Editor's note: The February Letter of the Month was originally published Feb. 15.
Do not need hour
I would like to second (or third, fourth, whatever) the motions made by Messrs. Hoyt and Scott in their letters Monday [Feb. 11] in support of Rep. Sarah Capp's wonderful proposal to get rid of Daylight Saving Time in Arkansas.
It can be done. For more than five years, I lived in The Valley Of The Sun (around Phoenix), and it was just fine. The wise people of Arizona had long since decided that they had plenty of sun already, thank you, and didn't need to "save" another minute, let alone an hour, of that there dry heat.
And, as has long been known, that extra hour of afternoon sunshine burns up our Arkansas farmers' crops.
If you haven't noticed the gradual process, Daylight Time has slowly encroached on Real Time, expanding on both ends. This year, it starts on March 10 and doesn't end until Nov. 3--that's nearly eight full months, or two-thirds of the year!
Full disclosure: I have a long-standing, fully justified grudge against Daylight Time. Several decades ago, when it didn't last so long, it started in late April, so my birthday was only 23 hours long that year.
MARVIN D. JETER
Maumelle
Editorial on 03/06/2019