11th Amish man cited over lacking a permit

Morristown is continuing to cite the Amish for building homes without permits while awaiting a judge's decision on pending cases.

Joe A. Zook, of 380 Yankee Street Road, was charged Friday. He's the 11th man charged since July 2006, when the town began citing members of the conservative agricultural religion that shuns modernization. Town Judge James T. Phillips Jr. is considering motions to dismiss the cases based on the constitutional guarantee of religious freedom and other grounds.

Mr. Zook is the first man charged since February, when Judge Phillips began reviewing requests for dismissal. The ticket shocked Steven G. Ballan, the St. Lawrence County assistant public defender assigned to represent the Amish.

"Morristown, by their own action, is making this a more expensive action than it needs to be," he said. "We only have to deal with one case for us to find out what the law is. They're making it 11 times as expensive as it needs to be."

Town Attorney Andrew W. Silver declined Wednesday to discuss the cases and Mr. Zook's citation.

The Amish do not deny the charges. They are part of the faith's strict Swartzentruber sect and do not want to install smoke detectors or get engineer-approved designs, which are required for permits. The sect has butted heads with code enforcement in Hammond, Western New York and Pennsylvania, where they've settled since leaving their native Ohio communities.

A Hammond town justice dropped all building charges against the Amish in May because of a legal technicality regarding paperwork. Two of those men received compliance orders June 10 telling them they had until June 30 to get building permits.

"I think what's happening is the cases that were dismissed are being started over," said Marianne H. Fisher, a Lisbon woman who has helped the Amish in their legal battle.

Town councilors in Conewango, Cattaraugus County, decided in May to turn over code enforcement to the state after years of battling the Amish over smoke detectors and building paperwork. Two Amish farmers in Western Pennsylvania were sentenced June 12 to 90 days in jail for building and using an outhouse without a permit.