3-09-2024 5:06pm

Time to "Spring" Forward

Beth Callahan Editor

Photo via Pexels.com

LEBANON, OH -- While it's not officially spring until March 19th, today at 2 AM, all Ohioans were to "spring" their clocks forward to 3 AM. Yes, Daylight Saving Time (DST) is here... giving extra daylight in the evening and darkness lingering later into the mornings.

That's right, yesterday the sunrise was around 6:55 AM here in Lebanon, and today, the sun rose at approximately 7:55 AM. Then, while the sunset was at 6:38 PM yesterday, today, it will set at 7:39 PM.

So why do we do this?

History shows that DST was first implemented in the U.S. with the Standard Time Act of 1918 for wartime measures, not for the benefits of farmers as the common myth states. (In actuality, farmers are one of the biggest lobbyist trying to eliminate DST.) For seven months during World War I, in the interest of adding more daylight hours to conserve energy resources, DST was put into effect.

It was implemented again during WWII. Once the war stopped, jurisdictions were allowed to choose if and when they wanted to use DST. Then in 1966, the Uniform Time Act was enacted to simplify the official pattern of where and when daylight saving time (DST) is applied within the U.S.

History also shows that DST has caused controversy since its early proposals. Some studies claim that DST has a negative effect on health, social relations, and just being a big inconvenience, especially with school age children, babies and milking farmers...all whose patterns do not change just because of time. Their hours are set by the sun.

But some states, with Ohio being one, like DST over standard time and have enacted legislation to implement permanent DST. The problem... The Uniform Time Act of 1966 permits states to opt out of DST and observe permanent standard time, but it does not permit permanent DST.

For these states to implement a state bill for permanent DST, Congress would be required to change federal law, and to date this has not been done. So, until something is decided, today March 10, 2024 at 2 AM, we sprung into DST so that on Sunday November 3, 2024, we can fall back into Standard Time.