Time zone issue to face us again?

By FRED SWIFT

The County Line

The U.S. Congress seems poised to enact legislation making Daylight Saving Time year-round for all states. For Hamilton County, this would mean virtual darkness until 9 a.m. during late fall and winter months.

The likely Congressional action will put new life into the efforts of the Indiana Coalition for Standard Time. The organization has lobbied for years to have the state placed back on standard time where it was until the 1960s.

Since the ’60s, Indiana has toyed with various time changes ranging from splitting the state to place the eastern portion on Eastern Standard Time and the western portion on Central Time, or placing the whole state on Eastern Time and not observing daylight time in summer months.

Several years ago, the most recent change enacted by the state legislature mandated the state to start observing Daylight Time in the summer months, but as in most states, turning clocks back in October.

The Standard Time Coalition has not objected to daylight time if the state is returned to the standard time zone, but members like county resident Sue Dillon point out that darkness in the morning can be dangerous for children going to a bus stop or walking to school.

This child safety issue is the coalition’s biggest concern, and with Congress now on the verge of moving toward year-round daylight time, we can expect to hear more about it. Next year, the state legislature will be asked to move the state to the standard time zone if Congress takes their expected action.

It could shape up to be a big political issue in this fall’s election when members of the state House of Representatives and half the Senate members will be up for election.