RURAL CENSUS FORMS BEING DELIVERED IN PERSON

Enumerators are taking to the roads to ensure outcounty and "noncity-style" residences are not missed in this year's Census.

Local Census office manager Ellen Brandom said some 220,000 Census 2000 questionnaires are scheduled for hand delivery throughout a 31-county region by Wednesday.

Brandom said 809 Census workers have taken the forms to permanent homes, mobile homes, garage apartments and even cabins that are being used as residences. The majority of residences receiving hand deliveries are located on rural routes and receive mail via a post office box. But in some cases hand deliveries have been made within city limits on streets where new housing has appeared that is not on Census lists or maps.

"As you've grown and had new developments, I know that part of Cape appeared in part of the early phase of address checking for hand delivery," said Brandom. "It won't be unusual at all for parts of some small towns to be receiving questionnaires by hand delivery."

Although area post offices identified addresses that were unique or outside regular delivery routes, the U.S. Census Bureau is not relying on post offices alone for address information. Instead, census workers are relying on maps, physical addresses and the homes they find as they deliver the forms.

"There are an amazing number of places hidden back on Jeep trails," Brandom said. "There are places throughout these rural areas were there's really not an address. In that case, we've had to make physical descriptions of places good enough that we could send a Census taker or form deliverer later."

Despite the large number of hand deliveries, Brandom said the vast majority of forms are scheduled for regular mail delivery beginning Monday. All forms, including hand deliveries, should be in homes by Wednesday.

"We had to start earlier with the hand deliveries, especially since we are verifying addresses while we're doing it," she said. "The Census address is tied into the household address. We don't really care who lives in that house, but we want to make sure every house has a Census form."

The Census Bureau is randomly circulating two types of forms to residences. Most Americans will be asked to fill out a short form that takes about 10 minutes to complete on average. Others will be asked to complete a long form that can be completed in approximately 38 minutes. The long form provides socioeconomic data needed for a wide range of government programs and federal requirements.

Although only one in six residences nationally receives a long form, the ratio has been about one in two residences in Cape Girardeau County. Brandom said the odds of receiving a long form were higher locally because better representation is needed in rural areas.

"You need more of the long forms in small towns and rural areas because you want to get an accurate picture of the community," she said. "We just can't encourage them enough to please complete them and return them in the mail."