Amish growth causing Wis. legal run-ins

NEILLSVILLE, Wis., July 14 (UPI) -- Wisconsin officials say they're having more hunting- and farming-issue run-ins with the state's Amish population, which has doubled since 1992.

The latest case happened during last year's deer hunting season when Clark County officials cited three Amish brothers for not wearing required blaze-orange clothing, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Monday. Attorneys for the brothers say it is against their beliefs to wear anything but traditional clothing.

Other cases involve registration of farms needed by health officials to track outbreaks of swine flu and other animal diseases. Observers say the growth of the Amish population, which has risen from 7,000 to 15,000 in Wisconsin, is creating problems in areas not used to Amish customs.

"Where the rub and irritation comes is when they move into new areas and the local officials don't know how to relate to them and there's no history of collaboration," Donald Kraybill, an Amish expert at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania, told the newspaper. "That might be happening in some places in Wisconsin because of the rapid increase and influx."