There have been a number of submissions to the USDOT Time Zone docket that have been posted recently. They include:
1. A September 28, 2006 letter to Mark Shublak, Ice Miller attorney for the petitioning southwestern counties requesting certain technical items, particularly signature pages from the Boards of Commissioners for Daviess, Dubois, Knox, Martin, and Pike Counties.
2. A November 13, 2006 response (via overnight delivery — you’re paying extra Southwestern Indiana!) from Mark Shublak to Judy Kaleta including the requested materials. The letter notes that Dubois County Commissioner Randall Fleck abstained on their resolution.
3. A November 14, 2006 letter from Judy Kaleta to Mark Shublak with comments and concerns regarding the original petition. There was some prior discussion on that subject here.
4. A December 6, 2006 response to the USDOT letter of November 14, 2006. (This response leads off by saying the Jasper Wal-mart is not open 24 hours per day. Phillip has noted that this is factually incorrect. There are about 23 pages of other stuff to pick over in their response.)
5. A 70 page supplement to the letter of December 6, 2006.
I’m a little curious as to why it took so long to get this stuff posted to the docket.
Doug, I agree completely. There are several “interesting” points about this whole SW Indiana issue. So far, the DOT has not opened up a new docket number as it has for Pulaski County (OST-2006-26442).
If the DOT follows pattern, a new number will be isued with time for comments. As I’ve said in the past folks down in the effected areas should keep an eye on the docket and your posting saves them a great deal of time searching.
As I stated before state lawmakers Crooks,Battles,and Hume from the area say this whole thing is just a formality and the Joint Petition for Eastern time will be granted and take effect this Fall.No amount of evidence presented to support Central time including the DOTS own statements last year in the final ruling will matter.The lawmakers stated Eastern will be granted.
Phillip,
One thing that should be made clear is whether these reps predicted that DOT would return these counties to ET or whether they were sharing inside info. Suggestions that they actually know because they have been told in advance would really undermine the process.It’s never clear..
Lou,
I never got a good feel on this while watching the program.At one point I believe State Senator Hume stated in discussions this is what he heard.Discussions with whom was never stated.Hume being from Gibson county wants the region to stay Central as you would imagine.
Lou,
These lawmakers talked like it was a done deal,very matter of factly.So who knows.The local elected people predicted the switch back to Eastern was a done deal by January first and they didn’t know what they were talking about,so who knows.
I refer the readership of this blog to the following article.
http://cbs2chicago.com/indianawire/IN-XGR–StatehouseRdp_l_n_0in–/resources_news_html
(Excuse me if it’s been discussed already elsewhere.) While I don’t think that “convenience of commerce” is settled by a move back to Eastern Time, Mr. Crooks is running away from Central Time because it has lost popular support once people lived through it in the winter. The reality is that time zones, when they move, do so in a westerly direction and almost never in the reverse. If people’s daily activities actually centered around noon (sun time), it would make sense for this not to be true. Most people are, however, active 5 – 6 hours before noon, but 9 – 11 hours AFTER. Unless and until society changes, shifting an hour of daylight to the pre-noon hours–especially in winter–will tick off people not accustomed to it since they have to be active longer into the evening in the dark.
While some might be upset about long daylight this summer, just as many will be applauding it, I predict. While the Chamber of Commerce and others may be behind Eastern DST, I predict that any popular outrage may be simmering down, at least for now.