Published: September 30, 2008 12:15 am            

Agencies seek injunctions against Amish

EBENSBURG — Two Cambria County agencies are seeking court injunctions to stop two families in an ultra-conservative Amish sect from continuing to occupy or move into newly built homes without sewage-disposal permits.

The action comes just days before Judge Norman Krumenacker will hear an appeal by two other Amish men – also members of the Swartzentruber sect, who are seeking to overturn their convictions of summary violations for improper disposal of sewage from the sect’s Barr Township school.

They were sentenced to 90 days in jail and fined $1,000 each in April by District Judge Michael Zungali, but the sentences have been on hold pending the outcome of the appeal.

Meanwhile, children from the Amish sect are back in classes this fall at the school.

New outhouses over concrete septic tanks have been built at the school by the sect, it was learned.

However, those new privies still may not meet disposal requirements, attorney William Barbin said.

Barbin is solicitor for the sewage enforcement agency and the building code enforcement agency.

Previously at the school, the sewage, which was being collected in buckets, was being emptied on the land.

At issue is the sect members’ contention that their religious freedom is being curtailed by society’s laws

The agencies, in the injunction petitions filed Friday, are seeking;

• To stop Joely A. and Mary Swartzentruber from continuing to reside in their home in the 200 block of Amadei Road in Barr Township.

• To block John and Susan Miller from occupying the home they are building along Duman Road in Blacklick Township.

A hearing on the injunction petitions is scheduled for Nov. 13.

In the other case, the judge will hear the appeal Thursday of Andy Swartzentruber, landowner where the school is situated, and Sam Yoder, one of the elders in charge of the school.

Members of the sect do not have telephones, and they could not be reached Monday for comment.

Barbin said that stop-work orders had been posted at the two residential construction sites after the families failed to make provisions for sewage disposal in order to obtain building permits. Both had sought a building permit, he said.

Although the latest legal issue again involves members of the Amish sect, Barbin said, “We’re not examining everything the Amish do. We address complaints as we receive them. We don’t go out searching.”

He said that the use of the residences without a disposal permit is a potential pollution problem. The areas where the homes are constructed are not served by a public water supply, and neighbors rely on wells for the water, Barbin said.

At the school site, the new outhouses have been built over a concrete tank, which can hold only 250 gallons of waste, Barbin said.

Normally, a 1,000 gallon tank would be required, although a 750-gallon one was discussed in settlement talks with the Amish, he said.

A possible settlement on the sewage issue had been proposed a few months by Krumenacker in the summary appeals. But it was rejected by the Amish in August.

Also unresolved on the new school outhouses is how the waste will be disposed of, he said. Normally, it’s pumped out by a septic service company, he said.

Attorney James Stratton, who represents the two men in the appeal, said that the septic tanks had been installed in an effort to get the school re-opened for the children. He declined further comment.

        

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