A good summary of the benefits of Central Time and the detriments of Eastern Time, particularly for the South Bend area is in a column by John Gaski, Notre Dame marketing professor.
I’d encourage those interested in the issue to read the whole thing. I think his ideas about the pros and cons are accurate, but I suspect he overstates the likely intensity of the public’s reaction to Eastern Daylight Time. But, maybe he knows better than I do, and maybe South Bend’s situation would make reaction more intense there.
He points out that Indiana’s geography puts it squarely in Central Time and, as a result, being on Eastern Time will deprive us of sleep both because of nature and because of things like the news not being finished until 11:30 (rather than 10:30). He also notes the very real potential of having the heat of the day stay with us until midnight.
Second, he points out the issue of kids waiting for school buses in the dark, a problem that will be aggravated by the federal extension of DST. Third, he argues that Chicago is far more important to South Bend than eastern time zone markets and that the nation’s business center of gravity is shifting westward. Finally, he predicts that Eastern time will “ignite a time civil war” in the area leading to pressure for informal local observance of central time in the manner that Southeastern counties currently observe DST in violation of the law.
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