Many Hoosiers want all of Indiana on Central Time

Website-provided image

​Dear Editor:

Indiana was shifted from its correct Central Time Zone to Eastern in the mid-1960s. However, the state did not experience a sunlight schedule change until 2006, when Eastern Daylight Saving Time was adopted. Two resolutions in the General Assembly (HCR 2 and SCR 11) call for an examination of the effect of Eastern's sunlight schedule on the well-being of Hoosiers.

Why is this important?

Being in the same time zone as New York is no longer important or even valid. In the meantime, statistics show that our current sunlight schedule is adversely affecting the well-being of Hoosiers:  

• Hoosiers are the eighth-most tired citizens in the U.S. 
•  Indiana teens have the second-highest suicide attempt rate of teens in the nation.

• We are the eighth-most obese and seventh-least physically fit.

• 55,000 students are chronic absentees each year, mostly due to truancy. Partly as a result of that, 630,000 adult Hoosiers do not have high school or GRE diplomas.

More than 28,000 Hoosiers and 51 public school boards have signed petitions to restore Indiana to its correct Central Time Zone. What would some of the major impacts be?

• The sun would rise and set one hour earlier.
• Indiana's counties would be reunited in the same time zone again.

• Students would travel to school in the safety of sunlight. Schools and teens could far more consistently meet the recommended 8:30 a.m. start time.
• Broadcasts of prime time programs and national events (NFL, NCAA, Olympics, etc.) would occur one hour earlier in the evening.

• July 4th fireworks could return to 9 p.m. Children could grow up seeing the stars and catching lightning bugs again.

Central Time is Indiana's correct time. It's a no-brainer.

Sincerely,

Susannah Dillon
President of Central Time Coalition
Carmel
Submitted to Indiana Central News by Jeff Cotrupe, Indianapolis.

For more information, see:  Hoosiers for Central Time http://www.hoosiersforcentraltime.org/