Posted on 09/14/2011 10:50:46 PM PDT by Libloather
Amish men jailed for not displaying buggy safety signs
By Steve Robrahn | Reuters – 15 hrs ago
LOUISVILLE, Ky (Reuters) - Eight members of a traditional Amish sect were behind bars on Tuesday after refusing to pay fines for failure to display orange-red safety triangles on their horse-drawn buggies.
The eight were being held in the Graves County Jail, serving sentences ranging between three and 10 days for failing to pay the fines on religious grounds.
Graves District Judge Deborah Hawkins ordered the men jailed Monday in Mayfield, about 200 miles from Louisville in western Kentucky. The defendants contend that paying the fines would amount to complying with a law that violates their religious restrictions against wearing or displaying bright colors or relying upon man-made symbols for their safety.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Enough with the religion excuse.
Enough with jackass judges.
How about permitting these slow buggies to use the shoulder of the road?
>> they want them to conform...
Indeed.
But I’m not sure I’d want to discover a carriage just 50 yards ahead in the cloak of darkness. Maybe a lantern would work.
I really am not an expert.
Too much government at all levels.
“Know any Amish legal eagles?”
Well.... I know that the Mennonites have lawyers....the Amish don’t?
No sweat, with Obamas policies we’ll all be a riden horse and buggie soon.
These roads often DON’T have shoulders.
Well, then they'd be in deep....
” I think they should either comply with the law or not take their horse or carriages out after dark.
I’d feel really crappy if I ended up running into the back of those black carriages and killing the driver and/or horses.
I would really feel bad for the horses, not the 300 horses I have under my hood.”
EXACTLY my thoughts
I live smack in the middle of a big community of them, most are good friends too
here in PA for them most part they obey the laws
around here their buggies ALL have flashing lights, front and rear .. the lights are their choice, and even then not enough as 100’s are hit every year
I'm all for limited government . . . but once you haul your @ss out onto a state-funded roadway, you live by the state's rules. And it's not as if this is an unreasonable expectation by the state, either.
I have no idea why they Amish would refuse to put slow moving vehicle (SMV) reflectors on the back of their buggies. Its extremely dangerous for everyone on the road at night without them.
Other farmers use SMVs and they generally have lights to boot.
Real freedom is not where you can do what you want, at the expense of another person.
It is that magical point where you can do what you want without it compelling people to do what they don’t want to do.
Like hit horses.
If it’s sincerely religious, it would have to do with idolatry. Many of these Christian faiths, which were founded approximately at the same time believe that any colour brings attention to themselves, and not God.
Amongst the groups that believe this would include the Amish, Hutterites, and Mennonites.
However, unofficially, it’s also about preventing people from leaving their communities, because if you’re still function in the 1800’s, when it’s 2012, it’s pretty hard to adapt to modern times.
They often do use the shoulder but are too wide to avoid protruding well into the road on many of the country lanes and even state highways around here. (Central PA)
We have Amish communities here in Hardin County, which is about 150 miles east of where this occurred. The Amish here all display the orange warning triangles on their buggies.
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