newsmakers

newsmakers

‘Amish Mafia’ star sentenced for suspended license

LANCASTER, Pa.

A star of the TV series “Amish Mafia” has been sentenced to prison after repeatedly driving with a suspended license.

A central Pennsylvania judge Friday ordered 29-year-old John Schmucker to serve three months behind bars.

Schmucker’s most-recent citation was issued Dec. 8 in Earl Township. The Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era reports it was his 10th such offense over the past several years.

Schmucker’s attorney, Steven Breit, says he’ll appeal and ask for house arrest. Breit says that “driving without a license is not the crime of the century. It’s being treated that way.”

The third season of “Amish Mafia,” which is based in Lancaster County, begins Tuesday on the Discovery Channel. It’s not clear how Schmucker’s case will affect future filming.

High-wire walker sets sights on Ga. gorge

ATLANTA

Daredevil tightrope walker Nik Wallenda is setting his sights on a new goal: the nearly 1,000-foot- deep Tallulah Gorge in the northeast Georgia mountains.

The Georgia gorge holds special meaning for Wallenda, since his great-grandfather Karl Wallenda crossed it on a high wire July 18, 1970.

“To be able to walk literally in his footsteps is what my life’s about,” said Nik Wallenda, who discussed the idea in an interview hours after he crossed a 100-foot-high tightrope inside the Georgia Dome in Atlanta on Feb. 8.

Karl Wallenda later plunged to his death while trying to walk a cable between two buildings in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 1978.

Nik Wallenda says he’s already visited the gorge near the Georgia town of Tallulah Falls, and he’s considering attempting the feat within the next three years.

Associated Press