Bellefonte, USA - The Commonwealth Court has upheld a Walker Township zoning law that stopped two Old Order Amish men from keeping horses on their residential properties in Nittany village.
In a nine-page decision issued Wednesday, the court ruled that the township did not violate Daniel King's and Daniel Beiler's religious freedom by forcing their livestock out of town. The men's attorney, Jim Bryant, said he would appeal the decision to the state Supreme Court.
"I'm appealing to their good sense and, hopefully, an overriding sense of equality and fair play," Bryant said. He called the township's actions "benign bigotry" against the Amish.
King and Beiler have cited the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act in asserting that township zoning illegally infringes on their religious practices.
But the Commonwealth Court wrote that the land-use act "does not define what constitutes a substantial burden on the religious liberty of a person." It noted that a U.S. appeals court in 2004 ruled that "a substantial burden places more than an inconvenience on religious exercise."
Beiler and King have fought Walker Township since September 2002, when they were fined for keeping horses on their properties. The men and their families employ horses for transportation but live in areas zoned for high-density residential use, where an ordinance prohibits active horse stables.
In an April 2004 ruling, Centre County Judge David Grine agreed that the ordinance interfered with their religious practices but ordered King to remove his horses regardless. Grine reasoned that King lives on eight-tenths of an acre -- a parcel generally smaller than the standard one-acre minimum usually mandated for livestock.
Beiler, however, has five acres. Grine suggested that Beiler ask the township for a variance that would allow him to keep his horses.
King and Beiler together filed an appeal with the Commonwealth Court in June 2004.
Keith Harter, chairman of the Walker Township supervisors, said Wednesday that "we felt that it's been correct the whole way through, that the ordinance was fair.
"The courts have upheld it the whole way through now," he said.
Harter has said that the township arguments center only on reasonable zoning, not religious discrimination. The township has excluded horses from high-density residential districts in an effort to protect public health, according to court findings.
But Bryant said he has heard of no instances when Amish horses have compromised public health.
He said Beiler and King "will continue to be inconvenienced -- unlike their Methodist brothers, who can jump in their Hummers and drive to beer halls or drive to church."
"I think Walker Township has erected a sign: 'No Amish Need Apply,' " Bryant said.