The "Sorrow In The Amish Farming Community" Story

It was an ordinary day.  October 23, 2018 and staring at me from page A3 of the morning newspaper was Alvin F. Beiler.  Alvin F. Beiler is Amish and Amish fear that having their photograph taken will condemn them to hell, since it is a graven image.  His hair is cut off mid-ear and he wears a long grey beard.  Part of his black shirt can be seen in the photograph.  This photo in the newspaper is a mug shot.  Alvin is a farmer who recently lost his 4-year-old son after he started the feed mixer on his farm and had not checked to see where his son might be.  20 minutes later he stopped the machine, but it was too late.  His son had died in the mixer.  Can you imagine how he must have felt after discovering his son in the machine.  And, to top that off, he was charged with involuntary manslaughter and endangering the welfare of children, which he should have been.  This was the first criminal charge for a farm related death in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania since 2006 when another farmer was charged after his son climbed into a tractor-powered feed grinder and was killed.  That farmer's record was cleared after he was accepted into the county's accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition  program.  A few days after Mr. Beiler's photograph was in the newspaper, another story appeared titled "Spotlight on safety after farm deaths."  

Chart from the Lancaster newspaper.

Seems that Lancaster County has had at least one person die in a farm-related accident every year since 2000 with a total of 69 deaths recorded during that time.  Four people have died since this past May with three of those deaths happening within the past week.  Seems farm accidents need to be addressed.  Farming is dangerous with most accidents happening in the spring and fall when more machines are being used.  Lancaster has 5,500 farms that cover about 70% of Lancaster County land.  And, I should point out that all those deaths are not children, but when a child does die, police usually investigate the death.  Charges are rare, but are sometimes filed if police determine criminal recklessness or negligence.  Mr Beiler was the first to be charged since 2006.  Lancaster General Hospital works with the Amish Safety Committee by suggesting ways to make farming safer.  More rear-view mirrors and backup cameras for tractors have helped in the past.  But, its still up to each individual farm to make safety a priority.  As far as penalties are concerned, usually a course on farm safety and acceptance into the County's Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition might be his sentence, but the untimely death of his young son due to his inattentiveness is a sentence much greater than any penalty a judge could impose.  It will be with him for the rest of his life.  Sad to realize, but it will happen sometime in the future as long as children grow up in a farm environment.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.