Do the amish really tear up the roads?

SS MAYFLOAT · Dec 26, 2005

Re: Do the amish really tear up the roads?

My opinion is that they should be banned from the roads. At this point they pay no tax for the upkeep and use of the roads. Once you live in an area heavily populated by Amish, you too will not like the way they utilize the roads. "STOP" signs and other rules of the road apparently don't apply to them. 2am in the morning, black horses, black buggie, and black clothes makes it real hard to see them. Ride a bicycle at night at that time and you will be pulled over for no lights or reflectors. Why are they exempt from the rules and laws of the road? There is a sad part though, it usually is when the buggie meets a motor vehicle in an accident. The Amish usually pays the price of using the road then with their lives. Tax them just like the rest of us, and make them conform to highway laws as well. Come on guys, why does threads always end up being politics? It is taking the fun out of the forum anymore.

Bondo · Dec 26, 2005

Re: Do the amish really tear up the roads?

Ayuh,........... Talk about an Adrenilin Buzz,............. Barreling down a Dark,+ Wet Hiway in the middle of the night, at about 60mph,........... And,.. Suddenly there's a Horse & Buggy going 3mph, 1/2 in Your driving lane........... Ayuh,........ WAY Better than Coffee to Wake You Up............

We have a Growing Amish population just north of here..........

crab bait · Dec 26, 2005

Re: Do the amish really tear up the roads?

yeah,, those barn monkeys tear up everthing they touch.. why they rip-roar gallop run ruff shod all over the place.. they have no respect for the american drivers..

rolmops · Dec 26, 2005

Re: Do the amish really tear up the roads?

Really guys,relax. I live in an area with plenty of amish people and they all have reflectors on their buggies and LED lights on the front and rear.Many of what I like to call "reform" amish ride their bycicles on RUBBER tyres.The thing I dislike about the Amish on the road is the horse exhaust packages,but I can step over it. Why not go and ask the Amish if they think whether it is reasonable for them to pay a road tax.After all,a limping horse because of a pothole is no joke. In the Fingerlakes area where I live,the Amish are a very strong booster for the local economy with their farmers markets,furniture production and tourist atractions.The only beef I ever buy is grass fed amish black angus.The Amish do use the roads to bring their products to market and I for one suspect that they would not mind at all if $40 dollars a year goes to road improvement.On the condition of course that there is a promise made, sealed with a handshake and a blessing,that this money will indeed go to the roads.

DJ · Dec 26, 2005

Re: Do the amish really tear up the roads?

I find the Amish fascinating. Why did they pick one moment in time to freeze their technological advancement? I'm not saying they are wrong,just curious as to why?

SS MAYFLOAT · Dec 26, 2005

Re: Do the amish really tear up the roads?

Ever see an emergency brake on an Amish buggy? If you have, I always cringe when they get applied!

Those poor horses.

bubbakat · Dec 26, 2005

Re: Do the amish really tear up the roads?

I have never meet a drunk amish person in a horse and buggie but have saw many cars and trucks with drunk drivers. The wear and tear they do is a lot less then those autos. I have seen many of them with proper lighting on them.

12Footer · Dec 26, 2005

Re: Do the amish really tear up the roads?

Originally posted by DJ: I find the Amish fascinating. Why did they pick one moment in time to freeze their technological advancement? I'm not saying they are wrong,just curious as to why?

I've always wondered the same thing. BTW, we do not have Amish communities down here in Florida. We have oddmish. That's little old ladies with blue hair that drive big caddies while sitting on phonebooks to see over the hood. But just like the Amish, they drive at 3MPH in the hammer lane. But i digress. I sure would like to know WHY the Amish choose 1800 as the time to technologically freeze-up! It can't be the evil machine, because they use buggies. I do not get it.

Elmer Fudge · Dec 26, 2005

Re: Do the amish really tear up the roads?

Folks need not pick on the Amish, its a very poor excuse designed to mask their intollerances. Who ask them to go and live next to the Amish communities? Certainly not the Amish.

18rabbit · Dec 26, 2005

Re: Do the amish really tear up the roads?

Originally posted by azfyrfyter63: I dunno, they are using the roads but not paying for them with gasoline tax... so sure, they should pay for their use.

Originally posted by Bondo: Well,.......... I'm with azfyrfyter63,.........

Im with you guys. I dont use the crappy local library, so reduce my taxes for that; I dont have kids in the public school system, I want a huge reduction in my taxes for not using that. Let me see, my house has never caught fire, I dont want to pay taxes for the fire dept. I have personal protection under control, dont need to be paying taxes for the police (says the lepus with much sarcasm). You guys are a tad too pessimistic for me. Its not that the Amish are paying too little taxes (glass half empty); its that you are paying too many taxes (glass half full).

gonefishie · Dec 26, 2005

Re: Do the amish really tear up the roads?

12footer> have you ever eat at the Amish restaurant in Sarasota? best biscuit and gravy you'll ever have. All the buggies I've ever saw have reflectors on them. You guys know if they paid income taxes? property taxes? I've seen a bunch of Amish boaters on one of my favorite lake in Northern IN. Yes, boaters, I had to turn around and slow down to make sure I'd really saw Amish on boat on my first encounter with them on the lake. I've seen an Amish guy paid for building supply at Lowe's with what seem to be a debit card. I've seen them in automobile, normally a big old van. What I thought kinda weird was, I saw one guy wearing hand sewn clothes, hand made shoe, straw hat talking on a cell phone.

KRS · Dec 26, 2005

Re: Do the amish really tear up the roads?

Originally posted by gonefishie: 12footer> have you ever eat at the Amish restaurant in Sarasota? best biscuit and gravy you'll ever have. All the buggies I've ever saw have reflectors on them. You guys know if they paid income taxes? property taxes? I've seen a bunch of Amish boaters on one of my favorite lake in Northern IN. Yes, boaters, I had to turn around and slow down to make sure I'd really saw Amish on boat on my first encounter with them on the lake. I've seen an Amish guy paid for building supply at Lowe's with what seem to be a debit card. I've seen them in automobile, normally a big old van. What I thought kinda weird was, I saw one guy wearing hand sewn clothes, hand made shoe, straw hat talking on a cell phone.

I've seen a gay catholic priest... just because they are amish doesn't mean they live the way they "should".

snapperbait · Dec 26, 2005

Re: Do the amish really tear up the roads?

We have oddmish. That's little old ladies with blue hair that drive big caddies while sitting on phonebooks to see over the hood.

LMAO, 12'R....

Just say "bless her soul", stay back, far away; and let er' go...

FLATHEAD · Dec 26, 2005

Re: Do the amish really tear up the roads?

Originally posted by bubbakat: I have never meet a drunk Amish person in a horse and buggie but have saw many cars and trucks with drunk drivers. The wear and tear they do is a lot less then those autos. I have seen many of them with proper lighting on them.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Bubba I HAVE seen Amish young men falling down drunk driving their buggy's in the wee hours of the morning. But I guess as long as the horse knows the way home they are OK. We also had an incident here a few years back when the young Amish were busted for selling meth. I also see them every year on Black lake fishing with no boat registration and no license. As far as all their business's , roadside stands , homemade this and that, etc, etc, I have to wonder how much of that gets reported to the good ole IRS? Just because the shy away from technology does not mean they dont have to pay up like the rest of us working class slobs.

SS MAYFLOAT · Dec 26, 2005

Re: Do the amish really tear up the roads?

Amish communities differ from one location to another. Some sectors allow lights and laterns, while others may only allow a SMV (slow moving vehicle)sign. Then sometimes I have seen those SMV signs painted black with gray refective paint. My ex MIL lives within a community of them. I have witnessed them moving houses and barns down the road pulling them with their horses. No permits, signs, escorts, nothing. Now if a contractor would do that, look at all he would have to get and pay for. In the rural areas away from large towns and cities, the roads are not resurfaced as frequent. Some roads look like grandma's patchwork quilt. It is in these communities that the roads do get abused by them. I don't think dragging logs down the road behind a team of horses is too good on the road surface. It is in these "out in the boonies" is where you have buggies that have only moonlight. These are the areas where accidents makes the news. These accidents can be very horrific. I'm not so much concerned about them paying the road tax. I'm more for setting standards that "ALL" their communities should follow or pay fines like the rest of us.

AK_Chappy · Dec 26, 2005

Re: Do the amish really tear up the roads?

Originally posted by SS Mayfloat: Amish communities differ from one location to another.

Very True SS. I grew up not far from Amish country too. There is a difference between "Amish" and "Mennonite". Sort of like the difference between "Baptist" and "Southern Baptist" and "Jewish" and "Orthodox Jew". If I am not mistaken, the Mennonite community has relaxed some of the restrictions. They allow their members to make use of electricity and some other modern technologies. I don't believe they allow the "owning" of automobiles, but don't mind if using machines that belong to others. i.e. riding in a car, or motorboat, etc. And yes, the absolute best food you will ever eat!!!! My wife grew up not far from Indiana Amish country. Her family's favorite restaraunt, "The Black Buggy". MMMMMMMMM, dang it, now you got me drooling. Think I'll make the wife cook some biscuits and gravy....

AK Chappy

bubbakat · Dec 26, 2005

Re: Do the amish really tear up the roads?

Flathead thanks for the heads up on that. I have never really been around to many of them and thought they or should say the elders in charge had more of a control on them. Oh well learn something every day as they say. We have the minonites (SP) around here and a good class of working people to. They pay taxes just like I do. They are real community minded as so to speak they will help any one out in need.

one more cast · Dec 26, 2005

Re: Do the amish really tear up the roads?

We have a dozen or so Amish families near where I live and I like to watch them do their farm work but I don't understand their rules or laws or whatever they call them. They can't own cars but they can ride in the neighbors , They can't have tv's but they can watch the neighbors, They can't have electric in their houses but they can use the neighbors... Maybe the Amish are just cheapskates! Oneday I will stop and visit with them and see what they are like.

treedancer · Dec 26, 2005

Re: Do the amish really tear up the roads?

Tax the Amish forty dollars for road use give me a break. How about forty dollar seatbelt tickets?

rolmops · Dec 26, 2005

Re: Do the amish really tear up the roads?

An important thing in the amish way of life and why their use of technology stops at a certain point is based on the idea of creation. Whatever was created by God can be used,adjusted and owned.(make a horse shoe from iron).That which was created by man (plastics for instance)can sometimes be used but preferably not and should not to be owned. There is a group of elders who decide where the differences lay and what is allowed and what not. They can use debit cards because that is only money that they own.They cannot use a credit card,because that is a loan and loans involve interest which is frowned upon. As time moves along, people evolve and so do the amish.They are not completely frozen in time. In order to adjust to the modern world they do not exactly bend the rules,but they find elegant ways around them. On a different note,I sometimes suspect that Tolkien used the amish for his creation of hobbits. I often buy cakes and bread from the "STOLTZFUSZ BAKERY".The owner is a very friendly and happy yet also very small man.The name Stoltzfusz means Proudfoot in English and the proudfoots were one of the hobbit families in Hobbiton.But maybe I should not go there.I certainly never told my friend the baker,mostly because it might make him think of it as a vain idea.And we all know that "hochmut"(vanity)is from the devil.

Do the amish really tear up the roads?

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