Amish in western Pennsylvania played an important role in exempting their people from participating

Amish in western Pennsylvania played an important role in exempting their people from participating in the Social Security system.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. -- Neal Wengerd says he has it better than most people.
Being an Old Order Amish man, Wengerd says he's got the cushion of an entire community behind him and none of the hassles of modern daily life.
He and his wife, Nancy, operate the N & amp;N Greenhouse off Wilson Mill Road in Wilmington Township, Lawrence County. The business supplements the income of their 66-acre farm.
Wengerd spends his days tending to his cows, fields, flowers and a greenhouse. In the summer months, he makes the 45-minute horse and buggy ride to the north hill section of New Castle to sell his homegrown corn and vegetables.
He lives in the area surrounding New Wilmington, one of the oldest Amish communities in Pennsylvania. The settlement was founded in about 1846 when the first Amish families moved to the area and steadily grew until about 1856 when there was a division of members.
Withdrawal: According to a history of Lawrence County, a number of families withdrew from the Amish community in 1856 after disagreements over style of dress and other issues.
The more liberal group eventually became the Maple Grove Mennonite Church. They still exist, but differ from their Amish neighbors because they worship in a church building and do not follow strict dress patterns.
The Amish from Lawrence and Mercer counties are easily identifiable in their brown-top buggies. The women wear brown bonnets and blue, black or purple dresses. The men wear dark clothes put together with eyes and hooks.
Little has changed for this community, which is steeped in tradition.
However, these plain people did play a key role in a national issue affecting Amish people across the country.
New Wilmington's Amish were among the first in the country to be targeted by the Internal Revenue Service for their opposition to paying into the Social Security system.
The Amish oppose federal retirement and unemployment programs, saying they prefer to take care of their own people. They do not oppose paying their federal, state and local income taxes and real estate taxes.
Vindicator files show that IRS officials put a federal lien against Amish man Valentine Y. Byler and eventually seized and auctioned three of his plow horses to pay his Social Security share in the 1960s.
More cases popped up across Pennsylvania eventually leading to congressional legislation that exempted all self-employed Amish people from paying into the Social Security system.
In 1981, another Amish man from New Wilmington, Edwin Lee, was in trouble with the IRS for not paying Social Security and unemployment for the Amish employees in his small agricultural and construction business, according to Vindicator files.
These men, again, were among the first targeted in the country by the IRS for payment.
Others: Many others also were cited and Amish leaders from Lancaster, Pa., eventually took their case to the U.S. Congress and got another exemption, said Donald Kraybill, an Amish expert from Messiah College in Grantham, Pa.
Kraybill noted that the Amish are only exempt from paying into Social Security if they are self-employed or employed by another Amish person. Those employed by outsiders must pay, he said.
The Amish say they don't want or need state intervention because they take care of their own elderly and sick.
Fund-raising auctions take place to pay high medical bills and everyone in the Amish community is expected to contribute goods and money. A yearly auction on the first Saturday in June at the New Wilmington Livestock Auction benefits the New Wilmington Amish medical fund. The Amish do not belong to group insurance plans.
"I think we are better off. A lot of people pay [for] insurance and never use it. I would rather help somebody else," Wengerd said.
Hundreds of Amish and non-Amish come to buy furniture, quilts, equipment and other items at the yearly auction.
The Amish also prefer to educate their own children, but continue to pay local school taxes.
Vindicator files show the Amish broke off with the Wilmington Area School District in February 1974 for religious reasons.
A letter to the school district cited Proverbs 22:6, "Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart it."
They operate several one-room schoolhouses in the two counties.
Politics: And while the Amish rarely get involved in local politics, one Wilmington Township, Mercer County, Amish man was permitted to fill the unexpired term of a township supervisor -- he's likely one of the few Amish men to have ever held public office. Most Amish shy away from public office because it sometimes requires the use of the legal system, which they prefer not to use.
John D.R. Byler, a farmer and father of seven, served on the three-man board from 1997 to 1999.
"It was a nice experience," Byler said.
"But people get on you when you hold public office. One good thing, I don't have a phone," he said jokingly.
Byler said his term in office was helpful because he was able to bring some unique Amish problems to the forefront, including state building code requirements for electrical wiring -- the Amish don't use electricity -- and requirements for cooling milk that the Amish can't attain without electric coolers.
Some things did change: The Pennsylvania Legislature eventually exempted the Amish from state building codes for electricity.
While the Amish do have some champions among those not living the lifestyle, Byler believes they need to start speaking up.
"It's getting to where we have to start getting involved," he said. "We know we couldn't do without you, but you could do without us."
cioffi@vindy.com