More of Indiana in the same time zone now?

I noticed this week that House Speaker Brian Bosma and Governor Daniels are both using a similar factoid in their replies to Hoosiers who write about the DOT time zone ruling:

"... we have a higher percentage of Hoosiers on the same time year round than we've ever had."

I am a skeptic, so I ran some numbers with the county population data from the 2000 census.

If all they are comparing is the 77.9% of Hoosiers (in 77 counties) that were observing year-round CDT/EST to the 78.5% (in 74 counties) that are now on year-round eastern time, then this statement is true -- by less than a percentage point -- not much to crow about.

However, looking at the bigger picture, we had 82% of Hoosiers (in 82 counties) on the same time for 5 months of the year, and 96% (in 87 counties) on the same time the other 7 months -- both higher percentages than the 78½ year-round figure.

However, their assertion breaks down when you remember that 100% of Hoosiers were on year-round central time from 1918 to 1961 before the federal government decided to make Indiana the narrowest state to be split between time zones.

Winter daylight saving time in Columbus, Indiana

Today is one of the days in Columbus, Indiana on which the folly of being on eastern time is most easily seen.

According to U.S. Code, the time zones were laid out to divide the winter daylight as evenly as possible between morning and evening.

On January 25, there are ten hours of daylight in Columbus. It's easy to see that the nominal sunrise and sunset today are 7:00 am and 5:00 pm -- five hours before midday and five after.

If Indiana were all back in the central time zone again (as we were until 1961), today's sunrise and sunset in Columbus would be 6:56 am and 4:56 pm -- within four minutes of nominal.

Since we're still on eastern time, today's sunrise and sunset are 7:56 am and 5:56 pm -- four hours before midday and 6 hours after -- effectively observing daylight saving time in the middle of winter and making for an abnormally late sunrise for our latitude this time of year.

Just for comparison, sunrise in Los Angeles today is 6:55 am, Chicago is 7:10, and New York City 7:12. Our sunrise is pretty out of touch with the norm in other major U.S. cities.

Time to Rest

The Evansville Courier Press writes:

Federal government moves six area counties into Central zone. Our View: That was a good result; now let the issue cool.

I replied:

I have to agree with the Courier-Press on this one, although I'd love to see all of Indiana back in the central time zone again too.

The DOT's ruling actually says "Furthermore, DOT does not have a statewide proposal before it nor has the Indiana legislature endorsed such an approach. It is, therefore, beyond the scope of this proceeding to consider such a significant change to the State’s time zone boundaries."

http://dmses.dot.gov/docimages/pdf95/382609_web.pdf

The implication is that if the governor or the legislature had requested that the DOT consider a single time zone for all or most of Indiana, they would have considered it. Not only did the legislators not request such a consideration, they virtually ruled it out by requiring that the ten counties on year-round Chicago time stay on central time and that the five counties (illegally) observing year-round New York time stay on eastern.

http://www.in.gov/apps/lsa/session/billwatch/billinfo?year=2005&request=getBill&docno=127

Hoosiers certainly disagree on which time zone is better, but at least we can all look at the same facts and agree that we are effectively on winter daylight saving time and summer double daylight time in the eastern time zone. A couple of simple examples make this pretty clear.

U.S. Code shows that the design goal of the time zones is to evenly divide the winter sunlight between morning and evening as nearly as possible and to shift about 60 minutes from morning to evening during DST.

On January 26, Indianapolis has about ten hours of daylight. The nominal sunrise and sunset are easily seen to be 7:00 am and 5:00 pm -- five hours before midday and five hours after. On central time, sunrise is 6:58 and sunset is 4:57 -- within a couple of minutes of nominal. On eastern, sunrise is 7:58 and sunset is 5:57 -- 4 hours before midday and 6 hours after -- effectively DST in the middle of winter.

Correspondingly on August 8, Indianapolis gets 14 hours of sunlight. The nominal sunrise and sunset on DST are easily seen to be 6:00 am and 8:00 pm -- 6 hours before midday and 8 hours after. On central DST, sunrise and sunset would be 5:50 am and 7:50 pm -- within ten minutes of nominal DST. On eastern DST, sunrise and sunset are 6:50 am and 8:50 pm -- 5.2 hours before midday and 8.8 hours after -- effectively "double daylight time".

Bill Starr
Columbus, Indiana (Bartholomew County)
Tue, 24 Jan 2006, 11:54pm EST

Ref: http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/260.html { U.S. Code on time zones }


***** ORIGINAL ARTICLE *****
Time to Rest

The Issue: Federal government moves six area counties into Central zone. Our View: That was a good result; now let the issue cool.

January 22, 2006

From a strictly regional perspective, the great time-zone debate in Indiana turned out about as well as it could have for the southwest corner of the state.

The only way it could have been better would be for all of the state to go on Central time, but as we learned this past year, that is not going to happen any time soon. What did happen this past week is that the U.S. Department of Transportation agreed to allow Daviess, Dubois, Knox, Martin, Perry and Pike counties to move from the Eastern to the Central time zone, joining Vanderburgh, Warrick, Posey, Gibson and Spencer counties.

The common interest among those 11 counties has always been there. People cross county lines daily to work, conduct business, shop and dine, acquire services, go to school, and enjoy entertainment and recreation. But the time-zone differences made it a less than comfortable fit for half of the year. Because of differences with daylight-saving time and the time zones, the two groups of counties would be on the same time half the year and an hour apart half the year. But beginning April 2 of this year, they will all be on the same time, year around. It was a good result for the region.

But it didn't turn out so well in Northwest Indiana, where St. Joseph County, which wanted to move into the Central zone and on the same time as Chicago and the Gary area, was denied its request.

And we will have to see how it turns out for Gov. Mitch Daniels, who started it all with his push to put all of Indiana on daylight-saving time. He won that one, but with the agreement that he ask the federal government to hold hearings on possible time-zone changes. But instead of a process that looked at putting all or a large part of the state in the same time zone, the feds said they would consider requests, county by county. That upset folks who felt that daylight-saving time should not go forward without major time-zone changes.

And now some lawmakers who reluctantly supported Daniels' push for daylight-saving time will be sweating re-election this year. They, and Daniels, would prefer to put the issue behind them.

We share that view, though for a reason other than their political survival. Most of Indiana remains today in the Eastern time zone. Goodness knows why, but a lot of people in our Midwestern state prefer Eastern time.

Yet some lawmakers who are still upset with the time-zone outcome want to see a statewide referendum on whether all of Indiana would be in the Central or the Eastern time zone. Let's not risk it.

It would be great to see all of Indiana in the Central time zone, but not Eastern. Who wants it dark at 8 o'clock in the morning?

CourierPress: Editorials

Pulaski County may want out of Central

Doug Masson writes:

Why wasn’t it time to move on last year or the year before or the year before that? Because the folks at the Marion Chronicle editorial board hadn’t gotten what they wanted: Eastern Daylight Time. Why is it time to move on now? Because they got what they wanted. So could the rest of us please shut up now?

I added the following comments:

I don’t buy the comment from Josh Needler, “the state is going to be split, so we all do need to just get over it and move on. If you want to live in the Central Time Zone so bad, move.”

I have heard the same “the state is going to be split” mantra from a couple of other Republican legislators who seem to be hoping this issue will just dry up and blow away. I would not buy it even if I were a Democrat, but I’m actually an elected GOP precinct committeeman.

There are a few flaws in this logic.

First, it is based on the red herring claim that there is something special about having Chicago to the northwest and Cincinnati to our southeast that magically prevents Indiana from ever returning to a single time zone, although all 92 counties got along just fine on central time from 1918 through 1961.

The reason I call it a red herring is that the five counties near Cincinnati and Louisville have been doing their own thing since 1967 or so, living on eastern time year-round while they were legally supposed to be on central time for 7 months out of every 12 with the other 77 counties not on year-round central time.

Even if the whole state were back on central time again, why shouldn’t the federal and state governments just keep on turning a blind eye for 12 months out of the year instead of 7, as these five counties keep on doing their own thing. The businesses who deal with these 5 counties are used to having them different from the rest of Indiana 7 months out of the year anyway, so 12 out of 12 shouldn’t be too big an adjustment.

Additionally, this puts the only time zone boundary within the state exactly where it’s been for 40 or so year, right next to the 5 counties who could put it on the state border if they cared to join the rest of the state on central.

Second, even if you think we should maintain the status quo, the status quo for the eastern 82 counties was central time 7 months out of 12.

Also, there is nothing so unique about Indiana’s situation that says we need to be the narrowest state split between two time zones. Alaska is 15 times wider than Indiana and has only two zones. All of the other 11 states that are split between two zones are between 2 and 5 times wider than Indiana — 3 times wider on average. We stick out like a sore thumb staying on two zones unnecessarily. It only takes the sun 13 minutes to pass from one side of Indiana to the other — far too narrow to justify the inconvenience to Hoosiers and our out-of-state customers and suppliers of staying split.

Finally, I know it’s been beat to death, but the nominal mid-point between eastern and central runs down the middle of Ohio. It’s pretty obvious to anyone who bothers to check that central is three times better at evenly dividing Indiana winter daylight between morning and evening than eastern, and three times better at shifting 60 minutes of morning daylight to the evening in the summer, which are the design goals of the standard time zones and daylight saving time.

*****
Richard wrote, "If the Eastern portion of the state did not observe DST, that does not make it Central Time! It is still Eastern Time."

This may be correct, but I find it a moot point. Call it what you want, but CDT is 5 hours from Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and EST is 5 hours from GMT. Our clocks read the same whether you call it EST or CDT. There is no denying that the middle 77 counties were with Chicago 7 months out of 12 the last few decades and with New York City only 5 months of 12. You can choose to interpret the facts however you want, but they are the same facts for all of us.

Richard wrote, "I believe more counties than Pulaski will petition of EST when they realize the mistake they have made. It will only take one Winter of afternoon darkness and you will see petitions again."

It all depends on whether you dislike your winter darkness more at the end of the day or at the beginning. There are some Hoosiers in both camps, and absent a statewide referendum, it's anyone's educated guess which camp has more in it.

I think lots of Hoosiers who are looking forward to the new later sunsets are going to be somewhat surprised to see that the sun waits about 6½ weeks longer than they're used to to start rising before 6:30 am (from April 2 to mid-May), and that it starts to rise after 7:10 am again about 8½ weeks earlier than they've been used to -- around the end of August instead of the end of October.

When you live near 40° latitude, as we do in central Indiana, nature decrees that we get ten hours or less of daylight from mid-November through late-January. Since most of the world does not observe DST during those months, this means that, on the average, sunrises are after 7:00 am and sunsets are before 5:00 pm during this period around the world.

By being on EST, which is the same clock time as CDT, we rob Peter to pay Paul. Instead of sunrise near 7 and sunset near 5 on January 27, when Indianapolis gets ten hours of sunlight, our sunrise is 7:57 am and our sunset is 5:58 am. This is about four hours before midday and six hours after.

Whether you think it's a good thing or not, there's no denying that we're effectively on DST this time of year.

Masson's Blog - A Citizen's Guide to Indiana -- Pulaski County may want out of Central

Handout and remarks at Third House 23 Jan 2006

Following is the text of the handout I distributed at the Columbus, Indiana Third House session on 23 January 2005 with state legislators Senator Robert Garton and Representatives Eric Koch, Luke Messer, and David Yount.

I made the following accompanying remarks.

I realize that this is not a popular issue this session.

Other than Alaska, which is 15 times wider than Indiana, there are about 11 other states split between two time zones like Indiana. These are all two-to-five times wider than Indiana.

Just to be very clear, I am not calling for repeal of Daylight Saving Time (DST).

After the legislature and the governor approved DST last spring, many Hoosiers were hoping for statewide time zone hearings, with potential progress toward getting Indiana back in a single time zone again for the first time in 45 years.

According to some media reports that I see, one might think that it is mainly Democrats who are disappointed this didn't work out.

As a fellow Republican, I just wanted to remind you that this is a broader issue than that. I encourage you to support action toward a single time zone for all or most of Indiana.

***** BEGIN TEXT OF HANDOUT *****

Why not a single time zone for Indiana?

• Now that the DOT has issued its ruling, is Indiana's time situation settled for good?

It could be, but many Hoosiers would like to see the government finish the job and put Indiana back into a single time zone again.

• Have any bills been filed this session which would move Indiana toward a single time zone for most of the state?

Senate Bills 79 and 93, as well as House Bills 1205, 1014, and 1057 have had first reading and been referred to committee (http://tinyurl.com/7uo4a). One or more of these bills would need to receive a committee hearing and a favorable vote in the house of origin by February 2 in order to be passed to the other house.
You can leave a phone message requesting that your senator (800-382-9467) and representative (800-382-9842) support a hearing for these bills. Contacting Speaker Bosma (317-232-9604) and Governor Daniels (317-232-4567) might also help these bills get a hearing.

• What are the advantages to being in a single time zone?

There are many, but one obvious advantage is eliminating problems like school systems that cross the time zone boundary at county lines. Another obvious advantage is that customers and suppliers outside the state could easily determine the local time of any business in Indiana without having to figure out 1) what county it is in and 2) what time zone that county is in. (This advantage was supposed to be the rationale for switching to DST. But we're still not there - only one time for Indiana can do that.)

• Hasn't Indiana always been split between two time zones?

No, all of Indiana was in the central time zone from the official beginning of U.S. time zones in 1918 until 1961. But in 1961, the federal government shifted 43 Indiana counties into eastern and another 36 counties in 1967 (with the understanding that DST would not be observed). These wholesale shifts were very likely initiated by the state government, rather than by individual petitions from the affected counties.

• Isn't eastern time the natural time zone for Indiana?

Indiana lies well within the natural boundaries of central time. The U.S. Code specifies that the nominal midpoint between eastern and central is 82½° W longitude, virtually in the middle of Ohio. In Indiana, central time more evenly divides wintertime sunlight between morning and evening and, in the summer, more nearly shifts 60 minutes of daylight from morning to evening. In addition, since 1967, most of Indiana has been on central time 7 months out of every year.

• Wouldn't statewide central time wipe out the benefit of DST?

Not at all; indeed, they are separate subjects.

• But how much daylight saving benefit would we have on central time?

On the average, central DST shifts about 45 minutes of sunlight from morning to evening. For example, on August 8, there are 14 hours of daylight in central Indiana. Nominal sunrise and sunset are easily seen to be 6:00 am and 8:00 pm -- 6 hours before noon and 8 after. On central time, sunrise and sunset near Indianapolis are about 5:50 and 7:50 -- within ten minutes of nominal for DST.

• Several other states, like Kentucky, and Tennessee, are in two time zones. So what's wrong with Indiana's being in two time zones too?

None of those states are as narrow as Indiana. Virtually all of the other states with two time zones are 2-to-5 times wider than Indiana. The sun passes Indiana over head in only 13 minutes - we don't need to break ourselves into two.

• Was the DOT's county-by-county process a good indication of opinion throughout Indiana?

No. It served as an imperfect proxy for a public vote, and then only in the counties near the current boundary. Of the counties near the boundary, about 2/3 of those on eastern petitioned for central time, but none of those on central petitioned for eastern. According to the DOT ruling, only about ten percent of Indiana's counties explicitly expressed a desire to stay in the eastern time zone (or at least in the same zone as Indianapolis).
Unfortunately, this process also worked to divide neighbor against neighbor (especially St. Joseph and Elkhart counties).

• Why didn't the DOT consider putting the whole state back in a single time zone again?

The DOT said that they would not consider such a significant change without an endorsement from the Indiana legislators. And the legislature avoided making such a recommendation when they passed the DST bill.

• But can the governor and the legislature influence the DOT any longer?

The legislators and the governor would likely wield considerable influence with the DOT if they enact a bill requesting that at least 95 percent of Indiana's counties be reunited in a single time zone.

Compiled by Bill Starr, 22 Jan 2006.

Letter to the editor: Why not a single time zone again?

Without reuniting Indiana into a single time zone, many see the switch to DST as an incomplete and hollow achievement. Today's approval of less than half of the petitioning counties by the DOT need not be the underwhelming anticlimax of the past year's political drama.

With encouragement from the voters, our legislators still have adequate time to send a bill over to the other house by February 2 moving us closer to a single time zone. There are several active bills from which to choose (tinyurl.com/7uo4a). My personal favorite is SB 79, which has bipartisan sponsorship in the senate.

With this action, the legislators and the DOT would end an unfortunate 45 years of Hoosier neighbors in different time zones, and also substantially reduce the continuing confusion as companies outside the state deal with Hoosier businesses in different time zones from one another. Numerous comments at the DOT docket, as well as many who spoke at the hearings, express the fervent desire of many Hoosiers to see the entire state once again unified on a single time.

If the legislature and the governor had deliberately undertaken to keep Indiana in two time zones, they could hardly have designed a more effective approach than encouraging the DOT to leave the decision-making with individual counties. In fact, in their ruling today the DOT as much as says that they would have considered a statewide proposal had the legislature or the governor simply asked.

A decentralized process like this was almost guaranteed to be piecemeal. We saw exactly this result last fall -- nobody wanted to risk asking to be an "island" in the midst of neighboring counties in a different zone. About 36 counties lie one county or less from the present time boundary. Of the 26 or so of these on eastern time, about 2/3 petitioned to join the ten counties already on central, but none of those already on central petitioned to go to eastern.

Unlike Indiana, which lies entirely within the natural borders of central time, Ohio is split down the middle by the natural boundary (82½° longitude) between eastern and central. Ohio residents long ago saw the benefit of shifting this boundary to their state border in order to be unified in a single zone. Indiana could just as easily be reunified with a similar shift of the current boundary back to our border.

Ohio is 1½ times wider than Indiana and yet resides in a single zone. In addition to Indiana there are about 12 other states split across time zones. Except for Alaska, which is 15 times wider than Indiana, the remaining 11 all range from 2 to 5 times wider than Indiana -- more than 3 times wider on average. Given the many potential benefits, I see no compelling argument why a relatively narrow state like ours should not be restored to a single zone as well.

For several decades, Hoosiers were relatively content with the status quo of 45 minutes or so of year-round daylight saving time. For the sake of hoped-for substantial additional business growth, we have now joined the rest of the country on DST. There are many arguments for which statewide time zone would serve us better. If maintaining the previous status quo as nearly as possible were a significant criterion, then central time would be the obvious choice.

With ten counties on year-round central time, five on year-round eastern, and the remaining 77 with central for 7 months and eastern for 5 months, a simple weighted average shows that Indiana was with central time about 60 percent of the year and with eastern about 40 percent.

For over four decades after the U.S. formally adopted time zones in 1918, Indiana residents enjoyed the benefits of a single statewide time zone. The only effective alternative to a piecemeal, drawn-out approach to unifying Indiana's time again requires courageous and visionary leadership by state government. With Indiana citizens encouraging such a proactive resolution by the General Assembly this month, we could likely enjoy a single time zone again within the next 12 months.

Sincerely, Bill Starr
Bartholomew County resident
http://tinyurl.com/88nnw
Wed, 18 Jan 2006

cc: Indiana legislators, Governor Daniels

Another Undeclared War? by Patrick J. Buchanan

Patrick J. Buchanan is co-founder and editor of The American Conservative. He is also the author of seven books, including Where the Right Went Wrong, and A Republic Not An Empire. Mr. Buchanan writes:

Congress should thus hold hearings on how close Tehran is to a nuclear weapon and whether this represents an intolerable threat, justifying a preventive war that would mean a Middle East cataclysm and a worldwide depression. Then it should vote to declare war, or to deny Bush the power to go to war.

The "Bush Doctrine" notwithstanding, if Congress has not put the "military option on the table," neither George Bush nor John McCain can put it there. That is the Constitution still, is it not?

Another Undeclared War? by Patrick J. Buchanan

Request for Indiana House time zone bill hearings

Date: Tue, 17 Jan 2006 23:02:14 -0500
From: "Bill Starr"
To: "Representative Randy Borror"
CC: "Luke Messer", "Tim Harris", "Steve Heim", "Michael B. Murphy", "John E. Smith", "Jackie Walorski", "David B. Yount", "Scott Reske", "David L. Crooks", "Jerry Denbo", "Carolene Mays", "Dennis Tyler"
Subject: Please schedule hearings on time zone bills

Dear Representative Borror.

I see that several bills related to Indiana's time zone have been filed in the Indiana House and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Economic Development and Small Business, of which I believe you are the chair.

Since the legislature did not explicitly address the time zone issue on a statewide basis when they passed the DST bill, I urge you to support a committee hearing for one or more of these bills, while Indiana's time zone boundary is still relatively malleable.

I am convinced that the legislature would wield considerable influence with the DOT should you choose to pass a bill such as this, which would make the time zone situation even simpler for everyone in Indiana, as well as for those with whom we do business outside of the state.

Without reuniting Indiana into a single time zone, many see the switch to DST as an incomplete and hollow achievement.

With a bill like this, the legislators could not only conclude the unfortunate era of Hoosier neighbors in different time zones, but also substantially reduce the likely confusion when companies outside the state deal with Hoosier businesses. Numerous comments at the DOT docket, as well as many who spoke at the hearings, express the fervent desire of many Hoosiers to see the entire state once again unified on a single time.

If the legislature had deliberately undertaken to maximize the odds of Indiana's remaining in two time zones, they could hardly have designed a more effective approach than encouraging the DOT to leave the decision-making with individual counties. A decentralized process is almost guaranteed to be piecemeal. We saw exactly this result last fall -- virtually no county wanted to request a time zone change unless they were about one county or less away from the current boundary.

Of course it's not likely that that all 75 non-petitioning counties are happy with Indiana's being in two zones -- just that nobody wanted to be the first to ask the DOT for the time zone they really wanted unless they were pretty confident at least some of their neighbors planned to as well.

About 36 counties lie one county or less from the present time boundary. It is telling that, of the 26 or so of these on eastern time, about 2/3 petitioned to join the ten counties already on central, but none of those already on central petitioned to go to eastern.

Unlike Indiana, which lies entirely within the natural boundaries of a single time zone, Ohio is split down the middle by the natural boundary (82½° longitude) between the eastern and central zones. Ohio residents long ago saw the benefit of shifting the boundary to their state border in order to be in a single zone. Indiana could also easily be reunified with a similar shift of the present boundary back to our border.

Ohio is 1½ times wider than Indiana and yet resides in a single zone. Alaska is 15 times wider than Indiana and gets along with only two zones. In addition to Alaska and Indiana there are about 11 other states split across time zones. They all range from 2 to 5 times wider than Indiana -- more than 3 times wider on average.

Given the many benefits to shifting the line to our state border, I see no compelling argument against a relatively narrow state like ours being restored to a single zone, like all the other states of width comparable to ours.

For several decades after our nation formally adopted time zones in 1918, Indiana residents enjoyed the benefits of a single statewide time zone. The only effective alternative to a piecemeal county-by-county approach to unifying Indiana's time requires courageous and visionary leadership by state government. With action this month toward a proactive resolution to the DOT by the General Assembly, we could likely enjoy a single time zone once again.

Following are specific bills for which I encourage you to schedule a hearing, in order of my preference.

HB 1205 -- Indiana time zones. Lehe. Locate 87 counties in central time zone.
HB 1057 -- Daylight saving time public question. Heim. Referendum: 92 counties to central or eastern?
HB 1014 -- Indiana time zones. Crooks. Referendum: 87 counties to central time?

Thank you for your service and your consideration.

Sincerely,
Bill Starr
1421 N 475 E
COLUMBUS IN 47203-9380
Bartholomew County GOP precinct committeeman
http://tinyurl.com/88nnw
Tue, 17 Jan 2006, 11:02pm EST

Single Indiana time zone again? { superseded 18 Jan 2006 }

THIS DRAFT IS SUPERSEDED BY "Letter to the editor: Why not a single time zone again?" OF 18 JANUARY 2006.

*****
Without reuniting Indiana into a single time zone, many see the switch to DST as an incomplete and hollow achievement. The shift of only a handful of counties by the DOT need not be the underwhelming anticlimax of this year's political drama. We have until about February 2 to encourage our legislators to pass a bill like SB 79 over to the other house of the legislature. This bill would petition the DOT to put all of Indiana back into a single time zone.

With a bill like this, the legislators could not only conclude the unfortunate era of Hoosier neighbors in different time zones, but also substantially reduce the likely confusion when companies outside the state deal with Hoosier businesses. Numerous comments at the DOT docket, as well as many who spoke at the hearings, express the fervent desire of many Hoosiers to see the entire state once again unified on a single time.

Unlike Indiana, which lies entirely within the natural boundaries of a single time zone, Ohio is split down the middle by the natural boundary (82½° longitude) between the eastern and central zones. Ohio residents long ago saw the benefit of shifting the boundary to their state border in order to be in a single zone. Indiana could also easily be reunified with a similar shift of the present boundary back to our border.

Ohio is 1½ times wider than Indiana and yet resides in a single zone. Alaska is 15 times wider than Indiana and gets along with only two zones. According to "about.com", in addition to Alaska and Indiana there are about 11 other states split across time zones. They all range from 2 to 5 times wider than Indiana -- more than 3 times wider on average.

Given the many benefits to shifting the line to our state border, I see no compelling argument against a relatively narrow state like ours being restored to a single zone, like all the other states of width comparable to ours.

If the legislature had deliberately undertaken to maximimize the odds of Indiana's remaining in two time zones, they could hardly have designed a more effective approach than encouraging the DOT to leave the decision-making with individual counties. A decentralized process is almost guaranteed to be incremental. We saw exactly this result last fall -- no county wanted to request a time zone change unless they are about one county or less away from the current boundary.

Of course it's not likely that that all 75 non-petitioning counties are happy with Indiana's being in two zones -- just that nobody wants to be the first to ask the DOT for the time zone they really want unless they're pretty confident at least some of their neighbors plan to as well.

About 36 counties lie one county or less from the present time boundary. It is telling that, of the 26 or so on eastern time, about 2/3 petitioned to join the ten counties already on central, but none of those already on central petitioned to go to eastern.

For several decades after our nation formally adopted time zones in 1918, Indiana residents enjoyed the benefits of a single statewide time zone. The only effective alternative to an incremental county-by-county approach to unifying Indiana's time requires courageous and visionary leadership by state government. With Indiana citizens encouraging such a proactive resolution by the General Assembly this month, we could likely enjoy a single time zone once again.

Common Census Map Project and Indiana time zone debate

Interesting link from Representative Ryan Dvorak, D-South Bend.

Ryan Dvorak for State Representative - Common Census Map Project

Letter to the editor: simple time zone examples

U.S. Code is clear that time zones are designed to divide winter daylight hours evenly between the morning and the evening. Likewise, daylight saving time moves one hour of summer sunlight from morning to evening -- a compromise between extended leisure time and darkness at a reasonable hour for bedtime.

On January 26, there are 10 hours of daylight in Indy. The ideal sunrise and sunset would be as close as possible to 7:00 and 5:00 -- 5 hours before noon and 5 after. On central time, the sunrise and sunset are 6:58 and 4:57 -- within a couple of minutes of nominal. On eastern, sunrise and sunset are 7:58 and 5:57 -- effectively daylight saving time in the middle of winter.

On August 8, there are 14 hours of daylight. Ideal sunrise and sunset are 6:00 and 8:00 -- 6 hours before noon and 8 after. On central time, sunrise and sunset are 5:50 and 7:50 -- within ten minutes of nominal. On eastern time, sunrise and sunset are 6:50 and 8:50 -- nearly two hours sunlight shifted from morning to evening. It's easy to see why some have dubbed New York time in Indiana as "double daylight time."

cc: Indiana legislators, Governor Daniels, Mayor Stephen Luecke
cc: DOT Docket OST-2005-22114

Exchange with Senator Garton on time zone bill

Date: Fri, 13 Jan 2006 22:36:10 -0500
From: "Bill Starr"
To: "Senator Robert Garton"
CC: "Senator Vic Heinold", "Representative Luke Messer"
Subject: Re: hearing for SB 79

Thank you for your reply, Senator Garton.

I appreciate your soliciting my perspective on the outcome of the county petitions on time zone preference.

One of my premises on this issue is that it is generally desirable to unify any state into a single time zone whenever possible. I believe this makes commerce, and many other aspects of daily life, easier within the state boundaries. Likewise, it is also a competitive advantage when dealing with businesses across state lines, who can confidently use the same time when dealing with any business within our borders.

Without also uniting the state into a single zone once again, the switch to daylight saving time strikes me as a rather incomplete and hollow accomplishment compared to what could have been achieved.

Although I much prefer 45 extra minutes of summer evening daylight with central time, versus 105 extra on eastern, I would rather see the entire state on eastern time than continuing split between two zones.

A couple of examples reinforce my presupposition. First, unlike Indiana, which lies entirely within the natural boundaries of a single time zone, Ohio is split down the middle by the natural border between the eastern and central zones (82½ degrees longitude). Ohio residents long ago saw the benefit of having the time zone boundary moved across half the state to their western border so they could be unified into a single zone.

Likewise, Alaska is about three time zones wide. For many years it stretched across portions of four time zones. But in 1983 the number of time zones for Alaska was reduced to two. If Ohio (about 1½ times wider than Indiana) can all fit into a single zone, and Alaska (about 15 times wider than Indiana) can get along on two zones, I don't see any insurmountable obstacle to Indiana's being completely in a single zone again. In fact, in glancing at the U.S. time zone map, I don't see any other state as narrow as Indiana that is split across more than one time zone as we presently are.

As far as the state's support of counties seeking to change their time zone, in the end it rang a little hollow to me.

If I understand correctly, any county was, and still is, free to petition the DOT for a change in its time zone at any time. The only thing that SEA 127 appeared to offer, beyond the status quo, is the offer of additional "support."

From what I could see, the level of "support" the state offered to the 17 or so petitioning counties was pretty lukewarm at best, except for the governor's endorsing central time for Daviess, Dubois, and Martin counties.

Concerning the governor's intervention on St. Joseph's petition, if that was support, I would hate to see opposition!

If the legislature had deliberately set out to create a system to maximimize the likelihood of keeping Indiana on two time zones, I can hardly think of a more effective approach than to throw the decision back into the laps of the 92 individual decentralized county governments.

Based on my observation of the process in Bartholomew County, even if a majority of counties preferred that the state be all on the same time zone, the county-by-county decision process is almost guaranteed to fall short of that goal. Quite reasonably, no county wants to be an island of central time surrounded by eastern, nor vice versa. So, even the counties that might have preferred to see all of Indiana on central were not likely to vote to petition for central unless they saw a significant probability of at least the adjoining counties to their west doing likewise.

In practice, this is how it turned out. Except for the far western counties of Vermillion and Fountain, 8 of the other petitioning counties directly adjoined a county currently on central time and the remainder were no more than a single county away. I think it's telling that of all the counties near the present boundary, we saw 17 petition to join their neighbors on central, but none of the counties on central petitioned to go to eastern.

Even if a majority of the counties in the state prefer central time, and assuming no county wants to petition until it is within a county or two of the boundary, and even if they all managed to independently convince the DOT to permit them to change on a county-by-county basis without strong backing from the legislature and governor, it would likely take several iterations, probably over at least a couple of years, to get the entire state to a single zone.

With legislative support, I still believe that a wholesale change could likely be accomplished in in one fell swoop, just as has been done in the past.

Many of those who sent comments to the DOT docket, as well as many who spoke at the hearings, expressed their support for unifying the entire state in a single time zone, whether that means putting us entirely in eastern or entirely in central. I see no compelling reason for Indiana to continue being split by the time zone line.

Even though we likely still disagree, I hope this helps you understand my perspective a little better.

Best regards,
Bill Starr
http://tinyurl.com/88nnw
Fri, 13 Jan 2006, 10:36pm EST


*****
Subject: Response from Senator Garton
Date: Mon, 9 Jan 2006 14:23:01 -0500
To: Bill Starr

The Legislature addressed the time issue last year, providing the opportunities for counties throughout the state to petition the U.S. Department of Transportation and request a change in time zones. Except for Lawrence County, I don’t believe any counties within a 50 mile radius did so.

I discussed the committee assignment of SB 79 with Senator Heinold. I want to wait for the decision by the U.S. Department of Transportation on any changes of time zones in the state. As I have said publicly, unless the Department makes a decision that is obviously totally unacceptable to citizens in the State, I don’t intend to hold a hearing for SB 79.

Last year, the Legislature offered local option to counties throughout the State. Perhaps I’m wrong, but how else do you interpret the decisions made by local representatives regarding a time zone preference.


*****
Date: Sun, 1 Jan 2006 20:21:11 -0500
From: Bill Starr
To: Senator Robert Garton
CC: Senator Vic Heinold, Representative Luke Messer
Subject: Please give SB 79 a hearing

Dear Senator Garton.

I see that Senator Vic Heinold has filed SB 79, which would require Governor Daniels to petition the U.S. DOT to locate all of Indiana in the central time zone. The digest for this bill (tinyurl.com/792hw) says that it is referred to the Committee on Rules and Legislative Procedure.

Since you are the chair of that committee, I expect that you have the final say as to whether this bill will receive a hearing.

Since the legislature did not explicitly address the time zone issue on a statewide basis when they passed the DST bill, I urge you to support a committee hearing for SB 79 (or others like it) in the forthcoming ten-week 2006 session, while Indiana's time zone boundary is still relatively malleable.

I am still convinced that the legislature would wield considerable influence with the DOT should you choose to pass a bill such as this, which would make the time zone situation even simpler for everyone in Indiana, as well as for those with whom we do business outside of the state.

Thank you for your consideration of my request.

Sincerely,
Bill Starr

A Gestapo Administration by Paul Craig Roberts

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts is John M. Olin Fellow at the Institute for Political Economy and Research Fellow at the Independent Institute. He is a former associate editor of the Wall Street Journal, former contributing editor for National Review, and a former assistant secretary of the U.S. Treasury. He is the co-author of The Tyranny of Good Intentions. He writes:

Caught in gratuitous and illegal spying on American citizens, the Bush administration has defended its illegal activity and set the Justice (sic) Department on the trail of the person or persons who informed the New York Times of Bush’s violation of law. Note the astounding paradox: The Bush administration is caught red-handed in blatant illegality and responds by trying to arrest the patriot who exposed the administration’s illegal behavior.

Bush has actually declared it treasonous to reveal his illegal behavior! His propagandists, who masquerade as news organizations, have taken up the line: To reveal wrong-doing by the Bush administration is to give aid and comfort to the enemy...

Contrast that attitude with the words of President Theodore Roosevelt (1912):

Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the President... Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly as necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right. Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile. To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else.

A Gestapo Administration by Paul Craig Roberts

Letter to the editor: latest sunrise January 4

At 8:06am, the latest sunrise of the year in Indianapolis falls on January 4 (except for the very beginning and end of daylight saving time, after the five-week extension that starts in 2007).

A common thread of objection to eastern time for Indiana is that winter sunrises are "too late".

After so many years effectively in the wrong time zone from October through April, I suspect that many of us in Indiana have become less aware of the typical winter sunrise time for locations near our state's range of latitude. Many of us probably tend to just passively accept our abnormally late sunrises, without fully grasping that a simple administrative remedy could put us back in the same range as much of the rest of the country.

Before there were standard time zones, the local sunrise on January 4 for Indianapolis (and all points due east and west) was 7:22am. Knowing this median sunrise time helps calibrate me on what sunrise time to reasonably expect for our latitude.

With the one-hour-wide standard time zones, locations near Indiana's latitude in the eastern half of a standard time zone (like Chicago, Indianapolis, and New York) should experience their latest sunrise from 6:52 to 7:22am. Conversely, latest sunrise time in the western half of each time zone should range from 7:22 to 7:52am. The following table shows that this is approximately how it works out, and suggests that central time affords a more equitable distribution of our scarce winter sunlight than eastern time would.

Five Indiana cities are shown twice in the following table, to compare their latest sunrise time with that of several corresponding cities in other states. I conclude that our sunrise time is more in line with comparable areas of the rest of the country on central time (CST) than it would be if we remain on eastern (EST).

Ohio is about 29 percent of the width of a time zone, and is bisected by the original 82½-degree longitude line that divided the eastern and central zones. I believe it made sense for Ohio to petition to have the boundary moved westward to the Indiana/Ohio border in order to unite their state into a single zone. Indiana is only about 22 percent of the width of a time zone, and lies entirely within the original boundaries of central time.

Surely it makes at least as much sense for us to petition to push the boundary back to the Indiana/Ohio border in order to unite our state into a single zone as well. Who knows but whether the portions of Michigan north of Indiana and the portions of Kentucky south of us might not petition to be restored to central time as well, if we muster the political courage to take the lead on this. It may be that a sizable portion of their populations are as weary of abnormally late winter sunrises as many of us are.

I regret that the legislature did not explicitly address the time zone issue on a statewide basis when they passed the DST bill. I encourage others who share my dissatisfaction to petition their legislators to support a bill like SB 79 (tinyurl.com/792hw) in the forthcoming ten-week 2006 session, while the time zone boundaries in our state are still relatively malleable.

SB 79, filed by Senator Vic Heinold (R-Kouts), would require Governor Daniels to petition the U.S. DOT to locate all of Indiana in the central time zone. I have urged Senator Garton (who chairs the Committee on Rules and Legislative Procedure) to schedule a timely committee hearing for this bill. Even if the legislature simply passed a non-binding resolution of some sort, it would still provide valuable feedback and input to the DOT on a "sense of the legislature" on this issue.

SUNRISE ON JANUARY 4
====================
6:52am, Las Vegas NV
6:58am, Nashville TN
6:59am, Los Angeles CA
7:04am, Owensboro KY
7:06AM, FT WAYNE CST
7:06AM, INDY CST
7:07AM, EVANSVILLE CST
7:10AM, TERRE HAUTE CST
7:12AM, SOUTH BEND CST
7:14am, Boston MA
7:18am, Chicago IL
7:20am, New York NY
7:23am, Philadelphia PA
7:27am, Washington DC
7:37am, Kansas City MO
7:48am, Youngstown OH
=====================
8:06AM, FT WAYNE EST
8:06AM, INDY EST
8:07AM, EVANSVILLE EST
8:10AM, TERRE HAUTE EST
8:12AM, SOUTH BEND EST

Sincerely, Bill Starr
1421 N 475 E
COLUMBUS IN 47203-9380
Bartholomew County resident
GOP precinct committeeman
http://tinyurl.com/88nnw
Mon, 2 Jan 2006

cc: Indiana legislators, Governor Daniels, Mayor Stephen Luecke
cc: DOT Docket OST-2005-22114, RIN 2105-AD53, FR Refence Number: 70 FR 48460