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CHAPTER 25

On October 8th Andy Miller's children moved into their home at Kokomo Corners. The Amish had done everything in their power on October 4th, 6th, and the 7th to get the house ready for the Miller children. They realized the quicker they got the children moved the quicker the parents could move home. But no matter what the reason was, they finally did something for the children. I was thankful for that.

On the day of the move, things didn't go the way they should have. My sister threw another fit. Emma didn't want her daughter Michelle to take her dresser and bed that were given to her and even had the nerve to complain that the children took all their dressers and clothes. Nor was Emma going to give up any of her good dishes, or any of the silverware she had down in the kitchen.

She was however, willing to give up some silverware she'd bought at a garage sale for almost nothing and which was stored up in the attic. My sister had prepared herself for when the children got older; she had bought a lot of silverware, dishes, and cookware and stuffed them in the attic, which was pretty full. Emma also had a lot of extra items in the old washhouse.

Pam Reaper was back in charge. Pam Reaper lived a couple miles down the road from Bishop Jacob Miller. Still, I had to be grateful to Pam Reaper for what she did, and the items she was able to get for the children. They got five beds, Michelle's new dresser and two old dressers, three chairs, two benches, and an old rocker. They also got 13 forks, 12 spoons, 10 knives, a rusty spatula, 10 plates, 10 of the worst water glasses she could find, and 3 old pieces of cheap stainless cookware.

On the day of the move Emma demanded that she and Andy get half the items that the public had donated to the children. However, there wasn't much left because the children's neighbor Jack Wayner had demanded that the children bring all their donated items down to his house and he would keep them, in case the parents came home without notice. Jack stated this way nobody could get to them, because he would keep his door locked, and the Amish wouldn't steal.

Michelle said there were 100 rolls of toilet paper; she didn't remember how many tubes of toothpaste, bath soap, paper towels, hand towels, shampoo and other items. Jack had help set these donations up for the kids, which I thought was great. Jack had also tried to talk Michelle into putting her new bed, dresser and some of the new dishes in his house for him to store. Thankfully the Miller children didn't do this, because all the donated items that were put at Jack's for him to protect disappeared.

On October 9, we got our car serviced and got ready to make the trip to New York in the evening. We arrived at Ervin's place in Wayne County, Ohio at 8:00 p.m., and picked up Ervin, his wife Ann, and their son Lester and we were on our way to New York State. We were all anxious to go to Kokomo Corners to see the Miller children. We'd already loaded our car up with items for the Miller children.

The car was loaded so that Ervin and his wife could only get one small suitcase in for the trip. We talked about the children's move. Ervin said he'd received a call from his brothers and sisters that they had a rather bad departure, as there was no one there to help them move. Nor were the children allowed to get the two-seated buggy. Ervin was further frustrated at what Jack Wayner had done. I wouldn't even do this to my worst enemy. But I couldn't concentrate on this, I had to focus on moving ahead.

On October 10, we arrived at Kokomo Corners at 5:30 in the morning. We drove up past the Miller residence, went up to Spile Bridge Road and turned around and came back to Kokomo Corners. While we were unloading the car, Jack Wayner went up and warned Andy and Emma that we were there. The area was well patrolled by St. Lawrence Sheriffs' department and the New York State Police for the first twenty-four hours.

When we first walked in the house, I couldn't believe what I saw. The children were put in a home without the daily necessities that they needed to survive. We'd all been up for twenty-four hours, and were very busy all day long, helping the children clean up the home, buying items they needed and getting organized. The day went by quickly. Ervin and his family went to bed somewhere around 7:00 p.m. that evening.

The children needed a table, chairs, dishes, blankets, curtains, doorknobs and locks for the doors. This house was in such bad shape the children couldn't even lock the front door. I was deeply concern about this, because they lived on a heavily traveled highway. My wife and I both had agreed that it didn't matter how much this costs us, we would help out as much as we could, we had about four thousand dollars available. The items they needed didn't come cheap.

The beds and the dresser that Andy and Emma gave the children were in bad shape. I felt guilty about not replacing some of the mattresses and the dressers, but there is only so much I could do at one time.

That evening Michelle went in great detail about how she felt abandoned by the Amish. Michelle said, "Uncle David, I don't think I could ever forgive my parents for the way they have abused me, how could someone treat their children the way they treated us. I hope if I ever have children I won't treat them the way my parents treated me."

She went on nonstop about how hard it was raising her brothers and sisters, and how sometimes she would like to get on with her life, and that the pressure was sometimes more than she could bear. Michelle said, "I hope someday we can all move to Ohio where we can get the support we deserve." Sometimes she felt like talking to the Amish and other times she would rather not see them.

Michelle further said, "Uncle David, I don't know how I will ever be able to repay you for what you have done."

"You don't owe me anything all I'm trying to do is help," I said.

On October 11th, we got up early again, around 6:30 a.m. Michelle wasn't feeling well, she was pale in the face and weak, she complained of stomach cramps. Michelle told Fran that she'd passed blood in her urine. Fran and I discussed this matter, and I decided we couldn't take any chances. My wife and I were well aware of the extensive test that the Hepburn Hospital in Ogdensburg had done on Michelle. They weren't bringing the results back as we thought they would. Each test result on her hip had been negative. I told my wife it would be best if she took Michelle to the emergency room.

I always remember what Sherly Younger said a while back, when she took Michelle to the emergency room, when she thought she had a stroke. The doctor told her that he had no doubt that all the pain was real to Michelle. That usually happens to someone who was all used up as Michelle was.

Also on the 11th, I was also very much surprised, I got to speak to the preacher's son Joe Miller as he stopped when he passed by Kokomo Corners. Joe asked me to come out to the road by the buggy. I even sat on Joe's buggy with him.

I asked Joe,” Is it true that the Amish are afraid of me?"

Joe said, "I don't know, but I know you, David. You're nothing to be afraid of."
"Thank you Joe. That's what I wanted to hear."

Later my brother Pete also passed Kokomo Corners and stopped by the road. He and I had a beautiful twenty-minute conversation. Everyone in New York recognized our car, and more than fifty percent of all Amish went out of their way to wave and smile to us, and even say hi if they were close enough. I made sure I waved at every one of them and treated them with respect. Yesterday there were at least two-dozen or more Amish up at the Miller farm helping Andy and Emma Miller.

Quite a few Amish think Andy and Emma were done wrong. When Fran and Michelle got back from the Emergency room, Fran said they did a Pap test and pelvic exam on Michelle. They had to wait 72 hours for the results. We stayed busy all day and didn't get to bed until 2:30 a.m. that night.

On October 12, we got up around 7:30 a.m. We had a big breakfast, and after that I went to Ogdensburg and bought a telephone for the children. Fran and I are paying to put a phone in their home, as we're trying to make these children more capable of taking care of themselves.

We left for home about 10:30 a.m. and arrived at home around 10:00 p.m. We sure were glad to be back home.

October 13th was my birthday. The Miller children had a birthday party for me in New York, and today I was having a birthday party at home with my family. We didn't get much done today, but the day went by rather quickly. On October 14, I got packages, of documents concerning the Miller children, ready to be sent. . I also recorded videotapes and TV footage.

On October 15th, I called Upstate New York and got a telephone put in the Miller children's home at Kokomo Corners. After we got that established, we called our local and long distance company and set up service for the Miller children. On October 16, I talked to Ervin.

He said, "Sometimes I think the kids will all be back with my parents in time, but I believe if it does happen, it'll take a very long time."

I've been asked over and over why I never tried to take the children out of the Amish. My only objective was and still is to try and help the children. It's not important whether I agree or disagree with their point of view. My goal was not to make the children give up their Amish lifestyle and beliefs. I only wanted and still want them to be safe.