In May I wrote an article about the 2010 Census and the extraordinary difficulties that will be involved in the national survey this time around. I talked about the difficulties that Census Chief Robert Groves will encounter with this undertaking. I mentioned that the costs will be higher, district restructuring will be more heavily contested, some minority groups are planning to resist being counted, and countless other headaches involved.

However, I did not discuss the potential dangers derived from negative feelings towards the federal government in these difficult economic times.

Many times rural areas are hit the hardest by a recession. If you think it is tough to find a job in New York, Dallas, or Los Angeles these days, try Manchester, Kentucky. Hard times make for hard feelings. Imagine trying to feed your family while the government is handing out billions in free money to organizations that have proven themselves unsustainable in the current economy.

Update: Kentucky State Police now suspect that Mr. Sparkman's death was the result of suicide. If this turns out to be true, I don't believe it changes the tragedy of the situation but may help in easing tensions about the upcoming census.

Are these the emotions that lead up to the killing of teacher, Boy Scout leader, and VOLUNTEER census taker, Bill Sparkman in Clay County, Kentucky?  How could anyone think he posed any threat? What question could he possibly have asked that would make someone take his life and make an example of him by scrawling 'FED' on his dead body for all to see?

Was there another motive?

Clay County has been hard hit by the recent economic downturn. In the past, some residents of this region of Appalachia have combated poverty through black market means - mainly illegal moonshine stills. Agents of the federal government asking questions about their income and status meant potentially shutting down what may have been their only source of survival in desperate times.

Could it be that Mr. Sparkman stumbled upon the modern equivalent of the moonshine still? A marijuana field? The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy estimates that more than half of the marijuana consumed in the United States is produced domestically. Much of that - no one knows for certain how much - is grown on public lands, primarily the country's 155 national forests. The marijuana is grown in National Forests as a means to protect private property from being invaded or possibly seized. National Forests like the Daniel Boone National Forest, where Mr. Sparkman's body was found. According to officials at the Office of National Drug Policy's Appalachia High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Program (HIDTA), Kentucky produces more marijuana than any other state except California.

Considering the location, his disfigurement, and the fact that it was harvest season, the idea that Mr. Sparkman was killed for stumbling across someone's illegal cash crop seems more plausible than the idea that he was killed for any real census related reason.

The circumstances of Mr. Sparkman's tragic death and the resentment that some people hold against recent government strategies is yet another hurdle that the census bureau will need to overcome. Volunteers will be harder to come by. Resentment of the federal government, due to political, economic, or prejudicial reasons, underscores the fact that the 2010 Census will be the Mother of all Surveys.

Update: Kentucky State Police now suspect that Mr. Sparkman's death was the result of suicide. If this turns out to be true, I don't believe it changes the tragedy of the situation but may help in easing tensions about the upcoming census

The mother of all surveys, the 2010 United States Census, may turn out to be the mother of all headaches for the new Census Chief, Robert M. Groves.

Faced with the possibility of computer glitches, operational missteps, and skyrocketing costs, surveying the nation’s population won’t be an easy task. President Obama selected Groves in early April and passed him the hot potato that’s expected to cost at least $15 billion, more than any previous count. Groves, who authored the books Surveying Victims and Survey Errors and Survey Costs, sounds like he was tailor-made for this position.

The Government Accountability Office estimates that the mandated decennial head count will cost about $100 for each housing unit, compared with $14, adjusted for inflation, in 1970.

Glitches, missteps and costs are not the only problem facing Groves. Obama also tossed the soft-spoken University of Michigan sociology professor and survey expert a political football. Counting U.S. residents isn’t just to determine how much each American is paying for the latest bailout. The primary purpose of the census is to determine how to distribute congressional seats and tax dollars.

“With the nomination of Robert Groves, President Obama has made it clear that he intends to employ the political manipulation of census data for partisan gain,” North Carolina Congressman Patrick McHenry told Time magazine. Other lawmakers called Groves an “incredibly troubling selection” who must be watched for “statistical sleight of hand.” Obviously, this is one survey that comes pre-loaded with political dynamite.

The likelihood of an unhappy Republican or two or a thousand is quite possible. At issue is the surveying method. Groves is in favor of using sampling to measure the country's population for what he and many experts say will yield more accurate survey results than an individual count, especially among those hardest to reach, such as minorities, the homeless and the poor. Generally, Republicans reach for the antacids when the words survey, sampling, and census appear in the same sentence. The reason? The populations that are hard to count typically support Democrats.

If Groves didn’t have enough issues with political haggling on The Hill, advocacy groups are also making noise. According to a recent USA Today story, some Hispanic groups are calling for illegal immigrants to boycott the 2010 Census unless immigration laws are changed.

The National Coalition of Latino Clergy & Christian Leaders, a group that says it represents 20,000 evangelical churches in 34 states, is urging undocumented immigrants not to fill out census forms unless Congress passes “genuine immigration reform.” Meanwhile, other immigrate rights groups say boycotting the census may be filled with good intentions, but is misguided and will only harm those the survey is intended to help.

Besides stepping on a political landmine or two, Groves has another homegrown problem that will impact the census: the economy.

Officials are worried that it will be more difficult to survey people during an economic recession. Among the concerns are families who have been forced out of their homes that could go uncounted, along with the untold numbers of people in flux, living temporarily with other family members, in apartments, in cars, shelters or even on the streets.

There is also concern that financial hardships will make Americans less likely to answer the door and cooperate with someone administering a survey, fearing that the knock on their door is from a collection agency.

Surveys generally are not thought of as snapshots in history, but the U.S. Census tracks some fascinating milestones in American history.

The fire that destroyed some of the data from the first census in 1790 probably wasn’t the start the founders were anticipating. Nevertheless, the surveying process endured, with the second census in 1800 showing that 5.3 million people lived in the United States, with almost 20 percent of them being slaves.

The 1850 census was a landmark year in American census-taking, as the bureau attempted to count every member of every household, including women, children and slaves.

The 1890 census ushered in the age of technology, where punched cards and machines reduced the time to publish the results from seven years for the 1880 census to two and a half years. No word on whether or not there were any hanging chads.

A hanging chad type of controversy may be par for the course for the 2010 Census considering the political, social, and operational combustibility. Grove may go back to his old job as an author, writing the book I’ll Never Conduct Another Government Survey when the 2010 census is complete.