Brad Igou had a bad feeling when the TV people first showed up in Amish Country.

Igou, president of the Amish Experience in Lancaster County, said the producers of what would become “Amish Mafia” asked him for help to enhance the Amish culture and make it more interesting. “We just didn't have a good feeling,” he said, “so we just said we don't want to be involved in the show.”

Igou was right to trust his instincts. “Amish Mafia” purports to follow an organization of Amish men in Lancaster County who routinely use strong-arm tactics to enforce law and order within the community. Experts on Amish culture — and the Amish themselves — call it bunk.

As the series prepares to launch its third season, Gov. Tom Corbett and other state-level politicians have joined a growing protest against the Discovery Channel show.

The protest, spearheaded by a Lancaster-based group known as Respect Amish, gets a cheer for standing up to the outlandish portrayal.

Respect Amish, which includes many non-Amish defenders of the sect, is monitoring the series and threatening boycotts against the show's commercial sponsors. The non-Amish members return some balance to the conflict because the Amish eschew television and electronic media and, in fact, buy few of the products and services provided by the show's sponsors.

Corbett last week signed a statement calling on Discovery to drop its “bigoted portrayal” that grossly misrepresents a religious sect widely known for its unadorned lifestyle and nonviolent ways.

“Amish Mafia” and similar shows “vilify the Amish religious way of life, suggesting that a peaceful people devoted to non-violence are vengeful, violent and criminal,” the statement signed by Corbett said.

Discovery Channel and the producers of “Amish Mafia” must have figured they had the perfect patsy: a peace-loving primitive people who don't watch TV. But they were mistaken. It's time for the reality producers to get real.

It's disturbing that a Butler County man who sexually assaulted a teenage boy won't serve any prison time for his admitted crime.According to court records, 21-year-old Zackary P. “Hank” Lozovoy of Harmony Township pleaded guilty last week to charges of indecent assault and corruption of minors. Judge William Shaffer sentenced Lozovoy to four years of probation, a $1,000 fine and $1,000 in restitution to the victim's compensation fund. Lozovoy also is required to register his whereabouts with state police for 15 years.But he won't serve any prison time.Lozovoy, a 2011 graduate of Riverside High School in Ellwood City, met his 15-year-old victim in September on an Internet website dedicated to gay men.Lozovoy reportedly drove to the boy's home in Middlesex Township and met him in the driveway, according to court records. He “picked up (the boy) and carried him to his bedroom, where he assaulted him,” the court papers state.Although the boy knew Lozovoy only as “Hank,” officials were able to identify him because Lozovoy provided the child with his correct address.If attitudes about gender or sexual orientation were a consideration in the sentencing, they should not have been. A teenage child was violated and the adult who did it should pay with prison time. Gender is not the issue: taking advantage of a minor is the issue.

Cheers for Laura and Mike Wick, the West Brady Street couple who have made it their mission to provide a bike and helmet for any child in their neighborhood who doesn't have one.The Wicks' fledgling bicycle charity, now in its second month, has helped in some fashion to put 27 children back on a bike, whether it was just fixing up a bike they already had, giving them a bike or getting them a helmet.Their beneficiaries included brothers Drennen Potter, 7, and Korbin Potter, 9, whose bikes were both stolen last summer. Their sister, Stevi, 6, got a new bike too, thanks to neighborhood donors.The idea to match children in her neighborhood with free bicycles came to Laura at the beginning of the summer. Her own children, Liza, 7, and Jason, 6, were riding secondhand bikes, but some of their friends were without wheels. Laura spread the word about her intentions. Neighbors responded with cash and a bevy of bikes.Laura said she and Mike store the donated bicycles in their backyard while Mike makes repairs or adjustments. At the beginning of August, he was readying “new” bikes for six different kids.The Wicks get their giveaway bikes through donations and yard sale finds. Cash donations are put toward repairs and new helmets — no one rides away without a helmet.