A deadly Practice of the Amish in Lighting of fires in stoves in there homes.

When you ride thru rural areas of Pennsylvania , Ohio and New york or Indiana you may encounter a Horse Drawn buggy being driven by an Amish man with plain clothing straw hat and beard.
a throw back to the days of old this is not something they do on the weekend for tourists this is there religion with roots that go back to Germany.Which prohibits them from using modern conveniences.

There homes have no running water , electricity gas or telephones. They live like the early pioneers of yesterday. There only educated to the 8th grade.
They have no Smoke Detectors in there homes thou some have wind up heat detectors and entire family's have been killed in night time fires . When this happens in the community they say it is Gods Will it has happened when asked why they do not have Smoke Detectors which require AC or battery power.

If they need to travel a far distance they hire a non Amish individual to transport them in a in van with shades.
They shun modern ways of living but they do embrace the use of modern hospitals if it is life threatening. Those of us not with in the Amish community are refereed to as" The English ".

With this in mind from time to time in the papers you will see where an Amish Man or women has been seriously injured or even died from burns they received lighting or keeping lighted there Wood Stove when they have thrown too much kerosene into it.
The latest incident happening in Indiana County Pa. where an Amish gentleman lighting his stove severely burned himself and his son's and had to be Life flighted to a Pittsburgh Hospital with Special Burn ward, and they will endure much pain and recovery after suffering life threatening 3rd degree burns. One of the sons has unfortunately passed


While common sense would tell you not to do this taking a small cup of kerosene and throwing it on to an already lighted fire. or overfilling the stove with kerosene when first lighting it This is common practice in Amish Country and all too often it results in serious burn injury's to mostly women which they often try to fix with home remedy before arranging for professional care.

I asked a local fire marshal about this and he tells me yes He has talked to Pa. State Fire Marshals at seminars , who work these rural areas and despite there best efforts to educate the Amish community against this it goes on all the time.
Now I have been told by those (English) who live by or have vacation homes near Amish community's that they find the Amish to be extremely stupid people because of all the in breeding with in the community as they do not marry outside there community's. and end up marrying cousins etc. But I do not know if this is the case or even the cause of what is happening.
The Amish I have encountered on Job sites are very level headed but are set in there ways of following the rules of there Order and Bishop who is the figure head in there community and some community's are more lenient than others. Where they will allow Amish to have a phone
in there outhouse or use a generator to run a machine in there Wood/Furniture shop.
But there are some who are very strict not even allowing the use of the orange triangle on the rear of there buggy's to warn motorists as bright colors are forbidden.
In a world where Fire Safety Vs Religion
Religious freedom always comes first with the Amish community so all we can do is make suggestions that they follow safe fire practices which are one of the biggest dangers in there community's since they use candles , kerosene lights , wood stoves and fireplaces

Sadly since posting this article the father in this article has died 02.13.2012

Blanket Hill near Kittaning Pa. one of the first cases of Biological Warfare being used in the US in 1754

 I drive up to Altoona via US422 several times each summer to help out a customer  and at the top of one hill is a state marker as well as a  large stone historical marker the name of the hill is  Blanket Hill it got its name from blankets and other materials  left behind by fleeing British troops after encountering a large band of Indian raiders near Kittaning.







Yes hard to believe that way back in 1754   but  British troops fleeing from the battle with Indians  are said to have left behind blankets which where deliberately  infected with Smallpox yet some historians debate if this actually happened during this battle

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Fort_Pitt#Biological_warfare






How effective it was against the Indians is debated to this day.  But the British are known to have used small pox against the Indians even into the revolutionary war and possibly against American troops.

Small Pox was so feared at Fort Pitt they set up a isolation hospital several miles away in Crafton
to care for troops who had it.




So it is not inconceivable that those blankets left on blanket hill where in fact  infected with small pox.  today it is not the once feared disease it once was because vaccines and better hygiene have eradicated it for the most part to 3rd world county's but it still pops up on occasion.






A 13 year old Zachary Proper, kills his grandparents is caught and sentenced and then commits suicide in Prison leaving behind more Questions then answers

I travel thru Oil city couple times a year .A rural city in the North West Corner of  Pa.  where Oil was discovered  and was once a booming town now part of the rust belt after refiners moved out and not a place you would ever expect such a headline.

Shocking News a 13 yr old Oil City boy shoots and kills his Loving Grandparents .



It was a horrific crime as the young man shot and killed his grandparents a direct shot to the head of his grandmother and then unloading the rest of the guns clip into his disabled  grandfather .
he would then flee to cousins and party with them till he was apprehended.
When asked why he did it he claimed his grandparents insulted his mothers name.

From all accounts he was a mild mannered child but then it appears he started hanging out with the wrong crowd and started getting into drugs at a time when a child is most vulnerable as they go thru puberty. I have seen so many nice young kids turn into complete monsters starting at this age when they get involved with the wrong crowd of people.  I have had to watch as a good friend and customers child was arrested and hauled to jail at 16 for stealing from his fathers business  and doing drugs and the heart ache it brought my friend.
When his son was finally released from prison after several repeat trips  I asked his son why? all he could say was he had no self esteem and hung with the wrong crowd he was now 33 had 2 kids and been divorced twice  unfortunately shortly after talking to him he is back in jail again after violating his probation he stole scrap metal from his father and wrecked his truck after getting drunk. 
 Yet I have other customers whose kids have gone on to great things and raise a family and contribute to society. 

But this was never to be for Zachary Proper who recently committed suicide in prison. 

 

 With his death go so many unanswered questions and just speculation now as to why he did what he did and how he got there in the first place.