• Twitter
  • Facebook
News-Sentinel.com Your Town. Your Voice.
Opening Arguments

Good times, bad times

Oh, God, two years of risking sight of Pat Bauer's hideous hairpiece every time I turn to the TV news. And wouldn't you know he just has to go after DST:

Bauer says Tuesday's vote will allow him to reassess the House prayer appeal, privatization and Daylight Saving Time.

"I believe we will try to have a referendum on that. Hear the views of the people. We've said that we think it's important to listen to the people and we needed a little improvement on that. We would like to improve that and I think we will try for a referendum on that," said Bauer.

Come on. We've finally joined the rest of the country, we got through our first DST, and the world didn't end. It's settled, so let's move on.

Posted in: Hoosier lore

Comments

tim zank
Thu, 11/09/2006 - 5:26am

Mr. Bauer doesn't have a genuine interest in what the people want. He has a genuine interest in power and inflicting as much pain as possible on anybody who is remotely affiliated with Mitch Daniels.

He's a dishonest partisan hack who shows absolutely no respect for his office or anyone elses office.

Bob G.
Thu, 11/09/2006 - 6:09am

Agreed, Tim....TOTAL lack of respect...nailed it right on the head!

And speaking of heads...yes Leo, that "hairpiece" has GOT to go.....looks like a golf divot resting on a cueball...lol!

On the up side...it makes a lot of "bad hair" guys feel a helluva lot better!

;)

B.G.

Doug
Thu, 11/09/2006 - 6:16am

"Let's move on."

For 30 years pro-DST bills were introduced time after time after time only to fail. But it wasn't time to move on. Even in the 2005 legislature, the DST bill died at least twice, possibly three times but each time was resurrected through fancy procedural footwork. But it wasn't time to move on. On the last vote, DST died once again, but it wasn't time to move on. No, the voting machine was held open and only after Troy "I'll never vote for it" Woodruff changed his vote to allow passage was the vote closed, and the bill passed. Suddenly, it's time to move on.

Nice.

Jeff Pruitt
Thu, 11/09/2006 - 7:15am

I never understood all the anger towards DST - perhaps because I've always had it until I moved here.

I enjoy the extra hour of sunlight at the end of the day during spring/summer.

Of all the issues that need to be dealt with I just don't understand why this one keeps floating to the top...

Barry
Thu, 11/09/2006 - 7:56am

What Doug said!!

Andrew Kaduk
Thu, 11/09/2006 - 9:27am

Doug and I agree on a lot of issues, but the DST thing is one where we repeatedly butt heads. I, like Mr. Pruitt, grew up reaping the rewards of DST. The Buckeye state has always observed the whole "spring forward, fall back" routine. The fact that Hoosiers for some reason opted to actually CHANGE TIME ZONES every year instead of just changing their clocks has been a long-standing joke among those of us that dwell along the Ohio/Indiana border.

I'm sorry, but the whole "we shouldn't do DST because that's the way it always has been" argument is a lame one. I have not heard one, single legitimate reason to NOT continue with DST in Indiana.

I'm just happy that there finally isn't a one-hour rift for half of the year between myself and the people that live a mile from me. If there was ALWAYS a one-hour rift, it wouldn't bother me at all, but it was just unacceptable the way it was, and it was that way for no good reason.

I'm with the folks that are saying "put [the issue] to bed."

Mike Sylvester
Thu, 11/09/2006 - 9:33am

DST should have been determined by the voters in a referendum.

The Indiana Constitution needs to be changed to allow for binding voter referendums...

Mike Sylvester
Fort Wayne Libertarian

Jeff Pruitt
Thu, 11/09/2006 - 10:03am

I don't think we want to turn our election process into California's. Referendums should be part of the process but they shouldn't be abused like they are out there...

Mike Sylvester
Thu, 11/09/2006 - 11:28am

I do not think everything should be on the ballot Jeff. I do think that one or two items a year would be just fine.

Mike Sylvester

Laura
Thu, 11/09/2006 - 7:41pm

It makes no sense to me why ANY STATE has DST!! An extra hour of daylight is useless because people who work in the morning still have to go to bed at the same time. All it does is allow people to mow their lawns at the insane hours and has kids out making noise when I am trying to sleep. The winter has less daylight in the evening. It would make more sense to have the extra hour then.

Dave
Thu, 11/09/2006 - 8:44pm

I, too, cannot understand why people have such outrage against DST. I must say, however, I do remember when not all of Ohio did honor DST, before the DST standardization of about 1966 made it statewide. Now, we've finally got it here and I love it, what is so terrible about it, Laura nonwithstanding.

As for Bauer, I can't think of anyone worse offhand, doesn't that fellow EVER look in the mirror? Anyone who would wear such a rug is someone you have to wonder about, before he ever opens his mouth.

Andrew Kaduk
Fri, 11/10/2006 - 7:01am

Mike,

Considering how convoluted Hoosier voters' perceptions are on issues they don't understand, do you really think ballot initiatives are a good idea? I mean, seriously, people in the Hoosier State can't get even the simplest of explanations presented to them without a massive steaming pile of partisanship mixed right in.

Take the toll road deal, for example. How many times have you heard people calling the lease a "sale?" I'm not sure why, but the general public of Indiana seems to be particularly susceptible to a sort of "mob mentality" based on the absolute loosest interpretations of the subject matter in question...not exactly fertile ground for good decision making.

In theory, I agree that people should be in control of their own choices as you suggest, but that would mean first putting in place a mechanism by which people could get facts without bias prior to casting important ballots. Indiana can't even get voters to the right polling locations to vote in the first place, so I question the ease with which a ballot initiative system could be rolled out.

tim zank
Fri, 11/10/2006 - 11:15am

Perhaps we should all just get mickey mouse watches....somehow I feel that's most appropriate for the DST debate. If it'll shut all you back assward hilljacks up, I'll observe any freakin' time you want....

Jesus Mary and Joseph what a waste of time

(pun intended)

Steve Goodenov
Sat, 11/11/2006 - 9:37am

DST would make a certain amount of sense if Indiana were in the correct time zone in the first place. Since it lies well within the Central Time Zone meridians, by remaining on Eastern Standard all year long, in essence Indiana was on fast time all year.

Some of us really don't like getting up when it's pitch black outside or having our children wait at the bus stop well before sunrise.

Arizona is even more resistant to DST than Indiana (none of the state observes it, while in Indiana it has long been observed in the Evansville and Gary - La Porte areas). Maybe the "dumb hick Hoosier" argument should be modified to include Arizonans.

Mike Williamson
Fri, 05/04/2007 - 9:28pm

"The fact that Hoosiers for some reason opted to actually CHANGE TIME ZONES every year instead of just changing their clocks has been a long-standing joke among those of us that dwell along the Ohio/Indiana border."

The fact that residents of 48 states (HI doesn't do DST, nor does AZ) fiddle around with their clocks twice a year, trying to remember which way to go is a long standing joke to anyone not a moron.

I moved here and loved not having to change my clocks (Oh, yeah, I'm a "hilljack" from Liverpool, Toronto, Columbus OH and Chicago), listened to the whining about the Evul Farm Bureau and its control of time (Wow. Does Karl Rove manage it?). So now we have Mitch change it to help his buddies at FedEx. Do they "Control time"?

You don't change time by changing a clock. Even if the mayor of Ft Wayne went on record supporting it because "most crime happens at night."

Sure, everyone else does it. Didn't your mother ever teach you about that?

We're just like every body else, boy howdy! Bet we feel smart now.

Quantcast