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."
:-). I don't know, haven't seen anything on the energy bill except this bit. I don't suppose Congress has decided we should have domestic oil self-sufficiency, though ...
In Iceland, a pint of beer was about 9 bucks each, I couldn't afford much more.
Naaaa... I don't think this is a troll. Not everyone here is Far Right.
I happen to be but hey, I'm just a kook.
"It gets dark here at 4 p.m. on the darkest day of the year," Davis said. "So this will be advantageous to us."
Uhhhh.....forgive my stupidity,but doesnt the darkest day corelate to the SHORTEST day of the year?..Which the last time I looked was on December 21st,give or take....?
Nam Vet
P.S. I think we might be talking about 2 different Groucho jokes.
We work on the cold/heat factor. In the winter we show up as late as 9am. In the summer we start as early as possible even if it's still dark out. Being a carpenter, you can't really fire up the tools at 5am or you'll P.O. some neighbors.
My troll-sniffing baby has wandered off to watch a Veggie Tale, so I'll yield to your judgment.
This is dumb, it screws up Holloween.
The cigar one?
Hello, same number of daylight hours in a day. Farmers hit the trail and dawn, and that's not going to change.
I think that might harm the rare speckled sedimentary rock beetle, Butuminous beetalius. Pretty sure we can't have that.
Uh, is that doable? Or will the Yankee nation invade us again - this time to mess with our clocks?
Martyred sigh. It almost causes one to be disappointed in dear Mr. Cheney.
Nam Vet
Sigh.
Works for me... later sunset = more golf.
p.s., Thanks for your service - my dad was in Vietnam in 1967-68 and 1971-72.
They tried this in the 70's during Jimmy's energy crisis. I remember starting my day in Middle School in pitch blackness during the winter. For the life of me, I can't quite figure out where the "Energy Savings" is - I mean, we didn't get ready for school in the dark without TURNING ON SOME LIGHTS!
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