Posted on 10/01/2015 7:05:58 PM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
The Amish may have a reputation for raising barns lightning-fast, but this project has taken 10 years.
It has taken that long for members of the Old Order Amish who want to build homes in Eau Claire County to complete the permitting process. The county refused to accommodate to their religious beliefs.
Members of the Old Order strictly adhere to Amish religious and cultural traditions, and they reject electric appliances, modern plumbing and other innovations.
The county welcomed the Amish when they first began settling in Eau Claire in the 1970s.
“Bridge Creek officials say that if the Amish hadn’t moved in and paid their taxes, the town would probably now be vacant,” State Rep. Kathy Bernier, R-Lake Hallie, told Wisconsin Watchdog. “They appreciate the Amish for taking over these little farms that were going bankrupt in the ’70s.”
The Amish still maintain good relations with Eau Claire’s people, but in 2005 their relationship with the county’s Department of Planning and Development soured.
That year the Uniform Dwelling Code took effect in Wisconsin, creating statewide standards for homes.
Mandating certain standards in electrical wiring, plumbing and requiring homes to have smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, the UDC had no provision for the Amish, whose religious beliefs require them to reject those things.
“It’s up to the local officials to decide how to enforce the UDC, and there are other counties in Wisconsin with much larger Amish populations that were able to accommodate them. But not Eau Claire County,” said David Mortimer, spokesman for the Eau Claire chapter of the National Committee for Amish Religious Freedom.
Wisconsin has the nation’s fourth-largest Amish population. It’s estimated 400 of the state’s approximately 17,000 Amish live in Eau Claire County.
“To ask a county to waive or to exempt someone from state code is an odd situation in and of itself. Nowhere else do we have the authority to waive or exempt someone from complying with state code,” Eau Claire County Planning and Development Department Manager Lance Gurney told Wisconsin Watchdog.
The county decided to fully enforce the UDC, regardless of religious objections.
The Amish felt unable to comply. Because the county’s permit for building a home required the applicant to agree to abide by all provisions of the state code, officials didn’t sign the forms.
“Some people suggested they just sign the forms and then ignore what they had agreed to. But they couldn’t. They consider that to be bearing false witness,” Mortimer explained.
The Amish believed the laws of God to be fixed, and the county regarded the UDC as equally inflexible.
Eau Claire began to take civil enforcement actions the Amish for UDC violations. Most of the actions cited failure to install smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.
The county maintains those detectors are necessary to protect emergency workers responding to a fire at an Amish home.
“Emergency personnel need to have information so they know what they’re facing, otherwise we’re asking them to go in with blinders on,” Gurney explained.
Gurney did not explain why emergency personnel would need a smoke detector to warn them of a fire in a home already ablaze.
The county has taken civil enforcement actions against 13 Amish families, imposing daily fines, which the Amish refuse to pay.
“The daily fines for several families have gone into the six-figures,” Mortimer said.
In March, a circuit court judge ordered the eviction of an Amish family after finding them in contempt of court for refusing to comply the UDC and the permitting process.
“The judge ordered the eviction of Amos and Vera Borntreger and their six young children,” Mortimer said.
“Eau Claire County has the unfortunate distinction of being the only county in the United States that has used placard eviction to put an Amish family out of their home.”
By that time Bernier, who represents the county in the state Assembly, was already working on a solution.
“The Amish wrote letters to me in 2013 explaining their problems,” Bernier said.
“My gut instinct was to tell them to do what the planning officials say. But that was because I didn’t really understand their religious beliefs. Their home is also their place of worship. They believe that God is present in their homes and will protect them, so they don’t need manmade devices.”
The Amish also reached out to U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, whose staff worked with Bernier on the issue.
Bernier quickly discovered she couldn’t change the minds of local officials.
EVICTION: In March, a judge ordered the Borntregers evicted from their home because of their refusal to follow the UDC.
“At the beginning of a meeting with Eau Claire County Corporation Counsel, she told me that if someone died in a fire in a house without a smoke detector, I’d have blood on my hands,” Bernier recalled. “I thought, ‘Wow, this meeting is not going to go well.’”
“There’s just an attitude there that I don’t understand. The Amish have lived the same kind of life since they arrived shortly after the Pilgrims. I don’t why anyone thinks taking a punitive approach is going to change them.”
Bernier said the attitude of county officials isn’t shared by the general public.
“I’ve had people stop me in the grocery store or come up to me in a restaurant to thank me for fighting for the Amish. The so-called English are in their corner.”
In 2014, Bernier introduced a bill that allowed for a waiver from certain provisions of the UDC based on long-standing religious beliefs.
The bill died in committee after fierce opposition from builder’s groups.
This year, Bernier inserted the waiver provision into the biennial state budget. It was signed into law in July.
“The Amish were overjoyed,” Mortimer said. “They celebrated, as they do, with a pie and ice cream social. Senator Johnson and Representative Bernier attended.”
Under the new system, local officials can approve a religious waiver but can’t deny it. They can recommend the waiver be denied, but only the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Standards can deny it.
“We did it that way because I was sure Eau Claire County would reject waiver applications,” Bernier said.
She was right.
In August, John Yoder became the first member of the Old Order Amish to apply for a waiver. The county recommended denial.
“In terms of complying with the state law, we feel the public interest is not being protected and all we can do is recommend denial,” Gurney said.
RELATED: Wisconsin signs on to religious liberty fight against Obamacare mandate
Explaining the recommendation, Gurney downplayed the issue of smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, the focus of county enforcement actions.
“Other than the safety of the emergency responders we’re asking to put their lives on the line, are there other public health or safety issues? No, not really. It’s really more of an individual decision.”
“Our bigger issue on the waiver that was submitted is that now we have a religious exemption regarding wastewater treatment,” Gurney said.
Gurney speculated that granting waivers could lead the Amish to abandon their centuries-old practice of outhouses and dump sewage in an unsanitary manner.
Asked if the Amish had ever done this, Gurney responded, “We’re not in a position to know whether that is or is not happening. We have no ability to go out and verify what is happening.”
The suggestion that the Amish might start dumping sewage if granted a waiver shocked Mortimer.
“Doing that would go against their religious convictions,” Mortimer said. “The Amish have had outhouses since they came to Eau Claire County in ’70’s. There have been no problems with the Health Department. That’s the department that would deal with any sewage problem, not the Planning Department.”
Gurney said the law doesn’t limit waiver to just the Amish and others, possibly with more causal attitudes toward proper sewage disposal, could apply.
“Anyone can come and ask for a religious beliefs waiver for properly installing plumbing. We are supposed to trust that what they are telling us is true. We don’t have the ability to require them to show us religious documents that this is the case,” Gurney said.
According to Gurney, that’s why the county plans to recommend denial for all religious waivers.
DSPS doesn’t share Gurney’s concerns. This week the agency approved Yoder’s waiver.
The way is now clear for the rest of Eau Claire’s Amish families to get waivers, which will not only allow them to build new homes but will also eliminate outstanding fines and penalties for previous noncompliance with the UDC.
In the meantime, John Yoder will start construction on a new house.
“He’s very eager to get started,” Mortimer said. “He wants to start building a new home for his growing family before the snow starts.”
EVICTION: In March, a judge ordered the Borntregers evicted from their home because of their refusal to follow the UDC.
BELIEFS VS.THE BUILDING CODE: Since 2005 there has been conflict between Old Order Amish and the Eau Claire County Planning and Development Department.
Based on what I’ve seen for many years around upstate New York the so-called pious Amish have no problem compromising their beliefs when they think they can make a buck doing so.
The men often have no problems putting moden technology out in the barn when it helps their business.
Amish win in their 10 year dispute with Eau Claire County over Universal Building Code. Why do they have to follow electrical codes when they have no electricity?
FReep mail me if you want on, or off, this Wisconsin interest ping list.
Thank you Rep. Bernier for listening to and fighting for these people of faith. If at first she didn’t succeed, she tried, and tried again, the next year. She figured out how to make the system work for her and the Amish. It’s like playing Chess. In other cases, Blackjack.
You’ve been on FR a long time when you had to see what Amish they are talking about.
Depends upon the kgroup. These are Old Order.
And Thank You Sen. Ron Johnson for helpiing these citizens celebrate their victory.
If they can use their beliefs to hold off Big Brother I’m fine with it.
Well, it is because Gurney is a high and mighty bureaurat who must be obeyed. Why is that so hard to figure out?
Perhaps you don't actually know why they do the things they do. I had a long conversation with a wonderful Amish man while we were both on vacation in Florida last year. I learned a lot, and became hard-pressed to disagree with many of his view points.
Their shunning of modern equipment does not stem from regarding it as evil. Many of them use power tools, welding machinery and so on. It is mostly communications equipment that they shun. They prefer to converse with their families in person, which contrasts sharply with the families I see texting with others when gathered at restaurants. They object to the TV robbing families of quality time together, or bringing normalcy to immoral practice into their homes in the form of modern sitcoms.
Different groups ban different things as chosen by their elders. They do practice self rule, and believe that most Americans are slaved to government rules that are immoral or just plain thoughtless.
His family was, in general, completely unaware of current events.
Truthfully, I felt a bit envious of their innocence and lack of unawareness of how cruel and heartless life in this Nation has become.
In any case, what is it to you that they are frugal, hardworking and practical?
The old order Amish have lived this way for many, many years and they are a peaceful community of people. They cause no problems for anyone. Good for them for holding out for their beliefs. There is a sect of the Amish, the Mennonites, who do have electrify and use some modern conveniences.
The Amish are not opposed to technology per se. They are opposed to technology that disrupts family and community life.
The Amish use disposable diapers, chemical fertilizers and pesticides and grow genetically modified crops. Phones, so long as they aren’t in the home, are OK.
They are also very decentralized, so how one group interprets that may be different from how others do. Some allow tractors. Some don’t. Heck, some allow only open buggies. Others allow covered buggies. They are increasingly allowing electricity in their barns and workshops, but many allow it only if it comes from off-grid sources.
Some of the Amish in our county (there are 3 communities) have a huge breakfast every year and donate all the money to the local fire departments, some of which are volunteer. Last fall, a local fire in a home took the wife and one small child. The fire was on a Tuesday. By the week end the house had been rebuilt from the ground up, and the family moved back. They are okay people.
I agree wholeheartedly.
Why don’t the Amish water ski?
Because the horses would drown.
Yeah, the Amish Amish.
In my opinion, justice has not yet been done in this case. Lance Gurney and the Eau Claire Coporation Counsel need to lose their jobs because of their failure to respect the religious rights of the Amish.
Rather, they are not a monolithic group, and rather than compromising their beliefs, I think in most cases they compromise what many assume are their beliefs due to believing they are a monolithic group.
...”Amish have no problem compromising their beliefs when they think they can make a buck doing so”...
Same in Lancaster Country where I lived for a time. The men use to use the areas pay phones to do business...I suspect they use cells now. But we would see them run to the phone booths or hang out waiting for a call. ...and too many of them treat their horse like crap.
Even the women are in on the games....they sell “Amish Baked Goods” almost most places....what the public doesn’t know is the woman buy pre-prepared foods, pop them in the oven and “Bake” them....then pass them off as “Amish Baked”...which technically they are Baked....they just aren’t made by the women.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.