Alaska village first to be counted in 2010 census

NOORVIK, Alaska - One down, more than 309 million to go.

U.S. Census Bureau director Robert Groves began the 2010 count of the nation's residents Monday in a village in Alaska's arctic hinterlands.

The first person tallied in this Inupiat Eskimo community of 650 was Clifton Jackson, a World War II veteran and the town's oldest resident. "It's all downhill from now," Groves said on exiting Jackson's house.

Clifton said he was honored to be the first person counted because he thought there were other elders in town who would have been just as worthy.

Groves and other census officials were taken from the airport to the village school by sled, with dog teams driven by schoolchildren. After eating whale meat and gathering with village elders, Groves was driven to Jackson's house in a 4-wheeler.

Dressed in heavy Arctic gear, he walked to the door with a briefcase in hand. "Hello. Thank you," he said when the door opened. He walked inside and began the confidential process of conducting the Census.

Residents prepared a day of festivities with traditional dances, an Inupiat fashion show and a feast of subsistence foods including moose and caribou.

Census workers who stay behind and who trained locals will spend the next week interviewing the remainder of Noorvik's residents. Alaskans in rural communities such as Noorvik that are not linked by roads have been the first people counted since the 1990 census.

It's easier to do the count before muddy conditions brought on by spring thaw make access more difficult, said Ralph Lee of the bureau's Seattle region.