BY CHRISTINA M. SEILER, Rochester Sentinel News Editor
Fulton County Commissioners will recommend the Central time zone to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
They voted 3-0 on Thursday. Central time was the overwhelming preference of those who attended a public hearing on the matter.
When a show of hands was called for, two people preferred Eastern time. Several liked things the way they are now. About 20 hands shot up for Central.
And the economic advantages of Central seem to outweigh Eastern, according to information presented by Fulton Economic Development Corp. Director Mike Busch.
State Rep. Eric Gutwein, R-Rensselaer, said 40 companies testified at the legislature in favor of daylight-savings time.
“We owe it to the people of our state to raise their economy anyway we can,” he said. Gutwein took some heat from the audience, who voiced displeasure with the move to Daylight Savings and Gov. Mitch Daniels’ push for it. Gutwein initially voted against the change, and later lined up with Gov. Daniels and voted for it.
He said he placed the no vote simply so the issue could be taken from the floor and reconsidered.
He said there’s confusion about which zone Indiana is in and a unified zone was the goal. He then said the whole state will never be in the same zone.
Someone in the audience noted almost everyone in Indiana is already on the same time zone. Five counties in northwest Indiana and five in the southwest already are in the central zone; the rest are in the eastern zone.
Ernie Hiatt suggested Indiana be placed on its own half-hour zone, between eastern and central, and the zone be named Daniels Time.
Busch also talked with businesses. Four asked him to speak on their behalf, all in favor of central time over eastern. They were Advanced Magnetics, Modern Materials, Marshall Electric and Topps Safety Apparel.
“Seventy percent of our business is on central time or further west,” said Carl Adley, of Topps. “In the winter, Fed-Ex cutoff here is 2:30. That’s 11:30 out there. They’re just going to lunch,” he added. Topps also has a manufacturing facility in Kentucky’s central time zone.
The Indiana General Assembly approved a move to daylight savings time this year. The federal transportation department then told Indiana county commissioners to state an eastern or central time zone preference and say why it would make good sense, using eight criteria.
Busch said he also assembled information about the criteria: Where goods and supplies come from and where are they shipped; where television and radio are broadcast from; where newspapers are published; where bus and rail service come from; where the nearest airport is; what percentage of people work outside the community and where; the major elements of the economy and whether it is declining or improving; where residents go for schooling, recreation, health care or worship.
Bush found in most categories, central time was prevalent.
Supplies and shipping seems to be from Port of Indiana, through Chicago or Detroit or from north-central Indiana.
Most television and radio come from the South Bend market, which is leaning toward central time. Larger newspapers come from South Bend and Logansport, also leaning central time. Health care is mostly local. Greyhound bus stops here between Indianapolis and South Bend. Major airports used are South Bend, Chicago, Indianapolis and Fort Wayne.