Can you imgaine a time zone just for Massachusetts?

Date: 1/26/2017

I will readily admit there are plenty of issues any state legislature considers that are complete wastes of time. Consider the long list of “officials” Massachusetts symbols. The official tree is the American elm. The official fossil is the dinosaur footprint. The official muffin is the corn muffin. The official polka for Massachusetts is “Say Hello to Someone from Massachusetts.”

All of these “officials” came about through actions of the Legislature. Granted every state has its own list of “officials” but none of them has its own time zone, with the exception of part of Indiana.

The Bay State again has made national news with the announcement the state will consider keeping the Commonwealth on daylight savings time all year-round.

Now, there is a least one legislator in Connecticut who is considering the same thing.

I know that many people see the manipulation of daylight as a potential good thing, but I have to say the concept that Massachusetts (or Massachusetts and Connecticut) would have their own time zone seems counter-productive to business, mass transportation and common sense to say the least.

I’m struggling here to word my reaction in polite terms. Perhaps, because I’m a weak man, I should give in to being candid. Who came up with this stupid idea?

Can you imagine what complete pain in the backside this would be? Someone going between the other New England states and Massachusetts has to note the time change. How would that affect truck deliveries? Air schedules? Can you imagine booking a flight and having to remind yourself which time zone the flight is in?

Hey I’m all in favor of sunlight. I don’t suffer from seasonal depression, but it is very real condition. I just don’t think creating a separate time zone is the way to go about treating it.

Of all of the things for elected officials to consider this is beyond science fiction. We still need more renewable energy in this state. We need greater efficiencies. We need to be aware of how much revenue is flowing into state coffers and what are real priorities.

We need to address greater public transportation for all parts of the state. We need to develop more middle class jobs.

Do we need to monkey with this issue? Can you imagine the signs we’d have to put on every highway entering and leaving the state alerting people to the time change? “Welcome to Massachusetts. Please adjust your clocks to Bay State Standard Time.”

What if other states adopt the same attitude? What if they decide to push the clock around by two hours? What a mess that would be!

Although wasting time on a commission to hear testimony and gather evidence is abhorrent to me for this asinine topic, it must be done, as it is part of a legislative package that was passed. God bless the Commonwealth.

This opinion is solely that of the author and does not represent the owners or advertisers of Reminder Publications. Comments are welcomed at news@thereminder.com.