Lenawee County settled several lawsuits Wednesday against the county’s Amish community over their refusal to install septic systems due to their religious obligations.
If successful, the lawsuits (filed by Lenawee County) would have resulted in forcing the families to pay for the demolition of their own homes and place liens on their properties.
...Under the agreement, the Amish will still have to pay a one-time $350 variance fee on each parcel owned and a $75 annual variance renewal fee each year on each parcel; install a vault toilet with a 300-gallon tank on each parcel and pay the county’s $410 fee for a vault toilet and permit; and test the septage it spreads each time for agricultural purposes with pH strips and report the results to the county health department among other reporting and permit requirements.
Lenawee County would not allow it (outhouses), Mayor wrote, "even though county officials admitted under oath they had no evidence of anyone ever being harmed by these families’ adherence to religious practices that have been in place for generations. Those same officials acknowledged being aware that a much larger community of Amish with similar practices in Hillsdale County has been able to live there harmoniously for decades."
In 2019, Lenawee County simultaneously filed lawsuits against every Amish family in the county. Source
Lenawee County, Michigan, population density 100 souls per square mile if you remove the county-seat. That is 6.4 acres-per-person or 277,248 square-feet per person or, if you speak Canadian, 26000 square-meters per person. If Lenawee county had the same population density of Chicago that 6.4 acres would have to absorb the waste from 120 people rather than a single person.
Sigh. I look for this sort of thing more and more as revenues continue to dwindle - let alone the fact that bureaucrats must have power over every aspect of everyone's lives.
ReplyDeleteThis is not and has never been a 'public health' issue. It's a control issue. You'd be hard pressed to find a group of more petty people than local level politicians.
ReplyDeleteDan, there are plenty of quotes throughout the centuries of never allowing people in power who want to be in power. Things like this want to make me disavow the idea of bureaucracies altogether.
DeleteYes, with very rare exception, wanting to hold political office is an automatic disqualifier.
DeleteBah Gawd,we have RUULLZZ! It doesn't matter that you're hurting no-one,
ReplyDelete""even though county officials admitted under oath they had no evidence of anyone ever being harmed by these families’ adherence to religious practices that have been in place for generations. Those same officials acknowledged being aware that a much larger community of Amish with similar practices in Hillsdale County has been able to live there harmoniously for decades."
ReplyDeleteMorons..................
What is the religious reason for the ban on tank and drain field? The inspection on my first house purchase found a septic cistern. A leaky brick assembly whose drain field was it's immediate surrounding. The septic tank and drain field is the same concept with a linear drain field instead of a spherical drain field.
ReplyDeleteSo what gives?
It's all about the money. Both money from the Feds to put in sewer systems for 'clean' water and to increase the housing density for land owners, builders, real estate agents, housing providers, etc, and especially local politicians.
ReplyDeleteEliminating the middle class and their liberties is the goal. Everything must be seen through that lens.
ReplyDelete