Published: May 17, 2009 12:21 am      

Collision of cultures: Amish face punishment rather than comply with regulations

NICKTOWN — To an outsider, the steps the ultraconservative northern Cambria County Amish are willing to take in building an outhouse appear close to the basic requirements imposed by the Cambria County Sewage Enforcement Agency.

While negotiations during the past nine months indicated progress toward basic compliance, things fell apart last week when the Amish decided to make no more concessions.

Enforcement agency officials said they could bend no more rules without impacting public health and safety.

“We thought we were close,” said Samuel Yoder, who thinks his Amish community, which shuns modern conveniences, met the guidelines and would violate its religious principles by doing more.

They think they are protected from further regulation by their First Amendment rights to freedom of religion.

Church elders of the 20 Amish families, members of the Swartzentruber sect of Barr and Blacklick townships, say their homes are built according to Amish blueprints. They say the outhouses have sealed tanks.

Additional steps will push them further into the 21st century and its technical ways, which they are unwilling to do.

That hard stance was illustrated Monday when Cambria County sheriff’s deputies evicted two families and padlocked their homes.

One of those homes belongs to Yoder’s daughter, Mary, her husband, Joely Swartzentruber, and their three daughters – ages 10 months to 3 years – of Amadei Road, Barr Township.

The other belongs to John and Susan Miller and their 5-year-old son of Blacklick Township.

In another incident earlier this year, an Amish man was sentenced to 90 days in the Cambria County Prison for failing to comply with ordinances concerning an outhouse at an Amish schoolhouse. Andy Swartzentruber is scheduled to be released on June 14.

For Deborah Sedlmeyer, head of the sewage enforcement agency serving 34 municipalities in Cambria and Somerset counties, the regulations she enforces promote the health and welfare of the Amish in addition to their neighbors, other residents they refer to as the “English.”

“I absolutely respect the religious beliefs of the Amish,” Sedlmeyer said. “However, religious freedom cannot afford the right to pollute the environment or anyone’s water supply, including their own.”

The Amish say they don’t understand. The outhouses at the two homes have cement holding tanks – each holding 250 gallons – and the property owners say they are willing to add lime to neutralize the human waste before it is applied to the field as fertilizer.

The state requires more, and Sedlmeyer isn’t buying the Amish claim made during the eviction that they do not comprehend the depth of the regulations or the legal action against them.

“They have the paperwork,” she said. “They understand it.”

In fact, Sedlmeyer and Barb Frantz, administrator of the Cambria County Building Code Enforcement Agency, said they have done all they can to help bring the Amish into compliance with the basic ordinances.

Codes and standards

The Swartzentrubers and Millers are in trouble with Frantz’s agency because they have failed to obtain building permits for their homes. They also have failed to have standard inspections required by the 5-year-old statewide building code.

Having a permit for the outhouses, which are legal in Pennsylvania, is the first step toward getting a building permit, and something the Amish have been unable to do because they won’t follow the guidelines.

The case is one the public is watching, Frantz said.

“A lot of non-Amish are saying, ‘If they don’t have to get permits, then neither do we,’ ” she said.

Cambria County Judge Norman Krumenacker, praised by Yoder for his attempts to resolve the building codes and outhouse issues, went so far as to rewrite the building permit application – eliminating references the Amish view as a violation of their religious tenets.

“The judge worked very hard on this,” Yoder said.

Krumenacker spent an afternoon at one of the farms trying to help sect leaders understand what needed to be done for compliance.

“He really tried to work this out,” said Bill Barbin, solicitor for the sewage and building codes agencies.

“The judge spent a lot of time trying to explain to them, going line by line (over the regulations.)”

Krumenacker’s May 8 review of the status of the outhouses showed they did not reach the legal standard. He gave the families the weekend to move out and ordered the homes padlocked Monday.

The Millers and Swartzentrubers are living with other Amish families in the county, an elder said.

‘Education is a big factor’

Bob Mohn has spent years working with the Amish and thinks keeping them informed is key to cooperation.

As director of planning, zoning and on-site sewage for Salisbury Township, a municipality coverering 43 square miles in central Lancaster County, he deals with 1,700 Amish farmers.

“We’re looking at ag rezoning, and we’ve had six or seven meetings with them,” Mohn said.

“We have 20 to 30 Amish farmers at every township meeting. The secret is to sit down with them and get their thoughts as well.”

There are no outhouse issues in Salisbury Township, Mohn said. The Amish use purchased, pre-stressed cement tanks and many have the tanks commercially pumped. There is no land application of the sewage.

The township has not been forced into court to get Amish compliance with the laws.

“If the state comes in with a regulation, the Amish need to understand why that regulation is there,” he said. “Education is a big factor. They need to understand why they have to do something.”

Locally, Cambria County sewage enforcement and building codes officials have worked hard to achieve compliance, Barbin said.

Sewage enforcement backed off the tank requirements, allowing the Amish to build their own rather than have them installed by professional contractors. But the Amish provided no specifications showing steel reinforcement or materials used to prevent cracking, he said.

Officials with the sewage agency are willing to revisit a regulation that the Amish have a contract for commercial tank pumping. Barbin said the agency is willing to work with people to develop a suitable way to clean the tanks.

But the waste has to be treated, tested and the Amish must have a state Department of Environmental Protection license for field application, Barbin said.

“We can and have bent the rules for the Amish,” Barbin said. “We’re willing to make accommodations for seriously held religious beliefs. But there’s a limit.”

The agency’s goal is to have the Amish in compliance with the most basic regulations. Barbin said it’s unacceptable to allow Amish households to put the public’s health and safety at risk.

Untreated or improperly treated human waste has been linked to a number of illnesses and was traced to a cholera outbreak in London in the late 19th century, when sewage made its way into the public water supply, Barbin said.

Meanwhile, Mohn is keeping an eye on what he sees as a brewing storm in Cambria County.

“The situation out there has gone much further than anyone ever dreamed,” he said. “I’m surprised the American Civil Liberties Union hasn’t stepped in. This could end up in federal court. It could get pretty nasty.”