I remember when I was in college and Congress enacted the law extending the portion of the year under Daylight Savings Time. Like many Kansans, I got up in time to do chores, in my case just feeding and watering my dogs and horse before driving to my part-time job or first college class. I patiently waited through the late winter till the sun was coming up and I didn't have to break a frozen water bucket in the dark. Then DST kicked in earlier than ever and my mornings were plunged in the dark again. I remember telling my family that this was ridiculous, that this was the idea of some D.C. politician who was anxious to get in more time playing golf in the evenings.

Little did I know how right I was. DST is eagerly supported by states with lots of tourism dollars spent in the last hours before sunset. An extra hour to play golf in the Sunshine State brings in the money. Last I checked, that did NOT include Kansas. Many Kansans are anxiously awaiting the sunrise because we are up and working by then. I no longer have horses, but I watch my husband go off to his construction job and those extra weeks of cold, dark mornings in spring and fall (make that late and early winter) are hard to wait through. By evening, many of us would be glad to sit and watch a Kansas sunset with our family before it's time to put the children to bed, rather than have them complaining that it's not fair to go to bed while it's still light outside.

Now Congress wants to extend the torment all year long. Many children and indoor workers won't even see a sunrise most of the winter, as they'll be inside before it happens. Children will wait for the schoolbus in the dark all year long. Parking garages will be dark an hour later, giving crime an extra hour of opportunity. 

Getting sunlight in the morning is important, especially in the winter when many suffer from the darkness. Morning sunlight regulates our melatonin. It helps make sure we get a good night's sleep by setting our biological clock. On the other hand, more light at bedtime makes it harder to fall asleep. DST refuses to respect our natural cycles of light and dark. 

We request that Kansas join Arizona in its common-sense rejection of the artificial time shift imposed on us by DST. We want to be able to enjoy the natural cool-down in the summer evenings, and we want all the morning winter sunshine we can get. Our hard-working agricultural state shouldn't have to put up with time manipulation for the benefit of far-off tourism states encouraging people to sleep in and stay up late.  Time is of the essence here, because any states who have not abolished DST before the federal government makes it permanent year-round will be locked into it.

I remember my dad telling me about when DST was instituted nationwide, year-round in the 1970s. Parents didn't want to see their children going to school in the dark, office workers felt less safe going to work in the dark, and of course farmers have no need for artificially late mornings and evenings. This is a failed experiment that was never meant for Kansas. It's a clear case for bipartisan action to restore common sense  time to Kansas.