IT'S TIME TO FALL BACK FOR TIME CHANGE

The leaves are falling, mornings are darker, and the air is crisper. That means daylight-saving time is at an end and it's time to change your clocks and "fall back" one hour.

The time switch will occur officially at 2 a.m. Sunday, but most of us will elect to change our clocks before we go to bed Saturday night.

The change this weekend back to "slow time" ends the seven-month-long period of "fast time" that gave us an extra hour of daylight in the evening. Sunday's change will return to us the extra hour of sleep that was lost back on April 1.

As you adjust your clocks this weekend, Cape Girardeau Fire Chief Gene Hindman, Jackson Fire Chief Gary Niswonger, and Scott City Fire Chief Les Crump want you to change the batteries in your smoke detectors as well.

The fire chiefs, the International Association of Fire Chiefs, and the American Burn Association point out that nearly 80 percent of all American homes now have smoke detectors, but as many as half of them are inoperative because of dead batteries.

Hindman said the weekend switch from daylight to standard time is the perfect time to install new batteries in home smoke detectors, and to make sure flashlight batteries are fully charged in the event of an emergency.

After the time change occurs Sunday, the most noticeable effect will be in the evenings. The sun will set at around 5 p.m. instead of 6 p.m., and it will be dark by 6 p.m. instead of 7 p.m.

The Missouri Highway Patrol and American Optometric Association remind motorists the time change also means drivers will now be traveling in more hours of darkness and should keep that in mind when planning long trips.

Most of the country will go back on daylight-saving time April 1.