Degradation comes to town- an update

In an attempt to understand the changes happening in my own community, I determined to discover who was behind the purchase of two of our largest local hotels by a firm that seemed- from rumors- to be associated with an Amish couple.

The rumors about this couple did not add up, as rumors often do not, so I determined to find the truth, for the sake of truth. But rumors are like stained glass windows- they may look good on the outside but behind that window may still lurk a shadowy set of figures, especially if the buyers hide under an LLC.

If we compare the process to discovering where the spider is on a web, each silk is traceable after a gentle misting. Like observer, I went back to trace the web, from silk to silk, until I could find the spider, the one behind the LLC.

It led me to conflicting information, to a business first, and then a residence. Someone, as the brilliance of the internet will sometimes show, had linked the couple to a nearby management chain and asserted via the wide world web that the spider was, in fact, neither Amish nor Mennonite, but simply an "English" venture to make money in Amish Country and other locations in the Midwest and Florida.

Further "facts" posted online by a government entity suggested that the same couple purchased both hotels on the same date, using the same address, but different LLC names and a different arrangement. The government records indicated that the previous owner re-purchased one of the properties a month later for $50,000, which certainly looks like a mistake, but could give credence to the couple being associated, or a principal, in a venture actually managing hotels rather than buying them.

The truth is that the couple behind the LLCs, having a name that is so common in their area, and is one also used in association with the hospitality management company, are so ubiquitous to the region that I would have to speak with them directly to really know. And that, perhaps, is the moral of this ordeal, for if you want the whole truth, there is no excuse but to speak directly with the one purchasing the property.

I did discover further that the purchasers of the two properties have listed their address as a location next door to a series of cottages and a house used as a hospitality location, one that has been established in that area for decades. That fact, and the fact that the contact's name for that venue appears to be the same, suggest that the purchasers of the two hotels, are actually the managers of that long-time business in Holmes County, Ohio. 

Update: December 24, 2025:

There are many using the positive economic association of the Holmes County phenomenon, the Amish-Mennonite economic boom, centered in the now most prosperous area of rural Ohio, as a way to market themselves. The entity that purchased the motel came in, remodeled the structure and made it into dozens of one-bedroom apartments, primarily for low-income individuals.

Instead of a group of people wanting to help a community, they came in with questionable business practices and unwanted crime.

It is a shadowy, troubling entity that has brought a level of wickedness to the community.

Recently, a now-single gentleman, who lost most of his income following a painful divorce, was forced to seek residence within this renovated building. The individual was subject to an onslaught of waves of marijuana smoke nightly travelling throughout his corridor, resulting in the man seeking treatment in an emergency room because he suffered from the toxic effects of the drug and the medicine that he was taking post-operative.  

Unfortunately, law enforcement, either unwilling or legally unable to do anything about the invasion, harassed this individual rather than attempt to eradicate the criminal elements from breaking the law within that complex.

This week, I have learned that the poor man has been able to get friends to move him out of town to another apartment complex, one with a reputable history, and better access to amenities, about a half hour away. It is troubling that it has come to this, for him, and for me. His experience exposes the degradation of this part of Ohio under a corrupt political system and equally corrupt business climate. This, in an area I came to some years ago, believing it still held the old Appalachian values it once championed, seems to be increasingly changing to aa place with no culture, no standards, and no future...being replaced by a sickness that leaves me and others nauseous and wondering if we too should pull up stakes and move. But when you have invested in a place, in a slice of a community, only to become aware that the slice now has evil on its borders, it makes you wonder if your future would be better built back in the heart of Appalachia, the last bastion of traditional America.