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About The North Coast times-eagle. (Wheeler, Oregon) 1971-2007 | View Entire Issue (March 21, 1980)
»V ■ »V * S * M EN T ©E W IN »1» H «l * H * Coming To Our Census by M ich a e l M cCusker (Ünaatal $Ilati Examittrh The Oregon Coastal Management Program will come under federal scrutiny next week. A team from the Federal Office of Coastal Zone Manage ment plans to meet with coastal city and county officials in Astoria Tuesday, March 25. The team, which is invest igating the plan's effectiveness, will also meet with slate officials and with representatives from state and federal agencies. The public will have a chance to talk with team members that evening in the Astoria High School cafeteria from 7:30 to 9 p.m. The coastal management program is administered and co ordinated by the Oregon Land Conservation and Development Commission. Salmon îflantittu The Pacific Fishery Management Council is holding a special meeting in Portland next week as a result of a warning that 1980 ocean fishing regulations will not allow enough Coho salmon to return to their Pacific Northwest spawning grounds. A team of state and federal biologists issued the warn ing Tuesday. The meeting is scheduled for next Thursday and F ri day, March 27 and 28. I April fo o l’s Day is also the first day of the 1980 federal Census. This will be the 20th national nose count since 1790, the first decennial census ordered by the Constitution. The total population that year was 3,929,326, of which 6,9,681 were slaves. The 1980 census is expected to record some 222-million, none of them officially slaves, which is nine percent more than were counted in 1970. The 1980 census will be conducted primarily by mail. Each household can expect to receive a quest ionnaire by March 28. About 90 percent will be ask ed to answer the questions and mail the forms back to a local census bureau office. The remaining 10 percent, generally citizens who live in rural areas, will be instructed to hold onto their questionnaires until census takers, known in the trade as enun er- ators, pick them up. Most citizens will be asked to answer a basic questionnaire consisting of 19 questions. A random ly selected 20 percent will be given a longer form with 46 additional questions. Of course the census counts more than noses. It asks questions, often highly personal questions — of income, marriage, whether a citizen consumes alcoholic beverages, to note only a few from previ ous counts — though the responses are guaranteed confidentiality, except, of course, in the anonymous aggregate. The census looks for patterns, not just numbers; social, economic, political and religous. Distribution of legislative powers, such as en abling C ongress to apportion representatives, as well as federal and state funds is determined by the census. It also shows the educator the educat ional equivalent of the national population and the school boards how many kids will soon reach school age; employers and welfare workers how many are unemployed; the sociologist the ages that different racial and economic groups marry, the number of children reared, and how many families own their own homes; advertisers and the federal (ommuni- cations Commission how many radios and television sets are in each locality; the economist the annual income and total wealth of the people of the states; and the health expert the number of births and the causes of death and the ages at which people die. The census also indicates to the Pentagon how many adults there are of military age. Not all of these statistics are collected with the decennial population statistics. Some are collected every 10th year, some every fifth year, some annually or even more frequently. Each census has its built-in Yin and Yang. For every benefit derived from responding to the quest ions. there can also be a misuse of the information. Many citizens refuse to be counted. So many were missed in 1970 — perhaps as many as a million or more — that an extensive and expensive advertising campaign has been mounted urging citizens to fill out their questionnaires. Millions of Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts will be turned loose all over the country this weekend — five to 10,000 in the 15-county Columbia Pacific Council alone — ringing doorbells and hand- ingout red,white and blue leaflets embossed with American flags. It must be understood that any citizen can decide to remain uncounted. The police will not come and take an uncooperative citizen away, though, of course, some wish the police had that power. Anyone can dump the census form in the trash or answer the questions selectively. If all a citizen wants the government to know is that he or she exists on Earth in 1980, that is the only question that needs answering. nan *■*& 11 COUNTY TTU C TIIC N S Clatsop County elections are scheduled for Tues day, March 25. Foremost on the ballot is a proposed county gen eral tax levy totaling 81,400,644, which will be div ided into two ballots. The first, or Ballot A is for 81,062,708, and Ballot B for $337,936. If the A Bal lot is defeated, Ballot B will be automatically re s cinded. Other issues to be voted on include a tax levy for Clatsop Community College, county road levies, and elections of district directors. Tourism is big business and big money on the Oregon coast. The decline o f its other resources has moved the tourist industry into the number one position of the coastal economy and every town and village is competing for the tourist dollar. Connie Anderson believes some thing has been irretrievably lost in the scramble. She tells the story of a pretty little beach town that traded its beauty for the buck. . . . Page 5. William Michael Schuster left some of his art behind the last time he visited the coast. . . . Page 2.