TERRE HAUTE —
Resuming the time zone fight in Indiana
In the early 1770s, the American colonies were a simmering cauldron of grievances. On July 4, 1776, tolerance ran out and a formal statement of separation was unveiled.
The Declaration of Independence has guided our democratic form of government for 236 years with each new state incorporating the Declaration’s principles into its own frame of government. The Indiana Constitution echoes those principles in ARTICLE 1 of its Bill of Rights. “We declare, that all people are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that all power is inherent in the People; and that all free governments are, and of right ought to be, founded on their authority, and instituted for their peace, safety, and well-being.”
July 4 reminds us that from time to time constitutional benchmarks need to be checked to see if they are being met. Perhaps not, at least if we take seriously the requirement that governments have the responsibility for the safety and well-being of its citizens. Thousands of Hoosiers are currently signing petitions giving Eastern Time a big “F” for failure.
Having been switched from Indiana’s original Central Time Zone, Eastern means that sunrise is as late as 8:20 a.m. With school bus routes starting as early as 6:30 and schools starting before sunrise, the state is failing to safeguard the safety and educational well-being of Indiana’s 1.35 million school children. They constitute 20 percent of our population. Aren’t they entitled to safety and educational well-being or do they have to be voting age before these kick in?
On Central time the latest sunrise would be 7:20 a.m. and students, as well as commuters, would travel to and from school and work in daylight the majority of the year.
On July 4, it won’t get dark until 10 p.m. With our summers no longer on “Chicago Time” (i.e. Central Daylight Time), fireworks are at 10 p.m. instead of 9 p.m., bedtimes are a struggle, children are growing up without seeing stars and catching lightning bugs, and campfires have lost their magic.
Financially, Indiana suffers on Eastern Time because the permanent three-hour time lag with the West Coast is a deterrent to business interaction, as well as inconveniencing transportation and personal communications.
Several Indiana companies have moved their distribution/service centers to Memphis because their Central Time location is more conducive to delivery of products and services.
Indiana’s elected officials take an oath to support or constitution. Are they keeping their promise? Thousands of Hoosiers think they are not and have signed petitions in support of restoring Indiana to its original Central Time Zone. Petitions can be downloaded on www.hoosiersforcentraltime.com. Celebrate July 4t by joining fellow Hoosiers in letting our elected officials know that enough is enough.
— Sue Dillion, president
Central Time Coalition
Carmel
Elect a new set of ‘bums’ in D.C.
Have you noticed the difficulty in getting the dishes and clothes as clean as we did in the yesteryear?
Now that was a stupid question. Of course you have. If you suspect it is the fault of the Feds, go to the head of the class, you are right again.
On a theory, the so-called elites said, putting phosphate in soap was destroying our lakes and streams.
You should remember these are the same types that thought the earth was flat, the sun rotated around the earth, the moon was made of cheese and hummingbirds traveled on the backs of geese during their annual migration.
You know as well as I do that putting irrevocable power in the hands of the irresponsible has caused the loss of more jobs, lowered our standard of living, interfered with the constitutional right to the pursuit of happiness and our choice of choices.
What can we do?
Vote the bums out and hope the new bums are more receptive to helping the people rather than infringing on our lives.
— Sam Wallace
Casey, Ill.
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