Charles Sheehan
Associated Press
May 23, 2002 01:50:00
http://www.azcentral.com/offbeat/articles/0523amishtickets-ON.html
EBENSBURG, Pa. - In a trial pitting an ultraconservative Amish sect's beliefs against Pennsylvania's traffic safety laws, prosecutors said gray reflective tape that the sect wants to use on their buggies isn't as effective as the orange-and-red triangles required by state law.
A judge said after closing arguments Thursday that safety will be central to his upcoming decision whether or not to require the sect to use the triangles against their wishes.
"If we're trampling on your religious rights, we have to have a very compelling interest," Cambria County Judge Timothy Creany told about 25 members of the Andy Weaver clan of the Swartzentruber Amish in his courtroom.
About 20 of the sect's members have been cited repeatedly by state police for refusing to put a reflective "slow-moving vehicle" emblem on their buggies. One man was jailed for three days for refusing to pay the $100 fine.
The Swartzentruber say putting the orange-and-red triangle on their buggies blights on their most recognizable public expression of faith and is an affront to God.
Members of the group, which migrated three years ago from Ohio to Cambria County, about 65 miles east of Pittsburgh, say they will pull up stakes and move to another state if they lose the case.
The Swartzentruber use a gray reflective tape and a lantern on the rear of their buggies. They believe the insignia required by the state is gaudy and takes their fate out of the hands of God.
Defense attorney Donna Doblick argued Thursday that the state safety law is unconstitutional and cannot be forced upon people who shun 20th century technology, just because society at large has moved into 21st.
"Our country has sped up around these people, literally and figuratively," Doblick said.
"They can either keep up with the changes around them and put an orange-and-red triangle on their buggies so that the people zipping by in their SUVs will know they're there - but violate their core religious beliefs in the process - or they can find somewhere else to live," she said.
The state must show there is no acceptable alternative to the triangles for the law to supersede the group's religious beliefs, Doblick said.
Both prosecutors and the judge hearing the case have acknowledged the Swartzentruber's religious beliefs are valid.
Assistant District Attorney Heath Long said the state's compelling interest in the symbols, which are required in 41 states, is preventing fatalities where the Amish and modern society converge.
"Why do people in Pennsylvania use this (symbol)?" Long asked. "It's simple. Because it saves lives. That is the compelling interest."
Both sides have introduced experts who have testified to the merits of the symbol compared with the reflective tape used by the Swartzentruber.
The courtroom has been filled with bearded Amishmen, wearing wide brim straw hats and like dark clothing. They've listened to experts extol the virtues of retroreflectometer readings, iconic and abstract symbols, and human scotopic visual perception.
The stream of testimony was difficult for the defendants, and even Creany, to follow. The judge at one point lifted his hands and said, "I don't understand what we're talking about here."
But Creany made clear that the testimony of safety experts is exactly what he will use to come to a decision he called "most troubling and most critical."
The real issue is whether the reflective tape, which the Amish have been using in some states for 30 years, is comparable to the reflective triangles, which Pennsylvania has required on all slow-moving vehicles since 1976.
Creany adjourned court early Thursday afternoon and isn't expected to issue his written decision until at least next week.