MORENCI, Mich. — In a case touted as a precedent for religious freedom and fair housing, a team of lawyers representing at least 14 Amish households sued the Lenawee County Health Department on Wednesday for what some of those attorneys claim is an unreasonably aggressive, unconstitutional action and an abuse of government power.
Three attorneys and other staffers from the Wright & Schulte, LLC law firm in Vandalia, Ohio, with help from the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, assert their clients — dozens of Lenawee County residents who practice the Old Order Amish faith — are being discriminated against by the county health department.
The county apparently wants each of the Amish households equipped with flush toilets and fully functioning septic systems. That would require those residents to install modern technology and electricity, which goes against their faith.
It’s been more than a suggestion, though. Earlier this fall, county health officials posted condemnation notices on each of the houses in question, serving owners with a demand to install the technology or risk having their households bulldozed.
According to 14 separate complaints filed in Lenawee County Circuit Court, county health officials contend the Amish practices are unsafe when it comes to disposal of human feces and urine.
A 15th household is about to be served, attorneys said.
The county alleges that health problems associated with unsanitary conditions is “probable and imminent unless this nuisance is immediately abated by the removal of the buildings.” It cited the health of children in particular being at risk.
That order of Amish uses outhouses with simple holes dug in the ground for human feces and urine.
Richard W. Schulte, of Wright & Schulte, which has defended Amish in southwestern Ohio from similar claims, said his firm was notified of the situation by the Fair Housing Center of Southeast and Mid-Michigan, and that the ACLU offered to help.
Lawyers attending a news conference Wednesday inside one of the Amish homes said they are working pro bono and that their Amish clients were reluctant to put up a fight because they don’t like conflict. That changed once they realized their homes could be demolished if they took no action, attorneys said.
About 100 of the affected Lenawee County Amish residents — from young children to senior citizens — were inside a home along Ranger Highway, several miles north of Morenci, for the news conference. All declined comment except for one married couple which spoke only on the condition their names would not be used. None would allow their photographs to be taken.
The husband and wife that agreed to speak on the record, ages 68 and 66, respectively, said they moved to rural Lenawee County in 2016 because they needed more living space for their six children, ages 23 to 46, and their families. The couple, married in 1972, said it has 30-plus grandchildren.
“If we allow modernization to come in, we won’t be holding up our religion,” the husband said, explaining that he doesn’t want God thinking less of them.
He said he tried to get an explanation from county officials.
“I asked them if they had no respect for religion,” he said. “We’d like to live a plain life and be left alone by the health department. I don’t think we’re harming anybody.”
The man said the ordeal has woken him up at night. His wife said she and other Amish residents are scared now when they see automobiles drive up on their property, fearing it is a county official.
Phil Mayor, ACLU of Michigan senior staff attorney, opened the news conference by claiming the Lenawee County Health Department “is essentially trying to banish the entire Amish community from the county borders.”
“No one should have to choose between their faith and having their home destroyed and [being] rendered homeless. But that’s the choice that the county is attempting to foist on this community,” Mr. Mayor said. “What the county is doing here is religious discrimination, plain and simple. It’s also housing discrimination.”
The southwestern Ohio case involving Mr. Schulte’s law firm is in Shelby County’s unincorporated community of Maplewood, Ohio, which is about 50 miles northeast of Dayton.
In that one, the Sidney-Shelby County Board of Health sued four Amish families in late 2018 after nearly two years of negotiations. The board has told those landowners to bring their properties into compliance with state health guidelines, or risk having their buildings condemned and vacated.
Shelby County Prosecutor Tim Sell told the Sidney Daily News in January that county officials were trying to be flexible but could not allow Amish to keep using untreated human waste collected from their privies as fertilizer for their cropland. According to the article, rules require waste to be collected from a concrete pit by a certified treatment company, with certain chemicals added to kill bacteria before field application.
The case was settled in late March, according to the newspaper, when the Amish agreed to cover their waste and add lime to it before they spread it on their land as fertilizer.
Mr. Schulte said the Lenawee County case is much more aggressive and offensive to him.
“It’s a sad day when our public servants are discriminating against a group of people and are trying to take their homes,” Mr. Schulte said. “We’re not aware of any single person harmed by the Amish.”
He said he’s not aware of the county testing any local groundwater.
“We’re convinced the waters are safe,” Mr. Schulte said.
Most of today’s Lenawee County Amish residents began moving to that county in 2015, he said.
Mr. Schulte said he wonders what’s at stake for Amish across America and people of other faiths, as well, if Lenawee County prevails.
“We live in a world now where there is hate and intolerance for people of certain beliefs,” Mr. Schulte said. “If they’re going to take these actions against the Amish, what religion’s next? It’s an abuse of government power.”
On Wednesday night, Lenawee County Administrator Martin D. Marshall told The Blade in an email that the properties - located in Medina and Hudson townships - are “currently not compliant with the environmental health code that protects the public health of Lenawee County residents.”
A news release issued by county health officer Martha Hall said the county’s action “comes after a lengthy period of non-compliance on the part of the property owners.”
“The requirements for these property owners are the same requirements that apply to all other residents of Lenawee County,” the release states. “The requirements of the Lenawee County Environmental Health Code, to supply clean water and properly dispose of sewage, are in place to protect the public health of all citizens of Lenawee County.”
First Published December 18, 2019, 6:08 p.m.
