Jasper Time Zone Hearings - A Citizen's Guide to Indiana

Stories in the Indianapolis Star and the Evansville Courier Press covering the Jasper story. (And, might I add, kudos to Mary Beth Schneider for covering all of these – I’m about as interested as a person gets about this issue, but even I wouldn’t care to sit through all of these hearings. The basic arguments remain the same, regardless of which part of the state you’re in.)

Mary Beth Schneider for the Indianapolis Star – Hoosiers: Don’t let time zones slice up state. John Burger, a Dubois County Commissioner got big applause for suggesting “Maybe Marion County should be the county that changes,” Burger said Wednesday night at the third of four federal hearings on Indiana’s time zone boundary.” If Marion County switched to Central time, Burger said, he expected the rest of the state would fall in line because “geographically, Indiana is in the Central time zone.” I happen to agree with him, and, besides, it’s good politics. I don’t think you’re ever going to lose a vote in Dubois County (or anywhere else outside of Central Indiana) by bashing Marion County a little bit. There were apparently about 200 people at this hearing, as opposed to about 70 in Logansport and 50 in Terre Haute. Once again, the theme seems to have been that Hoosiers don’t see this as a county-by-county issue. They see it as a state issue. The commissioners of Dubois County came out in favor of Central Time while the mayor of Jasper, in large part because of the urging of Kimball International, was in favor of Eastern Time. Representative Crooks “asked that the federal government delay making a final decision, saying he will try to have the legislature revisit the issue in the spring. He wants a statewide referendum on whether all, or most, of Indiana should move to Central time.”

Byron Rohrig for the Evansville Courier Press – Time Issue Dividing Dubois: Community, businesses, government split on Central, Eastern zone decision. On the issue of the split between the Dubois County Commissioners and the mayor of Jasper, I was amused to find the Courier Press describe Jasper mayor William Schmitt as “nervously” supporting Eastern Time. (As if Central Time proponents are a torch & pitchfork wielding mob.)

Burger said county residents had backed Central time by a 4-1 margin in a September local hearing, and that 81 percent of commuters into or out of Dubois County travel either from or into the Central time zone county. Illustrating the county’s orientation toward Evansville rather than Indianapolis and other Eastern time zone locations, Burger cited newspaper circulation statistics: The Evansville Courier & Press sells 2,376 daily papers and 4,944 Sunday papers in the county, compared with 265 dailies and 345 Sundays for the Indianapolis Star. “Evansville is by far where we get our information from,” he said.

Judy Colletta, moderator for the Department of Transportation, pushed speakers from counties outside of Dubois – they were numerous – to declare whether they would support Central time if Dubois remained on Eastern time. “That’s a loaded question,” exclaimed a man in the back of Jasper Arts Center. “That’s not the point. She doesn’t know the local issues.”

Those words still hung in the air when Spencer County Commissioners President Dan Rininger got a rise from fellow Central-time supporters, saying: “We’re dropping like flies over what happens to Dubois County. Being on the same time is the right thing to do.” Arguing the area geographically belonged in the Central zone, he added: “Someone years and years ago named us Midwesterners, not Mideasterners.”

Indiana Chamber of Commerce representative Brian Bergsma was on hand.

Brian E. Bergsma, said 65 of the 82 counties that could have petitioned for a change to Central did not do so. “We have not heard here any mention of anything to the North,” Bergsma added, including Indiana University. “It’s almost as if the state of Indiana ends where this petition process ends (in Southwestern Indiana) – and that is not true.”

Frankly, I’m having difficulty parsing that quote, so it could be that some important context is missing from what he actually said. But, in any event, I suppose that is ignoring counties like Orange and Greene where the issue was considered, but narrowly rejected. Or counties like Tippecanoe where the commissioners wanted to take a “wait and see” approach, noting that the petition process for changing time zones is always available. Even more than that, it’s to be expected. Why would counties like Bartholomew and Jennings even bother considering the matter when they know 6 to 12 counties to the west of them would have to change before they even get a shot at it? If Representative Crooks gets his referendum (I’m not holding my breath), then we would see what the true sentiment of these non-petitioning counties is like.

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