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Cambria County Deputies Michael and Thomas Rematt on Wednesday attach a padlock to the door of an Amish school along Farabaugh Road in Barr Township, barring its use because of a local and state sewage violations. Todd Berkey
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Amish school locked up
County bars use over sewage dispute
EBENSBURG — Cambria County sheriff’s deputies, acting on a judge’s order, on Wednesday padlocked an Amish school and its two outhouses along Farabaugh Road in Barr Township.
Deputy Thomas Rematt and his son, Deputy Michael Rematt, were asked by several students and a teacher who were in the school why the deputies were padlocking it.
The elder Rematt said the deputies were “doing our job,” and he asked the youngsters and the teacher to leave. They did so without incident.
The school has been operated by the Swartzentruver sect, which shuns modern ways. There were 18 students enrolled there, a church elder said this week.
County Judge Norman Krumenacker on Tuesday shut the school and ordered property owner Andy Swartzentruver jailed for 90 days because two outhouses did not comply with municipal regulations and proper arrangements had not been made for sewage disposal.
Although the Amish sect had made improvements to the outhouses and the holding tank, they fell short of local and state laws.
County jail Warden John Prebish said Wednesday that Swartzentruver had been processed into the prison with no problems.
Swartzentruver, 53, of Barr Township, appears to be adjusting well in his isolation cell, the warden said. When first incarcerated, all inmates are isolated for 48 hours while they are evaluated and undergo a medical exam, Prebish said.
Instead of the usual bright jailhouse garb, the Amish man was issued dark blue prison clothing.
Officials with the state Department of Education and Northern Cambria School District said this week that the Amish will have to arrange for the education of the children in a private school or at home. Otherwise, they will have to attend public school classes because of the state’s compulsory education laws.
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