Kent moves to offer photo-free card to local sect members

Delaware State News

DOVER — One security initiative undertaken since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks has created difficulties for members of the Dover-area Amish community.

Increased demand for photo identification cards — at train stations and airports, for example — has led to members of the Amish faith being unable to obtain ID cards from Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles.

The problem: The Amish, for religious reasons, decline to be photographed. DMV, citing post-Sept. 11 federal regulations, no longer issues cards without photographs.

As their state-issued, photo-less ID cards expire, Amish residents are finding that obtaining a medical prescription or cashing a check can be unusually burdensome, if not impossible.

"Anywhere they ask for identification," a problem may arise, said Sam Troyer, who lives west of Dover.

But for Kent County residents, at least, the problem may be lessened within a few months.

Mr. Troyer was among a half-dozen Amish men who attended a Tuesday night meeting of Kent County Levy Court, which informally agreed to begin issuing county identification cards similar to those once available from DMV. An official vote could come as early as Levy Court’s meeting next Tuesday, and the program could be in operation by June.

A card, available to people whose beliefs forbid their being voluntarily photographed, would cost $40 and be valid for five years. While the county card likely would not be honored in places such as airports, where federal- or state-issued identification is demanded, that should not be a problem for a people who largely shun modernity, said Levy Court President P. Brooks Banta.

"These people would never board an aircraft," he said. "They have no reason to go to Canada."

Originally labeled the "Amish Verification Card," the card is to be renamed to reflect the fact that it will be available to others as well.

"I can’t say enough about how thankful we are," Amishman Henry Byler told commissioners. He credited Commissioner Banta with making an extraordinary effort to launch the program.

Commissioner Banta said before the Tuesday meeting that he had worked on the matter since July, when he was informed of Amish people having trouble cashing checks. The proposed county card, he said, already has been reviewed at Wal-Mart headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., and found to be acceptable for use in that company’s stores.

"The Amish people," he said, "are an essential part of our economic engine" because of their prominent role in agriculture. "We should do all we can to help them."

During the meting, he told Mr. Byler he hopes the Amish remain in Kent County, rather than move to less populated areas as some Eastern Amish have done.

Mr. Byler noted that Kent is changing. "It’s getting crowded down here," he said. "It’s getting bad."