About one of every three local residents did not return their forms. Census forms show which communities have grown and changed and need new hospitals, job training and bilingual teachers. Harris, a law school graduate who became a census supervisor while waiting to take the bar exam, can record the answers to the eight-question census short form in the time it takes to microwave a TV dinner. She asks every sixth person to answer the 53-question long form that can mean missing an entire sitcom. Ed McMahon waving a sweepstakes check.
Most visits are routine.
Some are not. Several big barking dogs trapped one census worker in his car. The woman of the house was a bit more friendly. She wouldn't call off the dogs. We get to laugh at those things, too.