Posted on 07/29/2005 3:57:42 PM PDT by BenLurkin
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) As Congress voted to extend daylight-saving time, some parents whose children wait for school buses in the morning darkness doubted whether an extra month of daylight is such a bright idea.
"I don't think that it's safe," said Nikki McIntosh of Little Rock, whose children Myah, 12, and Alex, 11, occasionally ride a bus to school.
Congress on Friday gave final approval to an energy bill that includes a four-week expansion of daylight-saving time in an effort to save energy. If President Bush signs the bill, most Americans would see their clocks "spring forward" the second Sunday of March and "fall back" the first Sunday of November, beginning in 2007.
Daylight-saving time now starts on the first Sunday of April and ends the last Sunday of October.
According to Congress' thinking, if Americans can wait an hour to turn on their lights at night, the nation should be able to conserve at least some energy.
"It won't be a huge savings, but it'll offset fuel costs. Every little bit helps," said Sue Clothier, 40, of Gansevoort, N.Y.
The extra hours will also give her more time to garden and spend outdoors with her three dogs, she said. "It's like extending the summer for four weeks," she said.
But the tradeoff for parents with school-age children is an extra 20 weekdays of sending pupils off to class in the dark and having them stay up later at night.
Lynnette Ryan of Colorado Springs, Colo., is already anticipating the battles with her children, now aged 1 and 5.
"It's going to be hard on them because they'll be going to day care in the dark. Then they come home, and it's going to be light in the evening -- and they're not going to want to go to bed," said Ryan, visiting her mother Friday in Morgantown, W.Va.
The change, though, would be beneficial for some farmers who would get an extra hour of daylight for a longer portion of the year.
Al Davis, who raises cattle in southwestern Cherry County, Neb., said the new daylight-saving plan will be helpful for his operation on the eastern side of the Mountain time zone.
"It gets dark here at 4 p.m. on the darkest day of the year," Davis said. "So this will be advantageous to us."
Jan Koch, who with her husband milks 250 cows and farms 500 acres near De Forest in southern Wisconsin, was mostly disgusted with Congress, but not for any effect the change would have on her farm.
"If that is the best Congress can come up with for an energy idea, we are in trouble," she said. "They should be able to come up with something better than that to save energy."
Matt Hand, 29, of Manhattan, said that even a few minutes more of sunshine would be welcomed in the fields where he sometimes plays frisbee after work -- even in the chill of autumn.
"It's not the temperature that stops us. It's when you can't see anymore," he said, resting by the edge of Central Park with his bicycle.
Others though, said the change would just add to the list of things to worry about.
"Why screw with my calendar year? I have such a busy life," said Jesse Jette of Albany, N.Y. "This is just one more thing to remember."
What it actually does is encourage the young people to jump in their Silverados after school and go visit friends for an extra hour.
It SUCKS!!
I hate daylight savings and my kids hate it and my animals hate it. We hate being forced to shift time twice a year.
Who needs an hour more daylight? People who already get up at 5 or 6 are bleary eyed and productivity is LOST.
PLUS if ONE KID gets hit by a car while walking to school in the predawn daylight savings darkness, it is FRIGGIN ED MARKEY's GODDAM FAULT !!
DST was lengthened back in the 80s (I think it was) primarily because of the efforts of the convenience store lobby. Yes, convenience stores. Why? One more hour of daylight upon coming home means one more hour that people might use barbequeing, drinking beer, using paper plates and disposable cups...things that are sold in convenience stores. (Seriously, this was related to me by one of their lobbyists back then, and he said it was probably the biggest congressional victory they'd ever achieved.)
Are there any half wits who believe that "there will be an extra hour of daylight"?
i like DST, onyl far right kooks are aginst it. Why dont you oppose the concept of time zones period and support letting every town and community be free t oset their own time?
OTOH, I dont like that it is being extended, as the sun will not rise until well past 8am
You mean if it normally gets dark at 5PM it'll still be dark at 6PM?
You're lucky you can do that. My husband's mentally-challenged place of employment won't let employees work rational hours (no, everyone has to arrive and depart *exactly at rush hour*, so they can spend extra time in traffic!). So if the kids are ever going to see their father, everyone has to DST whether we like it or not.
Grouse, grouse, GROUSE! I'm going to be sticking pins in Congressman dolls if they do this.
It rises at 1134 and goes down at 1518 here on December 22...trade ya!
yikes.
here it rises about 745am and sets at 545 pm.
June 21st it is like 630am up and 9pm down.
Breaking: DST Extended! Farmers and Ranchers LEAST Affected!
Congress is continually in the dark.
Exactly! This is just more IDIOCY! And what difference would it make to farmers anyway? They don't punch a time clock. They don't have to get up, get the kids off to school, and either drive to work in the dark, or catch a Park & Ride bus (in the dark) to work in the spring......
and then catch a Park & Ride bus (in the dark) going home in the winter. It's not safe for kids. It's not practical, convenient OR safe for women coming and going alone IN THE DARK. Instead of stopping by the grocery store after work in winter, I just go straight home since it's pitch black and scary by the time I get to my neighborhood.
Change the times the schools open and close. Change or modify the times companies open their doors to employees. But don't try to change time ITSELF to accommodate the farmers! Sheeeeesh!
****
The change, though, would be beneficial for some farmers who would get an extra hour of daylight for a longer portion of the year.
Oh, in June, it rises at 0238 and sets the next day at 0021.
It pays to have really thick curtains on the bedroom window.
Funny you mention that......I was thinking that DST is really just for LAZY PEOPLE!!! (And, there's LOTS more of those these days.....says this geezer girl.)
Not if it gets light before you wake up. The idea of extending daylight savings time boils down to the old adage that you shouldn't burn daylight. Don't have the sun rise so early that people are sleeping in daylight. That's what saves the energy.
I don't know why people are upset about this. Didn't we extend daylight savings time 15 years ago? I guess the internet wasn't around then for the malcontents to post about the subject.
Huh?!?
Its really sad that we have just given up on building new generation. And trying desperation moves like changing daylight savings.
I'd really like for one of these Einsteins to explain to me how the government can arrange for there to be MORE daylight. They really DO think they are gods...apparently.
hmmm... iliek riding my bike and swimming until 9pm.
I think mcuh of the far right opposition to DST is based on the strange notion that standard time is "Gods Time"
If they oppose the idea that govt can mandate when we change our clocks, they should also oppose the entire concept of federal times zones.
"My kingdom for a shift key" ping to some of my favorite "onyl far right kooks." Stand up for your right t oset your own time! (Unless youre aginst it, of course, and aginst apostrophes, too.)
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