KEEPING TIME ONCE WAS MORE CONFUSING

If losing an hour as the nation went on daylight-saving time today seems an inconvenience, consider the plight of Old Appleton in 1966.

During certain months of the year, folks who lived on one side of Apple Creek might be living their lives on daylight-saving time, while their neighbors fishing on the opposite bank could be on standard time.

In 1966, the year before the Uniform Time Act established consistent times within states, individual towns and cities were still free to adopt daylight-saving time or remain on standard time. Exactly when they went on and off daylight-saving time was up to each city council as well.

Daylight-saving time, which began at 2 a.m. today and will continue through Oct. 29, now is strictly observed throughout the country, though states split by time zones may exempt themselves. Arizona, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa and part of Indiana retain standard time year-round.

But with Perryville and Cape Girardeau choosing their own dates for daylight-saving time in 1966, living on the Perry-Cape Girardeau county line was "mass confusion," according to Rip Schnurbusch, who was a Southeast Missourian correspondent at the time.

The trials of Old Appleton weren't unique. Some communities returned to standard time when school resumed, others waited until October.

Going on daylight-saving time with the rest of the nation during World War II to reduce the evening use of electricity, Cape Girardeau didn't return to it until 1965. The move was meant to align the city's time with St. Louis, which adopted the summertime daylight saver the same year.

But Cape Girardeau's post office remained on standard time, as did the Greyhound and Trailways bus lines, and the Frisco and Missouri Pacific railroad schedules.

That year, representatives from 14 Southeast Missouri towns met to try to coordinate their daylight-savings time schedules, and most followed Cape Girardeau's lead.

Kennett and other towns in the Bootheel did not.