Were you an hour early to work ?

Erica D. Johnson

Monday, Oct. 28, 2002 | 9:23 a.m.

Randy Rhodes was more than an hour early Sunday to watch the Oakland Raiders take on the Kansas City Chiefs.

He arrived at the Gold Coast Sports Book about 8:50 a.m. for the 10 a.m. game.

"I forgot to set my watch back," Rhodes said. "I'd been walking around all morning with the wrong time. I didn't find out until some guy in the elevator told me it was (the end of) Daylight Savings."

Rhodes was one of many people in the Las Vegas Valley who forgot to set their clocks and watches back to Pacific Standard Time Sunday morning. While there were those who showed up early, others took advantage of the extra hour to catch up on their sleep.

But many people said they wouldn't have been so lucky if it weren't for a few friendly reminders. Most listed news reporters, radio disc jockeys and spouses as the reasons they remembered to "fall back."

Fern Boughton, a tourist visiting from Colorado, said a local news broadcast Saturday night reminded her to set back her clock before she went to sleep about 11 p.m.

"I've never, ever forgotten to set my clock back," Boughton said at a lounge in the Rio. "I guess it wouldn't have mattered anyway. We have nothing to be on time for. We're on vacation."

Other people said they were on the giving end of those friendly reminders.

Denis Pecoraro sent e-mails out to congregants at the Green Valley Presbyterian Church, reminding them to set their clocks back.

Pecoraro said he had a good reason to remember, and to remind others, to be on time -- his wife is the church's pastor.

"I probably would have forgotten if it weren't for my wife," he said. "I have to be on time."

Pecoraro said a few members arrived at the church an hour early and sat in their cars until the 8:30 a.m. service started.

"I've done it once myself in the spring," he said. "Once I was driving up to church and everyone else was leaving. It was over."

Many local employers said they were surprised by the number of people who showed up for work on time. In the past, they said, employees were more forgetful.

"We were really expecting people to show up early for work," John Broom, a table games supervisor at the Rio said. "But no one I know of came early."

But while most people saw Sunday as an opportunity to get an extra hour of sleep, AAA officials are warning drivers to be careful during the extra hour of darkness.