The state House yesterday refused to allow members of a conservative Cambria County Amish community to avoid placing slow-moving-vehicle emblems on their buggies.
Rejection by the House of the proposal to change the law moves the issue back to state Superior Court. There, advocates for the sect are arguing that forcing its members to place the reflective orange triangles on their buggies violates their religious beliefs.
The measure considered by the House yesterday would have allowed operators of all slow-moving vehicles to substitute gray reflective tape for the orange triangles. Members of the House voted 167-29 against the proposal.
The Swartzentruber Amish -- the sect at the center of the dispute -- moved to Cambria County from eastern Ohio four years ago. About 80 people belong to the sect in Cambria County.
Like their Ohio brethren, they eschew orange triangles in favor of reflective gray tape. Unlike their Ohio brethren, they haven't found law enforcement officials here very accommodating.
Three weeks ago, a Cambria County judge refused to throw out 27 traffic citations against Amish buggy drivers caught without the triangles.
For their own safety and the safety of the motoring public, the Swartzentruber Amish should be forced to use the orange triangles, said state Rep. Gary Haluska, a Cambria County Democrat whose district includes the Swartzentruber settlement.
"When they step off the farm and start to use public access highways, they have to abide by [the] laws," Haluska said. "Are we going to change a law affecting 12 million people for maybe a half-dozen families?"
Just because a Swartzentruber belief is different from those of other Amish "doesn't mean it isn't a legitimate religious belief," said Rep. Sara Steelman, D-Indiana County.
Steelman also argued that there was no proof that the triangles improved highway safety more than the reflective tape.
Donna Doblick, an attorney for the Amish, said yesterday that she hadn't abandoned hope for a legislative solution.