To the editor:
This Sunday clocks will move ahead as daylight saving time goes into effect. While most Americans take the move in stride, Eastern-time Hoosiers will receive a blow to their spirits as they are plunged back into morning darkness by sunrises after 8 a.m.
The Central Time Coalition says, “DST is not the problem — the culprit is the wrong time zone in Indiana. Hoosiers preferred Chicago-time summers for many years.” The coalition urges reuniting Indiana in its original Central Time Zone.
HCR20, sponsored by Rep. Jeff Thompson, urges a legislative study committee to examine the pros and cons of Indiana’s Eastern and Central time zones. Thompson says, “We’ve ducked this issue too long. It’s time for us, the Indiana legislature, to put this controversy to rest.”
Several questions include: On Central, wouldn’t prime-time and nationally televised events be broadcast one hour earlier? Has e-technology nullified benefits of Eastern time? How has the three-hour time difference with the West Coast affected business interactions? How much are Eastern’s excessive school delays costing businesses and school budgets?
Education Secretary Arne Duncan cautions that sunlight schedules that are out of sync with biological clocks affect students’ academic performance, safety, mental and physical health. Grim statistics show that Indiana teens have the highest death rate due to car crashes and the second-highest suicide attempt rate in the U.S. Fifty-thousand students are chronically absent each year, most due to truancy. Hoosiers are ranked eighth most obese and 46th least physically fit. Eastern’s sunlight schedule is a contributing factor to all of these.
Information and petitions are available at www.hoosiersforcentraltime.org.
Sue Dillon,
president,
Central Time Coalition
Carmel
