Subj: Another suggestion as to what to do with the census Date: 03/16/2000 5:53:28 PM Pacific Standard Time From: spiker@amnix.com (spiker)

From: Tim

I have an intereesting story for you regarding the 2000 Census. I was perusing my usual web news sites when I found on Drudgereport the story about how our like-minded US Citizens are telling Uncle Sam where to shove their Privacy-Shredding census forms... more to the point, how many people are willing to risk a $100 fine and simply answer the Constitutionally required question regarding number of people in the household.

Suddenly I had an idea. I picked up the phone and dialed the 1-800-471-9424 Census Hotline number in the Drudge article... I talked with a pleasant gentleman named Patrick who assured me he could answer my questions.

So, I asked him if he had the address where I needed to send my $100 check to. He asked me to repeat the question, and I told him that I was only going to answer the one question required by the Constitution, so I wanted to know where I needed to send my $100 check to cover the fine, as defined by law.

He was clueless. He said he had no information regarding that topic. I was VERY pleasant and friendly, then asked.. "Well, okay... do you guys take Visa, MasterCard or American Express?" This sent him over the edge.. he was stammering and stuttering, then put me on hold again when I asked if there was a supervisor I could talk to.

The supervisor came on the line (Stephen) and I repeated my question.. again, very pleasant and friendly. I told him I was going to do my Constitutional duty but I wouldn't want to be considered a lawbreaker so I wanted to pay my fine now."

His words: "Sir, we have no information regarding this topic. The Census bureau doesn't even know if they can issue fines for failure to submit the requested information. I would suggest you contact them directly at their Washington DC address, which he gave me."

So, in retrospect, I have proactively requested instructions on how to pay my $100 fine and was told two things:

1) No information exists about how to do it 2) The Census Bureau might not even be able to require the fine be paid I would suggest that we get a LOT of people to do the same thing (perhaps record a few calls) then take it to the press and show how we're try to proactively handle the issue but the government doesn't know how