Revisiting Pulaski County's time zone troubles, 20 years later
PULASKI COUNTY, Ind. -- In Pulaski County, life is about the simple things. However, 20 years ago, one of life’s simplest questions, ‘what time is it,’ suddenly got really complicated.
Mike Tiede is the current vice president of the Pulaski County Council. Back in 2006, however, he was the president of the Pulaski County Commissioners.
“That was a mess 20 years ago,” Tiede recalled.
As the Hoosier State started observing daylight saving time 20 years ago, Tiede said the U.S. Department of Transportation gave Pulaski County a choice between Eastern and Central time.
“We decided to go to the Central time zone,” Mike Tiede recalled. “Then the outrage came, and people didn't like it being Central. They wanted to stay on Eastern.
Tiede said at the time, he thought neighboring counties like White, Fulton and Tippecanoe were also switching to Central time. Instead, only Starke and Pulaski counties were put into a new time zone.
“Lafayette (in Tippecanoe County) was where people went to shop and did medical services at the big hospitals down there, and Indianapolis is the State House. We wanted to stay with them,” Tiede explained
Getting back to eastern time wasn’t easy, however. The county appealed the USDOT Central time decision, but that appeal was denied. Tiede says the county then took the extraordinary step of declaring “home rule” to keep Pulaski on Eastern time. Home rule, in some cases, allows local governments to manage their own affairs and bypass the state.
This decision put the county and Mike Tiede in hot water with then Indiana 2nd District Congressman Chris Chocola.
“And he's like, ‘Mike, what are you guys doing?” And I said, ‘Well, you guys messed up our time zone.’ He goes, ‘You guys messed your own time zone up,’” Tiede recalled.
The county eventually conceded to the USDOT and officially switched to Central time in April of 2006.
Unofficially, however, nothing changed. Many people in the county simply ignored the time zone change. And county leaders like Tiede didn’t fight them on it, saying in a 2006 interview with the South Bend Tribune, “We're not going to be the time police. We're not going to be the clock cops.”
The clock confusion at the time made constant headlines. Individual stores, banks, and businesses in the county decided which time zone to follow. For the better part of the year, the clock chaos continued in Pulaski County.
By the start of daylight-saving time in 2007, thanks to the help of a local law firm, Pulaski was back on Eastern Time. However, this story doesn’t end there.
Angie Anspach has lived in Pulaski County her whole life, and is the owner of Refined, a consignment shop in Winamac. She said the time change and time zone confusion are major sources of stress.
“I have over 6000 consigners,” Anspach explained. “So, if they come from Starke County, they'll either miss us or come too early. So, you know, we lose, we lose a little bit of business because of it.”
Anspach says the solution is to get the Hoosier state on the same time.
“Why is Starke County, which is 20 minutes away on a different time zone than us,” Anspach asked hypothetically. “It does just, it does not compute.”
“I don't care if it is Central time or if it is Eastern time, just pick one. The whole state of Indiana needs to be in one time zone. It's very simple,” Anspach added.
Mike Tiede told ABC57 that 20 years ago, the USDOT said the true dividing line of Eastern and Central time was 40 miles into Ohio. This means that, theoretically, all Indiana should be on Central time. According to Tiede, the DOT said that change didn’t happen because Indianapolis wanted to be in the same time zone as New York.
In early 2025, there was a state house measure to opt Indiana out of daylight-saving time once again. That bill did not make it past committee.