Travel Video Television News

Travel Video Television News: "SCHROCK'S AMISH FARM & VILLAGE IN OHIO USA LAUNCHES EXTRAORDINARY BACK ROADS TOURS
Apr 20, 05 | 9:26 pm



Located at the center of the world's largest Amish settlement, Schrock's Amish Farm & Village announced today the creation of a series of Off the Beaten Path Amish Country Tours. These one-of-a-kind, three-hour tours take visitors to little-known stops in the heart of Ohio's Amish country, located near Berlin in Holmes County.


Tour guests not only get to see and photograph breathtaking scenery that is far from the typical visitor stops, they also have the opportunity to ask any questions they may have as they gain a real understanding of Amish culture and beliefs, said Joanne Hershberger, who developed the tours after finding that visitors want to experience life within a true Amish family.

Guests ride in an air-conditioned 15-passenger van, visiting at least three unique and unforgettable stops on each tour, which takes visitors deep into a 12-square-mile area where homes have no electricity or other modern conveniences. Tour stops may vary and include the area's most scenic places and hidden destinations, such as cottage-industry businesses in Amish homes where noodles, candles or soaps are hand-made. Visitors might also hear a family of Amish children sing folk songs and religious hymns.

Off the Beaten Path Amish Country Tours are $19 per person and are offered daily except Sunday; at 11:00 am Monday-Wednesday and at 1:00 pm Thursday through Saturday. All tours depart from Schrock's Amish Farm. Reservations are made by calling (877) 893-3232 or (330) 893-3232. Additional information is available at www.RealAmishExperiences.com

Off the Beaten Path Amish Country Tours and Schrock's Amish Farm & Village are part of Schrock's Real Ami"

Oxford Tribune - News - 04/21/2005 - East Nottingham elects new treasurer

Oxford Tribune - News - 04/21/2005 - East Nottingham elects new treasurer: "East Nottingham elects new treasurer
04/21/2005
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East Nottingham Township held its board of supervisors regular meeting, April 11. Last month, Treasurer Pam Mason, resigned from her position after informing the board she would be moving out of the Township. Thus, the board nominated Sue Hamlin to be the new treasurer at a cost of $30 per hour.
Mason has agreed to stay on as a consultant to ease the transition. The Township also took out a $2.25 million bond to insure against liability. Mason will officially resign later this month and at that time, Hamlin will be sworn-in as treasurer. At that time, an audit will be done for all records dating back to Jan. 1 of this year.
A new Open Space Committee has been formed for the township with Cliff Lee as the chairman. Other committee member's include: Ellen Mason, Courtney Peterson, and Paul Smoker. The committee will hold a spot for a rotating member of the Amish community. The Amish community was contacted because they are a large part of the agricultural community and the farming community.
'I felt we needed to have citizens who didn't serve on a board already,' Lee said. 'They are defacto members or sponsors. These applicants best filled the guidance and guidelines.'
The committee will draft initial guidelines by June or July.
The supervisors received a letter from the county asking them to join in the Mutual Aid Agreement. The agreement asks each township in Chester County to lend its emergency services to its neighboring townships in cases involving police, fire and paramedics. The main reason behind the agreement is to eliminate liability on t"

Cops nab 3 after Amish family buggy is robbed at gunpoint

Cops nab 3 after Amish family buggy is robbed at gunpoint: "Cops nab 3 after Amish family buggy is robbed at gunpoint
April 19, 2005
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LAGRANGE, Ind. -- Three men robbed an Amish family at gunpoint as they rode their horse-drawn buggy along a country road in northern Indiana, police said.
Marc Duchatellier, 18, and Nicholas J. Knox, 21, both of Elkhart, and Clifton Lee Miller, 24, of Goshen were being held Saturday in LaGrange County Jail on charges of armed robbery, a jail officer said. Each man's bond was set at $50,000.
The family, whose names were not released, were riding on a county road about 30 miles south of the Michigan border when a Pontiac Grand Prix blocked their path at an intersection, police said.
Three men with handguns jumped out of the car and demanded money from the family, said LaGrange County Sheriff's Department Detective Sgt. Jeff Campos. One of the men in the buggy tossed his wallet to the robbers, who then fled in the car.
$1 stolen from wallet
A police officer in nearby Topeka later stopped a vehicle matching the description provided by the family. Police also recovered the guns, which they said the suspects had thrown from the car when they encountered the officer.
Police also recovered the $1 that was stolen and returned it to the robbery victim.
More than one-third of the county's population of 36,000 is Amish, according to information on the LaGrange County Chamber of Commerce Web site.
AP"

The Age of Autism: The Amish anomaly - (United Press International)

The Age of Autism: The Amish anomaly - (United Press International): "The Age of Autism: The Amish anomaly


By Dan Olmsted
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL

Lancaster, PA, Apr. 18 (UPI) -- Part 1 of 2. Where are the autistic Amish? Here in Lancaster County, heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country, there should be well over 100 with some form of the disorder.


I have come here to find them, but so far my mission has failed, and the very few I have identified raise some very interesting questions about some widely held views on autism.
The mainstream scientific consensus says autism is a complex genetic disorder, one that has been around for millennia at roughly the same prevalence. That prevalence is now considered to be 1 in every 166 children born in the United States.
Applying that model to Lancaster County, there ought to be 130 Amish men, women and children here with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Well over 100, in rough terms.
Typically, half would harbor milder variants such as Asperger's Disorder or the catch-all Pervasive Development Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified -- PDD-NOS for short.
So let's drop those from our calculation, even though 'mild' is a relative term when it comes to autism.
That means upwards of 50 Amish people of all ages should be living in Lancaster County with full-syndrome autism, the 'classic autism' first described in 1943 by child psychiatrist Leo Kanner at Johns Hopkins University. The full-syndrome disorder is hard to miss, characterized by 'markedly abnormal or impaired development in social interaction and communication and a markedly restricted repertoire of activities and interests,' according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
Why bother looking for them among the Amish? Because they could hold clues"

ABC News: Amish Community Builds Mental Health Home

ABC News: Amish Community Builds Mental Health Home: "MOUNT GRETNA, Pa. Apr 20, 2005 � On the grounds of a private psychiatric center, a modest two-story house with light gray siding is being built by Amish carpenters.
Their labor is creating a service currently unavailable to members of this area's Old Order Amish and conservative Mennonite communities who suffer from mental illness.
The house known as Green Pastures will allow the Amish to live among their own people and maintain a lifestyle that eschews modern conveniences no television or radio while receiving outpatient clinical treatment.

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Known for their plain style of dress and their use of horse-drawn buggies, the Amish tend to avoid seeking psychiatric help in secular settings, fearing their religious traditions will be viewed as part of the problem.
When it opens in July, the Amish-run Green Pastures will be one of at least two residential facilities in the nation that place the Amish in familiar settings, said the organization that will provide the treatment, Philhaven Behavioral Healthcare Services.
Counselors will assure patients that their treatment will not require them to abandon their faith, said Charles G. Bauman, a Mennonite who is Philhaven's liaison with the Plain communities.
'This will build a bridge between the professional (mental-health) services and their culture,' Bauman said. 'People who are mentally ill are vulnerable to being easily influenced by other people.'
A broad range of psychiatric care is available to the Amish communities throughout North America, from professional services to more informal, homespun programs run by conservative sects, said Donald B. Kraybill, a sociologist of An"