For starters, the Delta could say goodbye to a congressional seat. Next, funding for hospitals, education, disaster relief, veterans' benefits, law enforcement and other services could be diminished. For example, almost $50 million a year in programs earmarked for children and blacks alone could dissipate.
  "Obviously, a low census count hurts not only the Delta but all of Mississippi," said Mark Manning, Director of Development for the Delta Council. "The census sets our number of congressional seats and is utilized to determine funding for a number of programs critical to our future. I believe that if everyone realized how important it is to our future we would get a higher count than anticipated."
  The goal of the U.S. Census Bureau, the official 10-year headcount, which starts April 1, is to record 2.9 million Mississippians. If the number is less than that, a congressional representative could be lost, as it nearly was ten years ago. This time, the state won't be able to challenge the census count. That cushion ultimately saved the state's fifth seat in the U.S. Congress, when roughly 3% of Mississippians were left out, many from Holmes County.
  "In 1990, cities and counties were permitted judicial review of their counts, and we had several cities in Mississippi that looked at their numbers and thought they were low, and did another count and the numbers were increased," said Sue Sutermeister, the governor's liaison for Census 2000. "But in the 2000 census that will not be available."
  The once-a-decade people count is an automatic employment booster with workers making $8 to $15 per hour plus mileage and training time. Census workers get help from the federal government to the tune of billions of dollars for increased manpower, new programs, high-tech computerization, paid advertising and an unprecedented networking effort.
  South Delta Planning & Development District acts as the Area Census Data Affiliate, providing technical assistance in a six-county area, said William B. Haney, Jr., executive director of the non-profit organization in Greenville.
  "We could lose a great deal of federal monies, EPA programs, grant programs, loan programs," Haney said. "Nearly all of those programs are tied to numbers, such as farmer's home programs, where water and sewer systems are funded. One of the rating criteria is cost per beneficiary. Obviously, those numbers make a great deal of difference. The regretful part of it when we have people who are missed, they don't appear as a statistic so we're competing against communities with almost the same numbers that don't have nearly the critical need we have."
  The largest number of low-income individuals gets the greatest benefit, Haney said.
  "When we miss people, we aren't taking advantage of the fact that we are among the disadvantaged," he said. "The only other way we can count people is by going door to door and getting income information from households. Because of the time it involves, we don't have enough manpower. Realistically, we have to live with the census figures for ten years. It's a long-reaching program."
  What else is new this time around? A Local Update Census Address Program, a master list of addresses approved in 1992. All cities nationwide were given an opportunity to compare their address lists with census results.
  "If (local municipalities) are in agreement with our addresses before the census, a review shouldn't be necessary," said Frank Newton, media specialist for the bureau's Dallas regional office.
  Greenville, the lone Delta representative, is one of five census centers in the state. Last month, Sutermeister told members of the Greenwood Voters League that "the Delta was the most under represented area in 1990."
  Some problems: Because many residents list rural routes or post office boxes as their addresses, rural areas are apt to be overlooked. College students away at school or short-term residents might be missed. Citizens who fear creditors, immigration authorities, the Internal Revenue Service or others might refuse to participate. Census workers that divulge information are subject to a fine and prison time, Sutermeister said.