Editor,
For the fourth year in a row State Sen. David Long has sandbagged time zone resolutions by assigning them to his committee and then not giving them a hearing. What issues do he and other legislative leaders want kept from public scrutiny? Is it exposure of the myth about Eastern Time’s benefits to Indiana businesses? Possibly the realities of how unsafe it is for Indiana’s 850,000 Eastern Time students when the public learns the details about students being killed, assaulted, robbed and seriously injured while traveling to school in the dark? How about hearing of the hardships that 800,000 Hoosiers have to contend with daily because of the time zone boundary that divides 18 Indiana counties? Or maybe testimony from Indiana’s 90,000 construction workers and Indiana’s family farmers about how Eastern Time’s sunlight schedule delays their workday and causes unnecessary hardships for them and their families? What about the inconveniences to millions of Indiana’s sports fans caused by the lateness of nationally broadcast events? Can they risk having taxpayers learn about the exorbitant amounts of money allocated for education that are being wasted by school delays caused by Eastern Time’s sunlight schedule ($71 million so far this year)? What would happen if businesses caught on to how much school delays are costing them in cancelled appointments, meetings, etc.? In January the Central Time Coalition filed with the General Assembly a petition for the redress of 18 specific grievances. Petitions signed by 25,000 Hoosiers and 47 school districts supported it. Is this the year when legislators finally tell their leaders “enough is enough” and appoint a study committee to fairly and thoroughly evaluate these issues? We hope so because these issues affect all Hoosiers. More information is available at www.hoosiersforcentraltime.com.
Susannah Dillon, 46032