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Opinion - Tribune-Star, Terre Haute, Indiana Assessing the fallout of DST debate Western Indiana should push hard for central time zone After reading the Tribune-Star editorial July 25, 2005, concerning the time zone issue in Indiana, I decided to give my opinion for what it's worth. First, I was disappointed in the T-S lack of an opinion. I believe this kind of attitude is what got us into this Eastern time zone fiasco in the first place. It seems to me that since the daylight-saving time issue was settled by the governor and his toadies in the last General Assembly, that nobody cares about what happens next. Surely, I'm not the only one who dreads the day we have to actually observe a time that puts us two hours ahead of the sun. Historically and logically Indiana should be in the central time zone. This has been pointed out on numerous occasions in letters to the editor by those who have knowledge of the establishment of time zones by the railroads. According to an article in the T-S on Nov. 21, 2004, "1918: Time zones first adopted by Congress (Standard Time Act of 1918). All of Indiana is located in the Central time zone." In 1961, the article goes on to say, the Interstate Commerce Commission divided Indiana between the Eastern and Central time zones. It doesn't say why. The accompanying map shows the Eastern side of the state and Indianapolis and adjoining counties being in the Eastern time zone, while all the rest of the state remained in the Central time zone. Without counting counties in that example, it appears the Central time zone definitely had the majority of the counties. The article is too lengthy to relate in its entirety, but we all know that between those events and 1968 more counties were placed in the Eastern time zone until we have the configuration that exists today. I would also like to point out that it was at this stage that all of the state observed DST. After one summer of that torture, a compromise was reached that said all counties in the Eastern time zone were exempt from DST. After the current governor was making the big push for DST statewide, he kept saying that the time zone issue and DST were two different issues. I beg to differ with him. Any part of Indiana that is in the Eastern time zone is, in my opinion, already on DST. I know DST is now a moot point, but can't anybody see that being in the wrong time zone (Eastern) puts us one hour ahead of the sun to begin with. As soon as we move to Eastern daylight time, we will be two hours ahead of the sun. Now we come to the big reasons for all this rushing to be ahead of the sun: Saving energy and helping to create jobs and making it easier for us to communicate with the Eastern states. Please. I have yet to see any concrete evidence that getting up and going to work and school in the dark will save energy. Yes, some people do have to be at work before 9 a.m. Maybe not in New York City or Washington, D.C., or even Indianapolis, but certainly here in the Wabash Valley. The most obvious argument is the fact that the school children have to wait on the buses in the dark. That's happening within the present situation. What will it be like when we're on Eastern daylight time? President Bush is pushing Congress to extend daylight time two more months, from March to November. That's two more months of morning darkness for our children. Since it's dark later in the morning (sunrise in the depths of winter is 8:20 a.m. (EST) here in Western Indiana as opposed to 7:20 a.m. (CST) in Illinois and, by the way, Evansville and Gary, the consumption of energy shifts to the a.m. What's saved? As for jobs, if time zones and more daylight in the evening help that situation, I've always wondered why we don't just go whole hog and place Indiana in the same time zone as Taiwan, Mexico, China or India? Every day more of our jobs are being lost to these countries. As far as communication with New York and other states East of us, New York communicates with the world. Surely they (and us) can figure out what to do about a one-hour time difference. They deal with places where it's actually tomorrow already. We've been told there will be hearings throughout the state allowing individual counties to voice their preference between the Eastern or Central time zone. I would like to start a dialogue through this newspaper to get other people's ideas on the subject. Evansville and Gary were allowed, all those years ago, to remain in the Central time zone and observe DST as they always had done. Why wasn't the rest of the Western side of Indiana allowed to do the same? Was it because we didn't speak up? We supposedly have a chance now. Why not present a united front with Evansville and Gary as the Southern and Northern anchors and get Western Indiana back in the Central time zone. Other states, including Kentucky, Tennessee and even Florida are split between Central and Eastern and have no problems. Whenever I read about polls being taken I always wonder why I was never called. This time I'm calling. I'm calling all of you, through this newspaper, who have an opinion. I know there will be differences, but at least we should speak up. In the June 17, 2005, issue of the T-S, the Terre Haute Chamber of Commerce was quoted as saying it "wants to move toward DST under the Central time zone because of relationships with Illinois businesses." Does the local chamber still take that stand? Someone wrote the T-S during the last debate in Indianapolis over DST. The writer stated that he didn't want to be considered a part of Illiana. My response is, better Illiana than Maineiana, New Yorkiana or even Ohioiana. S. Milam, Terre Haute

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