/etc/localtime

[Adam Myrow]

Oops!  I blew it.  It's not /etc/localtime, it's /etc/hardwareclock that
contains either UTC or localtime to indicate whether your CMOS clock is
set to UTC or local time.  /etc/localtime is a symbolic link to your
current timezone, which is a binary file as you found out.  As I said, the
easiest way to change things is with timeconfig.  Of course, you want your
CMOS clock set to UTC first!  In your case, that's 5 hours ahead of your
local time as you appear to be in central time assuming that your timezone
is set right at the moment.  Typing "date -u" will tell you what the
system thinks UTC is at the moment.  Sorry for the mix-up on the files.