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Rural folks: The Census missed us That could cost small towns money By Jessica Smith When U.S. Census Bureau enumerators went door to door last spring, they apparently missed Jim Tattersall�s. Tattersall, who�s lived on Placer Hill Drive outside Jacksonville for eight years, says no one from the bureau showed up at his house to count him in the national tally. "If we weren�t counted, as easy as we are to find, then what about the people who live in more isolated areas?" Tattersall asks. "Jackson County could be undercounted by quite a few thousand." Though Census officials say there are 181,269 people living in Jackson County, Tattersall and others say that number is likely low. The Census bureau released initial 2000 population figures this week. The data is used to determine each state�s representation in Congress and each city�s share of federal and state funds. State and local governments also use the information as a guide for planning and building roads, schools and other services. Officials in rural parts of the county have been grumbling about the Census count since last spring, after they learned the bureau missed a number of residents when it mailed Census forms. The problem, rural communities later discovered, is that the Census bureau doesn�t deliver forms to residences that get mail at post office boxes. At the time, Census officials said considerable effort would be made to contact rural residences in the door-to-door count conducted last summer. "I was very disappointed in the effort," said Tom Anderson, mayor of Shady Cove, where about 80 percent of the residents get their mail at a post office box. "We have had a number of people say they were not counted." Anderson estimates the Census undercounted Shady Cove by 100 residents. The Census figures put Shady Cove�s population at 2,307. In Eagle Point, another community where many residents use post office boxes for mail, the Census count could be off by about 1,200. Dave Hussell, city administrator, said Eagle Point has been tracking population growth by the number of housing projects approved each year. He said he would estimate the city�s population at 6,000. The Census bureau says the town has 4,797 people. "That�s way low," said Hussell, who plans to challenge the Census count. "We know for sure there are citizens who haven�t been counted." It�s important that residents in rural Jackson County aren�t overlooked, Anderson and Hussell said. Like other local officials, they don�t want the region undercounted, because it could cost the county millions of dollars in federal and state funding, they argue. About 2 percent of the county�s 146,389 residents in 1990 didn�t make that year�s count, according to Census officials. That meant about 3,000 residents were excluded from the last Census, each representing an estimated $3,000 loss in federal and state funding in the 1990s. It�s unclear just how many people may have been missed in the 2000 count. In August, Census officials said enumerators visited residents of some 15,000 households that either failed to return a questionnaire or never received a form. Bob Clingman, a spokesman for the Census in Seattle, said the bureau is working to calculate how many residents went uncounted in 2000. He said figures on potential undercounts won�t be available for several months. "For the time being, we just have to live with the numbers we have," Clingman said. "But the final result is not out yet." City officials who still argue their 2000 Census figures don�t compute can take up their grievance with the bureau. According to George Hough, a demographer at the Population Research Center at Portland State University, local officials should determine whether the Census bureau is working from the same set of information they have about their cities. Check boundary maps and the number of housing units reported to the bureau, Hough said. "What the Census bureau wants is some evidence" that the count is wrong. Hough agreed that there may be discrepancies in the Census count. He said preliminary population estimates derived by the PSU research center in some cases are higher than the reported Census figures. Reach reporter Jessica Smith at 776-4481, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.