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Commissioners Hold Time Zone Hearing NEWS Channel 15 (WANE) The arguments were convincing, on both sides, at times, but -- as the Allen County Commissioners pointed out after Monday's public hearing -- most of them have been heard before. "I'm concerned about school safety -- students getting on buses in the dark," teacher Blaine Ryan said. "There's a very good argument that it will be much lighter on the trip home -- which, with kids and their activities and all their extracurriculars, is also a very important factor," Republican State Senator David Long said. For the U.S. Department of Transportation, the agency in charge of time zone changes, commerce is what's important. Those numbers slant in favor of staying in Eastern Time: more than 50 percent of I ndiana 's business is done with clients in the Eastern Time Zone. Lawrence Kay of F ort Wayne Metals pointed out that our immediate neighbors aren't the only business partners manufacturers have to worry about. His company does much of its business in E urope -- and he says one more hour for doing business across the Atlantic is a big deal. "The contact time to be able to reach them is very important to us, and adding an additional hour by moving to Eastern Daylight is a critical issue for us," Kay said. But some say lawmakers are too quick to side with Eastern time and manufacturing businesses tied to Michigan and Ohio. Paul O'Malley, a patent lawyer, says switching to Central time would be a business decision that looks toward the next generation. "I practice in patent law -- that's technology, the wave of the future, and my business is with points West," O'Malley said. Out of the 23 people who spoke in front of the Commissioners, 16 were in favor of sticking to Eastern Time, and 7 wanted to change to Central Time. Commissioners have also set up an online poll to get additional in-put. You can take the poll by clicking here.

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