An afternoon in Amish country - York Daily Record

An afternoon in Amish country - York Daily Record

It's a Saturday afternoon in early November and the tiny village of Intercourse in Lancaster County is abuzz with tourists and locals, almost as if to prove that this little town deserves its name as a spot for business and cultural exchanges.
Visitors stand on street corners, chatting on cell phones and snapping pictures with their digital cameras that they'll download on computers. But the very thing that has drawn these technology-laden tourists to town couldn't be further from the world they know.

Many of them come because of the Amish — plain folk who choose to wear bonnets and suspenders and travel through town on scooters or by horse and buggy rather than by automobile because they adhere to a religion that shuns modern technology.
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La Crosse Tribune - News

La Crosse Tribune - News

Police: Men set out to rob Amish

By TIM HUNDT / Lee Newspapers

VIROQUA, Wis. — Two Jefferson County men have been accused of attempted armed robbery in what authorities claim was a plot to target the Amish community. Advertisement

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Bradley M. Pelzman, of Watertown, Wis., and Kody D. Hough, of Lake Mills, Wis., appeared Monday in Vernon County Circuit Court, where Judge Michael Rosborough ordered them held until the district attorney can file charges later this week.

The men, both 19, were arrested Friday in connection with an incident involving an Amish man Nov. 5.

Vernon County Sheriff's Deputy Nathan Campbell testified that a vehicle had been seen numerous times Friday cruising slowly by Amish homes, in the same area where the attempted robbery had taken place the week before.

Campbell said he stopped the vehicle and found weapons, including a filet knife and two pistols. One silver and black handgun matched the description of one used in the Nov. 5 holdup.

Campbell said he also found a Wisconsin map in the vehicle with a route traced from the Milwaukee area to Tomah, Wilton and Cashton, and a computer printout titled "Amish settlements in Wisconsin."

Campbell said while he searched the vehicle, a microphone in his squad car recorded Pelzman as saying, "The game is over for us."

Campbell said the victim of the Nov. 5 incident also identified the two as the men who tried to rob him.

According to Campbell, the two men told the victim Nov. 5 they were having car trouble and asked to use a telephone. When told no phone was available, the taller of the two —later identified by the victim as Pelzman — pulled out a handgun and demanded money, Campbell said. The two fled when the man ran into his house.

Vernon County District Attorney Timothy Gaskell requested Hough's bail be set at $2,500 cash, but asked only for a signature bond on Pelzman.

While Pelzman has an extensive criminal record, including robbery and theft charges dating back to 2000, Gaskell noted he had just been released from prison. If sent back to Jefferson County, he likely will be returned to prison on a parole violation, Gaskell said.

The two men are expected to be formally charged in Vernon County court at 9 a.m. Friday.

Tim Hundt is a reporter with the Vernon County Broadcaster in Viroqua.

La Crosse Tribune - News

La Crosse Tribune - News: "Police: Men set out to rob Amish
By TIM HUNDT / Lee Newspapers
VIROQUA, Wis. � Two Jefferson County men have been accused of attempted armed robbery in what authorities claim was a plot to target the Amish community. Advertisement

Advertise HereDirectory
Bradley M. Pelzman, of Watertown, Wis., and Kody D. Hough, of Lake Mills, Wis., appeared Monday in Vernon County Circuit Court, where Judge Michael Rosborough ordered them held until the district attorney can file charges later this week.

The men, both 19, were arrested Friday in connection with an incident involving an Amish man Nov. 5.

Vernon County Sheriff's Deputy Nathan Campbell testified that a vehicle had been seen numerous times Friday cruising slowly by Amish homes, in the same area where the attempted robbery had taken place the week before.

Campbell said he stopped the vehicle and found weapons, including a filet knife and two pistols. One silver and black handgun matched the description of one used in the Nov. 5 holdup.

Campbell said he also found a Wisconsin map in the vehicle with a route traced from the Milwaukee area to Tomah, Wilton and Cashton, and a computer printout titled 'Amish settlements in Wisconsin.'

Campbell said while he searched the vehicle, a microphone in his squad car recorded Pelzman as saying, 'The game is over for us.'

Campbell said the victim of the Nov. 5 incident also identified the two as the men who tried to rob him.

According to Campbell, the two men told the victim Nov. 5 they were having car trouble and asked to use a telephone. When told no phone was available, the taller of the two �later identified by the victim as Pelzman � pulled out a handgun and demanded money, Campbell said. The two fled whe"

Fire destroys Amish shop in Indiana County

Fire destroys Amish shop in Indiana County

Saturday, November 20, 2004

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
An Amish-owned furniture shop in West Mahoning, Indiana County, was destroyed Friday after a fire broke out around 10 a.m.
The fire is believed to have started after the store owner lit a wood-burning stove in the showroom, said Lt. Bill Sonni, of the Plumville Volunteer Fire Company.
The blaze burned out the floor of the all-wood building, and the oak furniture inside made it difficult to extinguish the fire, he said. There was also a danger of the roof collapsing.
No one was injured, and the workshop next door to the store, where the furniture was made, was not damaged, Sonni said.