Published: May 27, 2008 11:16 pm      

Amish pair face jail in outhouse case

HASTINGS — Two Amish men convicted of having illegal outhouses at the sect’s Barr Township school now face jail or possible community service, District Judge Michael Zungali said Tuesday.

The deadline to appeal passed Friday. But neither landowner Andy Swartzentruber nor Sam Yoder, an elder in charge of the school, took any steps to challenge their convictions on summary criminal offenses.

The men were convicted in April by Zungali of illegally dumping waste from two unpermitted outhouses onto farm fields. The county sewage enforcement agency said the sewage was collected in buckets instead of a legally emptied tank.

The members of the ultraconservative Amish Swartzentruber sect say the requirements violate their First Amendment rights of religious freedom.

They told Zungali they would neither pay the fines nor appeal.

Zungali said his office will mail out a summons for them to appear to pay the fines or get on a payment plan for the $1,151 each owes in costs and fines. Otherwise, he said, he will impose a sentence.

Johnstown attorney William Barbin, who represents the sewage agency, said the agency still must decide what steps to take if the violations continue. He cited three options:

• File a new set of criminal charges.

• Go to county court seeking an injunction to stop the Amish from using the school and the outhouses.

• Assess a civil fine, which, if unpaid, could result in a lien being filed against the property and a possible sheriff’s sale of the land through a civil judgment.

The agency board will meet June 11.

Barbin has said jailing the men isn’t the answer: “I believe in their sincerity. But I still have to find a way to solve the problem.”