U.S. CENSUS: LOCAL RESPONSE ABOVE STATE, NATIONAL AVERAGE

Fifty-seven percent of the census forms mailed to Missourians have been filled out and returned, the Census Bureau reported Wednesday.

The response rate in some Southeast Missouri counties is well above the state average and the 55 percent national average.

In this area, Perry County leads the way with a 64 percent response rate. Cape Girardeau County is second with a 63 percent response as of Tuesday. Bureau statistics for 11 counties in Southeast Missouri show Pemiscot and Wayne counties with the lowest response rates, 49 and 47 percent, respectively.

Ellen Brandom directs the Cape Girardeau census office that oversees the census effort in 31 counties in southern Missouri. Brandom said residents in the Cape Girardeau and Jackson areas have responded well to the census at least partly because of the efforts of a local Complete Count Committee.

"I think the publicity and enthusiasm that local people have generated makes a big difference," said Brandom.

National advertising to promote the census has been concentrated largely in the urban areas, making it little of a factor locally, she said.

Missouri's Complete Count Committee has been running radio ads in Southeast Missouri, she said.

Brandom said it is harder for the Census Bureau to get its message out in rural areas where the population is widely scattered.

"It isn't that small-town people don't care about it," she said. Rather, Brandom said, rural areas have fewer people to participate in promoting census participation.

Historically, Wayne and Pemiscot counties have had lower response rates when it comes to the census than some other counties in the region, she said.

Nationwide, Census Bureau officials had hoped by early April to have a higher response rate than 55 percent.

"We are under where we want to be,' said Debra Peebles, a spokeswoman for the Census Bureau's regional office in Kansas City, Kan.

Peebles said the bureau hopes to have a 70 percent response before door-to-door visits to unresponsive households begins in late April.

A few Cape Girardeau County residents have more than the 2000 census to fill out. Less than 20 households have received the census 2000 supplementary survey or American Community Survey, said Matthew Milbrodt, who deals with survey data in the bureau's regional office.

A sampling of households in 140 of the 558 counties in the Census Bureau's six-state region are being surveyed. The region covers Missouri, Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, Arkansas and Oklahoma.

The survey is one of a number of statistical surveys that the bureau conducts year-round. There are eight major surveys occurring around the country. They include everything from a population survey to a health survey.

About 40 Cape Girardeau County households are among 60,000 households nationwide receiving the population survey questionnaires, Milbrodt said.

This spring a number of households are being surveyed as part of a new approach to collect data annually through the American Community Survey rather than every 10 years as is done with the census.

The American Community Survey is still being tested. The bureau hopes to conduct the survey in every county in the nation beginning in 2003. It could replace the census long form in 2010, Milbrodt said.

The survey would be distributed to 3 million households. Data would be collected by mail. Bureau staff would follow up with those who didn't respond.

The survey would provide estimates of demographic, housing, social and economic characteristics every year for all states, cities, counties and metropolitan areas.

After three to five years, there would be sufficient data to develop averages, officials said. The averages could be updated annually, allowing the government to measure statistical changes even for small areas.

Census officials argue that the survey method would be more accurate than to rely on once-every-decade census figures that quickly become outdated.

Milbrodt said there is a potential for some households to be contacted a couple of times to fill out the census or surveys this year.

In addition, there will be 2000 census follow-up efforts in late summer or early fall to check the accuracy of census data.

Said Milbrodt, "We are not trying to bother anybody any more than we have to."