Sometimes, to get around a local city rule, you need to look for a loophole. There is often a loophole.
This person shares a story about his uncle and his uncle’s Amish neighbor.
The neighbor wanted to get rid of an old farmhouse on the property he purchased. He planned to burn it down, but when he found out that was illegal, he came up with a plan.
Read the full story below to find out all the details.
My uncle is a farmer in rural Ohio and has a lot of Amish neighbours.
Earlier this year, one of them purchased an old farm house not far from my uncle’s house.
They got into a conversation about what his plans for the property were.
The Amishman plans to burn down the house.
The Amishman said the house was in pretty bad shape, but came with a few dozen acres of surrounding land.
And he was planning on just removing the house and using the property as farmland.
He figured that the cheapest and quickest solution was just to burn the house down.
The uncle warned him that it’s illegal to burn down houses.
Uncle: “Whoa, there! I’m not sure that’s legal.”
Amishman: “Why not? I own the house. There’s no other houses nearby that could be damaged. It won’t hurt anyone.”
Uncle: “I don’t disagree, but the county has regulations about how buildings can be demolished. I’m pretty sure that burning down a building is not allowed, even if you own it. You should check with the County Sheriff’s office first.”
He confirmed with the sheriff, and indeed, the sheriff said setting a house on fire would incur a hefty fine.
So the Amishman borrowed my uncle’s phone to call the sheriff’s office, and it turns out my uncle was right.
The sheriff told him that if he set the house on fire he would have to pay a hefty fine.
The Amishman was not very pleased, but thanked my uncle for letting him know.
The uncle went home and noticed a large pile of lumber, roofing, and other materials from the house.
A few weeks passed and nothing happened.
Then my uncle was driving home one day, and saw that the house had been demolished.
It looked to him like someone had just pushed it over with a bulldozer because what was left was a large pile of lumber, roofing, and vinyl siding.
My uncle assumed they would be paying someone else to haul the wreckage away.
He assumed that the Amish borrowed modern tools to bulldoze his house.
And yes, before you say so, I know the Amish can’t use bulldozers.
But they really have a lot of loopholes in that system of theirs.
They can’t own modern technology, but there seems to be no prohibition against borrowing or hiring modern technology.
He then noticed black smoke rising into the sky.
Anyway, during work the next day, my uncle sees an enormous column of black smoke rising into the sky.
Alarmed, he hops in to his truck and follows the smoke cloud and discovers a large crowd of Amish watching a giant greasy bonfire that was the remains of the house.
My uncle finds his neighbour in the crowd and walks over.
So, he confirmed what happened to his Amish neighbor.
Uncle: “So, you decided to burn it after all.”
Amishman: “Yup.”
Uncle: “What are you going to do when the sheriff comes?”
Amishman: “He already came and went.”
Uncle: “And?”
Amishman: “Well, he told me that he’d have to fine me for burning down my house. And I said, but it’s not a house. It’s just a pile of garbage.”
The sheriff didn’t say anything, and just drove away.
Burning your garbage is legal in their county. My uncle routinely does it himself.
Uncle: “What’d the sheriff say?”
The Amishman smiled slowly, “There wasn’t anything he could say. He got into his car and drove away.”
That Amishman was clever!
Let’s find out what others have to say about this on Reddit.
An Amish man speaks up.
This person says the Amish man was funny and smart.
While this person thinks he can be a lawyer.
Amish can use technology, clarifies this user.
Finally, this user loves the story.
Sometimes, it takes a little creativity to solve a big problem.
If you liked that post, check this one about a guy who got revenge on his condo by making his own Christmas light rules.
