Indiana Time Zone Fight

[cornbelt]

There was a story tonight from the AP through Yahoo regarding the current fight over the time zone situation in the state of Indiana. In accordance with board rules, I'll just provide the link to the story:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050916/ap_on_re_us/indiana_time_fight

(Accessed 9:05pm CDT, 9/16/05)

The reason I bring it up... It mentions that a factor in the request for zoning by county includes, "where the television and radio signals it (the county) receives originate." Also, when I was working within the state, it was a dilemma to decide whether to time shift any syndicated programming and keep it at the same time locally (could be a royal pain in the ass, and then was not "live" anymore), or whether to change the local time the program came on, when still run "live." Any thoughts on this?

From talking to many of the people I knew, co-workers and non-co-workers, who grew up and lived in IN for a long time, any proposal to actually adopt "daylight savings time" was a touchy subject, it was almost "a badge of pride" to not do it. What do you think about the proposal? The way it is being handled? The effect on broadcasting in the state? The effect on your station? Natives or non-natives, does that effect your view on this?

Just curious.

CB


<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by cornbelt on 09/17/05 02:22 AM.</FONT></P>

 

[kilowatt]

It's always been good to be on the same time year round. The move to change it has an agenda but no real cost savings or reason for the change has been explained.

"Change time and New York Business will come."

For years Norm Beatty (ex WIBC chief) fought this talk as it would mean WIBC would be on night pattern more during drive time.

For years stations here have tape delayed programs to allow palcement 6-10am. Many national shows already do this for you. A repeat of the show, after the show. Join during hour 2, bail at hour 2.

Why not put the whole country on the same time zone so we don't loose the highly lucrative Alaskan business?

> There was a story tonight from the AP through Yahoo
> regarding the current fight over the time zone situation in
> the state of Indiana. In accordance with board rules, I'll
> just provide the link to the story:
>
http:/> /news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050916/ap_on_re_us/indiana_time_fight
>
>
> (Accessed 9:05pm CDT, 9/16/05)
>
> The reason I bring it up... It mentions that a factor in the
> request for zoning by county includes, "where the television
> and radio signals it (the county) receives originate."
> Also, when I was working within the state, it was a dilemma
> to decide whether to time shift any syndicated programming
> and keep it at the same time locally (could be a royal pain
> in the ass, and then was not "live" anymore), or whether to
> change the local time the program came on, when still run
> "live." Any thoughts on this?
>
> From talking to many of the people I knew, co-workers and
> non-co-workers, who grew up and lived in IN for a long time,
> any proposal to actually adopt "daylight savings time" was a
> touchy subject, it was almost "a badge of pride" to not do
> it. What do you think about the proposal? The way it is
> being handled? The effect on broadcasting in the state?
> The effect on your station? Natives or non-natives, does
> that effect your view on this?
>
> Just curious.
>
> CB
>

 

[jcurtis]

There is a standard for time in the United States. From late Spring to early Fall, that standard is Daylight Saving Time. Debates about agendas or kids going to school in the dark or whether people will go to drive in movies because it won't be dark enough are so much hot air. The best reason to be on Daylight Saving Time is that everyone else is. It is the standard. Indiana has declared itself to be outside of the standard. No different than if the legislators had declared that here, in our state, a dollar is 85 cents or that a foot is 14 inches. The local rationale doesn't matter; we're out of step.
And, to make it worse, we're out of step right in the middle of the country. We're the Crossroads of America. But, nobody can cross without first figuring out what time it is. Hawaii literally is an island unto itself; they can do what they want. We're in the center of the whole show. Except, here, curtain time is always an hour off.


> It's always been good to be on the same time year round. The
> move to change it has an agenda but no real cost savings or
> reason for the change has been explained.
>
> "Change time and New York Business will come."
>
> For years Norm Beatty (ex WIBC chief) fought this talk as it
> would mean WIBC would be on night pattern more during drive
> time.
>
> For years stations here have tape delayed programs to allow
> palcement 6-10am. Many national shows already do this for
> you. A repeat of the show, after the show. Join during hour
> 2, bail at hour 2.
>
> Why not put the whole country on the same time zone so we
> don't loose the highly lucrative Alaskan business?
>
> > There was a story tonight from the AP through Yahoo
> > regarding the current fight over the time zone situation
> in
> > the state of Indiana. In accordance with board rules,
> I'll
> > just provide the link to the story:
> >
> http:/>
> /news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050916/ap_on_re_us/indiana_time_fight
>
> >
> >
> > (Accessed 9:05pm CDT, 9/16/05)
> >
> > The reason I bring it up... It mentions that a factor in
> the
> > request for zoning by county includes, "where the
> television
> > and radio signals it (the county) receives originate."
> > Also, when I was working within the state, it was a
> dilemma
> > to decide whether to time shift any syndicated programming
>
> > and keep it at the same time locally (could be a royal
> pain
> > in the ass, and then was not "live" anymore), or whether
> to
> > change the local time the program came on, when still run
> > "live." Any thoughts on this?
> >
> > From talking to many of the people I knew, co-workers and
> > non-co-workers, who grew up and lived in IN for a long
> time,
> > any proposal to actually adopt "daylight savings time" was
> a
> > touchy subject, it was almost "a badge of pride" to not do
>
> > it. What do you think about the proposal? The way it is
> > being handled? The effect on broadcasting in the state?
> > The effect on your station? Natives or non-natives, does
> > that effect your view on this?
> >
> > Just curious.
> >
> > CB
> >
>

 

[William_Yeager]

There are stations in the Louisville market that are licensed to the part of Indiana that doesn't observe DST, such as WZKF-FM in Salem (although the tower is in one of the counties that does). In light of the localism initiatives, it seems suspect that everything on the station reflects daylight time (such as the Interactive 8 @ 8), even though the station is licensed to a community that observes standard time-I'm sure that Clear Channel Louisville wouldn't mind going to DST.

K-Love (WJLR 91.5) would be indifferent since everything they announce is done as Central/Pacific.<P ID="signature">______________

</P>

 

[gr8oldies]

From my time in Indiana, I alsways thought it was amazing how anytime the subject of DST came up, it would be argued more vehemently than abortion or gun control. There are areas in Michigan that are further west than parts of Indiana, so the "it stays light too late" argument doesn't hold. Not to mention, with the delay of TV programs on most network affiliates, all the network shows air at the same time as Mountain Time. (Friend from St. Louis calls about "Survivor"..you gotta say "don't tell me, its just coming on"). I don't know how much the county-by-county checkerboard makes sense..I can see the NW Indiana counties that actually have ties to Chicago (as opposed to counties where every resident has been to a Cubs game once)staying on Central. maybe South Bend, certainly not Ft. Wayne or Lafayette. White County would be a little iffy..but probably more people there have appointments or shopping in Lafayette than Rensselear.
<P ID="signature">______________
Greetings from Ohio-where the governor wants everyone to know he's sorry.</P>

 

[bigtime]

If you've ever spent time in Evansville on a cloudy December afternoon you know how depressing central time can be on the far eastern edge of that zone. It gets dark as early as 3:30p on a cloudy day there. Aren't some schools just ending their sessions about that time? Indianapolis is even further east. There is no perfect answer for a state right on the edges of two zones, but far more people benefit from later sunsets than 5am sunrises.


> There is a standard for time in the United States. From
> late Spring to early Fall, that standard is Daylight Saving
> Time. Debates about agendas or kids going to school in the
> dark or whether people will go to drive in movies because it
> won't be dark enough are so much hot air. The best reason
> to be on Daylight Saving Time is that everyone else is. It
> is the standard. Indiana has declared itself to be outside
> of the standard. No different than if the legislators had
> declared that here, in our state, a dollar is 85 cents or
> that a foot is 14 inches. The local rationale doesn't
> matter; we're out of step.
> And, to make it worse, we're out of step right in the middle
> of the country. We're the Crossroads of America. But,
> nobody can cross without first figuring out what time it is.
> Hawaii literally is an island unto itself; they can do what
> they want. We're in the center of the whole show. Except,
> here, curtain time is always an hour off.
>
>
> > It's always been good to be on the same time year round.
> The
> > move to change it has an agenda but no real cost savings
> or
> > reason for the change has been explained.
> >
> > "Change time and New York Business will come."
> >
> > For years Norm Beatty (ex WIBC chief) fought this talk as
> it
> > would mean WIBC would be on night pattern more during
> drive
> > time.
> >
> > For years stations here have tape delayed programs to
> allow
> > palcement 6-10am. Many national shows already do this for
> > you. A repeat of the show, after the show. Join during
> hour
> > 2, bail at hour 2.
> >
> > Why not put the whole country on the same time zone so we
> > don't loose the highly lucrative Alaskan business?
> >
> > > There was a story tonight from the AP through Yahoo
> > > regarding the current fight over the time zone situation
>
> > in
> > > the state of Indiana. In accordance with board rules,
> > I'll
> > > just provide the link to the story:
> > >
> > http:/>
> >
> /news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050916/ap_on_re_us/indiana_time_fight
>
> >
> > >
> > >
> > > (Accessed 9:05pm CDT, 9/16/05)
> > >
> > > The reason I bring it up... It mentions that a factor in
>
> > the
> > > request for zoning by county includes, "where the
> > television
> > > and radio signals it (the county) receives originate."
> > > Also, when I was working within the state, it was a
> > dilemma
> > > to decide whether to time shift any syndicated
> programming
> >
> > > and keep it at the same time locally (could be a royal
> > pain
> > > in the ass, and then was not "live" anymore), or whether
>
> > to
> > > change the local time the program came on, when still
> run
> > > "live." Any thoughts on this?
> > >
> > > From talking to many of the people I knew, co-workers
> and
> > > non-co-workers, who grew up and lived in IN for a long
> > time,
> > > any proposal to actually adopt "daylight savings time"
> was
> > a
> > > touchy subject, it was almost "a badge of pride" to not
> do
> >
> > > it. What do you think about the proposal? The way it
> is
> > > being handled? The effect on broadcasting in the state?
>
> > > The effect on your station? Natives or non-natives,
> does
> > > that effect your view on this?
> > >
> > > Just curious.
> > >
> > > CB
> > >
> >
>

 

[indifm]

Poor Terre Haute... they chose to stay with Indianapolis on Eastern Time, but counties to the North, West and South are going to be on Central Time. I feel bad for Vigo County. In my opinion... this whole thing is a complete mess! I'm for DST but so far it's completely unorganized.

 

[magicmk]

> There is a standard for time in the United States. From
> late Spring to early Fall, that standard is Daylight Saving
> Time. Debates about agendas or kids going to school in the
> dark or whether people will go to drive in movies because it
> won't be dark enough are so much hot air. The best reason
> to be on Daylight Saving Time is that everyone else is. It
> is the standard. Indiana has declared itself to be outside
> of the standard. No different than if the legislators had
> declared that here, in our state, a dollar is 85 cents or
> that a foot is 14 inches. The local rationale doesn't
> matter; we're out of step.
> And, to make it worse, we're out of step right in the middle
> of the country. We're the Crossroads of America. But,
> nobody can cross without first figuring out what time it is.
> Hawaii literally is an island unto itself; they can do what
> they want. We're in the center of the whole show. Except,
> here, curtain time is always an hour off.
>
>

Right on. There are areas in Indiana that observe time THREE different ways. That's absurd. Wait, no.... that's asinine. NW Indiana, by virtue of being in the Central timezone and part of metro Chicago, as we all know, observes CST and CDT year round. Downstate, there are a couple of counties (I don't remember names offhand) that observe EST and EDT next to Cincinnati. Everyone else observes EST in winter, EST in summer. Most outsiders are usually lost by now. (God forbid, imagine the mess if some of the counties in the Central time zone of Indiana didn't observe DST!) It's a particularly touchy issue here where I live, because I'm in the South Bend/Elkhart area, and it's entirely possible that two of Indiana's larger adjacent counties could wind up in separate time zones.

Any broadcaster who carries programming via satellite knows what a hassle the time changes can be. I've seen some radio stations try to cope by "time shifting" the programming with tape delays and such, and sometimes it fails miserably. I remember listening to a live call-in show on NPR once, a listener (not knowing the show had been tape delayed by one hour) called from Indiana to answer a trivia question... that had been broadcast the hour before. The host asked the listener if his radio had fallen through some sort of time warp. And of course, this was in the middle of a fundraising week for the local station, so it was a modest black eye for them... the local air host had to get on air following the show and explain that even though it was live, it had been tape delayed (why you'd want to go to the trouble of tape delaying a live, interactive radio show, I haven't a clue).

At any rate, if this was an issue that was dividing the country, I'd give the debate some merit. It's not. We're 30 years behind the times, and the "it's a hassle and I'm too lazy to correct my clocks" argument doesn't hold up anymore.

 

[magicmk]

> Poor Terre Haute... they chose to stay with Indianapolis on
> Eastern Time, but counties to the North, West and South are
> going to be on Central Time. I feel bad for Vigo County. In
> my opinion... this whole thing is a complete mess! I'm for
> DST but so far it's completely unorganized.
>

We have the federal DOT to thank for that. Had it been organized on a regional basis (as everyone at the local and state levels had anticipated), rather than a county-by-county basis, there would not have been all of this fragmentation. I can't blame some of the people for wondering if the DST push was the right thing to do now, or not... personally I'm still in favor of it, hopefully things will sort themselves out appropriately.

 

[wd45]

I would just like to say that as a Hoosier native who spent the first 38 years of his life, there.....I'm sooooooooo glad to be out of there!!!!!!

I took my daughter to the pediatrition, a couple of days ago, and as soon as he heard that I was from Indiana, the first thing he asked...."what's up with that time zone thing?" He had just read an article about what was happening (perhaps the same one as the link) and thought that it was the craziest thing. And he's not alone; I've heard similar opinions from others, as well. It's really rather embarrassing for the Hoosier state.

Just go to DST and be done with it. Let the counties around Chicago stay on Central, and move on to more important issues. Only in Indiana is the time a major issue. Economically, from all I've read, it makes sense for Indiana to be on DST, and as for the argument that Farm Bureau has always used about it affecting the amount of time farmers have to work the fields, that's just rubbish. Whether the clock says 5a or 6a when the sun rises on a particular day, you are still going to have the exact same amount of daylight. Plus, I've yet to meet a farmer who only worked 9 to 5. Especially in busy seasons, it's not unusual to see them in the fields at midnight or later and I fail to see where switching to DST will affect farmers. And I say that as someone who grew up on a farm and who's family still farms.

The fact that the time zone is even an issue, exposes a deeper rooted problem within the Hoosier state, and that is the prevailing spirit that says "We've always done it this way" or "It was good enough 50 years ago, it's good enough today". Well the fact is, times change, even in Indiana, and "we've always done it this way", just isn't a good reason not to change. Granted, change isn't always for the best, but sometimes it can be. But this spirit or attitude still dominates Hoosier thinking, and because of it, things that shouldn't really be a major issue like time zones, does indeed become one.



> > Poor Terre Haute... they chose to stay with Indianapolis
> on
> > Eastern Time, but counties to the North, West and South
> are
> > going to be on Central Time. I feel bad for Vigo County.
> In
> > my opinion... this whole thing is a complete mess! I'm for
>
> > DST but so far it's completely unorganized.
> >
>
> We have the federal DOT to thank for that. Had it been
> organized on a regional basis (as everyone at the local and
> state levels had anticipated), rather than a
> county-by-county basis, there would not have been all of
> this fragmentation. I can't blame some of the people for
> wondering if the DST push was the right thing to do now, or
> not... personally I'm still in favor of it, hopefully things
> will sort themselves out appropriately.
>

 

[xmtrucker]

> rather embarrassing for the Hoosier state.
>
> Just go to DST and be done with it. Let the counties around
> Chicago stay on Central, and move on to more important

My idea..the two counties (going west to east) from the Illinois boarder go CDT. The rest go EDT. That way, Evansville, Terre Haute and Gary will be on Central Time, while the rest go Eastern.

I cannot understand why South Bend and St Joseph county would want to be on CDT, but if I were dictator, I would just say, SORRY! You have to have some sort of order, and the whole county by county argument blows!!

 

[MightyFrenchman]

Indiana is geographically located in the Central Time Zone. Indiana should be on Central Time, not Eastern Time.

 

[jcurtis]

Consider this: the earth is divided into 24 time zones of roughly equal size, to represent the time it takes for the planet to rotate one hour. In the summer months the sun rises in Indianapolis about 50 minutes after it rises in New York City; in Chicago about 55 minutes after NYC. The Federal Government got it just about right by placing the Eastern/Central time zone divider at the Indiana/Illinois line. Everything East of the Western shore of Lake Michigan ought to be in the Eastern time zone. Moving the line East to the Indiana/Ohio border might be good for the Hoosier farmers, but it puts the time zone divider in the wrong place, at 40 to 45 minutes away from New York. The formula doesn't work as well.

Not everyone can be in the middle of the time zone. Somebody has to be at the Western edge and that somebody, in this case, is us. Not because of politics but rather because Vermillion County is about an hour away from New York as the earth turns. It's not preferences. It's physics.

Once the divider between Eastern and Central is established, then we should do what every one of the other states in the Eastern time zone does: observe Daylight Saving Time.

 

[Apollo79]

> Consider this: the earth is divided into 24 time zones of
> roughly equal size, to represent the time it takes for the
> planet to rotate one hour. In the summer months the sun
> rises in Indianapolis about 50 minutes after it rises in New
> York City; in Chicago about 55 minutes after NYC. The
> Federal Government got it just about right by placing the
> Eastern/Central time zone divider at the Indiana/Illinois
> line. Everything East of the Western shore of Lake Michigan
> ought to be in the Eastern time zone. Moving the line East
> to the Indiana/Ohio border might be good for the Hoosier
> farmers, but it puts the time zone divider in the wrong
> place, at 40 to 45 minutes away from New York. The formula
> doesn't work as well.
>
> Not everyone can be in the middle of the time zone.
> Somebody has to be at the Western edge and that somebody, in
> this case, is us. Not because of politics but rather
> because Vermillion County is about an hour away from New
> York as the earth turns. It's not preferences. It's
> physics.
>
> Once the divider between Eastern and Central is established,
> then we should do what every one of the other states in the
> Eastern time zone does: observe Daylight Saving Time.
>

There is really not a satisfactory answer for the masses with this issue. Many Hoosiers are very stubborn when it comes to time---more than they really should be. Like other posters have said, you still get the same exact amount of sunlight no matter what time zone you're in and not observing the same methods of time as the rest of the nation affects business, travel, and your state's overall reputation. I personally think daylight savings time is strange anyway. It's something that was useful for the farmers back when they could only do their work during daylight hours (oddly enough in Indiana, farmers were the ones who resisted DST the most over the years). In today's world, DST is really useless, BUT if the rest of the country does it, Indiana must to stay in step with the rest of the country and observe it.

As far as time zones go, the Department of Transportation should have looked at where the majority of the people in the boarderline counties buy goods and services, go for general entertainment, etc. Business should also be factored in somewhere as well. If more is done with a community in the Central time zone, that county should go Central. If more is done in the Eastern time zone, it should go Eastern. For example, the Indiana counties around the Danville, IL area (Warren and Vermillion counties) should go Central---the same with some of the Eastern counties around Evansville. Counties such as White, Carroll, and Benton are a toss-up. I think if Lafayette-Tippecanoe county stays Eastern, those counties should stay as well. What baffles me is why Saint Joseph county wants to go Central? I understand that there is a Chicago influence in South Bend, but they will always be an hour behind their suburbs in Michigan and Elkhart county. That's also bad for business, not to mention as confusing as can be for someone visiting the South Bend-Elkhart-Niles metro. Hopefully, the US DOT figures out a reasonable solution for this mess. Honestly, it should have never gone this far to begin with. It amazes me how Indiana can turn something as simple as daylight savings time into an absolute mess.

 

[jimbo700]

> There is a standard for time in the United States. From
> late Spring to early Fall, that standard is Daylight Saving
> Time. Debates about agendas or kids going to school in the
> dark or whether people will go to drive in movies because it
> won't be dark enough are so much hot air. The best reason
> to be on Daylight Saving Time is that everyone else is. It
> is the standard. Indiana has declared itself to be outside
> of the standard. No different than if the legislators had
> declared that here, in our state, a dollar is 85 cents or
> that a foot is 14 inches. The local rationale doesn't
> matter; we're out of step.

If everybody else jumped off the bridge.... forget it.
There is a reason that Indiana, Arizona and portions of Hawaii decided to exempt themselves from Daylight Saving Time. All 3 states are at the far western fringe of their time zones, and observing DST would result in weirdness such as drive-in theatres having to wait until 10PM to start movies in June and July, fireworks displays also shared that fate and for reason it just seemed 'un-natural for it to be daylight at 9:30 in the evening.
On the other hand moving to the Central time zone and observing DST would result in weirdness such as sunset at 4:15 during December and January (Chicago daytimers sign off at 4:15 in December). The only sensible thing to do was to remain in the Eastern time zone and not observe DST.
Now that we are positively going to switch to DST, it doesn't matter which time zone we're in. Something is going to be un-natural and weird.

 

[Wazzie]

Here's a thought... use US 31 to split the state in half. Of course, it would cause mass confusion in South Bend, Kokomo, Indy & Falls River area... but what the heck. Union City, Indiana & Union City, Ohio has been dealing with it for many years now. (I never did understand the whole "fast time/slow time" thing).

When I working in Indiana, it was a pain talking to reps on either coast. Having to explain over and over again about Indiana's unique time zone.

JCurtis has it right. It's all about science and physics. And even though the Bush administration doesn't believe in either, the state of Indiana should just take the plunge and stick with DST.
<P ID="signature">______________
[email protected]</P>

 

[KlunkLetter]

> From my time in Indiana, I alsways thought it was amazing
> how anytime the subject of DST came up, it would be argued
> more vehemently than abortion or gun control. There are
> areas in Michigan that are further west than parts of
> Indiana, so the "it stays light too late" argument doesn't
> hold. Not to mention, with the delay of TV programs on most
> network affiliates, all the network shows air at the same
> time as Mountain Time. (Friend from St. Louis calls about
> "Survivor"..you gotta say "don't tell me, its just coming
> on"). I don't know how much the county-by-county
> checkerboard makes sense..I can see the NW Indiana counties
> that actually have ties to Chicago (as opposed to counties
> where every resident has been to a Cubs game once)staying on
> Central. maybe South Bend, certainly not Ft. Wayne or
> Lafayette. White County would be a little iffy..but probably
> more people there have appointments or shopping in Lafayette
> than Rensselear.
>
As one who lives in LaPorte County (Central) and works out of St. Joseph County (Eastern), it is a royal pain in the butt. To complicate matters, I travel up to Michigan and throughout Porter, LaPorte, St. Joe, Elkhart, White, Cass, and a number of other counties in Indiana. It would make life a lot simpler for me if the whole state was on Central Time. Also, listening to the radio would be easier, I wouldn't have to try and figure out what zone I'm in and "translate" the time.

Right now, all of Indiana is on the same time, since St. Joe County doesn't change their clocks. However, in a few weeks, confusion will start its semi annual reign.

 

[jcurtis]

No, the un-natural thing is that Indiana doesn't observe Daylight Saving Time. Everyone else does. It's not like the "if everybody jumped off the bridge" analogy either. It's like "what if somebody decided to build a bridge, but didn't want to follow all of those cumbersome engineering standards like weight distribution and structural integrity and the like cause it makes the bridge big and bulky. You wouldn't have to jump off the bridge; the damn thing would fall down by itself". Standards are needed for all kinds of reasons. The standard for time in the U.S. in the summer is DST. We need to be on it.

And, if being on the Western edge of the time zone was the reason not to switch, then that doesn't hold up either. If that were it, then Utah and Montana would opt out of DST like Arizona, but they don't.

 

[BSURadioGeek]

> Poor Terre Haute... they chose to stay with Indianapolis on
> Eastern Time, but counties to the North, West and South are
> going to be on Central Time. I feel bad for Vigo County. In
> my opinion... this whole thing is a complete mess! I'm for
> DST but so far it's completely unorganized.
>
Things may look bad now, but please realize that the federal government gets to choose what time zone everyone is in. Sure, Terre Haute may want to be in the Central time zone, but that doesn't mean they will get it. Trust me, there will be no checkerboard when the federal government is done with this. They will look at what is economically sound and chose accrdingly, and only take into account what the counties want.

 

[KlunkLetter]

> > Poor Terre Haute... they chose to stay with Indianapolis
> on
> > Eastern Time, but counties to the North, West and South
> are
> > going to be on Central Time. I feel bad for Vigo County.
> In
> > my opinion... this whole thing is a complete mess! I'm for
>
> > DST but so far it's completely unorganized.
> >
> Things may look bad now, but please realize that the federal
> government gets to choose what time zone everyone is in.
> Sure, Terre Haute may want to be in the Central time zone,
> but that doesn't mean they will get it. Trust me, there
> will be no checkerboard when the federal government is done
> with this. They will look at what is economically sound and
> chose accrdingly, and only take into account what the
> counties want.
>
You mean the federal government does something right? I belive it will be the DOT who makes the final determination in matters related to time zone issues.