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Beardstown, IL – Beardstown city leaders are trying to convince the entire population to participate in this year's census.
The sign welcoming drivers to Beardstown on Route 67 just east of the Illinois River reads a population of 5,800. But Mayor Bob Walters thinks the town was "short-changed" in 2000 -- he says his city probably has around 7,000 residents.
He says a good portion of the city's population is Latino, and the language barrier makes it difficult to communicate the importance of the census. Plus, he postulates a significant percentage of that population is undocumented.
"They live in fear that, you know, that they think it's going to be intrusive, and they're going to have an INS agent show up at their door and haul them away," says Walters. "Well, that's not the case, but trying to convince them of that is a little difficult."
Walters says the city has appealed to area churches to try spreading the word. He says there's not much more they can do beyond their normal census campaign.
He says it's important that the entire population, documented or not, respond to the census because everyone in the city uses the infrastructure, and many send their children to Beardstown public schools. He says it's only fair for the city to get an accurate count so it can gets its fair share of state and federal funding.
The 2010 Census form features ten questions designed to find out how many people live in a dwelling. It does not ask for any personal information such as names, social security numbers or places of employment.