Authoritarian orders are now spreading into rural Ohio, where health officials and law enforcement are investigating an Amish wedding that was evidently in violation of the “social distancing” orders.
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The Trumbull County Combined Health District is filing a notice of violation against a group that gathered for an Amish wedding in Mesopotamia Thursday.
Health inspectors went out and reported finding more than 30 people at a reception following the wedding.
Kris Wilster, with the health district, said they can’t enforce the 10-person maximum rule at religious ceremonies but they could do so for the reception.
The state’s stay-at-home order prohibits gatherings of more than 10 people, with some exceptions.
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Wilster said it’s up to area law enforcement as to whether any charges will be filed against those who gathered.
A long-planned Amish wedding drew hundreds from several states to the Reuben Graber family farm on Hamman Road recently.
The gathering sparked more than a dozen calls and complaints about violation of the Governor’s order banning group of 10 or more during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“They have now been warned. Next time there will be citations,” Branch County Sheriff John Pollack said after he spent three days trying to stop the event.
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The sheriff was notified Tuesday of the Thursday event. He met with the Amish bishop and family on Tuesday afternoon.
At noon Thursday, 38 buggies were visible from the road at the three large farms on both sides of Hamman Road, just north of the state line.
In the yard of one home, 12 little girls stood outside. A group of six boys were nearby. Vans, some with Indiana and Ohio license plates, had dropped off passengers.
12 little girls standing around outside warrants concern from the sheriff.
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PJ Media notes that the town has a population of 3,220:
In the sleepy town of Mesopotamia, Ohio, population 3,220, health inspectors got wind of an illicit wedding attended by members of the local Amish community and filed a “notice of violation” against the revelers, according to local news reports.
The insular majority-Amish community of Mesopotamia is hardly a hotbed of the COVID-19 virus. The entire county (population just under 200k) which includes Niles (population 18,325) and Warren (population 38,382) has seen only 168 cases of the Chinese Wuhan virus, with 79 hospitalizations, and 8 deaths — that’s about 3% of Ohio’s 253 deaths from the virus. The state health department does not make public community-level data, but there have been no news reports of cases in Mesopotamia.
