The NYTimes profiles a classic religious liberty conflict unfolding in rural Pennsylvania: modern building codes vs. sects whose faith teaches against modernization.
For the last two and a half years, Mr. [Jack] Crislip, a planning supervisor for the state’s Environmental Protection Department, and local sewage authorities have had more than 30 meetings in a futile effort to persuade members of the sect here in Cambria County, about 80 miles east of Pittsburgh, to upgrade outhouses next to a schoolhouse so they comply with state sanitation codes.
The schoolhouse is on land belonging to Andy Swartzentruber, 53, one of five elders who guide the 20-family Amish community spread out on farms near Nicktown.
Mr. Swartzentruber was scheduled to be released from county prison on Sunday after serving 90 days for failing to correct the violations at the outhouses. Other members of the Amish community could also end up behind bars if the impasse is not resolved.
A wide-ranging federal lawsuit addressing issues of the Amish relationship with local regulations has been filed in Morristown, New York.
