Published: November 13, 2008 11:41 pm      

Agencies seek to bar Amish from new homes

EBENSBURG — Whether two families from an ultraconservative Amish sect will be able to continue living in their newly built farmhouses may depend on whether a Cambria County judge can hammer out a compromise on sewage and code violations next week at one of the Amish farms.

Two county agencies are seeking a court injunction to bar the families from the houses because they have not complied with sewage-disposal and building-code requirements.

The families belong to the Swartzentruver sect, whose members believe that their religious freedom is being curtailed by society’s laws.

After listening to nearly five hours of testimony Thursday, Judge Norman Krumenacker said that he believes a compromise can be worked out that will not violate the Amish’s religious beliefs, but at the same time will protect society.

He wants to visit at least one of the farms Wednesday afternoon for an on-site inspection, along with the attorneys, church elders and representatives of the county agencies and the state Department of Environmental Protection.

The judge said that he sees that the major stumbling block for the Amish are requirements dealing with the sewage disposal rather than building codes.

As he previously indicated in a case involving outhouses on the sect’s school property, Krumenacker said there has to be proper disposal of human waste, and that is not a matter of religious freedom.

The affected families are Joely A. and Mary Swartzentruver and their three children, who live along Amadei Road in Barr Township, and John and Susan Miller and their child, who live along Duman Road in Blacklick Township.

The injunctions are sought by the county sewage enforcement agency and the county building codes enforcement agency.

“The last thing I want to do is hold a contempt hearing and put (the couples) into jail for Christmas. That would violate my religious principles. But I have a job to do, and I will do it,” the judge said.

In the schoolhouse case, Andy Swartzentruver, the landowner, was fined $1,000 for two summary criminal violations and was ordered to bring the outhouses into compliance with state regulations.

On Thursday, the two Amish farmers testified that they had – as was done at the two schoolhouse outhouses – installed 250-gallon concrete tanks beneath each of the privies.

The tanks were built and installed by the Amish themselves, rather than pre-fab ones being used, according to the testimony.

But state regulations generally would require 1,000-gallon tanks, and if they’re under 5,000-gallons in size, must be pre-fabricated, officials said.

In addition, the method of disposal – treatment with lime and dumping on fields – is not acceptable, the agency officials said.

William Barbin, solicitor for the two agencies, said that the case is precedent-setting in the county because “there are dozens of other houses in the Amish communities with the same problems.”

But if a compromise is reached, it might apply to the schoolhouse case as well as the homes and farms, the attorney said.

The landlord in the schoolhouse case has not brought the outhouses into compliance and has not paid the fine, Barbin said.

Now that the appeal period has ended for the schoolhouse case, the district attorney’s office – which prosecuted the case – would have to file a petition for the landowner to be held in contempt of court, he said.