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Amish sect wins reflector dispute
The Johnstown Tribune-Democrat ^ | October 22, 2003 | SANDRA K. REABUCK

Posted on 10/22/2003 1:20:00 PM PDT by Willie Green

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.

EBENSBURG – A conservative Amish sect has won the right – at least for now – to use gray reflective tape on the back of their horse-drawn buggies to warn of a slow-moving vehicle.

A three-judge panel of the Superior Court, in a 2-1 decision, ruled that state law requiring bright orange triangles is unconstitutional as applied to the Swartzentruber Amish.

The conservative sect has families in the Ebensburg and Carrolltown areas of Cambria County.

Requiring them to use bright orange violates their religious freedom, the two state judges said in a 36-page opinion.

But District Attorney David Tulowitzki said yesterday he will appeal, citing the state´s overriding interest in public safety on the highway.

“The majority opinion basically said we didn´t prove the compelling issue of safety. We disagree because people are getting killed and injured as a result of not having the triangle on the buggies,” Tulowitzki said in an interview at his courthouse office.

But the ruling was hailed by Pittsburgh attorney Donna Doblick, representing the Amish, as keeping alive Pennsylvania´s founding principles dating to William Penn: “Not to tread lightly on individual´s rights, the right of religious freedom.”

Doblick, in a telephone interview from her Pittsburgh office, added, “There´s no evidence anywhere that the devices the Amish are using are less safe than (triangles).”

The state panel did not overturn the convictions outright. Rather, the case was remanded to county court for further consideration.

But Tulowitzki thinks the prosecution did prove its case and decided instead to appeal rather than go back before Judge Timothy Creany. He will either ask the full Superior Court – 15 judges – to reconsider the ruling or petition the state Supreme Court for review.

The Old Order Amish say the triangles offend their religious beliefs. They say the garish color violates their simple lifestyle and that displaying it would show they rely on it rather than on God for their safety.

Members have been using red lanterns and outlining the rear of their buggies with gray tape as safety precautions.

“The decision will be a welcome relief to our clients who wanted to get the same rights they have elsewhere,” Doblick said. She said that she would be driving later in the day to Cambria County to advise her clients – who do not have telephones – of the decision.

A number of other states where the members of the Swartzentruber Amish sect live grant an exemption to the requirement to display the triangles.

Members of the Pennsylvania sect – who moved here about six years ago from Ohio – have repeatedly been ticketed by state and local police for failing to display the triangle on their buggies.

The decision involves a joint appeal of 20 members of the community who received a total of 27 tickets. They initially were convicted by district justices and filed an appeal to county court.

In June 2002, Creany, saying that traveling safety is paramount on Pennsylvania roads, ruled against the Amish. He upheld the convictions and fined them $95 each, plus court costs.

The state judges determined the prosecution had failed to show that the religious objectors´ conduct poses a demonstrable threat of harm to the state´s interests.

The majority judges determined that, even though the state´s expert concluded the triangle is the most visible form of identification during daylight, prosecutors did not show that fewer accidents resulted among those using the emblem than among those who did not.

Without that comparative information, Creany had only a “scant basis on which to conclude that the emblem achieves a decrease in the rate of collision that the reflective tape cannot achieve,” the judges ruled.

“Because the evidence fails to substantiate a threat posed by the Swartzentrubers´ failure to display the SMV emblem, we cannot find that (state) interest (in highway safety) sufficiently compelling to justify intrusion on the Swartzentrubers´ sincerely held religious beliefs,” the majority said.

Judge Zoran Popovich, in a 10-page dissent, said he agreed with Creany that the state´s interest in safety is not met by permitting the Swartzentrubers to apply the gray reflective tape and a red lantern to their buggies.

The state´s expert concluded the tape is not as visible to motorists approaching from the rear of the buggies during daylight, when most of the buggies are on the roads, Popovich said.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Government; US: Pennsylvania
KEYWORDS: amish; ducktape
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Isn't "gray tape" just ordinary Duct Tape?
What good is that gonna do?

God bless the Amish. But I really dislike reading stories about cars plowing into their buggies.

1 posted on 10/22/2003 1:20:00 PM PDT by Willie Green
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To: AmishDude; Tribune7
ping
2 posted on 10/22/2003 1:20:55 PM PDT by Willie Green (Go Pat Go!!!)
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To: Willie Green
Good time for my questions:
Are the Amish people politically active? In that are they known to be of one political party or another? If they are voters who do they vote for usually?
3 posted on 10/22/2003 1:25:33 PM PDT by Graybeard58
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To: Willie Green
"A conservative Amish sect..."

I am not at all fond of those liberal Amish sects.

4 posted on 10/22/2003 1:26:22 PM PDT by sharktrager (There are 2 kids of people in this world: people with loaded guns and people who dig.)
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To: Willie Green
Reflective tape comes in different colors. Red reflective tape may have been too gaudy for them.
5 posted on 10/22/2003 1:26:22 PM PDT by Catspaw
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To: Willie Green
Contrast this story with this one... Many people are confused by the orange triangles, thinking they are yield signs or even biohazard warnings.
6 posted on 10/22/2003 1:29:56 PM PDT by Teacher317
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To: Catspaw
Reflective tape comes in different colors. Red reflective tape may have been too gaudy for them.

Yeah, but in my mind the terms "gray" and "reflective" seem mutually exclusive.

Perhaps they meant "silver" instead of "gray".

7 posted on 10/22/2003 1:35:33 PM PDT by Willie Green (Go Pat Go!!!)
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To: Teacher317
Contrast this story with this one...

Yep, that one is about the Swartzentrubers also.

Many people are confused by the orange triangles, thinking they are yield signs or even biohazard warnings.

Well I don't see where that makes much difference.
You're supposed to avoid plowing your car into those things as well.

8 posted on 10/22/2003 1:40:33 PM PDT by Willie Green (Go Pat Go!!!)
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To: Willie Green
When I googled "reflective tape" it came up as silver/grey. My guess is "silver" might have them thinking it was a precious metal--and that'd be too gaudy, too.

And I just checked my sailing jacket--it's got white reflective tape on it. I've also seen reflective tape in yellow--that weird fire engine day-glo yellow.

9 posted on 10/22/2003 1:42:05 PM PDT by Catspaw
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To: Graybeard58; AmishDude
Are the Amish people politically active?

Heck, I don't know.
AmishDude is the only one that I know that is.
Maybe he can answer your other questions.

10 posted on 10/22/2003 1:43:09 PM PDT by Willie Green (Go Pat Go!!!)
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To: Teacher317
Many people are confused by the orange triangles, thinking they are yield signs or even biohazard warnings.

In states like Texas where these triangles are required on all slow moving vehicles, everyone knows what they mean.

11 posted on 10/22/2003 1:45:12 PM PDT by Between the Lines ("What Goes Into the Mind Comes Out in a Life")
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To: Howlin; Ed_NYC; MonroeDNA; widgysoft; Springman; Timesink; dubyaismypresident; Grani; coug97; ...
I am thanking thee....

Just damn.

If you want on the new list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...

12 posted on 10/22/2003 1:45:36 PM PDT by mhking
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To: Willie Green
My son's winter coat has grey reflective tape on it.
13 posted on 10/22/2003 1:46:19 PM PDT by FourPeas
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To: Graybeard58
Are the Amish people politically active?

At times. They won a Supreme Court case protecting their right to remove children from schools after grade 8.

14 posted on 10/22/2003 1:46:53 PM PDT by AdamSelene235 (I always shoot for the moon......sometimes I hit London.- Von Braun)
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To: Catspaw
-that weird fire engine day-glo yellow.

Yeah, all the different color reflective tapes that I've ever seen have always been "bright" versions of the color. That's why "gray" doesn't make sense to me: who ever heard of "bright gray"???

15 posted on 10/22/2003 1:47:06 PM PDT by Willie Green (Go Pat Go!!!)
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To: Willie Green
They mean "gray". The tape has microscopic retroreflective crystals embedded in it. It looks gray in diffuse lighting. Shine a bright white light on it (like an automobile headlamp) and it is as bright as any mirror, though does not form an image.
16 posted on 10/22/2003 1:49:07 PM PDT by ArrogantBustard
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To: Willie Green
If having a orange triangle on the back of a buggy interferes with the practice of their religion, how do they reconcile with even being on state maintained road in the first place?
17 posted on 10/22/2003 1:50:00 PM PDT by CherylBower
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To: Willie Green
What goes....

Clop, Clop, Clop, Clop, Clop

BANG!

Clop, Clop, Clop, Clop, Clop?

Ans. An Amish drive-by shooting.

18 posted on 10/22/2003 1:50:11 PM PDT by N. Theknow (Be a glowworm, a glowworm's never glum, cuz how can you be grumpy when the sun shines out your bum.)
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To: N. Theknow
I would guess that since there is only one bang that he is using a musket?
19 posted on 10/22/2003 1:52:06 PM PDT by Between the Lines ("What Goes Into the Mind Comes Out in a Life")
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To: Graybeard58
Are the Amish people politically active?

No. Most simply put, Amish believe that institutions were either ordained by God or they were not; there is no middle road. The family and church were ordained by God; government was not.

20 posted on 10/22/2003 1:52:51 PM PDT by Mr. Lucky
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