Indiana moves towards Daylight Savings Time

[ghost of miles]

Nipping right at its heels: the introduction of this newfangled wheel device!

Lawmakers Pass Bill Over Indiana Time

Sat Apr 16, 2:56 PM ET  U.S. National - AP

By MIKE SMITH, Associated Press Writer

INDIANAPOLIS - Indiana, one of the nation's last holdouts for observing daylight-saving time, may be on the brink of changing its clocks.

For the first time in more than two decades, the Indiana House has passed a bill that would require the entire state to move its clocks forward an hour in April and back an hour in October — just as 47 other states do.

Knowing just what time it is on a trip through Indiana is no easy task: 77 counties in the Eastern time zone do not change clocks while five others do. The state also has 10 counties in the Central time zone that do observe daylight savings time.

Gov. Mitch Daniels has made mending the split a top priority — saying the time warp costs the state money and jobs. Businesses say it causes mix-ups over airline flights, delivery times and conference calls.

"If it were just a matter of the rest of the world laughing at us, I'd say let 'em laugh," Daniels said in his first State of the State speech in January. "But the loss of Hoosier jobs and incomes is no laughing matter, and any step that might help is worth trying."

Bill Blomquist, a political science professor at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis, said Indiana's resistance to changing its clocks is rooted in states' rights issues, beliefs that humans should not alter time, and a sense of pride in doing things differently.

"There is sort of this Hoosier exceptionalism that shows up in daylight-saving time," he said.

A House-Senate committee will take up the bill Monday, but there are still some roadblocks. Some residents still adamantly oppose the proposed change, and lawmakers have to pick a time zone and determine when to make the change — later this year or next April.

Darrell Bowden, of Westfield, a suburb north of Indianapolis, thinks things are fine the way they are.

"I don't like changing my clocks twice a year," he said. "The way I look at it, why doesn't the rest of the country get in step with us?"

Bowden is in the minority, according to a recent statewide poll by The Indianapolis Star/WTHR. The poll found 56 percent favored daylight-saving time, while 37 percent opposed it.

Mark Plank of Syracuse, in northeastern Indiana, used to work for an office furniture supplier and said confusion over Indiana's time cost the company customers.

But he has personal reasons for backing the change, too. Observing daylight savings would give his kids an extra hour of sunlight to play "and give me more time to do yard work in the evenings."

[BruceH]

Knowing just what time it is on a trip through Indiana is no easy task: 77 counties in the Eastern time zone do not change clocks while five others do. The state also has 10 counties in the Central time zone that do observe daylight savings time.

Now that is just insane.

[ghost of miles]

Knowing just what time it is on a trip through Indiana is no easy task: 77 counties in the Eastern time zone do not change clocks while five others do. The state also has 10 counties in the Central time zone that do observe daylight savings time.

Now that is just insane.

Actually, just saw in the paper today that this bill may not make it... some kind of politicalfangled general assembly infighting.

While we're at it, can we get rid of class basketball? Hoosier hoops just aren't the same these days...

Edited April 21, 2005 by ghost of miles

[JSngry]

While we're at it, can we get rid of class basketball?

I thought the Pistons/Pacers brouhaha was a major step in that direction...

[rachel]

Actually, just saw in the paper today that this bill may not make it... some kind of politicalfangled general assembly infighting. 

While we're at it, can we get rid of class basketball?  Hoosier hoops just aren't the same these days...

The difficulty seems to be those counties in the eastern part of the state wanting to go to Eastern DST while those counties in the western part of the state wanting to go to Central DST (both for obvious reasons). I have a feeling that this is going to be the deal breaker--figuring out in which time zone we will eventually land.

It made it complicated, to say the least, when I used to travel for work. I always loved going to the southern part of the state because of the sheer beauty ; however, I always had a moment of panic every morning when I second guessed myself as to whether the county I was visiting that day was on "slow time" or "fast time".

As for class basketball, what a piece of shit decision *that* was in 1997.

(...being a former resident in Marion Giant-land in the 80's, there was nothing better.)

Edited April 21, 2005 by rachel

[ghost of miles]

Maybe not...

Daylight Saving Time bill fails

49-48... a good ol' Hoosier barn-burner!

Hey Rachel, seen the book Transition Game? I've been pitching a piece about it to our news editor at WFIU... the author's from Bloomington.

[7/4]

I knew it was crazy talk...

[Brad]

Why don't we split the state into two new states and call one Eastern Indiana and the other Western Indiana? The only hangup will be what state will they be talking about when you play "Back Home in Indiana."

[Jim Alfredson]

Daylight savings time sucks. I wish the whole country would get rid of it.

[Jazzmoose]

Why don't we split the state into two new states and call one Eastern Indiana and the other Western Indiana? The only hangup will be what state will they be talking about when you play "Back Home in Indiana."

One state could call itself the Hoosiers, and the other one Hoosier Daddy....

[J.A.W.]

Daylight savings time sucks.

Why?

[wesbed]

Daylight savings time sucks.  I wish the whole country would get rid of it.

We don't save the daylight in Arizona. There is plenty of daylight, during the day, for all who desire it. B-)

[ghost of miles]

Not enough votes to pass, not enough votes to die... so the bill will just kinda sit there for a spell.