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The Star Press - Eastern Indiana By RICK YENCER MUNCIE - The Eastern time zone seems natural for East Central Indiana, according to local officials, despite some support among local people for going to Central time. "Central time would be better for Indiana," said Pamela Morton, a conference planner. "Not only is it better for the students' natural time clocks, it is much safer for children to walk to school in the daylight." Teacher Christy Wolpoff prefers to start her day once the sun rises, and that would occur more if Indiana keeps time with the Central zone. "Prime time on television would begin earlier, so we could enjoy family programs and still get the kids to bed early," she said. Delaware County Commissioners, faced with a Sept. 16 deadline to petition for time zone changes, will find out what residents think during a Aug. 30 public hearing starting at 7 p.m. in the Delaware County Building. The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) recently notified local governments that they had to decide whether they wanted to change time zones when Indiana begins observing daylight-saving time next spring. Commissioner Tom Bennington said he was inclined to stay with Eastern time but wanted to get public input. Aside from local newspaper reports "there has not been any real discussion," Bennington said. Allen County commissioners held a hearing on time zones this week and found overwhelming support for Eastern time. Some Indiana counties are expected to petition the DOT to go to Central time. Mayor Dan Canan and representatives of the Muncie-Delaware County Chamber of Commerce favor Eastern time. The state's petition asked the federal government to leave 10 counties in southwest and northwest Indiana in the Central time zone while leaving five southeast counties near Cincinnati and Louisville, Ky., in the Eastern zone. It did not give a preference to 77 other Hoosier counties in the Eastern zone that do not observe daylight-saving time. Contact news reporter Rick Yencer at 213-5833 Your time to speak up The Delaware County Commissioners will provide three ways for residents to weigh in on time-zone changes: An online poll will be made available by Aug. 17 at: www.co.delaware.in.us Mail your opinion to: Delaware County Commissioners, 100 W. Main St., Muncie, Ind. 47305 A public meeting to discuss the time zone for Delaware County will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 30, in the Delaware County Building.

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