THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 2, 1995 TAG: 9503310234
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Susie Stoughton
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
This morning, as I snoozed in the wee hours, a woman in Washington stole a precious hour of my sleep.
A morning grump, I'll be grouchier than usual until she gives it back - as she's promised to do in the fall.
She claims it's for good reason: Rob me of 60 minutes of springtime slumber and, in return, bless me with an extra hour of sunshine every afternoon.
Put that way, I can't deny it's a good deal. But like many other sleepyheads, I just wish she'd cut a work day short or find another way to finagle my schedule. I never seem to make up that missed hour of sleep.
Joanne Petrie - or Mother Time, as she is known - is the time specialist for the Department of Transportation. Her job is to oversee the Uniform Time Act, put into effect in 1967, to regulate daylight-saving time.
She wants taxpayers to know she doesn't spend all her time resetting clocks or reminding people, ``Spring forward, fall back.''
This time-juggling started during World War I, when the U.S. ``saved'' daylight half a year in 1918 and 1919. Then it was year-round during World War II. For the next 20 years, though, chaos reigned. Some states - or parts of states - changed their clocks. Others didn't.
Starting and stopping times varied by locality - ``a crazy quilt observance,'' Petrie said.
In 1966, Congress took charge, saying states could observe daylight-saving time if they wanted to, but those that did had to do it at the same time.
Still, some choose to ignore it. ``There are some renegade jurisdictions,'' Petrie said.
Arizona, Hawaii and parts of Indiana, as well as Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and American Samoa, refuse to touch their clocks.
I'd never figure out when to call anyone in Indiana - split between Eastern and Central Time and divided between regular time and daylight-saving.
Most people love having an extra hour after work to golf, fish, work in the yard or whatever they do with their free time. More daylight helps, they say.
The Rev. Todd Estes, associate minister of First Baptist Church on Suffolk's Main Street, says it helps and hurts.
``In the spring, some people show up for worship at 12 o'clock,'' he said. ``In the fall, people who naturally come just to worship service show up at the Sunday school hour.''
The Southern Baptist Convention claims that when clocks are switched back to regular time in October, their Sunday schools swell.
``It's the highest attendance Sunday of the year,'' said Estes, who reminds members in advance of the time change.
At West End Baptist Church, the Rev. ``Skip'' Irby isn't too concerned about parishioners showing up at the wrong time.
``I just generally try to make sure my church organist knows,'' he said.
Several years ago, the organist forget to reset his clock, and Irby picked out the prelude on the piano before the musician arrived.
``We got by,'' he said. ``But ever since that Sunday, I always call to remind him.''
Some people dislike the time change.
``Those of us who work shift work are going to hurt,'' said Sherry Thompson, a Suffolk Police clerk.
``I was working the midnight shift in the fall and it caused me to work an extra hour,'' she said.
Adding an hour to a shift at Obici Hospital can make a long work day, where many nurses pull 12-hour stints.
Some people just refuse to go along with the time change.
``Traditional people tend to hate it,'' said ``Mother Time'' Petrie. ``They think you're messing with God's time and they're deeply offended by this.'' by CNB