WASHINGTON — If a Census Bureau worker knocks on James Snead's door this summer asking him to answer questions he left blank on his form, he will offer a polite "no thanks."
It's not that Snead believes people shouldn't cooperate with the once-a-decade count. He just thinks too many private questions are asked on the 53-question long form he — and one in six of the country's 115 million households — received.
It is an issue that has popped up in Snead's hometown of Virginia Beach, Va., as well as on editorial pages, radio talk shows and Capitol Hill: Is the census intruding on people's lives?
"I think they are just going a little overboard on this. I don't tell anybody how much money I make, and it's really nobody's business either," said Snead, complaining about a question that asked for his annual income. Snead received the form two weeks ago, filled out just his name and address, and promptly mailed it back with a letter of protest.
"It's not that I distrust the government, but when they turn around and tell me I have to do something . . . well, I think I've earned the right not to do something if I choose not to," he said.
The envelopes that census forms arrive in are emblazoned with the sentence, "Your response is required by law."
The director of the Census Bureau, Kenneth Prewitt, said his agency needs all the questions on its forms answered because the results are crucial to redistributing federal funds for local services.
According to a national survey commissioned in March by the Census Bureau, 72 percent of Americans said they intended to participate, and 75 percent felt the allocation of public funds was a persuasive reason to complete their questionnaire.
"Intrusive, not at all. I don't think they ask probing questions. It affects many things that go on in my community," said Raenard Brown of Washington, as he waited in line at a job fair recruiting temporary workers for the Census Bureau.
Others, like Evelyn Roddy do not buy Prewitt's reasoning.
"I don't believe it. It's just a guilt trip to get you to fill your form," said Roddy, of Sacramento, Calif. She said she filled out about half of her long form before she "realized how intrusive it really was," then mailed it back — along with a letter to Prewitt complaining that she felt her privacy was being violated.
"I think the census is good, but it's been blown completely out of proportion over what it was intended to do," she said.
For instance, Roddy says a question asking if your child is natural or adopted does not make sense because "it makes no difference if they're adopted or not, they are still your children." (The Census Bureau says that question is necessary to keep track of the changing composition of the American family and adjust related federal programs accordingly.)
Worries over an invasion of privacy by the census are not new. The issue pops up every census, Census Bureau officials say.
On Saturday, Census Day, the Clinton administration stepped up its campaign to encourage participation.
The president, in his weekly radio address, said "those who suggest that filling out your census form isn't essential are plainly wrong."