[LEAPSECS] Straw men

[Gerard Ashton]

On 1/9/2012 10:55 AM, Ian Batten wrote:

> pace all the bizarre claims about bear hunting


There are a number of laws and rules related to sunset and sunrise, 
including hunting, turning headlights on
in automobiles, and being present in parks. No reliable evidence has 
been presented as to whether
authorities try to enforce these close to the cut-off time. The only 
agencies I have seen that actually
publish sunset and sunrise times for the public to make it easier for 
the public to avoid violations
are agencies that regulate hunting and fishing. These agencies will have 
to examine their calculation
method to make sure the change does not affect them. I suspect it will 
often turn out they get
the numbers from a federal agency, like the United States Naval 
Observatory, and it will be taken
care of for them, but they will still have to reexamine their method.

In addition, whenever an agency representative testifies in court about 
a sunrise/sunset
related violation, the representative will have to be trained to explain 
why the calculation
is valid despite the change. A defendant may raise the issue in the hope 
the agency
representative is untrained and will make a fool of him/herself.

Gerry Ashton