IT'S TIME TO SPRING FORWARD

It's almost time to rearrange the light in your life again.

Daylight-saving time will return at 2 a.m. Sunday. That means the clocks should be moved ahead one hour.

Remember: "Spring forward, fall back."

For most of us, the best time to make the switch will be Saturday evening before we go to bed. The changeover will mean the loss of an extra hour of sleep on Saturday night, but an extra hour of sunlight on Sunday.

When you switch the time on your clocks on Saturday night, don't forget to check and test the batteries in your home smoke detectors.

Tom Hinkebein, fire marshal for the city, said the switch in time is the perfect opportunity to check and replace batteries in home smoke detectors.

"Studies have shown that approximately 70 percent of American homes have smoke detectors,

but the bad news is less than 50 percent of them are operational mainly due to lack of working batteries," Hinkebein said.

Fire is the third-leading cause of accidental death in America, and home fires account for most of these fatalities. A 1984-88 survey found that 64.9 percent of the homes in which fire deaths occurred did not have smoke detectors. Only 17.5 percent of the homes where a fire death occurred had working fire detectors, while 14 percent of the fire deaths occurred in homes with fire detectors present but not working.

Although known as daylight-saving time, the change doesn't really save daylight; it just moves some of it from morning to evening, just when the days are getting longer.

The big benefit for most people is later sunsets, so people can enjoy working on gardens or outdoor projects, playing sports, having barbecues, or just relaxing after a hard day at work.

The change also means less need for costly lights and possible reduction of evening crime.

Only Arizona, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and part of Indiana in the Eastern Time Zone will remain on standard time when the switch occurs Sunday morning.