Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 27, 1990 TAG: 9004270308
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BOSTON LENGTH: Medium
The foot soldiers were sent by Uncle Sam to finish the task left hanging after millions of citizens did not get, or failed to answer, questionnaires sent out about the time taxes were on everyone's mind.
About 40 percent of more than 95 million questionnaires sent out in March haven't been returned. But Phase II of the $1.3 billion census should bring the project back up to speed as thousands of "enumerators" began going door-to-door in 100 metropolitan areas nationwide, organizers said.
Individual counting expands to an additional 300 smaller communities on May 3.
And remember, officials say, these aren't bureaucrats. "They're people from your neighborhood," said B.J. Wellborn, a spokeswoman for the regional census bureau in Boston. "And they have an enormous task."
The 1,200 Boston area counters sworn in Thursday were looking at a long afternoon of dancing around potholes, befriending neighborhood dogs and knocking on doors when no one is at home.
"I don't like going into strange people's houses," said Sheila Moretti, a lifelong fixture in this city's close-knit, mostly Italian North End neighborhood. "But it helps that I'm a familiar face. People know they can trust me."
She's got that right, said Elmer Capodilupo. The 83-year-old doesn't stop and listen to just anyone. "You're an exception," he told Moretti and her crew leader, Nora Mustone. "You know what we need around here."
That's what the census officials want to hear. They're hoping to open doors with familiar faces.
If all goes well, the job will be done by June and on President Bush's desk by the end of the year, Wellborn said.
Yuri Quinnie, like a lot of the city's counters, was drawn into the job of enumerator by fliers and word of mouth. The $7.50-an-hour wages aren't bad either, he said.
"I started out because I just wanted to know how many people there were in America," he said. "But now I've learned there a lot more things determined by the census."
by CNB