Amish community coming together after deadly semi-crash

 

Seven of the nine victims killed in a crash on Friday, March 8 in central Wisconsin were members of the Amish community from Burke’s Garden, Virginia. According to an information line, the group was visiting family in Wisconsin, which is one of the states with the largest population of Amish people in the country. Family and friends who knew the victims shared that Amish people lead simple lives, which includes not driving cars. The family had hired a local driver to take them to their destination. “It’s quite common to hire private van drivers,” UW-Madison Professor Mark Louden explained. He teaches Germanic Linguistics. “Amish people do not own or operate their own motor vehicles so when they're traveling distances longer than horse and buggy distances, they use public or charter buses.” The driver of the van often took Amish in the Burke’s Garden area on trips, according to his ex-wife. The area in Virginia has just over 300 people, roughly 120 of which are Amish. Here in Wisconsin, there are nearly 25,000 Amish people. The state has the fourth largest Amish population in the country behind Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana. Read the full story: https://www.tmj4.com/news/local-news/...