Though they look like they were all arrested for Crimes Against Hair, the men pictured above accompanied this story — Police Arrest Amish Men In Kentucky Who Refused To Put Safety Signs On Buggies — in HuffPo’s Religion section on Friday.
The conflict is that the law requires slow-moving vehicles such as horse-drawn buggies to sport a blaze orange triangle at the rear. As Amish beliefs apparently forbid the wearing of bright colors, the men sought to substitute reflective tape.
Nine men were arrested, eight of them began serving jail sentences ranging from 3 to 10 days after refusing to pay a fine for the misdemeanor refusal to use the orange triangle.
The kicker for me was this detail from the story:
As a courtesy, they were provided with dark uniforms instead of the usual bright orange garb worn by inmates.
Ha! The benevolent and enlightened Mayberry Mayfield, Kentucky, police department really looks out for the souls of its Amish residents.