AMISH VS. GOVERNMENT
Monday, July 14th, 2008 -- 12:27 PM
An apparent up-tick in clashes between Amish culture and government is making state headlines today.Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Meg Jones sites a number of local cases in her story, with the headline: "Governments in Wisconsin, Amish clash over religious freedom".
In the last few months alone:
--The Clark County Circuit Court ruled Amish hunters must wear blaze orange
--An Amish man in Jackson County was fined $10,000 for failing to get a building permit
--An Amish couple in Clark County was ordered to shut down their unlicensed candy and jam business
--The state has been pressing Amish farmers to comply with the state's livestock premises registration law.
According to the article, to which Central Wisconsin Broadcasting contributed, Wisconsin had 27 separate Amish settlements, 53 church districts and an estimated 7,150 adults and children in 1992.
Those figures have now jumped to 50 settlements, 115 church districts and 15,525 people.
The story also notes Wisconsin courts have been "friendly" to Amish arguments in the past.
In a landmark 1996 case, the state Supreme Court sided with the Amish, who fought a law forcing them to display a red and orange triangular emblem on the back of their buggies.
Eight Amish men in Clark County who were cited for driving their buggies without the brightly colored signs offered to use white reflective tape, which the Supreme Court determined was an acceptable alternative.
[url=http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=772162]JSOnline Story[/url]
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