By Evansville Courier & Press staff and wire reports
Commissioners in one Southwestern Indiana county have voted to petition the federal government to move it to the Central time zone, while another county will host a public meeting to consider following suit.
The Daviess County Commissioners voted Monday to request the change.
Commissioner Tony Wichman said constituents he spoke with favored Central time. Commissioner Steve Myers said only three of 23 people who called him favored Eastern time. "It seems to be an overwhelming majority," Myers said.
Other Southwestern Indiana counties along the Central time zone line have not yet acted to start a petition.
However, the Pike County Commissioners will hold a special meeting to ascertain public opinion on switching to Central time.
Pike County Commissioner Mark Flint said two speakers will address the crowd about a change. Constituents then will have the opportunity to voice their opinion on the matter.
State Rep. David Crooks, D-Washington, will present his argument for a change to Central time.
Brian Bergsma, director of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce's Small Business and Economic Development Policy, will argue for the county to remain on Eastern time.
The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Sept. 6 at Pike Central High School in Petersburg.
Flint said the meeting will be "purely informational" and no official vote will be taken. "This will just give us the opportunity to hear some so-called experts, or people who can speak knowledgeably on the subject, present both sides of the issue," Flint said.
The U.S. Department of Transportation, which regulates time zones, formally invited requests in response to a state petition that asked the agency to determine whether time boundaries should be changed. The petition was required by a law that mandates statewide observance of daylight-saving time beginning next spring.
The petition from Gov. Mitch Daniels asked the federal department to keep five counties in Southwestern Indiana and five in Northwestern Indiana in the Central zone. It also seeks to keep five southeastern counties near Cincinnati and Louisville, Ky., in the Eastern zone.
But it did not state a preference for the remaining 77 counties in the Eastern zone. Those do not observe daylight-saving time but will next year under the new law.
In north-central Indiana, Marshall County, which is one county south of South Bend, is seeking the change. And St. Joseph County, home to South Bend, also may follow suit.
The St. Joseph County Council voted Tuesday to ask the U.S. Department of Transportation to switch the county - the state's fourth largest with more than 260,000 people - from Eastern time. If approved, that would put South Bend on the same time as the three counties to its west - LaPorte, Porter and Lake - and align it with Chicago.
The city councils in South Bend and Mishawaka also have voted to back the county's switch as Indiana counties face a Sept. 16 deadline to ask the federal government for changes to the state's time zone boundaries.
The St. Joseph County Commissioners, the body officially charged with making a request, has not voted on the matter.
© 2005 The Evansville Courier Co.