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Rural folks hope Census takers counted them Many were overlooked in mass mailing By Jessica Smith It�s too soon to tell whether some overlooked small-town and rural Southern Oregon residents made the count in the nation�s once-a-decade roll call. But local leaders hope that when the U.S. Census Bureau releases its data � next April � it matches up with what they know about their cities. "What we�re doing is waiting with bated breath to see what happens in the final count," said Dick Handbury, mayor of Rogue River. "We don�t really have any knowledge of what happened after the mix-up." The "mix-up" occurred when the Census Bureau missed about 70 percent of the households in Rogue River and another 80 percent in Shady Cove � and countless others elsewhere in the Rogue Valley � in its springtime Census questionnaire mailing. Anyone who receives mail at a post office box because they do not live on a postal route was likely neglected in the mass mailing, Census officials explained. It�s unknown how many residents were overlooked, but the Census Bureau promised to include such households in the face-to-face count that wrapped up earlier this summer. "You just have to assume they (the Census Bureau) eventually got their act together and did what they said they were going to do," Handbury said. The number of residents overlooked in the Census mailing is cause for concern for local and federal officials who don�t want the region undercounted. An undercount in the 1990 Census cost the county millions of dollars, they say. 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 and schools, as well as other services. Census enumerators contacted residents of about 15,000 local households that either failed to return their questionnaire or never received the forms, said Mike Steenhout, who is supervising the Southern Oregon campaign from Eugene. Handbury and Tom Anderson, mayor of Shady Cove, said they saw Census enumerators working in their cities, but that they haven�t heard whether the doorstep campaign was a success. "What I don�t know is whether the Census contacted everybody," Anderson said. "But I�m satisfied that they fulfilled their commitment to me." Steenhout said Census enumerators worked diligently to ensure that everyone in the Rogue Valley was counted. "It worked out great," Steenhout said. "Everybody was cooperating." About 99 percent of Jackson County households were contacted through the questionnaire mailings or personal visits from enumerators, he added. "I think that�s a credit to the community, especially the local governments that got involved," Steenhout said. "People were very, very interested and very cooperative across the board." About 1 percent of the households in Jackson County refused to participate in the Census. To make up for the refusals and other residents that could not be reached, enumerators sought out neighbors who could provide basic information about such households, Steenhout said. Census workers check the responses against maps detailing the location of every residence in Jackson County, he added. The Census Bureau expects to finish compiling statistics from the 2000 headcount this summer, but formal figures won�t be released publicly until April 2001. Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA