- [Stephond] Tonight on "WPBS Weekly Inside The Stories."

- I walked out of the house and ran down the hill and that was the last time I was at home.

- [Announcer] Meet St. Lawrence County author, Sam Miller.

His story is powerful as he shares his exit from the Amish community.

And what's new on Parliament Hill?

Step inside "The Hill Times" newsroom for the latest.

Also, discover more about Sunken Rock Lighthouse on the St. Lawrence River.

Your stories, your region coming up right now on "WPBS Weekly Inside The Stories."

(upbeat music) - [Announcer] "WPBS Weekly Inside The Stories."

is brought to you by the Daisy Marquis Jones Foundation, the Watertown Oswego Small Business Development Center, Carthage Savings, CSX, the Oswego County Community Foundation at the Central New York Community Foundation, the Richard S. Shineman Foundation, and the Badenhausen Legacy Fund at the Northern New York Community Foundation.

- Good evening, everyone, and welcome to this edition of "WPBS Weekly Inside The Stories."

I'm Stephond Brunson.

Many Amish families live in the north country without electricity or phones, but for some born into this way of living these choices don't fit who they believe they are.

Tonight, we share the story of Sam Miller, a St. Lawrence County man who fled his home in the middle of the night.

He was a teenager then.

Miller sat down with Mountain Lake PBS producer, Paul Larson, to tell his story.

(gentle music) (people chattering) - Sam, your book is called "Memoir: Reasons Why I Left the Amish Community" And you made a first attempt to leave when you were just 17 years old in 2009.

What happened then?

- When I left, I got on a bicycle that I trained myself how to ride.

And I pedaled 17 miles in the middle of the night to a friend's place that I didn't even know if he was gonna let me stay at his place, but that was the only place I could think of going.

- You were taking quite a risk that night, and you wrote about that night in your book.

Let's hear you read a little bit of it.

- "I also had no idea how scary it was going to be running away in the middle of the night.

I heard many dogs bark.

It seemed almost every house I went by had a dog barking.

I had no idea so many people had dogs.

It didn't really bother me hearing all the dogs bark other than for this one house I went by.

I believe they had two pit bulls out in front of the house.

Their house sat up on top of a hill.

By that time I was very tired.

So instead of pedaling the bike up the hill, I decided to push the bike up the hill to give my legs a little rest.

When I got right in front of their house, both dogs came running out barking at top of their lungs.

I got on my bike, start pedaling as fast as I could.

Both dogs chased me down the road a ways, but after a while they turned around and went back home.

What a relief that was.

All of a sudden, I hear a pack of coyotes hollering."

- So first you're pursued by dogs as you're sneaking away from your house, and then you're threatened by coyotes.

- Yes.

At that time, being by a bicycle I felt safe.

So I just kept going.

- Well, why did your first attempt to leave home not succeed?

- I was not the age of 18.

So after a couple months that I had left, my father, he went to the police station and asked them to bring me back home.

And so I went back home until I was the age of 18.

- Well, we will talk about that time when you eventually did leave for good.

Right now you're working in the maple sugar industry in St. Regis Falls in St. Lawrence County.

And how far away are you from Lawrenceville where your family still lives?

- [Sam] It's maybe like a 15-minute car ride, possibly like 10 miles at the most.

- [Paul] And you don't see your family now?

- [Sam] No, I do not.

- Okay, the Amish community worship in churches that are part of a group of traditionalist Christian churches.

Many people have ideas about how the Amish live because we see the horse and buggies occasionally on the road and those road signs.

Did you use electricity at all while growing up?

- No, we did not use any electricity.

- So you had no television, no computer, no cell phone.

- That's correct, no.

There was none of that.

- And you had no phone at all?

- No, we did not.

The only time we could use a phone, if there was a serious emergency.

We would run to our neighbors and they would allow us to use to use the phone.

But other than that, there was no phone.

- Well, besides living without electricity, how else would you describe the Amish way of life?

- In looking back, there's a lot of things that I think the Amish life is very quiet and peaceful, but I think sometimes the religion also gets in the way of having the peace in the community.

- Well, people ask you a lot of questions about your life in the Amish community, what is a question you get asked often?

- I would probably say how Amish dating or how they find a wife.

- What is a date like?

- Some of my friends would gather together and they would bring me to a girl's house.

And they go into the house and they ask the girl if she wanna a have a date with me.

And if she does, then we'll go into the house, and in her room, and that's where we have a date.

- And what happens during the date in the room?

- Me and her are in the room alone.

And we do have to lay in the bed and we have to hug and kiss.

Otherwise it would not be considered a date.

- Wow!

I wouldn't have expected that.

- Yes.

It's very different from this- - But what do you do in this bed?

You're wearing all your clothes?

- Yes.

We are fully clothed.

We lay in the bed and we just visit about, could be anything.

About weather or, you know.

- So you're lying in this girl's bed together and you have to hug and kiss, but this is not sexual.

- That's correct, nothing.

As far as I know nothing sexual happens until marriage.

- And are you cuddling with her the whole time?

- No, the only time that we are kinda like touching each other is when we're giving a hug and a kiss.

- So it's very innocent.

- In the Amish eye, yes.

In somebody that the outside world might not think that way as much.

- Well, you mentioned religion as a very strict force in your life.

What are some of the other objections you have to the Amish way of life?

- The religion did not necessarily bother me, but my father was, you know, he was the Bishop, the head guy in the community.

So he had very strict rules for me and my siblings that I did not see other families had.

And that was kinda what made hard for me to fit in.

- What were some of these rules your father had?

- Suspenders was a big thing.

In the Amish community, many of them let their children or their kids go without suspenders at the age of 14.

Me and my brothers were not allowed.

My father said we had to wear suspenders until the age of 21, which is when we go out on our own.

And it just made it hard for me to fit in knowing that I had to do that.

And there was certain other stuff that was as well that bothered me.

- So this article of clothing, the suspenders, set you apart from other people?

- Yes, there was few times where I got picked on for having to wear them.

- In a way, do you think you left the Amish community because your household, in particular, was run in a very strict way, whereas other people lived in a way that wasn't so strict?

- Yes, that is very much what happened.

- Well, what's a vivid memory you have from growing up in an Amish household?

- Right before I left a lot of teenagers my age had got together and they were gonna have a hot dog roasting party.

And this was something that was very against religion.

And that was another thing that kinda drove me out, 'cause I knew the elders would find out eventually and I would get in a lot of trouble for it.

- Why was a hot dog roasting party against religion?

- It was considered being too cool, basically.

There's no parties at all.

- But you did go to this party?

- No, I did not.

Before the party ever happened, I left.

I was disappointed and just a very like sad feeling, knowing that I couldn't go and not really fit in.

- But you were only 17 when you first tried to leave.

Why did you wanna leave your family and go out into the world at large, at such a young age?

- Mainly because I didn't feel like I was fitting in and enjoying the Amish life.

And so I started looking for other options and leaving the community was the first thing that came.

Was one of the first things that came to my mind.

- Did you have any fears about leaving the community?

- We're very religious.

So if we leave the community, we were told bad things were gonna happen to us, such as when our time came, we would not make it into heaven and instead we would be going to hell.

That was probably one of the biggest fear I had, was thinking I would not be saved after I left the community.

- So how did you get over this fear?

- Getting to know, to talk to other people that go to church as well.

I've read some of the Bible since I've left and I don't really believe everything that I was told is true.

- So you can still be a religious person, but not necessarily an Amish person.

- Yes.

- So after you turned 18 years old, what did you do in October of 2009?

- I left again.

That time when I left, I didn't know if I would ever come back home.

I had a friend that came by and I told him to come.

We lived on top of the hill.

So I told him to just come and park at the bottom of the hill in the middle of the night, and he did.

And when the time came, I got up and I walked out of the house and ran down the hill.

And that was the last time I was at home.

- You were fortunate because both times you left, you knew some people who were not Amish, who could both house you and connect you with people who could find you a job.

- Yes, I was very, very lucky on that part.

That's one of the things that I look back now and I'm very blessed that I had that.

- What's it like to all of a sudden live with electricity?

- It is very nice.

It's very nice to walk in the house and flip a switch and the light comes on.

And also have running water, which is something we did not have at home.

- So after 12 years of not living in the Amish community, are you still learning things about the society that is not Amish?

- Yes.

We're not very educated in the Amish community.

The education education level is very low.

We're not taught any kind of history or anything like that.

So that was some stuff that I tried to educate myself on.

Like running computer, cell phone, all that kind of stuff, was something that I had to learn as well.

As far as like doing any kind of fun events, we didn't really get to do either.

Skiing is something I really enjoy doing and we were not allowed to do that at home either.

- Well, why did you want to write a book about leaving the Amish community?

- Many people had asked me questions about the Amish life and some people would occasionally tell me that I should write a book.

And so finally, one day I came home from work and I sat down and I took a pen and a tablet and I just started writing, 'cause at that time I did not know how to use a computer.

And so I just started writing and decided to see where it would get me.

And now all of a sudden my book is available everywhere.

(dog barks) (graphic whooshes) - As we do each month, we take you inside the newsroom of "The Hill Times" on Parliament Hill for the latest on Canadian politics.

Here are journalists, Peter Mazereeuw and Charelle Evelyn with an update.

(gentle music) (graphic whooshes) (graphic whooshes) (gentle music) - Hello everyone, I'm Charelle Evelyn.

- And I'm Peter Peter Mazereeuw.

Welcome back to "The Hill Times" office in Ottawa.

It's October and things are getting pretty busy on Parliament Hill and in government offices, wouldn't you say Charelle?

- Yeah, absolutely.

But despite all of the competing priorities, the top issue for everyone, regardless of party, is affordability.

When parliament resumed last month, it coincided with the release of fresh inflation numbers showing that the cost of food had jumped once again.

This highlights just how important it is for politicians and policy makers to at least look like they are doing something about cost of living issues.

To that end, the liberal government, when they came back, the first two pieces of legislation they tabled were to implement their affordability plan.

This 4 1/2 billion dollar measure is supposed to target the most needy Canadians by doubling the GST credit for six months, topping up the Canada Housing Benefit with another $500 for renters, and putting in the first steps towards a national dental plan for kids under the age of 12.

Now this dental program, which gives $650 a year for two years to low-income Canadians who don't have dental insurance, is a key part in fulfilling the liberal NDP supply and confidence agreement, which if it all goes well is supposed to prop up the minority liberals until at least 2024.

- Yeah, that's right.

And things are gonna be pretty busy in the House of Commons, but of course, affordability, as you mentioned, that's gonna be the key word.

The Bank of Canada has a big announcement coming on that front, actually, on October 26th.

That's when it will reveal its latest decision to lower, maintain, or raise the key interest rate.

Now, the bank has repeatedly raised that rate over the past year to try and get high inflation under control, and October 26th it's when we'll find out whether or not Bank of Canada governor, Tiff Macklem, believes he's gone far enough, or whether he's gonna raise that rate more to try and slow down spending even more, make borrowing more painful.

Now, if that decision isn't clear enough, the bank will also be releasing its monetary policy report of the 26th, which will lay out its expectations about inflation and economic activity in Canada in the months to come.

- Right, and it's not just banks who are gonna be paying attention to that announcement, it will be politicians as well, especially new Conservative leader, Pierre Poilievre who's made plenty of headlines criticizing Macklem and his staff for how they've tried to manage inflation throughout the course of the COVID pandemic.

Now Poilievre, he's going to be trying to making his mark as the Conservative Party leader who finally sticks the landing.

He has been in this job for only a few weeks at this point and it hasn't been the smoothest of starts.

At the very beginning, he had party and caucus defections, NDP attack ads, and a less than docile parliamentary press gallery.

But Poilievre has been in the game for almost 20 years, and his message has largely been one of affordability, talking about those issues, like how hard it is for people to buy a home.

Now, his political opponents, they're going to be pushing back on what they've characterized as his lack of credibility on the issue.

Pointing to things like his boosting of cryptocurrency, for example.

But given the large margin that Poilievre had in the Conservative leadership race, he's got plenty of people who are willing to hear him out.

And so he's gonna be talking to them both in and out of the House.

- Yeah.

And speaking of the House, it's busy in there right now.

The government has a lot of legislation that's trying to push through.

Bills on cyber security, consumer privacy, independent oversight for the Canada Border Services Agency, among a lot of others.

And government ministers are gonna be really busy this fall as well.

And particular, Steven Guilbeault, the Environment Minister, he has a couple of high profile summits coming up for him this fall.

The first will be in Egypt, and that's a UN summit on climate change.

Now, the Liberal Brand, of course, is tied pretty closely to fighting climate change, but the Liberal government under Justin Trudeau, hasn't actually been able to really take a bite out of Canada's greenhouse gas emissions yet.

Guilbeault has announced a plan to try and change that, which includes steep hikes to the carbon tax and rebate program, a cap on emissions from the oil and gas sector, and a series of carrots and sticks that are being talked about to prod the auto industry into selling only zero-emission vehicles by the year 2035.

That's what we can expect him to be talking about I think in Egypt in November.

Now, there's also gonna be a UN summit on biological diversity in December and that will be in Montreal.

Guilbeault will essentially be the host of that summit.

And the key topic of conversation there I suspect will be the 30 by 30 campaign, which is an aspirational campaign to try and conserve and protect 30% of the land and water across the world.

by the year 2030.

Guilbeault is gonna wanna show some momentum toward that target to impress as the host in December.

- Yeah, so that's a really big to-do list, but that's all the time we have here.

So from Ottawa, I am Charelle Evelyn.

- And I'm Peter Mazereeuw.

(gentle music) (graphic whooshes) - Finally tonight, a trip to the light station at Sunken Rock on the St. Lawrence River.

This lighthouse consists of a tower and boathouse located on Bush Island, just off the shores of Alexandria Bay.

(gentle music) (graphic whooshes) (car hoots) (graphic whooshes) (gentle music) (gentle music) - [Narrator] Located on Bush Island, the Sunken Rock Lighthouse marks the east entrance to the narrows between Wellesley Island and the mainland.

Constructed in 1848 and refitted in 1855, the lighthouse is 40 feet tall.

It was originally built as a brick structure and was 27 feet tall.

Still in active service, it is owned by the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation, which converted it to solar energy in 1988.

The lighthouse was constructed to warn mariners of a submerged rock that was extremely dangerous to ships.

The lighthouse's foundation built up the submerged rock into a tiny island.

Half of the tiny house was a boathouse, the other half, one room living quarters.

(gentle music) - I would imagine it had to be kinda tough.

As you can see, it is a very small structure that we're we're on right now.

Just behind us there was a small light inn for the lighthouse keeper, but it wasn't large enough to maintain their family.

So the main residence for the lighthouse keeper was over in Alexandria Bay.

So they had to continuously take their motor launch out to the island to maintain the light.

And then after the lighthouse keeper's inn, a residence was torn down and in place was a boathouse that was put in because they could not maintain a residence out here.

(gentle music) - [Narrator] The narrows immediately upstream from Sunken Rock Lighthouse, were the site of one of the most recent and spectacular shipwrecks within The Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway.

On November 20th, 1974, the 640 foot Roy A. Jodrey struck Pullman Shoal off the village of Alexandria Bay.

Laden with more than 20 tons of iron pellets, the ship remained afloat for about four hours.

It was towed to the coast guard station on Wellesley Island.

Attempts to keep it afloat failed and the ship capsized and slipped below the surface.

It rests today in approximately 250 feet of water in front of the coast guard station.

(bright gentle music) - That does it for us this Tuesday evening.

Join us next week for a fresh look inside the stories.

Imagine starting your running experience at the age of 70, and then imagine you're still doing it at 82.

We'll share one story of a determined Canadian woman.

And hackers continue to access our private information.

How can you keep yourself safe with these ever evolving issues?

We'll tell you what experts are saying.

Also, what is it like to live without phones or electricity?

St. Lawrence University students learn how to live off-grid and it's mighty impressive.

Meantime, we wanna tell your story.

If you are someone in your community has something meaningful, historic, inspirational, or educational to share, please email us at wpbsweekly@wpbstv.org, and let's share it with the region.

That's it for now, everyone.

We'll see you again next week.

Good night.

(bright gentle music) - [Announcer] "WPBS Weekly Inside The Stories" is brought to you by the Daisy Marquis Jones Foundation.

Dedicated to improving the wellbeing of communities by helping disadvantaged children and families.

Online at dmjf.org.

The Watertown Oswego Small Business Development Center.

A free resource offering confidential business advice for those interested in starting or expanding their small business.

Serving Jefferson Lewis and Oswego Counties since 1986.

Online at watertown.nysbdc.org.

Carthage Savings has been here for generations, donating time and resources to this community.

They're proud to support WPBSTV.

Online at carthagesavings.com Carthage Savings, mortgage solutions since 1888.

Additional funding provided by CSX, the Oswego County Community Foundation at the Central New York Community Foundation.

The Richard S. Shineman Foundation, and the Badenhausen Legacy Fund at the Northern New York Community Foundation.

(gentle music) (gentle music)