Here's why Y2K won't bug the Amish

BIRD-IN-HAND, Pennsylvania -- Omar Stoltzfus lives in 1999 as if it were 1899.

He has gas lamps at home and in his crafts shop in Pennsylvania's Lancaster County. He uses gas heat and has an air compressor to pump water into his store. He has a car battery hooked up to his cash register.

Stoltzfus is not being overly cautious about Y2K-related problems. He is Amish, and his isolation from the world is a religious preference. If that also insulates him from any computer problems that could happen on January 1 -- well, that's fine with him.

"I don't think planes are going to fall out of the sky or anything. But it won't really affect me much anyway," Stoltzfus said.

The 175000 Amish in the United States are among the most protected from Y2K, the glitch that could lead computers to fail because they think it is the year 1900 instead of 2000. Some fear it could cripple public services, bank machines and the nation's transportation network.

But most of that doesn't apply to the Amish. Resident in 22 states, Canada and South America, the Amish don't drive cars, own telephones or use public utilities. About half of Amish families are farmers, so they grow or raise much of what they eat and often have large storage cellars.

"We have what we need. Don't need more," said Mamie Stoltsfus, who is not related to Omar Stoltzfus.

Mrs Stoltsfus tends a vegetable garden and raises chickens and horses.

Her husband runs a dairy farm. Their gas tanks are refilled about twice yearly, and they have an air compressor to pump water from the well.

"We don't know any other way," said her husband, Gideon Stoltsfus.

Still, the Amish are not entirely independent.

About half of Pennsylvania's Amish work for non-Amish businesses or operate their own small businesses, so a crisis that affects shipping or customers could affect them as well.

Though the Amish are forbidden to own telephones or computers, many businessmen have cellphones owned by someone else and can contract with an outside company to build them a Web site.

Many Amish families shop for basics such as flour, yeast and sugar at least once a month and more often for eggs, milk, vegetables or meat.

Most Amish use banks and ATM cards and often have home and farm loans -- though the Amish do not use plastic as much as other Americans.

Mary Fisher, an Amish mother of six from Intercourse, Pennsylvania, has heard talk about the potential for a Y2K financial and electronic crisis.

But she is not worried and does not plan to stock up on food, money or water.

"I guess we live from day to day, hoping that God will sustain us.

"That's what we've always done," Fisher said. -- Sapa-AP