a plant thus killing it. Plus if the Amish were doing it wrong, there would be be mass outbreaks of typhoid, Salmonella poisonings etc, etc. in Amish communities that third world countries get from true raw sewage
We did the same thing with cow mature to grow our garden year after year and got great harvests and stocked pantries and nobody ever got sick from food poisoning.
Something the "government inspected" Food industry cannot claim.
And unlike the corporates heads of major industrial Food producers and restaurants, the Amish regularly consume what they produce.
Uneducated bureaucrats and the media will be the death of our freedoms as well as our persons.
I just stepped out on the back porch. Someone is spreading chicken manure. It has been inthe air for the last three days. Not strong, but way off. The smell travels for miles.
Cow manure stinks but not real bad.
Chicken manure really stinks with a piquant ammonia aftertase on the tongue and eyes.
Pig manure stinks beyone aything immaginable! Super Bad!
Human manure from the sewage treatment plant stinks with a sickly sweet smell.
Horse manure smells like Congress is in session.
An article from SF about the Amish?
I don’t think anyone posting understands the Amish. The Amish in the Lancaster area used to believe that everything that came off the land should go back on.
They overfertilized the fields and raised the Nitrogen level in wells to brain-shrinking dangerous levels.
After they were hit upside the head (necessary to get their attention) they started selling the excess fertilizer to city types and making a buck instead of poisoning their wells. They do understand money is green.
“I’m sorry, but dumping raw sewage onto agricultural fields doesn’t seem the least bit “clean.””
Sewage can be dumped on a farm field in PA but it must be plowed under every evening.
The same farm field cannot be used to grow food for human consumption for five years after the last disposal. Rules may have been updated, but that’s what they were before the wackos took over, probably more restrictive now.
Think about that next time you see sod at your local home center.
My first paid day of work (50 cents) was baling hay for the day on my god father's farm.
I have some great memories of working and playing on the farm, and I still love the smell of “fresh country air”, when the manure spreader hits the field in springtime!
“...when the manure spreader hits the field in springtime!”
Reminds me of the old wooden mule drawn manure spreader we used. Even though it was at least fifty years old we pulled it out of the shed when fertixzler prices shot up and prices fell during the seventies.(Thanks alot, Carter) Only we hitched it to the Massey Ferguson tractor and even in first gear and low, it literally shot the sh%t everywhere. We had to use a broom to sweep it off Pop’s back, the tractor, everything. He had to strip off before Mom would allow him anywhere near the house. Funny now but he didn’t see the humor in it then. We had a reduction gear placed on it and never had that problem again.
Congress smells like a mixture of donkey, elephant, rino, dino and ostrich manure!
It’s bad enough to gag a maggot!
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