With Daylight Saving Time beginning

By most local standards, it has been a miserable winter with long cold spells, too many gray days and snowfalls that weren't all that pretty. So here is a cheer for the arrival this weekend of daylight saving time, and a bit more daylight at the end of our workdays. Maybe it will help, maybe it won't; after all we have had snow here in April.

"Traditionally, when you change your clocks, it's also a good idea to check or change the batteries in smoke alarms," said Tim Flinn, chief fire inspector with the Parkersburg Fire Department.

In 2009, structure fires caused 2,565 deaths and $7.6 billion in property damage.

According to the National Fire Protection Association, 63 percent of reported home fire deaths in 2009 resulted from fires in structures with no smoke alarms or no working smoke alarms.

Officially, the change comes early Sunday morning, though most folks are likely to reset their clocks before going to bed Saturday night.

It's also a good time to put new batteries in warning devices such as smoke detectors and hazard warning radios.

Some parts of the country don't observe daylight saving time. Those include Hawaii, most of Arizona, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Marianas.

But the coming of daylight saving time every spring allows the illusion that we're sacrificing an hour of sleep in exchange for an extra hour of daylight in the evening. Everybody knows that's not literally the case, but we like to believe it anyway.

Regardless, remember to reset your clocks for the change, which takes place officially at 2 a.m. on Sunday.

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You may not need the above reminder, but Americans of a certain vintage do because Congress kept changing daylight saving time on them, drawing jeers over the years.

"It's disappointing to know there are so many homes without smoke alarms. They save lives and prevent millions of dollars in damages," said Flinn.

Daylight Saving Time has long been promoted as a time to change the batteries, he said.

The Parkersburg Fire Department will assist the elderly or individuals with disabilities to change batteries or install smoke detectors in their homes. Flinn said he hopes the fire department receives additional money to continue a grant-funded program that provides detectors to low-income families.

Smoke and carbon monoxide combination detectors can be purchased for $20 to $30. Follow the manufacturer's directions on the package when installing the device or changing the batteries.

"Smoke detectors could make a nice gift for someone. They save lives," he said.

Detectors should be placed on every level of the home near sleeping areas. Batteries in household detectors should be checked at least once a month.

For assistance in changing the batteries or installing a smoke detector, contact the Parkersburg Fire Department at 304-424-8470.

We had daylight saving time during World War I and then repealed it until World War II, when it was re-imposed for three years.

After the war, states and counties were free to set their clocks where and when they liked, resulting in predictable confusion and, ultimately, the Uniform Time Act of 1966, which set daylight saving time from the last Sunday in April until the last Sunday in October.

The energy crisis of the 1970s gave Congress a new opportunity to tinker with our clocks. In 1974, daylight saving time began on Jan. 6; in 1975, on Feb. 23; then it reverted to the last Sunday in April. But in 1987, it was reset to the first Sunday in April.

After Indiana went daylight saving time statewide in 2006 — don't ask; it confuses even we Hoosiers — Congress in 2007 decreed that daylight saving time would extend from the second Sunday in March until the first Monday in November. And this time the lawmakers believe they really mean it.

Meanwhile, Superintendent Bruce D. Stevenson of the Ohio Department of Commerce's Division of Liquor Control reminded all liquor permit holders, "When the clock strikes 2 a.m. Sunday, the time will spring forward and be, in fact, 3 a.m., 30 minutes past the legal closing time for permit holders who are authorized to be open until 2:30 a.m.."

"All sales and consumption of alcoholic beverages at those permit premises must cease prior to 2 a.m., when clocks should be advanced one hour," he said.

Cheers for the Memorial High School girls basketball team, which won the 2011 Class 3A state championship last Saturday. The Tigers topped Benton Central to win the team's first state title.

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Cheers and congratulations to Olivia Shoup, a Castle South Middle School eighth grader, who won the 2011 Tri-State Spelling Bee at the University of Evansville. She will now compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. the week of May 30.

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Tears fall for Chuck Frary, an Evansville personality who died Tuesday at age 80. Frary, a entrepreneur, home decorator and regular letter writer to the Courier & Press, was the father of Lori Frary, now of Sarasota, Fla. Lori Frary was the Republican candidate for mayor of Evansville in 1995 who lost to Democrat Frank McDonald II.

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Cheers for the Warrick County public schools which are moving ahead by approving full-day kindergarten in the upcoming school year.

The move was encouraged by parents and school staffs, who recognize the academic benefit of reaching very young school children.