»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.