WSBT is reporting that Pulaski will continue with its plans to go renegade and observe Eastern Time despite placement by the USDOT in Central time. I’m paraphrasing of course. The WSBT story is short, so I’ll post it below:
Pulaski County says it will continue with its plans to make Eastern
Time the official time in the county. The federal government says it is
reviewing the county’s request to be put on Eastern time, not Central.But
it says the county’s plans would be a violation of federal law. The
county says the intent wasn’t to defy the federal government, but to
make things easier for citizens.County leaders do say federal
offices, such as the post office, will have to run on Central Time in April and the May Primary Election in the county will be run on Central
Time.
Hey, if Governor Daniels can break the law by opposing St. Joseph County’s petition to be on Central Time when the State was required to support such a petition, I guess Pulaski County can follow his scofflaw example.
It reminds me of a (very small) replay of the South Carolina nullification controversy during Jackson’s presidency. Has anyone checked on the status of Pulaski County’s militia?
Why was it okay for a few southeastern Indiana counties to violate the law and go on DST for years when they were not supposed to? USDOT must not have cared too much about that.
I think it was a case of benign neglect by the USDOT. In the first place, Indiana was kind of “funny” about time anyway. And in the second place, the southeastern counties were sort of doing what USDOT would have probably preferred for the whole state, namely observing DST. I imagine if the situation had been reversed with the rest of the state observing DST and the southeastern counties not observing DST, there would have been some repercussions. Just a guess.
If Hoosiers want to get some perspective why out-of-staters find the Indiana time issue amusing,just read the Washinton Time Herald( from Washington,Daviess county). A couple commissioners for Martin and Daviess county want to lead an effort to get as many as FIVE counties in SW to re-petitionn USDOT as a group to be permitted to go back to ET.It’s doubtful this will be successful,but the effort itself is the issue.The only left out county would be Pike which also was granted CT by USDOT . Then we add to this Pulaski County,still threatening to use home rule to go back to ET.It makes a lot of chuckles for the rest of the country ( if they care). There’s much more to this than ‘Daniels screwed it up’ ( even if he did).And we have to remember all this before any county has actually had to impliment any changes!
Doug, I agree with you. My question was mainly rhetorical. I also think that USDOT does not want to revisit the decision to put Indiana in the eastern time zone when it really belongs in central.
I really don’t care about what other people thought about that Indiana’s former time zones and the choice not to observe DST for the vast majority of the state that was in the Eastern time zone. I’ve heard quite enough about that over the years. The amusement was mainly from people who did not understand the time zone/DST issue in Indiana. Most didn’t *try* to understand it. All they did was paint Hoosiers as those backward people who don’t want to observe DST–as if there was no reason for the decision. Just because newspaper articles, the Chamber of Commerce, and politicians said that Indiana was in a time warp, the twilight zone, etc., did not make it true.
“Just because newspaper articles, the Chamber of Commerce, and politicians said that Indiana was in a time warp, the twilight zone, etc., did not make it true.”
No, but it is true, at least for those who work with people out of state. I think there are a number of people in Indiana who don’t have to work with people out of state, at least for setting up phone or Internet meetings. If you are part of that group, I can understand where it might be hard to understand how everyone else can be so thoughtless on how to figure Indiana time.
However, I have yet to hear from someone who does have meetings like that fequently and has not missed meetings and wasted time on something so silly.
*Again, I think DST should be banned nationally. See other comments.
For those of you that don’t live down here in Daviess County – No one dreamed the county would ask for Central. Now in the last two meetings 180+ folks voted for Eastern while 11 voted for Central. A telephone survey done by the Odon Journal reported 115 folks for Eastern with 3 for Central. A survey signed by 350+ folks from Odon and Elnora was submitted to the county commisioners voting for Eastern. When county commisioner Steve Myrers was asked why public meetings weren’t held prior to the commisioners asked for Central, he replied meetings were not needed as 4 people called him and asked for Central. It’s quite apparent Eastern is by far the preferred time zone, I predict the time zone issue will cost those who voted for it and I’m guessing Troy Woodruff won’t be seen as a State rep after the next election.
I dont think either CT or ET is the preferred time. People just want to be on SAME time,but I personally think there is NO WAY Indiana will ever live without a time zone line somewhere inside.But the goal should be to have as few counties as absolutely necessary on one time and as many counties as possible on the other.Probably where the time zone was for 30 years is the best place..it was tried and true,and CDT maybe is irrelevant to time zone choice,but everyone is tired of discussing it at this point,so lets just see whats going to happen when time ‘goes ahead’ soon.
But no one would have predicted all the counties re-considering their being granted CT, just as they petitioned for.It’s as if any action is hopeless.
Jason:
I have said in many previous DST posts that I live in a county that borders the state of Ohio. I have also stated in other posts that I have worked in places where I had to deal with people from all over the country. I never had a problem telling them what time it was in Indiana. Most of them had no problems with the time issue either.
People in this area of the state receive much of our radio and TV from Ohio, so in the previous non-DST way of live we left the
state every day whenever we turned on the radio or TV. Furthermore, many people here travel to and from Ohio to do business, shop, etc. I can assure you that setting up meetings, figuring out when to pick someone up from the Dayton or Cincinnati airport, and going to Ohio for shopping, eating out, sports events, etc.
were not difficult for the vast majority of the people who had to deal with Indiana not going on DST every day for over half the year for 30-plus years.
Sorry if you don’t understand that some people dealt with the so-called “time warp” very well. People here had few if any problems setting up conference calls that require participation of people in different time zones. I knew in March, if I had to set up a meeting or conference call that would take place in May what time Indiana would be on relative to the rest of the country. Other people here adjusted quite well when the most of the rest of the country went on DST. My brother-in-law, to name one person I know–but certainly not the only one–works in a family business that has both Indiana and Ohio customers. Their business requires them to travel back and forth across the state line all the time andto call contractors who are out-of-state in various time zones. Yet they didn’t have problems figuring out when to be somewhere, when to make a call, etc. Many people where I live laugh when we hear about all the problems that businesses supposedly had because Indiana was not on DST. I’m not saying those problems were nonexistent, but I do believe they were overhyped by newspapers, the Chamber of Commerce, and other entities that wanted to sell the idea that DST was right for Indiana.
Sorry if this post sounds harsh, but all the years when my hometown newspaper was running so-called news stories about the “confusion” over Indiana’s time, I wished they had chosen to talk to one or two of the thousands of people in my county and the surrounding counties who didn’t have problems with Indiana’s supposed “time warp.” There was no balance in those stories at all. The newspaper always chose people who couldn’t deal when Ohio went on DST, thus making it appear that *no one* could adjust. Frankly, it has been refreshing to me to come to Masson’s blog and hear that people all over the state are not happy about going on DST nor with how the governor “handled” the issue.
I don’t mean to offend you, Jason, but you are not about to convince me (or Doug, who is from my county) that DST is so wonderful for Indiana just because much of the country goes on it or some people missed some conference calls. I would not have a problem with Indiana going on DST if the entire state were moved into the central time zone, which is where it belongs. I don’t buy all those Chamber of Commerce arguments in favor of DST for a minute, but it would make sense for Indiana if the state were in the proper time zone to begin with.
It is a bit different when dealing with people in a nearby state and those 1000 miles away. I am sure some people where able to deal with it, and I do know some who were.
However, the farther you get from Indiana, the chance that they would know what time it is in Indiana would approach (but not touch) zero.
Jason: I never said that people in this part of the state *only* dealt with people in Ohio. In the previous post, which was admittedly a little rambling because I could not edit it properly, and in several other posts on the topic I have said that we deal with people in Ohio *and* with people all over the country. Frankly, it doesn’t matter whether the people were in Ohio or California. People here dealt with not going on DST all the time with few if any problems. Sorry if you don’t believe that or don’t understand that. I live here and have lived here most of my life, so I know what happened.
Anyone in Indiana or elsewhere who couldn’t figure out that most of Indiana was on the same time as Chicago for part of the year, and the same time as NY for the remainder when making appointments, conference calls, deliveries, etc., shouldn’t have been in business in the first place. Time zone maps are readily available on the internet, in telephone books, in dayplanners, etc. There really isn’t much excuse for not knowing what time it is anywhere for anyone who has to deal with multiple time zones as part of his or her job.
I believe that the people you have talked to dealt with that fine.
I have lived in Indiana my whole life, so I also know what happened for me.
And I agree, maybe those people should not be in business, and it was a sucky excuse for missing a meeting.
However, it does not change the fact that I along with many others that I have talked to have had consistant issues with others out of state getting it wrong and wasting out time. It was hours each week since the people I delt with changed. It also did not matter how many times I explained it.
I hear what you’re saying. In your area, you did not notice much problem. I’m telling you that I and many others I have talked to did. We could try to add up names to see who knows more people or figure out some way to see who has it more right, but that’s a little pointless now.
My main point all along was to point out why papers were “running so-called news stories about the “confusion†over Indiana’s time”. They likely were dealing with the same people I was, and from their seat, it feels like *everyone*.
No, my local paper was dealing with local people. Furthermore, they are supposed to have balanced stories, not simply use their news stories as ways to prop up their editorials.
I’m not going to beat this to death anymore. Let’s just say we agree on some things and disagree on others. :)