Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

My wife grew up in Ohio so, of course, over the years we have spent quite a bit of time there. I recently saw an Amish buggy going down Route 250. Yep, exactly the same 250 that goes parallel to I-64, at Zion’s Crossroads. Please note that this Ohio road has extremely wide paved shoulders (on both sides) that are intended to provide a safe passage for buggies. Now you say…who paid for that? 

Well it’s true that there are many Amish folks in that part of Ohio and it is true that there are also much smaller roads which do not have shoulders like this. So maybe the state paid for them…I don’t know, but I do know that if we were to have roads like this in Virginia, the state would pay for them and that means the state taxes would have to go way, way up. I don’t think we have the money to do that! So who is going to pay for it? Let’s talk for a minute about why the Amish moved here. I think they moved here because the land prices and land taxes became very, very expensive in Ohio and Pennsylvania. I’m quite sure that land prices and taxes are much, much lower here. And because our taxes are lower, our roads are worse. 

For example, please consider that the road by my house has no line down the center and, in most spots, it has no shoulder at all…just a ditch. My wife has been complaining about this ever since we moved here but I really don’t want to pay for drastic improvements in the road. I might also mention that around here an Amish buggy does not have seat belts. We have laws that require seat belts in vehicles but apparently not in buggies. These folks drive around with buggies literally overflowing with kids… none of which are restrained… and if you pay attention to The Farmville Herald, you know what this means. It’s simply not safe. 

Woodfin Ligon

Farmville