North Hudson residents urged to answer census questions

Talk about it

North Hudson village president George Klein asked residents to be diligent in providing information for the U.S. census scheduled for 2010.

To illustrate his point at the regular meeting of the board of trustees Dec. 1, he used a multi-syllable word and quoted from the Dec.-Jan issue of the Reader’s Digest.

“I’m going to use a big word here— conspicuity,” he said, urging residents to be easily seen or noticed during the census taking.

He pointed out a number of important items are connected with the results of the census including establishing the number of congressional seats for each state. “The Midwest will lose six seats,” he said. The South and West are expected to pick up five of them. The census also establishes federal funding for each state.

Klein read a paragraph from the periodical stating that Minnesota U.S. Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-Stillwater) in June vowed to not fully respond to the 2010 census calling it a government intrusion.

“Participation, however, isn’t optional. Failure to fill out the census form is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine up to $5,000. Wrongful disclosure of confidential information, on the other hand, is a felony,” Klein read.

The U.S. Census counts every resident in the United States, and is required by the Constitution to take place every 10 years.

Results of the census help establish federal funds each year for hospitals, job training centers, schools, senior centers, bridges, tunnels and other-public works projects and emergency services.

In March, census forms will be delivered to every residence in the United States and Puerto Rico, according to the U.S. Census Bureau Web site. Residents are asked to answer the 10 short questions and mail the form back in the postage-paid envelope provided. If the forms aren’t mailed back, a census taker may visit a residence and ask the questions from a form.

For more information, go to www.2010.census.gov.

Tags: north hudson, communities, census