IET in the NYT.

Today's New York Times has a story on Indiana's ongoing time zone debate. Though this may be the first time the NYT has commented on the issue, Indiana has been mulling changes in this area for quite some time. In this July post, I bemoaned the possible demise of "Indiana East Time," under which much of the Hoosier State effectively spends half the year in the Eastern time zone and the other half on Central time. When I lived in Indiana, I found that the minor inconveniences brought about by Indiana East Time - mainly occasional uncertainty about whether it was the same time in Chicago as it was in South Bend - were outweighed by the luxury of never having to reset one's wristwatch or clocks and the novelty of being in a state with its own time zone. Though IET seems to be on its way out, it's far from clear what it will be replaced with. Right now, each of the 92 counties in Indiana is wrestling with the question of what time zone they want to be in. For some counties - mainly those that find themselves in the cultural and economic orbit of big cities in one of the abutting time zones - this is a fairly easy decision, but for others - especially rural counties in the middle of the state - it isn't. Hopefully, Indiana's leaders will find a reasonable way out of the quagmire. In the meantime, I wonder if the state was better off simply putting up with IET in all its quirkiness. It certainly made sense to me. AMDG.