Kentucky Lawmakers Swayed by Amish Man’s Letters on Buggy Issue

The simple, heart-felt letters of an old-fashioned Amish man are being credited for the Senate’s quick passage of a bill that would allow Kentucky’s Amish residents to use reflective tape on their horse-drawn buggies instead of the bright orange triangular signs that they object to on religious grounds.

Jacob Gingerich of Mayfield, a soft-spoken man who sports the trademark black broad-brimmed hat and long beard, used no computer, no letterhead, no printer and no copier to get his message to 138 lawmakers. Instead, he painstakingly wrote by each letter by hand, explaining why he and his brethren needed the Legislature to intervene.

Lawmakers took notice, pointing to those persuasive letters as a major reason they voted unanimously in the Senate to pass legislation that wouldn’t put the Amish in conflict between their religious beliefs and the law of the land. One senator heralded Gingerich’s letter as “quite possibly the best example I’ve ever seen of citizen advocacy.”

In a high tech world iPads and smart phones, Gingerich showed that simple pen and paper remain effective communication devices.

Gingerich, who has spent more than two weeks in jail for refusing to attach the bright orange slow-moving vehicle sign to the back of his drab horse-drawn buggy, explained in his letter that the three-sided emblem represents the Holy Trinity. The Amish, he wrote, don’t display religious symbols, and neither do they flaunt bright colors, including those of slow-moving vehicle emblems.

“The color of the emblem is fluorescent orange, and our church forbids the bright, loud and gaudy colors,” he wrote. “Therefore, we cannot in good conscience use the slow-moving vehicle emblem.”

Senators last week voted unanimously to pass a bill that would allow the Amish to outline their buggies in reflective tape, an accommodation already in place in several other states, including Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Wisconsin.

“It is our religious belief to abide by the law of the land, as long as it does not interfere with our religion,” Gingerich wrote. “So, now are asking the legislators to pass a law that we can abide by.”

Gingerich and 17 other Amish men rode into Frankfort on buses last week from Mayfield, Leitchfield and Auburn to watch the Legislature step into a long legal fight over the orange triangle. The bill still has to make its way through the House, where some similar measures are already pending. House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, spoke favorably about the proposal, signaling that it stands a good chance of passing.

Sen. Ken Winters, R-Murray, has been pushing the legislation that allows the typically black Amish buggies to be outlined with gray or silver reflective tape that makes them shine brilliantly in the dark when they reflect car lights. Winters said tests have proven that the reflective tape makes the buggies visible up to 1,000 feet away.

The legislation, which would go into effect immediately after being signed by the governor, was prompted by recent jailing in Graves County of Amish men of the conservative Swartzentruber sect for their refusal to pay fines in traffic cases caused by their not using the signs. Gingerich and several other Amish men have appealed their convictions to the Kentucky Supreme Court on religious grounds.

Winters’ bill could resolve the issue at the legislative level. And, he said, it would make the roads safer for everyone by requiring the back and sides to be outlined in reflective tape as well as the front left corner. The bill also sets parameters for the lights used on the buggies. The one on the left side has to be a foot taller than the one on the right.

“I would not have been involved in this if I had not believed there is a safer way for them to travel on the road,” Winters said. “It’s not just for them. I always worried that I might come over a hill and there would be one right in front of me.”

Sen. Kathy Stein, D-Lexington, said receiving the personal letter from Gingerich was “one of the highlights of my legislative experience.”

And Sen. Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, said a broad spectrum of interest groups, including the Catholic church, the tea party and the American Civil Liberties Union, came together to push for the legislation on behalf of the Amish.

Thayer said he was impressed that such diverse groups could work together to “come up with a solution to a problem balancing the religious freedom of people who feel very strongly about their religious rights under the constitution and the public safety needs.”

But Thayer said Gingerich’s letter was key.

“It could be quite possibly the best example I’ve ever seen of citizen advocacy on behalf of a bill,” Thayer said. “It was this letter, one-page letter” by a man who made “as good a case as I’ve ever seen for passage for legislation.”

Topics Legislation Kentucky