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Amish here won’t shun triangles
Amish here won’t shun triangles; Judges: Cambria sect can stick to gray tape
The familiar orange triangles marking the back of Amish buggies aren’t likely to disappear from Lancaster County’s landscape, even though a Pennsylvania appeals court ruled Tuesday that a conservative Amish sect in Cambria County is exempt from using them.
The Swartzentruber Amish, a small sect that moved from Ohio to Cambria County a few years ago, believes the orange reflective triangles are too gaudy and an affront to its religious beliefs.
More conservative than most other Amish groups, including those in Lancaster County, the Swartzentrubers asked the court to throw out 27 convictions against 20 sect members ticketed by police for not using the triangles, which the state requires on all slow- moving vehicles. The Amish say gray reflective tape is more in keeping with their beliefs and as effective as the triangles — although state transportation officials dispute that.
“We weren’t asking for anything radical or new,” said Donna Doblick, the private attorney who, along with the American Civil Liberties Union, represented the Amish for free. “Groups in eight or nine other states have already won the right to use reflective tape. But the police in Pennsylvania fought this harder than in any other state. They fought it very aggressively.”
The 2-1 decision isn’t likely to affect other Amish groups or those who raise questions about state intrusions into religious liberties, Doblick said. Though Superior Court Judges Justin M. Johnson and Richard B. Klein agreed, they based their decision on different sets of laws — Johnson on the Pennsylvania Constitution and Klein on the U.S. Constitution.
Because of that, the opinion does not set any precedents.
The judges said the state “produced no evidence to demonstrate the frequency or cause of rear-end collisions between other vehicles and buggies,” failing to prove that it had a compelling reason to require the triangles on the back of buggies.
Even if the state had proven that the triangles would improve public safety, the state failed to prove there was no “less restrictive” way to safeguard the buggies that might not have offended the Swartzentruber Amish, the judges said.
But it’s unlikely local Amish will seek the same exemption from the law requiring triangles. Donald Kraybill, Elizabethtown College’s interim provost who is a nationally recognized scholar on the Amish, said the Swartzentrubers are significantly more conservative than local Amish.
“This is a very unique situation in Pennsylvania because this ruling really relates to this one congregation,” Kraybill said Tuesday. “I don’t think it will have any impact on the Amish communities here. (Lancaster Amish) are comfortable using the triangle and flashing red lights. They feel they are helpful to them and people in recognizing them as being part of an Amish buggy, so it helps motorists, too.”
Kraybill said the Swartzentruber Amish do not use tractors and strictly limit the use of electricity from batteries. Their homes do not have indoor bathrooms or pressurized water.
“The Swartzentruber Amish are one of the most conservative Old Order congregations in the country,” Kraybill said. “For them, red is a color they are uncomfortable with and they feel the gray tape is more symbolic of the simplicity of their lifestyle.”
Ephrata Borough police Chief Steven N. Annibali said visibility of buggies is an issue, but the greater importance of the triangle is to mark slow moving vehicles, something reflective tape doesn’t do.
“A strip of reflective tape may make that buggy visible, but (auto drivers) might not know they’re coming up on a slowly moving vehicle,” Annibali said. “That’s why they have (reflective triangles) on tractors and other slow moving vehicles — that’s the part that’s being missed. And it’s for (the safety of the Amish), too. The people who usually get the worst end of an accident are the people in a buggy, not the people driving a 3,000-pound vehicle.”
PennDOT officials did not immediately comment on the decision Tuesday. State police Trooper Joe Reeves said he could not comment without reviewing the case.
Cambria County prosecutor David Kaltenbaugh, who handled the Superior Court appeal, did not immediately return calls.
Kraybill said there are about 150 Amish congregations in Lancaster County and another 150 across the state, which is home to 48,000 Amish. He said there are about 50 to 60 Swartzentruber Amish congregations in the country, with some equally conservative congregations as close as Mifflin County.
“(The case) is a really fascinating question in terms of religious freedom and religious liberty,” Kraybill said. “It’s interesting that the Superior Court decided in favor of the Amish. It raises profound questions to what is religious practice and how is it protected in modern, high-tech society.”
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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