TEEN-AGE PLAIN PEOPLE ARE RAISING A COLORFUL RUCKUS IN AN IOWA TOWN

Youth: Amish Kids' Sunday Drinking Is Nothing New, But Rowdy Vandalism And
Outbursts Are Shocking Parents And Neighbors.

Hazleton, Iowa-Every Sunday here in Amish country, bearded men, up at
dawn, load their horse-drawn buckboards with benches for worship
services. The women, wearing dark, ankle-length dresses and white
bonnets, pack the food and other items for the day's big meal.

As for the Amish teens, many of them have their own ritual.

They drink.

"Sunday night is a party night for them," Sheriff Leonard Davis said.
"It's pretty much beer and whiskey - a liquid diet."

When the calls about underage drinking come in Sundays, deputies know
they will probably be busting up beer bashes involving children of Old
Order Amish families who have no electricity, motor vehicles or other
modern conveniences.

Hazleton, population 700, is home to about 400 Amish, or Plain People
as they are sometimes called because of their simple clothing and way
of life. About 150,000 Amish live in 22 states and Canada.

"Hazleton is known, at least among the Amish, as being the most strict
community in the state," said Linda Egenes, a journalism instructor at
Maharishi University in Fairfield who has completed a book on Amish
family life in Iowa.

That made it even more of a jolt to the community when, on March 14,
as many as 40 Amish teens went on a rampage against one of their own.
Just after midnight that Sunday, Amish teens vandalized Roman Raber's
farmstead. As his family huddled in fear inside, vandals broke 44
windows, destroyed three doors, overturned two buggies, and damaged
curtains, antiques, a lamp and mirrors.

Numerous alcohol-related citations were issued, and deputies charged
four Amish teen-agers with criminal mischief. They pleaded guilty and
were sentenced to 90 days in jail.

Egenes said that generally "young Amish people are allowed to flirt
with worldly ways, somewhat, and within reason" in their late teens,
when they are allowed to drive a horse and buggy. The wordly ways
might involve dancing, drinking and dating.

"In Pennsylvania German, the Amish call it Rum Springa, which
literally means 'running around,'" she said. "But what happened in
Hazleton - I would say this definitely presents a problem. It would be
considered to be way out of line."

In Hazleton, Amish parents worry about the drinking.

"There's been some of it before. You talk to them, you definitely do.
Everyone's got problems. If you don't work on your problems ..." Eli
Raber said from his front porch before shrugging and going back
inside. He would not say whether he was related to Roman Raber.

Maurice "Tex" Pentecost, 64, who has befriended dozens of Amish teens
in the Hazleton area over the years, said they generally are "good
kids."

"I put up 627 bales of hay last week and a bunch of them came over to
help and didn't charge me nothing." Pentecost said. "Drinking up here
has been going on for years. These kids' parents and grandparents did
it. They didn't raise hell like this bunch, but it's nothing new.
These kids, they're very regretful of what they did."

CoeAnn Cornish, who is not Amish but lives with her husband, Mark, in
Hazleton's Amish settlement, said that a few weeks ago a group of
Amish teens who had been drinking pulled up in their yard and started
yelling and "being a nuisance." They knocked over a kerosene barrel
before her husband chased them off.

"For the most part, they're good kids. I wouldn't trade my neighbors
for anybody," Cornish said. "But this drinking and vandalism is
bringing a lot of tension around here."