I heartily agree with Warner Price’s April 1 letter, “The dark side of daylight saving time” (Page A6).
Observing daylight saving time year-round would be a big mistake. In the winter in Maine, there are only about nine hours of daylight, so, what you gain on the evening end, you lose on the morning end.
In Maine, it’s true that sunset in early January (on daylight saving time) would be around 5 p.m. instead of 4 p.m. But sunrise in early January would not be till around 8:15 a.m. In many parts of the U.S. (Michigan, Indiana, the Dakotas, Idaho, Montana) sunrise, in January and February, would be after 9:30 a.m. Is this what we want for our kids going to school, and folks commuting to work?
In the winter of 1973-74, when we went on daylight saving time, I was living in the Pacific Northwest. I vividly remember riding my bicycle in the pitch dark to teach an 8 a.m. class; the sun didn’t rise till after 9 a.m. I hated it!
If we want to avoid changing our clocks twice a year, we should stick with standard time year-round, not go to permanent daylight saving time.
Katherine Bracher
retired professor of astronomy, Whitman College
Brunswick
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