In April 9 Issue
By Derek Aaron
Times Journal Reporter

More than 2,000 Kentucky census workers began combing the state this week in an effort to complete address lists in preparation for the 2010 Census, which begins in less than a year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Russell County census workers were certified in their positions earlier this year after completing all the required criteria. The workers are expected to gather address information through the summer months.

The census workers are to visit every address in their assigned county areas and document the information using hand held computing device complete with global positioning capability which then transmits the data via wireless communications back to census headquarters.

The 2000 Census showed Russell County's population at 16,315, a number that is expected to rise substantially yet again in 2010.

The government's 2010 census workers are identifiable by an official U.S. Census Bureau badge.

According to the census program, the workers will not ask for personal information, like a social security number.

At the time of their census worker certification, the workers took an confidentiality oath that, if broken, could result in a fine of up to $250,000 and five years imprisonment.

Juanita Elison, the local census office manager in Lexington which oversees Russell County, said the government's census program is updated every 10 years and is looked at as a very valuable asset to the country.

Kentucky's offices are located in Louisville and Lexington. The Lexington office can be reached at 859-422-7230.

Elison said a census office will be opening in nearby Somerset in October of this year.

Census results go a long way toward determining your representation in government, as well as how federal funds are spent in your community on things like roads, parks, housing, schools and public safety, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's Web site.

Census questionnaires will be mailed or delivered to every home in the country in March 2010, according to the federal government.

The bureau will mail a second form to homes that do not respond to the initial questionnaire and if there is still no response, the home will be called or visited by a Census worker.

The questions on the census ask you to provide information that is accurate for your household as of April 1, 2010.

The Census Bureau must count all residents of the United States. This includes people of all ages, races, ethnic groups, citizens and non-citizens before sending state population totals to the new President Barack Obama by December 31, 2010.

On Monday, the U.S. Census Bureau projected the population at more than 306 million people - up  around  3 million people from one year earlier.

In 2009, one birth is expected to happen every eight seconds in the United States and one death every 12 seconds, according to the bureau.

Also, international migration is expected to add one person every 36 seconds to the population this month, resulting in an increase in the total population of one person every 14 seconds.

In retrospect, the first census, taken in 1790, was taken by U.S. marshals on horseback and counted 3.9 million people.

The last census, taken in 2000, counted more than 281 million people, a number that has risen exponentially even since.

For more information on the 2010 census, visit the U.S. Census Bureau's Web site at www.census.gov.