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Some prefer Central, for kids' sake By Kevin Cullen, Journal and Courier Like many Hoosiers, Tami Hellriegel wishes state legislators had kept their mitts off her family's clocks and watches. For years, "Indiana time" never changed, and somehow the world kept spinning, she said. "I've always lived this way," she said. But pushed by Gov. Mitch Daniels, Indiana legislators earlier this year decided to start observing daylight-saving time in April 2006. Hellriegel now hopes the state shifts to Central time from Eastern time. Hellriegel, of Kokomo, has four children. Central time would give kids an extra hour of daylight in the morning during most of the school year, when they're out on the streets waiting for buses, she said. Whatever happens, the entire state should be consistent, she said. Indiana counties near Louisville and Chicago now ignore "Indiana time," opting instead to keep their clocks in sync with those cities. She also opposes splitting the state into Eastern time and Central time zones. "My husband says we should be one or the other and not back and forth," Hellriegel said. "He's a sales rep, and he used to go up near Chicago." Dr. Sanjay Garg, a pediatrician with Sigma Medical Group, said he favors the present system. But if a change to daylight-saving time must be made, then switching to the Central time zone would probably benefit many children and families. In the winter, it's often too cold to play or participate in outdoor family activities, even if there were an extra hour of light at the end of the day, he said. A lack of sunlight in the winter depresses many people. Garg said that with children, "if you wake up and see the sun when you are going to school it is more beneficial, in my opinion, than later in the day. You are more awake and fresh when you go to school." With Eastern time, children sometimes wake up in the dark then spend the day in school seeing little sunlight until after classes are dismissed. "I believe that natural light is much better than artificial light," Garg said, referring to ways to combat wintertime blues. Lafayette's Sue Lohmeyer has four children and enjoys taking her grandchildren to Columbian Park. As a mother, she said, "I would want the shorter evenings (of Central time) so the children can go to sleep." Many can't sleep until it's dark outside, she said. Lohmeyer expects many working people to favor Eastern time, so they can have more after-hours daylight in the fall, winter and spring. Pat Stone, of Russiaville, is retired, so she said it makes no real difference how she sets her clock. If she had to pick, "I guess I would prefer more hours of morning sunlight," she said, favoring Central time. She wouldn't care if that meant it was dark earlier in the winter. Despite all the debate, nature decides how much sunlight comes each day, she said, and each one "still has 24 hours."

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