c. 2008 Religion News Service

FREDERICKSBURG, Ohio _ As sawdust mixed with sweat on his brow, mill owner Isaac Stutzman laughed at the thought of outsiders assuming his horse-and-buggy Amish community is immune to skyrocketing fuel prices.

Stutzman then turned serious as he spoke about ripping timber into boards for pallets and furniture with an 80-year-old band saw that each day gulps 140 gallons of pricey diesel fuel.

“I remember when it was 60 cents a gallon,” he said on a recent Friday afternoon. “Now it costs $4 a gallon or more. It’s pretty bad.”

Ohio’s Amish community, the world’s largest, is known for shunning the use of cars, tractors and electricity. But the plain people in the rolling hills of Holmes County and elsewhere still feel the pinch at the pumps.

That’s because some Amish have left their farms for work in construction, tourism and furniture making. So they pour diesel into generators to power sanders and table saws, or they chip in gasoline money for a van ride to a construction site or visitors center.

And the Amish who have remained on the farm use generators to power washing machines and irrigation equipment.

“They use fuel in different ways, but certainly they use it,” said Steven Nolt, a historian specializing in Amish culture at Goshen College in Indiana.

While they avoid many modern conveniences, the Amish never objected to technology outright, Nolt said. Rather, faithful Amish employ technology selectively and with some consideration, avoiding machines that might weaken community cohesion.

Ray Miller, a volunteer at the Mennonite Information Center in Berlin, Ohio, doesn’t own a car. But he is sensitive to the cost of gasoline because he relies on a van service for the 50-mile round trip between home and the center.

The cost of a ride had recently risen to $1 a mile, and as he ushered visitors into the information center for presentations, Miller lamented how much his volunteer work is costing him.

Mike Hummel, president of Holmes Oil Co. in Millersburg, said many of the Amish businesses around Holmes County are more fuel-dependent than their non-Amish competitors because they generate their own power instead of buying it from an electric company.

And the Amish furniture industry is heavily dependent on trucking, said Larry Leppla, owner of Amish Traditions in Mount Hope and former president of the Holmes County Chamber of Commerce.

One specialty shop will make parts that must be shipped to a second shop for finishing and a third shop for assembly, Leppla said.

Sugar Creek furniture maker Robert Yoder cited an increase in the cost of oil-based solvents that he uses to finish wood.

Yoder also blamed the fuel crisis for the rising cost of feeding his three horses. Grain suppliers compete for corn with ethanol makers, who are ramping up production because of high gasoline prices.

Could a worsening economy eventually drive him to a car?

“No way,” Yoder said. “Principle is important.”

For now, Pioneer Equipment Inc. relies on diesel generators to run a Dalton plant that makes farm machinery, though owner Wayne Wengerd acknowledges that electric power would be cheaper. So does he foresee a change?

“Thirty years ago we didn’t use diesel generators,” he said, grinning. “And now I have voice mail.”

(James Ewinger and Joseph L. Wagner write for The Plain Dealer in Cleveland. Robert L. Smith also contributed to this story.)

KRE/RB END EWINGER