KAPA‘A — If you’ve already turned in your forms and baby gets born on April 1, the national Census Day, does baby count?
That question stumped the crew with the Hawai‘i Counts 2010 Census Van Tours Kaua‘i, Tuesday.
“I’m going to have to ask Marilyn Paruirigan, the U.S. Census Partnership Specialist,” said Penny Young, the head of the Kaua‘i Census Committee. “But I will find the answer.”
Following the launching of the van at a short ceremony, Monday, the van left for a stop at the Monday Market at the Kukui Grove Center where it was met by rain squalls that kept shoppers away.
“We didn’t even have the tent up when it started raining,” said James Paul Almasara, a census worker from Honolulu who will be accompanying the van on its Kaua‘i road trip.
Walter Agena, another of the road tour crew, said most of the people have been very supportive of the census and the van crew.
“This morning in Anahola, there was a guy who went on the radio with Ron Wiley and I was amazed at how much he knew about the census,” Agena said. “He was also very passionate in his support of the census.”
Young said the van tour is one phase of the census.
Judy Xenofos was walking her dog Tita and wanted to know if the questionnaires needed to be held until April 1, the national Census Day.
When people get their questionnaires in the mail, the most important thing is to fill it out and put it back in the mail.
“It costs the Census Bureau $1.50 for each questionnaire when people do it this way,” Young said. “If they don’t return it, census people will come knocking on their door and it costs $25 for each visit. That is money that could be used for other things.”
Young said the road tour will conclude with a celebration Saturday at the Kukui Grove Center where the van will be parked from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
During that time, census representatives will be available to answer questions and distribute giveaways amidst entertainment consisting of performances by the Aloha Dance Studio, the Tsunami Taiko drummers, Chico Edralin the Papa‘a Bay Boys and John Rivera.
Once the Kaua‘i Road Tour is over, the van will be shipped to the Big Island for its tour there. Following that, it will be on Lanai to wrap up its Hawai‘i circuit.
Prior to arriving on Kaua‘i, the van spent several weeks touring O‘ahu before making the Maui circuit.
Following the Road Tour, Young said the next phase in the census is the set up for questionnaires where people can visit census representatives to fill out the forms if they did not get any.
Details on this phase will be forthcoming.
The Hawai‘i Counts 2010 Census van will be at Safeway from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. today (Wed). Following that, it will relocate to the Kapa‘a Sunshine Market at the New Kapa‘a Town Park from 3 to 5 p.m.
Thursday, the van travels to the North Shore, Friday to the South Shore and Koloa. The tour wraps up Sunday with a run to the Westside.
