Jackson — The Jackson Census Office has been flooded with support as they attempt to verify all addresses leading up to next year’s Census.

Sheriff Angie Brown in Adams County made one call and immediately the use of a helicopter was made available as a resource in helping with the Jackson Census Office’s address canvassing procedures in the hard to reach areas of the county.

“It is amazingly refreshing to receive such an out pouring of support with our efforts in the field,” said Don Watson, manager of the Jackson census office Many law enforcement and other agencies are unaware of what the census bureau does and the lengthy processes we go through to make sure we count everyone.

“The only cost to the census (office) would be the cost of fuel.”

Brown also enlisted the help of Stan Owens Jr., director of emergency management in Adams, County.

Owens offered the use of search and rescue boats with the help of Everard Baker and operator Curtis Gibson.

He was also supported by Giles Island’s caretaker Jimmy Riley.

“Address canvassing is a very important part of the Census count,” said Jenna Steormann, media specialist with the Dallas Regional Census Center, which covers Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.

“With a correct address list, we mail out the census questionnaires to each residential address. The address list is derived from previous census’ and from US Postal Service’s lists.”

“The goal of each census is to count everyone. —count them once and in the right place.”

“For this census, an accurate count is the foundation for the allocation of over $300 billion dollars annually to communities across the country and the assignment of congressional seats. This money can be used for infrastructure like roads, playgrounds, senior citizen’s programs and much more,” she siad.

With Brown’s assistance, Watson was able to arrange with Wilkinson County’s Emergency Management Director Thomas Tolliver the go ahead for Adams’ county workers to cross county lines to complete the work at hand.

Areas like Giles and Glascock Islands are a challenge as they have flooding problems.

The marsh lands and wooded areas of the county are hard to reach for “listers” — Census Bureau employees who perform the address canvassing process.

“We have had to come up with creative ways to get the job done,” Watson said. “It is great to have so much support in these individuals. We thank them from the bottom of our hearts.

“We look forward to an accurate count for the 2010 census which begins April 1.”