Our View

Our View

To save or not to save — daylight, that is

As we’ve said at the beginning of this legislative session in Little Rock, when the politicians we place our trust in to represent us there are always those who want to change the way we do things for either personal reasons or because they have been persuaded by powerful lobbyist to latch onto their agendas.

Let’s take the case of House Bill 1368 spearheaded by Rep. Sarah Capp, R-Ozark, who wants, for some unknown reason, to do away with daylight savings time in Arkansas.

This isn’t the first attempt to screw up a good thing but if Capp is successful in convincing these other politicians to go along with her harebrained effort Arkansas would be only the third state to observe standard time year-round.

As we understand it, the bill would exempt the state from federally mandated daylight savings time, which shifts the clock forward between the first Sunday in March and the first Sunday in November.

Arizona and Hawaii operate under standard time in those states year-round.

Now then, Florida and California both passed laws last year to eliminate standard time in those states, but those wouldn’t take effect until Congress amends the law to allow such a change (a proposal to do so has been introduced). That would make Florida and California having daylight savings time year-round which for many of us is a great idea.

For those who don’t know the background on daylight savings time, it was enacted during World War 1 to conserve energy, which in this day and time where we have a bunch of “greenies” running around wanting to conserve our natural resources and “save the earth” we would think observing daylight savings time would be a good thing.

There are many among us who like the idea of having it light later in the evenings when we can still get outside after a long day of work and enjoy the sunset at 8 p.m. or later in the middle of the summer.

We got a laugh out of one of Capp’s supporters, Rep. Stephen Meeks, R, District 67, who made the ridiculous comment, “Trying to adjust our biological clocks does have health ramifications.”

Come on people, we talking about a single hour, 60 minutes. Let us ask this Meeks character how he adjusts to the time changes when traveling abroad or to other parts of the United States? We guess that has health ramifications also which means there are a bunch of unhealthy folks among us who suffer from health issues when traveling through different time zones.

Let’s leave well enough along, enjoy the benefits of daylight savings time during the summer months on the lake, camping or simply taking a long evening walk.

May we suggest that Rep. Capp reconsider and support an initiative similar to what Florida and California have in place which is daylight savings time year-round.