EBENSBURG — A judge on Thursday upheld the conviction of an Amish farmer who cites his conservative religious beliefs in refusing to bring a pair of outhouses into compliance with state sewage laws.

Cambria County Judge Norman Krumenacker ordered Andy Swartzentruber to make the privies, which are used by schoolchildren, compliant and pay a $500 fine within 30 days.

"The problem is that the rules of disposal of human waste are there to protect all of us," Krumenacker said at the end of a roughly 90-minute hearing. "There is no evidence before the court that the permitting processes are unreasonable."

Krumenacker dismissed charges against co-defendant Sam Yoder, a school elder, ruling that responsibility belonged to Swartzentruber, who owned the property at the time of the complaint in October 2006.

The outhouses were used by grade-schoolers who attended an Amish school on Swartzentruber's property in Barr Township. Waste was collected in plastic buckets, then dumped onto fields. Citing state regulations, the county demanded the Amish install a holding tank and contract with a certified sewage hauler for disposal.

The privies cited in the violation have been torn down, but new ones that have been erected still don't follow regulations, the judge said.