Questions answered by Lamar Paris, County Commissioner
Q. Have the 2010 Census forms been mailed out yet?
A. Yes, most have. We received the 2010 Census form in the mail this week and sure enough, there are only ten questions. It was quick and easy to fill out and other members of the family only had seven questions.
Q. Our new address did not appear on our census form. Will this mess up the county count?
A. No. They will have access to our new address system as well as the old one. Unfortunately, the Census had to prepare their address system prior to ours being completed.
Q. How will we know the county mail-in response rate to the new Census forms?
A. It will be available on the Census web site. We hope our county will outperform the others in our region. After all, a complete Census count means more money for the county and less taxes for our citizens.
Q. I saw the internet site where a man was telling us NOT to fill out our Census from. Why would he do that?
A. This man has done a great disservice to the citizens of our country. Much of the information he gave out was false in an attempt to scare people into not filling out the Census form. The Census form is harmless and was provided for in our Constitution. We hope that if you have not yet filled out your form, you will do it soon and there are phone numbers to call for assistance or you can take your form to the courthouse to receive assistance in filling out your form.
Q. What will happen if I do not send in my Census form.
A. You will be contacted by telephone by a Census employee and if that is not successful, you will receive a personal visit from a Census employee. They are required under their employment contract to find a solution to be able to count the people in the home. This is not a Republican or Democrat issue, but is a Federally mandated issue that is necessary. Finally, if they can not reach you by phone or by visit, they will ask neighbors to try to determine how many people live in the house.
Q. Do you know how much damage has been done to our roads due to the rough winter weather?
A. It will take a few additional weeks to really know the impact of the winter on our roads. Once the roads begin to dry out, we suspect we will see a significant amount of pavement degradation. However, we have done a good job of keeping our roads patched and that has definitely helped keep them from breaking up worse. We also consistently add to and keep an adequate amount of gravel on our gravel roads. While we have had several issues during the winter, we think we have been fairly lucky. We will soon begin our spring grading of all county gravel roads and will know then the full impact on those roads.