Letter to the Editor:
Have you been counted in the Census? There appears to be whole neighborhoods missing from the Census log books:
I live just outside of the city of Starkville and I had not been contacted for the census by person, mail, or door hanger. I knew that the census was almost over. Therefore, Tuesday, July 6th, I began by calling the office of Oktibbeha County Supervisors and the County Clerk’s offices no one could give me any information except to refer me to the GSDP. The Greater Starkville Development Partnership could only refer me to the census office in Tupelo where I spoke with a very nice lady. After much searching, she couldn’t find me in the system. Nor could she find neighbors along Old Hwy 12. She did find three others with an Old Hwy 12 address, and an apartment complex up the street. She also said there were only 3 additions (houses built between the initial mapping and actual enumeration) listed for Oktibbeha County, one of which was in Maben. I may be wrong, but I do believe that more than 3 houses were built in two years.
This is frightening. Many things depend on the census. It appears to me that there is at least one whole neighborhood left out of the census all together, and possibly many more situations just like this all over. It’s unclear to me how this could happen. But it’s clear to me that it needs to be researched to uncover the facts. I’ve read where the Census Bureau has had IT problems, but they were suppose to be fixed.
I called Bryan Hawkins @ Starkville Daily News on the 6th and explained the situation to him. He said that he would give the story to Kelly Daniels and that Kelly would contact me, but I waited for four days and no one called to follow up. I finally called Kelly Daniels Friday and she said that she would look into it. It was late in the week and there were pressing local issues like a fire so, at that point, I didn’t expect anything to be done immediately. I contacted another news outlet as well as State Rep. Dannie Reed and U.S Rep. Gregg Harper’s Starkville Office and all three are working on it. I’ve emailed the Oktibbeha County Supervisors and other elected officials.
I realize that other things may be more important but, as I was told by the very nice lady in the Tupelo census office, there is a deadline in August. If someone does not take this on in short order, we may not have a good census.
I hope that it’s just a fluke, a simple mistake, or actually an IT problem, rather than some sinister effort to control the count. Citizen anger is building because we’re in such a position that we fear our government. With the evidence we’ve seen of unwanted legislation; bills and budgets being deemed passed instead of discussion and voting, or otherwise shoving legislation down our throats by any means possible; unnecessary local ordinances being forced on us; burdensome and unreasonable zoning regulations; voter intimidation and compromised election software; piling on of taxes while telling us there will be no new taxes; questionable reaction to the Gulf oil disaster; non-responsiveness to the invasion of illegal immigrants… what part of our government can we depend on?
It appears that our U. S. Congress is becoming irrelevant. Re-election is all that matters. Fear of government at all levels is increasing. As citizens we have to be vigilant.
We are seeking information of others who have not received a census form or been contacted by a census worker.
Please let me know if you’ve NOT been visited by a census worker OR sent a form to fill out. You can email me: STARKVILLETEAPARTY@GMAIL.COM or call me @ 418-8115
Gary Chesser
Starkville TEA Party
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