Welcome back to Eastern time

By Nate Smith, Staff Writer

What time is it?

Same as it always was.

The U.S. Department of Transportation announced Thursday a final rule moving five Indiana countries — Daviess, Dubois, Knox, Martin and Pike — from the Central to Eastern time zone. The five counties, which filed a joint petition for the time zone change, will observe Eastern time beginning Nov. 4, when daylight saving time ends.

At the same time, the Department denied a separate petition from Perry County to also move from the Central to Eastern time zone.

These six counties were among 17 Indiana counties that petitioned DOT in 2005 to switch from Eastern to Central time. In January 2006, the Department allowed eight of the petitioning counties, including the six involved in Thursday’s decision, to move to Central time beginning in April 2006. The six counties later asked to be moved back to Eastern time, five of those counties filing a joint petition in late 2006.

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels said he was happy everyone was on the same time again.

“We now have the highest number of Hoosiers ever on the same time year round. I was glad to support the local petitions and glad five of the six counties have been approved to move to the Eastern Time Zone,” Daniels said.

With the change, 80 of Indiana’s 92 counties and more than 5 million of the state’s 6.2 million citizens will observe Eastern Time.

State Rep. Dave Crooks, D-Washington, was a Central supporter when the time zone debate started three years ago, but felt support for Central lost traction during the winter when dusk came an hour earlier.

“We kind of cheated Mother Nature for so long and we got the extra hour of daylight in the summer,” Crooks said. “I think a lot of people missed it.”

Crooks felt Daniels deserved some, but not all, of the heat for the protracted confusion when the debate started three years ago on a bill to make all of the state use daylight saving time.

“When the governor made the request to the DOT, we should have known better,” Crooks said.

Under the Uniform Time Act of 1966, the Secretary of Transportation has the authority to set time-zone boundaries and must base decisions on the “convenience of commerce.”

One of the original county leaders to bring the change back to Central was Daviess County Commissioner Steve Myers. He said Thursday the move back to Eastern was better for business.

“It seems the bulk of people were wanting (Eastern) and it took people to find out how (Central) was put together,” Myers said.

In its most recent decision, the DOT said that the five counties filing the joint petition demonstrated the benefit of moving to Eastern time based on the counties’ economic ties, schooling, recreation and regional connections.

In denying Perry County’s petition, DOT said that the county appears to be oriented to Central time, and that the petition did not provide sufficient justification to make the change.

The Department’s decision, to be published in the Federal Register, follows a review of more than 3,500 public comments filed in response to the counties’ petitions.

One person for Central that filed a lot of comments was Phillip Norris of Loogootee. He pointed out several inaccuracies when lawyers for the counties filed their petition for Eastern. It is not known if his comments were related, but the DOT asked for clarification from the attorneys twice.

Because the change becomes effective when daylight saving time ends and standard time begins, residents of the five counties moving to Eastern time will not need to change their clocks on Nov. 4. Residents of Perry County, however, will need to move their clocks back one hour on that date. On March 9, 2008, when daylight saving time begins, all Indiana clocks will move ahead one hour.

In its decision, the DOT said it will not consider petitions for time zone changes in Indiana for at least one year to minimize disruptions and allow DOT and the communities to assess the impact of the changes.

The debate, Crooks said, is over for a long time.

“I just don’t see the masses wanting to go to Central time,” Crooks said. “The governor isn’t going to buy into it. Unless you give Central a chance statewide it’s never going to happen.”

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