Margie Hinrichsen’s suspicions were raised recently when she received a 24-page inquiry from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Hinrichsen wondered why she was being asked questions that ranged from her income level to how many bedrooms are in her house.

“I really think they are infringing upon privacy,” the Lecompton woman said.

Hinrichsen had received the bureau’s American Community Survey sent to 3 million people a year, bureau spokesman Ken Bryson said.

It is a new method that had been under development for several years, and which was launched in earnest last year.

It is a way of annually updating some of the census information that had been compiled once every 10 years.

Each month, one of every 480 households receive the survey. Addressees are selected randomly, Bryson said.

Hinrichsen was especially concerned about requests for financial information.

By law, however, you have to respond to the questions.

More information can be found at www.census.gov.