CAPE CENSUS OFFICE GEARS UP FOR COUNT

The Cape Girardeau census office, which will be responsible for recruiting and training census workers and all other local operations in 31 Southeast Missouri counties, will hold its grand opening Monday at 2751 Thomas Drive.

The office was opened to handle the testing and hiring of part- and full-time employees throughout the area, said Ellen Brandon of Sikeston, the office manager.

"We have about five people here now," said Brandon. "We'll be looking at 60 to 80 persons here early next year."

The staff and other Census 2000 representatives will attend the grand opening, which starts at 1 p.m.

Lloyd Smith, administrative assistant to U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, will be among local and state elected officials attending. Smith will assist in the 1:15 p.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Also attending the open-house event will be Census 2000 assistant regional manager Kathy Lacey and area manager Sharon Bunge, who will welcome guests and field questions.

Also invited are members of the Cape Girardeau Complete Count Committee and school administrators who are participating in "The Census Goes to School" program along with Census 2000 corporate representatives from sponsoring organizations.

Census Day 2000 is still months away, but preliminary operations are in full swing, said Brandon.

"We'll be hiring a number of people to assist with recruiting,"

Besides the people at the office, people will be needed throughout the 31-counties to visit homes, apartments and other dwellings to deliver census forms and to pick up forms that aren't mailed in.

Brandon said: "In so many instance we don't have a full address for people and have to hand-deliver the forms. There will be some people who will not bother to return the forms. We need to retrieve those and verify the address."

As many as 40 percent of the forms are not returned.

Hiring of enumerators will pick up in February.

Census 2000 already is half way through the census process, say census officials. The Census Bureau's deadline is to have the count to the president by Dec. 31, 2000.

The census is made up of four major phases: compilation of address lists, block canvassing, mailing of census forms and adjustments.

Two of the four phases of the census have been completed, and preparations for the third phase of the $4.8 billion count are under way. The mailing of census questionnaires will start in March. Census workers will increase dramatically in the next few months, from 7,000 to about 800,000.

The questionnaires are available in six languages, including English, Spanish and Chinese.

Estimates of the U.S. population range from 274 million to 278 million for 2000. The population is not expected to hit 300 million until 2007.

Missouri could go from 5.3 million to 5.5 million, Illinois could go from 11.8 million to 12.1 million and Kentucky could go from 2.8 million to 3.9 million.

Reapportionment for U.S. representatives will be determined from new population figures in April 2001.