ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, April 6, 1996 TAG: 9604080018
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ELLIOTT SMITH STAFF WRITER
RESIDENTS SHOULD SET their clocks and watches forward an hour before they go to bed tonight.
Sunrise services may seem to start a little earlier this Easter Sunday.
The reason: Daylight-saving time begins tonight.
Most people will set their clocks ahead one hour before going to bed. For those who forget and who have plans to attend Easter services, the oversight could be significant.
"There are always a couple of families who are late, and [daylight-saving time] will probably affect some people because, historically, time-change Sundays are very difficult," said the Rev. Art Hearne of Lakeside Baptist Church in Salem.
Some churches are taking precautions to make sure their members don't oversleep.
"We've done several things," Hearne said. "We've promoted this ahead of time, rearranged our service so it starts later, done promotional mailouts and posted it in our church bulletin. It's been an all-out media blitz to make people aware."
"We try to let our members know through the parish newsletter, but it's a sad reality for the members of our church," said the Rev. Tom O'Dell of St. John's Episcopal Church, which is expecting about 1,400 worshipers Sunday. "We have a 7 a.m. service, which is the equivalent of 6 a.m. We also have a Saturday night service, and that makes for a short night."
At Rainbow Forest Baptist Church in Botetourt County, which expects about 3,000 people for its 10 a.m. Sunday service at the Roanoke Civic Center, even people who forget to "spring forward" won't miss out.
"The service is designed so even if you came an hour late, you would still be in time to hear the main message," said Tony Price, a youth pastor. "We didn't really plan it like that; it just sort of happened."
In addition to the time change, there could be another complication for churchgoers Sunday.
The National Weather Service says scattered snow showers are expected throughout the Roanoke Valley tonight and Sunday morning, with temperatures in the mid- to upper 40s.
"Well that doesn't sound very good for our Easter egg hunt after the service," Hearne said. "But we have to take whatever we're given. I wouldn't choose it, but we still have to make the best of it."
"It's hard to believe," O'Dell said. "It's too bad that the weather we had [Thursday] couldn't have been on Easter."
For all the churches, though, the importance of Easter overrides any problems the weather or time change create.
"Easter is a special event," Hearne said. "We want to give motivation for people to be there, and hopefully we can use daylight-savings time as a handle to impress upon people how important this is."
LENGTH: Medium: 57 linesby CNB