Extended Daylight Savings Time?
How do you feel about this?
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Extended Daylight-Saving Plan Worries Some
By ANNIE BERGMAN, Associated Press Writer
Fri Jul 29, 6:19 PM ET
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."
If I fail math, there goes my chance at a good job and a happy life full of hard work.
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