The Amish Lawyer Up, Too

Members of the Amish community, in my experience, are some of the most peaceful, non-confrontational individuals in the world.  More importantly, in my opinion, is that the Amish, unlike other organized faiths, make no attempts to impart their morality onto others through active lobbying for legislation for laws restricting this or that, which makes the title to this post, though written in a humorous vein, sad.

This post notes a news story about eleven days old, and even though America’s attention span is short, it bears being commented on and considered.  The opening paragraphs from the news story.

Kinzers, PA – At 9:40 a.m. Thursday, February 4, only a few miles from the scene of the Nickel Mines Amish massacre of 2006, another drama against the Amish began as agents of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) came onto the property of Amish farmer Dan Allgyer, without permission, claiming to be conducting an investigation.

Agents Joshua Schafer and Deborah Haney, from the Delaware FDA office, drove past Allgyer’s “No Trespassing” signs and up his driveway almost to his barn, where Allgyer happened to be outside.  Allgyer approached the car, the agents got out and Allgyer asked them why they were there.  They produced a piece of paper, asked Allgyer if he was Dan Allgyer, which Allgyer confirmed, asked him his middle initial and phone number, entered the information on the paper, told Allgyer they were there to do an inspection and started reading the paper to him, saying it gave them jurisdiction to be there. 

The agents – Schafer did most of the talking – said they had a right to be there because “you produce food for human consumption.”  Dan asked why they believed that and they said, “Well, you have cows.  You cannot be consuming all the milk you produce.” They further stated, “If you get a milk truck in to move all this milk you sell milk to the public, therefore we have jurisdiction.” 

Dan said, “This is a private farm, I do not sell anything to the public.” 

As they continued to harass him about doing an inspection, Allgyer said, “You can sit in your car.  I will call my lawyer.”

Go and read the rest of the story and decided for yourself whether America requires this type of continued intrusion into their daily lives.  As for myself, I salute Dan Allgyer and urge him and his lawyer to stick to their metaphorical guns.

FDA Invades Non-Commercial Amish Farm in PA

Linked via The Quick and the Dead.

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/19 at 06:10 PM

  1. ...asked him his middle initial and phone number, entered the information on the paper…

    “You can sit in your car.  I will call my lawyer.”

    Wow.  Sorry.  I can’t quite process the lawyering up business yet.  I’m still reeling from having just found out that the Amish use phones.  Apparently even have them on their farms. Doggone.

    Really.  I did not know that.

    But no, of course the FDA shouldn’t bully the guy like that.  Or any other guys either.  Like that Ivan in the linked story.  What the heck?  This is all just nuts and all too common.

    And, just to clarify, I think the phones are a good idea.  But then, I’m partial to buttons and creased trousers and stuff too.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  02/19  at  07:54 PM

  2. Hi, Linda.

    Actually, phone use among the Amish is not that uncommon nor unusual.  As the popularity of the telephone became more common after its introduction, use of the telephone by the Amish became more common.  But this common usage amongest the Amish created a rift amongest them and caused some of the more traditional Amish to separate from their more “progressive” fellow members.

    I was more gobsmacked by the fact that the Amish have lawyers ready to hand.

    Posted by John Venlet  on  02/20  at  09:15 AM

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