Indiana - Time (And Time) Again ...

by
Christine Arens, PTMAFA, NCGR-III

Back in April 2006 I wrote about the changes for observing time in the state of Indiana. The state had finally ‘settled’ time issues by mandating that all counties adhere to Daylight Saving Time effective April 2, 2006. Based on the economic, cultural and social ties of the county – commuter patterns and the sources of radio and television signals -- the U.S. Department of Transportation issued a ruling as to which counties would follow Eastern Time (most of the state), and which counties would follow Central Time (those areas in northwest and southwest Indiana). The ruling changed time keeping to the following:

CENTRAL TIME had been observed in the NORTHWEST INDIANA counties of Lake, Porter, LaPorte, Newton and Jasper for many years; these counties continued on Central Time and would “spring forward” for Daylight Time. New counties to Central Time were Starke and Pulaski; these counties moved from Eastern Time and did not change their clocks in April 2006 for the beginning of Central Daylight Time.

CENTRAL TIME had been observed in the SOUTHWEST INDIANA counties of Gibson, Posey, Vandenburg, Warrick, and Spencer for many years; these counties continued on Central Time and would “spring forward” for Daylight Time. New counties to Central Time were Daviess, Dubois, Knox, Martin, Perry and Pike; these counties moved from Eastern Time and did not change their clocks in April 2006 for the beginning of Central Daylight Time.

All other counties in Indiana remained on Eastern Time, and moved their clocks forward on April 2, 2006 to observe Daylight Time statewide. And so the problems of timekeeping in Indiana were finally settled… but…
In NORTHWEST INDIANA Pulaski county residents were not happy with their new designation, and petitioned the federal government to be returned to Eastern Time. So, EFFECTIVE MARCH 11, 2007 PULASKI COUNTY RETURNED TO EASTERN TIME. This meant that for Pulaski County only clocks would be MOVED FORWARD TWO HOURS to observe Eastern Daylight Time – one hour forward to return to Eastern Time, and a second hour forward to observe Daylight Saving Time.

Encouraged by Pulaski County’s success, in SOUTHWEST INDIANA Daviess, Dubois, Knox, Martin, Pike and Perry counties also petitioned to be returned to Eastern Time! Perry county was not successful in their petition, and will remain on Central Time. However, EFFECTIVE NOVEMBER 4, 2007 DAVIESS, DUBOIS, KNOX, MARTIN AND PIKE COUNTIES WILL RETURN TO EASTERN TIME. This means these counties WILL NOT CHANGE THEIR CLOCKS with the end of Daylight Time. (Remember, that Central Daylight Time is the same as Eastern Standard Time.)
One would think that timekeeping is really a local issue, under the jurisdiction of the state and federal governments. But for those individuals who use computers – which have Daylight Time features ‘built in’ – these adjustments will need to be made manually. And for those of us who are astrologers, we will need to verify that our astrological software is correctly identifying both the Time Zone and Daylight Time!

Remember that the Indiana state law requires observance of Daylight Saving Time for all counties. However, we will need to make sure that we are using the correct Time Zone for observing Daylight Time – on a county-by-county basis!
The original state mandate that started this mess was really meant to end the mess of how timekeeping was observed in Indiana. It has taken nearly two years for us to get to this (hopefully) now settled arrangement. But considering the emotional response of the residents in these various counties, it will probably take another two years to see if these Time Zone arrangements finally ‘stick’!!