Sam Tower watches homeless people walk past his house every day. So when the Hilltop resident read that Pierce County was searching for people to help with its annual census, he volunteered.

“I just thought I’d help out and see what I can do,” said Tower, who lives near the intersection of South 15th Street and Fawcett Avenue. “My place is between Nativity House and the shelter.”

Tower and several other volunteers circulated Thursday around Nativity House, a daytime drop-in shelter, carrying golden survey sheets. They sat down at the tables with the homeless, asked a series of questions and filled out the questionnaires.

The state requires such surveys for planning and funding, said Rae Anne Giron, a community services planner with the county. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development also required bi-yearly surveys.

“We know we can’t find everyone in the county,” Giron said, “but we do the best we can with the resources we have.”

Sixty-five volunteers signed up for the count and three organizations – Hospitality Kitchen, Tacoma Rescue Mission and the Metropolitan Development Council – provided their own volunteers. The count focused on permanent locations, like shelters and the feed at the Puyallup Armory, on Thursday. Volunteers will enter homeless camps Friday.

The count is done in January because it’s a colder month, and that means the homeless are more likely to reside in more concentrated areas.

It’ll take about a week to process the data, Giron said. The surveys ask for initials, a month and year of birth, race and questions about where the person will sleep that night and what were some contributing factors to homelessness.

Ann Shahan used the opportunity to connect some veterans with help. She’s the homeless coordinator for the Veterans Integrated Service Network 20, part of the Veterans Administration Northwest Health Network.

She and volunteer Bonnie Daly surveyed people visiting the needle exchange and methadone clinic at the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department building. If a respondent said he or she was a veteran, Shahan asked if they were enrolled in the VA’s programs.

“I’ve sent a couple of folks to a referral source to some our programs,” said Shahan, whose office is at American Lake. “But overall, the people are more than willing to chat.”

It was a black decaf coffee for Ruston Mayor Michael Transue when we sat down yesterday to talk about the political tensions in his small town north of Tacoma. We were sitting in a booth at the Ruston Inn, where others made sure to head out of their way to praise Transue for his work.

Transue is an unpopular guy with some members of the council. Bob Everding resigned his seat in protest of the mayor’s style. Councilman Bradley Huson calls Transue “lazy and a micromanager.” Wayne Stebner accused Transue, a lobbyist, of using the mayor’s chair to advance his clients’ interests.

The situation seems to have hit critical mass.

“I don’t know if I’d say it’s the worst it’s ever been, but it’s close,” Transue said. “Folks have very definite opinions on issues – you can see that in the meetings – and they’re well-dug-in positions. I think having folks with those diverse opinions makes it tough sometimes. I think there are 5, 10 15 percent take one view, then 5, 10, 15 percent take the other view. And then everybody else is in the middle. It’s the bell curve. When those polarizations occur, that’s when tempers flare.”

Several councilmen have been critical of Transue for letting outbursts at town council meetings continue. The mayor’s unrepentant.

“I know some criticize me for being too lenient, but it doesn’t feel right to me to kick people out of meetings, to have a police officer there to boot people out,” he said. “I don’t think it’s healthy. I don’t think it’s helpful.”

A Ruston police officer used to attend the meetings for security, but there hasn’t been one there lately. That’s riled some of Transue’s opponents. He says he handles it on a case-by-case basis.

“It’s a resource issue,” he said. “I’m going to always weigh whether someone should be doing law enforcement work like DUIs, bar checks, speeding tickets, other public-safety things or working at the council meeting. I’ll let my officers make that call. When the council approved the budget, they removed a significant amount of overtime. One of the areas was in the police department.”

He’s well aware of the criticism by members of the council.

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Wayne Stebner sipped his lemonade slowly at the Antique Sandwich Shop near Ruston and spoke slowly. The councilman seemed to be choosing his words carefully.

The topic that day: the worsening political atmosphere in Ruston. Except there’s one hitch – he doesn’t believe it’s getting worse.

“There are some that say it’s getting worse, and some that say it’s getting better,” he said. “I feel that it’s getting better. There are changes that are going to occur, and they’re tough changes, but they will occur.”

He knows the brouhaha around the Commencement, a high-rise condo building in the small town near Tacoma’s North End, has caused heartache. But he said it’s in the past, and the people are moving on.

“Right now, it’s being built. They have every right to build it, and I don’t have a problem with that,” he said. “They have a lease on our school right now for the next 495 or so years. That sits rather sorely with a lot of residents in the community. Taking that lease back is probably not an option, even if residents would like that. And the way it occurred is sore with a lot of people. It was part of the old Ruston politics. And I came in on the wave of public sentiment to change that.

“That being said, I’m not going to go out on a limb and cause problems for the Commencement. But I’m going to hold them accountable.”

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For those who can’t get enough Ruston coverage, there’s more of that coming. And for those who are sick of it, I’ve got something for you, too.

I’ll be spending most of today with Pierce County officials during the homeless count. We’ll be heading into some of the camps to conduct the census.

I talked with Ruston Mayor Michael Transue and Councilman Wayne Stebner yesterday. I’ll be posting those shortly.