FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   September 29, 1998

CONTACTS:

• Jim and Jane Gillooly:  Daviess County farmers and neighbors of Amish,   812-254-2852
• John McCall:  Daviess County farmer and neighbor of Amish, 812-687-7631
• Andrew Knott: Hoosier Environmental Council 317-685-8800
• John Moore: Env’tal Law and Policy Center of the Midwest, 312-795-3706
• Tom and Sandra Tokarski:  Citizens for Appropriate Rural Roads, 812-825-9553

AMISH SPEAK OUT TO STOP I-69 HIGHWAY

Nearly 700 Sign Petition Imploring Governor O’Bannon Not to Split Their Community

In an unusual public act, an Old Order Amish settlement in Daviess County is pleading with Governor O’Bannon not to divide their century-old community by building the proposed new Interstate 69 highway through it.

In a handwritten petition to the Governor with 692 signatures, the Amish state that the proposed new I-69 highway "would bisect Amish farms and church districts, and cut off members of our community from each other. Many of us would have to drive for miles by horse and buggy to attend church services or visit with our neighbors and families." Bishops in the Amish community mailed the petition to the Governor on Friday.

The petition is highly unusual for the Amish. The Amish live in their own settlements without electricity or modern conveniences, use horses and buggies for transportation, and avoid involvement in government or politics.

"This highway is a great threat to our community," said Harold Lengacher, an Amish bishop whose church district the highway would split. "We are asking the Governor not to damage our community and our way of life."

As currently proposed, the highway would bisect the Amish settlement, which is located near Montgomery, outside of Washington, Indiana. The settlement is one of the largest Amish communities in Indiana, and is known nationwide for breeding "pulling horses," which pull farm implements such as plows. The highway would severely impact the settlement:

• By creating a barrier through the community (horses and buggies cannot travel on interstate highways) and requiring the closure of numerous local roads, it would force the Amish to travel miles out of their way to visit friends and family that used to be "just down the road." Because travel by horse and buggy is so much slower than by car, people and places in their own community would as a practical matter be inaccessible to many Amish.

• It would divide an Amish church district, making it difficult for many members to attend Sunday church services.

• It would pave over five Amish farms, some of which have been in Amish families for generations. And it would make it difficult for Amish farmers on opposite sides of the highway to help each other with harvesting and other chores, as is traditional in their way of life.

• It would bring thousands of motorists, including tourists, through what is now a secluded community, disrupting the privacy and quiet that are critical to the Amish way of life. The Amish, whose religion forbids them from being photographed, fear becoming a "tourist attraction."

"This highway would cut me off from two of my sons and my grandchildren," said Eugene Stoll, who farms land that his father and grandfather farmed before him. "It would split my church district in two. And it would cut through my farm and make part of it impossible to get to."

The proposed new Evansville-to-Indianapolis I-69 highway has not yet been funded and is still in the planning stages. The leading alternative to a new highway is to use existing four-lane roadways instead – upgrading US 41 to an interstate highway between Evansville and Terre Haute, and connecting to existing Interstate 70 between Terre Haute and Indianapolis.

Compared to a new highway, US 41/I-70 would save taxpayers more than $600 million and preserve thousands of acres of farms and forests, according to Andy Knott, air and energy policy director for the Hoosier Environmental Council. It would also avoid harming the Amish.

According to studies by the Indiana Department of Transportation, US 41/I-70 would result in a route between Evansville and Indianapolis only 10 miles longer than the new highway, Knott said.

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